$5 – $15

Le Marché St. George, a true Hidden Gem in Vancouver

This is the first time that I feel that my vocabulary is too narrow to describe an establishment. I don't think this article did justice to this neighbourhood cafe grocery store. I simply cannot praise Le Marché St. George enough. This is what a restaurant with integrity and superior standard. They preserved tradition and created a safe haven in the neighbourhood. Parents would bring their young children here for Sunday outing. The children would know exactly what to do, shouting out what they want from the menu, and sitting down in their favorite spot to play. Coming here really made me wonder. Perhaps this is what we work so hard for. Le Marché St. George costs about $15 per person, and this is a place you owe it to yourself to try.

Meiji Milk Cookie Ice Bar

Normally, when I get an alternative flavour of the same product, the expectation is to have a consistent texture and flavour profile. With the taste and texture both lacking far behind its Milk ice bar counterpart, I cannot justify the $8.99 price tag. It is really rare to see someone screw up an Oreo product. I simply cannot recommend Meiji's Milk Cookie Ice Bar.

Share Tea, Under-advertised bubble tea franchise in Vancouver

Aside from the things I have said about the bubble tea served in Share Tea, I quite enjoyed my stay here. I think that is the princess within me talking. The tea is actually not bad once you get past the sweetness. As long as I know the taste profile for Share Tea is over-sweetened, I can customize my drink according to my taste anyway. That is not a big deal. The $4.80 for a large cup of bubble tea is very affordable, considering other places are serving $7 per cup. I was also very happy that the credit card machine didn’t even have a tipping prompt. I would recommend Share Tea but perhaps ask for half sweet with extra ice.

Meiji Milk Ice Bar

Biting into the ice bar reveals the consistent texture of the interior. I could feel the slight icy texture, but that actually provided a little bit of the refreshing sensation. The taste is wonderfully designed. This ice cream bar has a very rich taste of milk. The sweet taste is complemented by some savory taste to make each bite interesting.

OneZo Tapioca, The worst bubble tea franchise in Vancouver

If the saying of "There is a reason for everything" holds true, then the purpose for having OneZo Tapioca is probably to demonstrate the absolute rock-bottom quality of a bubble tea. The $6.20 cost for a cup of bubble tea is way too high when the customer is getting powdered milk tea. You can get a cup of bubble tea with fresh milk and specialty tea leaves from other locations. I would definitely not recommend OneZo Tapioca. You can come here to check out how bad a cup of bubble tea can be.

Ham & Eggman’s New Brunch place in Vancouver

Ham and Eggman's is a very new brunch specialty restaurant that just opened in March 2019. Contrary to other similar cheap restaurants with large portion, the food was very well crafted and have a high quality standard. The $15 per person price point is definitely worth it, even with the 15% min tips preset on the credit card machine.

Weekend Tea, a bubble tea shop in Burnaby

Weekend Tea definitely used quality ingredients, but I think the cup is a little too small for the price they are charging. I have mixed feeling about this place and not sure if I should recommend it. Zang is a direct translation of "Dirty". It is to resemble the beautiful exterior marbling of the brown sugar pearl milk in the clear cup. The cup size is comparable to Xing Fu Tang, both are quite small. This one at Weekend Tea cost $6.50, one size only. The milk came shaken. There’s no precipitation of brown sugar syrup at the bottom. I also couldn’t experience the warm and soft pearls. The drink doesn’t taste too sweet compared to many other brown sugar drink from other tea shop. The taste is a little boring at the beginning. Towards the end, the saltiness starts to shine through to give this drink a layered flavour. For some reason, the rim of my cup have some brown sugar syrup. Maybe this is what they meant by "Dirty"? My finger kept getting dirty from touching the rim. I had to go get napkin twice.

Nana’s Green Tea, Japanese Matcha Dessert Franchise in Vancouvr

Nana's Green Tea is a very good matcha dessert shop. They lived up to their name, everything related to matcha has a rich taste to it. It is well controlled so it doesn't taste bitter. The cost of $8 per person on average is a little high, but their premium matcha is from Kyoto. It is very authentic and nothing is watered down. Please note that they also serve Hojicha dessert, ramen, and Donburi. I would definitely recommend Nana's Green Tea.

Chatime, The bubble tea franchise that started it all

Chatime's drinks cost are considered average compared to most other bubble tea places. Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea costs $5.85 each. The Brown Sugar Pearls Fresh Milk cost $6.35. Most of the tea served here are pre-made and kept in different casks. They might not be the best bubble tea place, but the taste really entice my palate.