iPanda was having drinks with Koala Bear at Victoria Drive’s Tea Works.  I ordered a green milk tea with pudding but was quickly disappointed. The milk tea was average.  They had a good balance between milk and tea powder and sugar syrup.  However, the pudding was weird because it was still powdery.  As well, the pudding tasted weird because it wasn’t actually Japanese pudding.  What we had tasted like it was a weird flavour of jello.  The pudding ruined the entire drink.  Can you tell my disappointment? This is one of those rare situations where Panda didn’t finish her bbt.  Oh well.  At least we had a nice evening catching up with Koala Bear!

This is the second time we decided to review Estea Beverage Club in Richmond.  It is a popular hang out and is usually crowded even really late at night.  It was overflowing with people on the night that we visited with friends.  We had already had dinner so we only had drinks while most of our friends had their rice.  I was super thirsty and was hoping to order something refreshing.  Panda’s choice was a cold passion fruit calpico.   My drink was light and tangy.  Calpico is a yogurt based drink which blends in very well with the passion fruit.  I liked it very much because the sourness was balanced by the sweetness of the syrup.  It satisfied my thirst right away.  Thumbs up! (more…)

Estea Beverage Club has different branches.  We were in Richmond playing laser tag so we stopped by the one in Richmond to have dinner and chat with friends.  I have been wanting to try the food at bubble tea houses for a long time.  Every time we go to bbt places, it is late at night and I am usually too full to eat the rice or noodle dishes.

My friend recommended the rice wrapped in egg from Estea so I wasted no time in ordering one for myself.  I picked the curry beef brisket rice wrapped in egg.  The size was big enough and I couldn’t really finish it up by myself.  However, the curry brisket was pretty normal.  Nothing much to say about it because I have gone to places that serve better curry brisket (like Mui Garden).  The curry wasn’t spicey and there were some big pieces of fat.  But I guess you can’t have completely lean brisket…it’s definitely better to have some fat in it.  The rice is made with ketchep sauce.  As for the egg, it was well made.  I will definitely try to make this at home because it doesn’t look to difficult.

As for Rockia, he had the green onion with beef and rice combo.  The meal came with some side dishes.  My favorite part of taiwanese combos are the side dishes.  They are also different and you never know what you will get.  I guess the small size of each side dish also makes it yummier.  The peanut dish was my favourite because it was a great snack.  I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take a picture of it.    Opps.  As for drinks, we ordered a pudding slush and a 3 beans slush.  They came in the plastic take-out containers.  We realized that all slush drinks are in the plastic cups.  I think it makes it easier for people to take the drinks with them if they can’t finish it there.  Slush drinks are too cold and take way longer to finish.  I enjoyed my pudding slush because the sweetness was just right.  I enjoyed the meal a lot.  As for the prices, it is similar to other bbt places in Richmond.  Food prices are definitely increasing.  Soon, iPanda will have to start cooking more at home!