Tag: drinks

HiGuys 盖市茶饮 (Bubble Tea) – London, Walworth Road

On By Bao Bao QiuIn drinksLeave a comment

Ah hah! There’s a new bubble tea shop on the Walworth Road!

With the increasing decline of the main shops and businesses on Walworth Road (for example Barclays Bank – still can’t believe that Barclays are closing this branch thinking that not many people use this branch! There’s so many people in the community who still rely on face-to-face services, I’m sure their stats are all wrong… then there’s a temporary closure of the Post Office! So angry!).

Well, if you’re fired up from all this chaos of high street closures, and the increasing strikes in the UK, I think a bubble tea might cool you down. 😅

HiGuys 盖市茶饮 (Mando: Gai Shi Cha Yin; Canto: goi si cha yam … literal meaning: lid/to build – city/market – tea – drink) is a bubble tea brand from Taiwan. From research on the Internet it looks like they started up in 2018 in Taiwan, and have expanded throughout the world. There’s 3 branches already in the UK (Derby, Nottingham… and Walworth Road), but not sure if this is a very popular brand… best thing to do is just try it out!

The menu on the screen is a bit small to read, but there are menus at the counter for you to decide on your drink, and there’s a menu at the window in case you’re too shy to go in.

And whilst you’re waiting, you can watch the video about this bubble tea shop… with English and Chinese subtitles.

I wasn’t given a bag, so I carried these home. It felt a little warm at the bottom as they had heated up the brown sugar tapioca bubbles, which started to cool down with the ice.

Here I ordered the “Night Elves” and the “Dream Chaser”. Guess which one is which.

If you haven’t guessed yet, well here’s the Night Elves which is basically the brown sugar tapioca pearls in milk. I forgot to shake it before I started to drink it. This had 75% sugar and less ice… Whoops. Too sweet! But so good! I had a long morning, and this one instantly cooled me down.

And this one is obviously the Dream Chaser. Maybe it’s because of the light colours at the top that make it all dreamy… not sure! They ran out of the blue tapioca pearls, so I had the brown sugar ones instead. Not a problem! This one reminded me of drinking an iced slushie. Like crunched up ice with a mix of different flavours. I didn’t check out the ingredients properly, but it looks like it’s got cranberries, coconut jelly and the white part is probably yogurt… not sure. This was amazing! So many sweet flavours in little cup…

I can’t wait to try more in the future!

Total came to £9.45. Not a bad price if you’re not heading into China Town for this stuff.

Address: 231 Walworth Rd, London SE17 1RL

Telephone: 07447978989

Facebook Menu: https://www.facebook.com/100057608882805/menu/

Just Eat Menu: https://www.just-eat.co.uk/restaurants-hi-guys-walworth/menu

Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/store/higuys/okiZjOejVwKYntHBWEuvAA?diningMode=DELIVERY

p.s. It was my birthday a few days ago… here’s a mini birthday cake bought in Kowloon Bakery in China Town.

HOKO Milk Tea

On By Bao Bao QiuIn foodLeave a comment

Hoping to blog more about food and drinks this year. Well fingers crossed unless we’re taken over by Covid, or another lockdown (probably an unlikely event), or I get struck down with Covid again (let’s hope that doesn’t happen – I was just miserable).

I bought this tea back in November in Kiki and Miumiu, but became lazy to blog about it.

Have you ever tasted Hong Kong milk tea before? If not, this is probably a good introduction to the tea, because you’re not going to like the original one back home as they use very strong tea. HOKO Milk Tea, which is based in London is a new brand.

It’s all hand brewed as described on the back of the drink pack. They use ceylon tea, evaporated milk and sugar, and you can drink it hot or cold.

So what do I think? I think it tastes lighter than the original versions, mainly because of the amount of sugar used, and I think they use a bit more milk here… I guess it’s to suit the British taste, but British people like strong tea too… Although if HOKO made it to the exact original taste, I think people will turn away from it (I remember my first time drinking this tea (hot version) back in HK … my face grimaced, and the more sugar I added, it just started tasting weird. MummyGeek just got angry at me for wasting the tea and her money LOL … I’m used to the taste now).

I saw on Instagram that they’re making glass bottle versions! Hope they’ll be cheaper in price. Good luck HOKO!!

Cost: £3.49 (expensive!)

Size: 250ml

Website: https://www.hokolondon.co/

Tsujiri Matcha Tea Shop 辻利茶舗 – London, Rupert Street

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
Have you been to China Town recently? Most of the pavement work and building redevelopments are finished, we just need more of the shops to be taken over by whatever is planned. Just fingers crossed for kawaii shops to appear and more food places to try out!

So on a hot day a few weeks ago in April, I happened to have a day off, and so it was decided with MummyGeek to go to China Town… As we were going home, MummyGeek had to stop off somewhere, and I didn’t want to wait, so I decided to go and have a cold drink. Cuppacha and Happy Lemon both had queues, they didn’t have queues beforehand!! Unlucky!! Well then, there were two or three new options on the other side, where it wasn’t too busy…

I chose Tsujiri Tea Shop 辻利茶舗 as it wasn’t busy, and there were only a couple of customers sitting around.

Various snacks are available… But didn’t have the appetite for these…

This is what I had, the houjicha ice blend. I think I ordered the regular one, but this could be the medium size.
Could taste the houjicha (a green tea flavour), it wasn’t too sweet… However I thought it was a bit too icy. So hard to drink whilst there was so much blended ice, it just wouldn’t melt on this hot day…!

It took me more than an hour to drink this! Hmmm, I think I would come here again, but not for the ice blend drinks.

My geeky rating: 4/5

Address: 47 Rupert St, Soho, London W1D 7PD
Tel: 07446 245225

Website: tsujiri.co.uk

Japanese Beer Variety

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
It’s been a tough couple of months (and another month to go). I think I almost burst with anger around a month ago with my managers making mistakes. 😡 In the end, I had to resolve it with alcohol!!
I went into Longdan after work, and I wanted to get a Sapporo and Asahi beer, but then I saw a new variety of beers they were selling. Including some non-alcoholic beers, but I didn’t buy those ones. Miss Pinky saw this picture and immediately thought of the variety we saw in Tokyo. 😁 I actually felt that same momentum when I bought these.

This Japanese Red Beer 赤濁り (red turbity? 😕) is actually quite interesting in terms of the can… for some reason the writing was upside down, not sure of the reasons. Anyway, the flavour was quite bitter, it mainly uses barley. It wasn’t my favourtite of all beers that I bought.

This one is called Komugi no Beer. This one uses wheat, and I actually liked it! It’s quite light but also bitter in taste, reminded me of a Heineken Beer, although Heineken mainly use barley… Hmm I think I like wheat more I guess.

This Lemon Beer is quite interesting. It’s not a shandy as it doesn’t taste like they’ve added lemonade; it tastes more of juice from a lemon added to beer. I’ve had the non-alcoholic version and I think that tasted awful. Definitely have the alcoholic one, it’s bitter with a lemon twist.

My favourite one: Komugi no Beer
The beers here are ranged from £2 to £4. It ain’t so bad considering a pint of beer in the city costs around £5 and up. 😆
p.s. Drink in moderation… even if you’ve had a tough day, have a herbal tea instead of a beer. You’ll feel better the next day!

UCC Japanese Instant Drip Coffee Mocha Blend

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Have you ever heard of dokodemo.world? I’ve never heard of them until I saw an advert pop up about them. Dokodemo is like a Japanese supermarket online that ships worldwide… Although the products are quite cheap, the shipping fee is so expensive. 😥

I was searching for a few things, but I ended up buying 5 packets of cheese mochi (might post them in a future post 😉) and this drip coffee. What’s so special about this???

Have you gathered what this is about yet?

It looks like a dressing gauge for a wound… LOL!

Ta-da! It’s a one cup drip coffee bag. LOL! I may have seen it on a Japanese drama, but I saw it in an anime where one guy is making a coffee like this… Think there’s a few versions in Japan, but this was the cheapest option on Dokodemo! ^_^ The cup is from Muji by the way!!

So all you do is pour water, and it actually drips quite quickly… Japanese people are clever at everyday technology… 

Added a bit more water… didn’t want to waste the ground coffee!!!

Well, I like a nice coffee. This was actually quite nice. Not too bitter. Tasted like an Americano…

Going to make my last 19 coffee bags last until next year… I actually have a plastic drip coffee maker with lots of filters to get through, so these will definitely last until the new year… 😁

Pikachu Can Drink – Ocean Bomb (Cucumber Flavour)

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
Pikachu in a can? So kawaiiiii!!! 可愛いいいいいい~~~~~~ Bought this in H Mart because I thought it was cute.

Well the outside was cute, but the inside drink was kind of weird to have a cucumber fizzy water drink… Ugh! But it wasn’t sweet… it was just sparkling water with cucumber extract. ¬_¬””

Will never buy this again! Sorry Pikachuuuuuuuu!

Homemade Soya Milk

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
My last pending post from last year. And I’m procrastinating and forgetting what I did in HK already. :p
I have never made soy milk in my life before. So MummyGeek showed me how.
It’s a well known “recipe” to do amongst the vegetarians and vegans… and the Chinese… LOL. It’s inexpensive but a timely process.
All you need are these two ingredients:
– Raw bag of soya beans (or they could be called yellow beans – wong dao)
– Water

1. Empty about a third or half of the bag into a container – a cylindrical type.

2. Add water. You can add as much as you want depending on how concentrated or diluted you want it. Soak for a few hours or overnight until you’re ready to use it. You will know when it’s ready when some of the shells come off or you can pick some out and feel if it’s soft enough.

3. I cleared out the dirty soaked water using a large sieve.

4. Add clean water.

5. Use a hand blender or a blender and whisk away until you see milk coloured water.

6. Separate the soya bean remnants and milk by using a sieve into a saucepan.

I don’t know what you can use the remainder for… ¬_¬””

7. Boil the milk for a few minutes.

8. Empty into a mug and add sugar if needed… And enjoy…

Mine was quite concentrated but I enjoyed it.
Just have to use the rest of the beans now… Maybe I’ll use fewer beans and more water next time.
Ok… I promise the next posts will be from the holiday!

Go Ape & Lighthouse Pub – London Battersea Park

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
It was Mr Games’s birthday last weekend and I was invited to his double birthday outing (there was another friend’s birthday at the same time). The outing was at Go Ape in Battersea Park. Didn’t even know this existed!
I ended being the photographer for the afternoon since I didn’t want to climb and cry and think I was going to fall over and die (like that person in the USA – may she RIP). Just too scary!
Almost got lost after entering the gate. I turned right instead of left. Don’t trust Google Maps! There was a big group of a us, a mixture of friends between both Mr Games and our birthday boy.
The equipment they used looked tight. Need protection at all times! I took a lot of pictures, but most were of the group having goes at all three courses… it was windy that day, and it took them around 3-4 hours to complete. ^_^

Mr Games and his cousin doing the wristband pic
It was tough being the photographer… Looking up into the sky doing all the rest of the hard work. LOL!!

Address: Park Offices, Battersea Park, London SW11 4NJ
Telephone: 0333 433 0983

After watching these peeps completing the courses, we headed to the Lighthouse Pub, which wasn’t far from the park. I was with one of the friends who couldn’t complete the course as she didn’t want to do the zip line from the first course (where they fly across from one end to the other). Two of second birthday boy’s friends was already there…! Already drinking!
The pub originally placed us in a corner with a table for 6 people, but there was like 15 of us!!!!!!! How did you book this table Mr Games…? So we asked to be moved before the rest came.
Finally got to try out the third flavour from Old Mout Cider… Passionfruit and Apple. Hm. Still like the strawberry one.

Everyone looked hungry and we all seemed to have ordered burgers… LOL!! 
Burgers needed seasoning… I also wished they offered me the sweet potato fries. 😦 BUT the their tomato sauce with herbs was amazing! Thumbs up for that!!

Desserts were too sweet… Didn’t like my Eton Mess… Bleurgh.

My geeky rating (for the pub): 4/5

Too lazy to point out the good and bad points… but I think you can guess from the scoring that the food was average (apart from their tomato sauce). Presentation was ok. Service was ok but disappointed with the seating arrangements. 

Address: 441 Battersea Park Rd, London SW11 4LR
Phone: 020 7223 7721

Website: http://www.thelighthousebattersea.com/

A good day out it was! I caught Mr Mime (Pokémon Go) that night. Still no signs of Pikachu… need to walk around some school campuses or industrial sites it seems. :p At least I’m keeping up the walking!

Old Mout Cider – The Real Stuff

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

So I’ve seen many of Old Mout Cider’s posters around London, and now it was time to try out the real stuff. The drinks itself.

It’s going to be a short post… because I’m too lazy to think and type and also watch The Walking Dead at the same time (the show is so gross!).

Bought these two bottle of ciders in Tesco. Looks like there are three flavours available but only saw two in the fridge.

This is the Pomegranate and Strawberry flavour. This was nice and sweet with a stawberry kick to it. It’s like drinking strawberry soda but with some alcoholic elements in it. Quite liked this one.

This was very limey than kiwi, it was also sweet, very mellow in taste like drinking a fairly sweet fizzy white wine. 

The favourite so far is the Pomegranate and Strawberry. Look forward to finding the third flavour. ^_^

Website: http://www.oldmoutcider.com/

Happy Lemon – London China Town

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
Ah, another bubble tea shop. I guess we Chinese people never tire of them. Lemon tea is pretty much famous all over the world but for there to be a shop just making them feels different. I’m used to tiny restaurants in Hong Kong making them and I’m used to buying bottles of them in Asian stores. So what’s so special about this one?
Happy Lemon is a little different. It’s another worldwide brand originated from Hong Kong (I think) which started up in 2006. Around 13 years later they have over 100 stores around the world that’s according to their website. ^_^ Of course I must go and have a try!
Located right next door to Cuppacha, the little tiny shop does not seem to be afraid to stand out and take loads of customers away. With a big plastic statue of the Happy Lemon mascot it attracts people like me to have a look and see what’s happening.

It’s a bit like all bubble tea stores, choose your drink, cold or hot, add sugar etc, etc… nothing new to experience here but instead of asking for your name they give you a number tag so don’t lose it! I ordered in English since my Mandarin is a little off (still) but they do have Cantonese speakers, so don’t be put off with not knowing any Mandarin too. ^_^
Cost came to £7.50 as I had ordered two drinks to try out. The place is a bit small and they do get a lot of customers… I guess people like lemon tea! ^_^
The main difference with other bubble tea stores is that they have their own merchandise which I haven’t seen! That’s quite cool. 
So much merchandise

Here’s their top selling drinks. ^_^

I got the drinks and headed home. I decided to go and drink them in a nearby park although it was quite windy that afternoon… the sun was out but too much wind!! I looked at the bag and thought OMG this is so cute! I didn’t keep the bag but I wish all things were this cute. >_<""

First I had the Chocolate with Rock Salted Cheese. Que?! Rock salted cheese? That sounded awfully different. Well I had a go… and to be honest I couldn’t taste any cheese… or any saltiness… ¬,¬” Is that what the taste is supposed to be…? Just tastes like a chocolate milkshake with bits in it… Looking at this person’s blogpost I realised that they’re using cream cheese not the fatty cheese that we like on our pizzas. Heheheh.

You don’t shake this drink by the way… check out Happy Lemon’s promo video.

Next up I tried out the Fresh Lemon Black Tea with 50% sugar… Oh my, I think I should have went for full sugar because it was very strong and sour. They leave the lemon slices inside so you will expect some lemon pieces in your drink.

Overall I did enjoy a different type of bubble tea although I wasn’t offered any jelly bits to go in my tea… Nevermind…
Will I go back? Maybe…

Address: 24A Newport Court, London WC2H 7JS
Tel: 0207 734 1966
Website: http://www.happy-lemon.co.uk/