A couple of weeks ago, I was meeting up with my cousins and they suggested on going to Boba Monster. It is one of their go-to bubble tea places. I’m glad that I tried it because it was delicious!
Strawberry mango slush with pearls: I can’t remember what my cousins ordered, so I’ll just describe my own. The slush had a nice consistency and was the perfect sweetness for me.
There was a good balance of fresh mango and strawberry. In addition, the pearls were sweet and chewy.
Mango sago: The mango sago was one of their specialty drinks. It was a fresh mango slush with mango chunks, mango stars, and sago. Maki opted to get it without whipped cream. She didn’t have any complaints about it, and I thought that the mango stars looked really pretty inside the drink!
Matcha red bean: Nigiri ordered the matcha red bean, another one of their specialty drinks! The boyfriend has been ordering this the past couple of times now too. It came with matcha slush and red bean, topped with mochi, whipped cream, and more red bean.
I would recommend this if you’re a fan of red bean! Red bean is just average to me so I wouldn’t order it myself. But I enjoyed the matcha portion of it.
After a couple visits, we discovered that Skip The Dishes offers free delivery over $20!!! How convenient (and bad) is that! We took advantage of this deal while babysitting my cousins, because it’s only worth it if you have 4+ people. Otherwise, you would have to pay $4.75 delivery fee plus tips.
Boba Monster has not yet disappointed and I can see us coming here more often for our bubble tea fix. Especially during board games night, we can take advantage and order it with friends. Service is friendly and quick too!
Yay!
The location I mainly go to is the East Hastings location, which opened up a few months ago. It’s usually lined up but most people take their drinks to go. This location has free parking in the lot or also on the street.
Virgin passion fruit limeade, $4.50: This came with passion fruit, mint, and fresh lime juice. It was a bit sour for my liking and I wish that there was more passion fruit flavour. Nonetheless, it was alright and a good non-alcoholic drink.
Maui Ahi Poke, $9.50: I can’t sing enough praises about the ahi tuna poke… it was so delicious! In fact, I came back here a week later and ordered the same thing because I enjoyed it that much.
Garlic fries, $3.50: Cocoa and her friend decided to share this, but it was quite disappointing for garlic fries. There wasn’t really any garlic taste at all. It tasted just like normal fries.
Chicken tacos, $7.50: We each ordered two chicken tacos for $7.50, which was a pretty decent price.
Margherita pizza w/salami add on, $5~: Without the salami, the margherita pizza was only$3.50 which is so cheap! However, do be warned that it is definitely a snack size and is quite small. Cocoa had no complaints about the pizza.
Avocado toast, $7.50: Cocoa’s friend was curious about the avocado toast, so she decided to try it. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious either but I never order it from restaurants as I can easily make it at home. I feel like avocado toast has also become so amusing ever since that businessman said in the news that avocado toast is the reason young people can’t afford a house these days.
A shot of all our food! Overall, some food items were a hit or miss but I would definitely come back now that I know what to order and what to avoid. The prices are great and it is a good place to go to hang out over food. And now that you’ve read my review, you can learn from our mistakes and not spend your money on the items that weren’t worth it 😉
Tumeric Teas: I noticed that many tea companies at the festival were featuring tumeric in their teas. Tumeric is a spice that has recently gained lots of attention for its health benefits, although it’s been used for centuries.
Tea Sparrow: Tea Sparrow was our favourite booth! They had many types of herbal, green, and black tea samples that we enjoyed. My favourite was the herbal strawberry mint, which I ended up purchasing.
Justea: This booth specialized in purple leaf tea. Why is it called purple tea? Because purple tea leaves grow naturally in the tea bush due to the Anthocyanins antioxidant.
The picture above is still from Justea. They had the coolest steepers in the festival and I thought it was worthy of a photo! Once the tea is done steeping, visitors pour themselves a sample in the environmentally-friendly glass cup provided (and are able to keep after the festival!).
Oollo Tea: Oollo tea focused on oolong tea, which Smores was a big fan of! They had many different types of oolong tea on sample.
Young Mountain Tea Company: Young Mountain Tea Company had a few samples featured as well!
Shaktea: I remember going to Shaktea’s cafe on Main Street three years ago, and enjoying their tea. I quite liked the colourful assortment of tea tins and herbal tea sample. They have since moved from their Main Street location to Cambie Street, which will be opening later this month.
Tsuru no Maru: We were intrigued by this table because of the pretty pink flowers and simple layout (hey, marketing works okay!). Unfortunately, we didn’t get to sample their tea because the person was busy talking to other guests.
Xiaguan Tuocha: This booth really brought me back to childhood, because my dad is a huge traditional Chinese tea lover. This booth had all of the Chinese tea ceremony supplies and the tea that my dad loved to drink!
Amoda Tea: Amoda Tea had quite a lot of samples and we both enjoyed their teas.
Whisk Premium Matcha: This booth specialized in matcha tea. I love matcha but I don’t drink/eat matcha as often as I like because of my caffeine sensitivity. The lady was quite busy with other customers so we decided to skip out on the samples here.
Suika shirley temple, $4.80: I love the drinks at Suika, and decided to order this since it’s been awhile! The Suika shirley temple comes with calpico (Japanese yogurt drink), fresh watermelon puree, soda, and lime. This was deliciously sweet, with the watermelon tasting very fresh. Unfortunately, I found out that calpico may contain milk, so I decided not to chance it and ruin our dinner and ended up only drinking half of it. I know, how sad =( The boyfriend had the rest and he thought it was pretty good.
Sashimi salad, $11.80: I don’t even know why I like sashimi salad so much, when I don’t even like regular salad. It must be the sesame/miso/garlic style dressing that Japanese restaurants use that I like so much, coupled with fresh seafood! It’s such a clear and healthy, yet delicious dish. Everything in this salad was delectably fresh, including the sashimi and the greens!
Tuna tataki, $7.20: My must order recently is the sashimi salad, and the boyfriend’s is the tuna tataki! This was very delicious with the inclusion of the home made chili oil but it wasn’t extremely spicy.
Ebi mayo, $9.80: We liked this the last time we came here, so decided to order it again. Unfortunately, the batter was really bland and tasteless. The batter also did not taste that fresh as well, it was a bit soggy.
Kakuni bibimbap: After cracking an egg and stirring it around for you, it is recommended to let this sit for 3-5 minutes to let the stone bowl cook the rice, making it crispy! We’ve ordered this in the past and it was delicious this time as well. We found that this had a salty fish flavour even though we only saw beef. However, the boyfriend does not like the taste of salty fish so he didn’t eat that much of it.
Tokyo oxtail ramen, $9.80: I always get this when I come here because it’s so delicious! It is very flavourful and comes with a chunk of oxtail, that has a fair amount of tender and flavourful meat. The noodles were nice and bouncy as well!
Aburi toro battera, $12.80. Lightly pressed fatty tuna with avocado, sesame seeds, and home made soy dressing. We haven’t ordered this before here, but man, was this DELICIOUS!
We were looking forward to their frozen grapes, but they didn’t have it this time! =( We got candies instead. I forgot what flavour they were (I’m assuming watermelon?) but they were pretty good.