Cha Time is a popular Taiwanese chain that gained popularity in Vancouver a couple of years ago. There are now many different locations around Vancouver. The thing I like about Cha Time is that you can customize your sweetness and ice level, and they actually pay attention to it!
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.
Malt milk tea: This is the boyfriend’s go to, ever since he discovered it the first visit. It is the same as a regular milk tea, but they add malt powder to it. The malt makes it taste even better and if you’re a fan of malty things such as Maltesers or Ovaltine, you should definitely try this!
Mango slush: I usually alternate between some sort of fruit slush with 50% less sugar. The pearls here are consistently tasty and chewy.
Edit: Why are the reviews on Zomato so bad….? It’s not even that terrible here!
Yay!
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.
I had made reservations on Open Table for an early dinner, at 6 pm. When we arrived, the parking lot was completely full! We ended up parking on the hotel side, which was still a really quick walk. The outside of the restaurant looked pretty modern and posh.
We were quickly seated, and the restaurant was pretty empty, save for a few other tables. Other parties ended up coming in as well, but it was nowhere as busy as The Keg would be. I guess this place isn’t really located in a residential neighbourhood or an entertainment district either, which explains the quieter venue!
It was an special occasion, so of course drinks were ordered!
Tuna tataki, $14.95: As an appetizer, we decided to order the tuna tataki because the boyfriend looooves tuna tataki. Unfortunately, this dish was really disappointing. The tuna was pretty hard on the outside and tasted as though it had been prepared awhile ago and left in the fridge.
Bread, complimentary: The bread was served nice and warm, with no complaints!
Filet mignon, $39.95: On to the main course! I had my heart set on the prime rib, but changed my mind last minute and ordered the filet mignon, cooked medium rare. The filet mignon came with a red wine reduction, and I chose fries as my side.
Rib eye, $37.95: Unlike how I was set with the prime rib before changing my mind last minute, the boyfriend stuck to his original decision and ordered the rib eye. When we were looking up the menu a few nights prior, he knew immediately that he wanted the rib eye!
Mini birthday dessert bite, complementary: I had called in requesting a birthday dessert for the boyfriend. After confirming with our server, they brought over the mini birthday surprise! She was nice enough to give us the option of a complementary full dessert due to her dairy mistake above, but the boyfriend was already too full at this point and I am unable to help him eat this =(