ZenQ is a Taiwanese dessert chain that opened in the Vancouver area a bit over a year ago. Since their first store (I believe in Richmond?), a few other locations have opened up around town. I live closest to the Burnaby location and went once last year, but thought it was time I write about it.
This post also contains a delivery order with Maki, Nigiri, and the boyfriend! (my stomach was acting up that night so I didn’t order anything, sad).
The location is clean and new, less than a year old. Surprisingly, there aren’t many bubble tea places along The Heights so they don’t have much competition. Parking is easy to find and free along the streets.
Hot grass jelly pudding with Q balls and pearls: Grass jelly is made from a Chinese plant, with other herbs added inside. The result is a healthy dessert, usually served cold with other toppings such as syrup, pearls, mochi balls, or ice cream.
I ordered the plain one when I had a sore throat, but this time, I ordered one with toppings! My go-to is the hot version with Q-balls, pearls, and red bean. The Q balls are chewy, mochi balls which come in yam, sweet potato, and matcha flavour.
The pearls add a nice sweetness and more chewiness to the grass jelly pudding as well! This is such a guilt free dessert and I am still able to eat it with all my digestive problems, which is a win for me!
Milk tea with pearls: The boyfriend really enjoyed his milk tea. There was a strong black tea flavour and not diluted at all, which is evident of their quality.
Cold grass jelly dessert: This is from a separate delivery order with Maki and Nigiri. It was the cold grass jelly with vanilla ice cream, mochi, and pearls. It looked delicious and they didn’t have complaints about it.
Jasmine green milk tea: While Maki and Nigiri ordered a food item, the boyfriend went with the Jasmine milk tea. He noted the strong Jasmine flavour and quality this time too.
ZenQ has been around for a year now, and I suspect that we will be back more often, whether it’s for dine in or delivery!
The grass jelly is high quality and made in store, while their teas are fragrant and delicious. What’s not to love about it?
Calamari: The food came out within minutes of ordering, it was quite impressive! Cheese recommended the squid tentacles here, so we had to give it a try. They were very fresh and crispy, and fully seasoned with Taiwanese style spices. If you’re craving squid tentacles, I would definitely recommend ordering them here!
Chicken nuggets and rice: Again, the boyfriend’s dish came out so fast! It came with a pretty big basket of Taiwanese chicken nuggets. Just like the squid tentacles, the chicken nuggets were super fresh and crispy. They had the signature Taiwanese spices which are so addicting!
Taiwanese beef noodles: A long time has passed since I had Taiwanese beef noodles, it just seems so hard to find these days! I ordered it with thick noodle for an extra $1.00.
Growing up, I was in Chinatown with family often so I remembered this place as a Chinese tea speciality store – Ten Ren Tea to be exact. I was a bit sad to see it go, but change is really evident in Chinatown these past years. Rhinofish also kept the original green tile from the tea shop so that’s good.
We went on a chilly November weekday evening, and it was pretty quiet. The place had new and modern decor, but it had that old building smell and the floors seemed like the original. I quite liked the vibe in here.
Open kitchen and the rest of the restaurant.
Taiwanese chicken nugget w/ truffle oil and parmesan, $8.50: When this arrived, it smelled heavenly. I love the smell of truffle oil and when the scent wafted to my nose, I couldn’t wait to try it! It also came sprinkled with a generous amount of parmesan cheese, which melted a bit from the heat of chicken nuggets.
Taiwanese beef noodles, $14.50: The classic Taiwanese beef noodle soup. This was delicious and just perfect! The broth had a nice depth and richness to it. Meanwhile, the short ribs were richly marinated, incredibly tender and melt in your mouth.
Huadiao rice wine chicken noodle soup, $14: Cola decided to try a different type of noodle soup that night. I tried a bit of the soup, and I found it to be sweeter but flatter than the beef noodle soup. The veggies were clean and fresh, just like my bowl of noodles.
Despite the fact that I came here mainly to try the truffle oil chicken nuggets, I really liked the Taiwanese beef noodle soup. This place is pretty hipster as you can tell with this cute plant IN the table LOL, (along with all the new restaurants popping up in Chinatown), but they do capture traditional Taiwanese beef noodle soup really well.