Written by: Gabrielle Borromeo
Published in the Daily Tribune (Life Style section) on Friday, 25 April 2014.
Japan at this time of year is once again akin to a beautiful picture in a frame. The streets are covered in trees abloom with cherry blossoms. Everything, it seems, is enveloped in pink and white. Indeed, many would hie off to Japan right now, but that is easier said than done.
Thank goodness for Tokyo Bubble Tea (TBT), a tea company that transports a piece of Japan’s Sakura season to the Philippines through Sakura-themed treats like the milktea, the milkshake and the pastry. TBT offers just a taste of what one is missing.
Tokyo Bubble Tea in the Katipunan Extension branch in Quezon City recently celebrated Japan’s Sakura season with its version of pink madness.
Among the drinks, there is Sakura Milk Shake and Sakura Milk Tea, among others. Sipped through a fat pink straw, the creamy milk shake soothes the tastebuds and comes with bubbles (black tapioca) in different circular sizes. The Sakura Milk Shake is a creamy blend of vanilla, milk, green tea and cherry blossom essence topped with a generous amount of ice cream, making it doubly irresistible.
As for the Sakura Milk Tea, it is a concoction of vanilla and green tea, blended with cherry blossom essence sans the ice cream and served with cubes of ice.
The drinks served at Tokyo Bubble Tea are classified as premium. For the milk teas, TBT uses first class Japanese ingredients and high-caliber tea, which they make fresh because they only make it upon order. They also brew a new batch of whole leaf tea everyday. As for the shakes, TBT also uses natural ingredients. The sweetener that TBT uses for their drinks is either white sugar spun into simple syrup or Splenda, depending on one’s choice.
The Sakura Mango Roll is a cotton-candy colored pink velvety chiffon cake with fresh mangoes that complement the cherry blossom essence, giving it a fruity kick.
The Sakura Milk Tea, Sakura Milk Shake and Sakura Mango Roll will only be served until the end of May.
New dishes
Tokyo Bubble Tea also now serves a slew of new dishes to try. First is the Bulgogi Nachos, a delightful sight. The golden yellow, crunchy nachos are sprinkled with a mixture of bulgogi, spicy mayo, onions, tomatoes and carrot strips. What a colorful (and spicy) thing to munch on!
Another dish, just as colorful, is Nippon Ebi. This dish is a panko breaded prawn rolled in sushi rice with a huge mango strip on top along with melted mozzarella cheese. It is like the California Maki’s lookalike, only better. The mozzarella cheese addition makes it a lot creamier.
Don’t forget to leave room for the Samurai Burger, big enough to be sliced into half for women who are not so hungry. It has simple layers of honey mustard, lettuce and the TBT signature apple sauce with potato fritters all tucked into a fluffy sesame seed bun.
For the main attractions, try the Omurice with Steak Mushroom Sauce with Hamburg Steak, a combination of two dishes on the TBT menu, one being Omurice with Steak Mushroom Sauce, which is an omelette filled with fried rice in a special steak sauce with mushroom. The other variant is the Hamburg Steak with Demi Glace (brown sauce), which is a hamburger patty with a tangy and sweet demi glace that emphasizes the cream and the mushroom in just the right balance.
The Korean Bibimbop is a dish of Japanese rice drizzled with zucchini, carrots, beansprouts, spinach, mushroom, egg, chili pepper paste and a special sauce.
The Shinjuku-style Buffalo Wings is served with the wings covered in a spicy, dark brown barbecue sauce. The six pieces of chicken wings in each plate are seasoned with a special mix of spices toasted in a spicy and aromatic Buffalo-styled sauce. Before one orders, one can inquire how hot the chicken wings are and request for a milder version or a medium one.
Not to be missed is the best-selling 1/4 Japanese Chicken Leg Rice. The chicken has just the right crispiness to it as it is deep-fried to perfection and it is best eaten with the garlic rice that comes with the order.
Sweet endings
The cakes that deserve attention, aside from the Sakura Mango Roll, are the Matcha Cappuccino and Chocolate Caramel Cake.
The Matcha Cappuccino is a heavenly green tea cake with cappuccino filling between layers of green tea cake. In this case, coffee and tea combine well in a sweet confection.
The Chocolate Caramel Cake, dense and moist, is familiar, but at Tokyo Bubble Tea, it gets an added ooomph — toffee crumbles reminiscent of the Australian Violet Crumble.
Tokyo Bubble Tea’s food servings are always satisfying because it is good enough to share, the ingredients are of high quality and the restaurant is designed to feel like home, cozy and relaxing.
Tokyo Bubble Tea is owned and operated by the couple Reagan and Aileen Tan, and this restaurant is their seven-year-old Japanese baby born in the year 2007 at Megamall. It is famously known as a milk tea hub, but is also a dining place brimming with food offerings that can cater to varying tastes. It is hinged on quality in both products and services, but is mainly thriving due to its loyal costumers who find reasons to keep coming back.
Reagan took culinary studies at the Dubrulle Culinary School in Vancouver, Canada and was awarded a diploma in Professional Culinary Arts. He later returned to the Philippines and finished his degree in Mechanical Engineering at De La Salle University.
Aileen, meanwhile, is in charge of the pastry section and also studied in Canada, at the Vancouver Community College, where she took her pastry and culinary education.
Together, the couple ventured on a restaurant adventure to satisfy people’s cravings. Tokyo Bubble Tea has been alive for seven years and counting. Today, TBT has 11 branches.
Tokyo Bubble Tea has WIFI for diners and has partnered with City Delivery for delivery service. For delivery, visit www.citydelivery.ph or call 87878.
For more information on Tokyo Bubble Tea, visit www.tokyobubbletea.jp; “Like” them on Facebook at Facebook.com/tokyobubbletea; “Follow” them on Twitter and Instagram at @tokyobubbletea; or e-mail them at customcare@tokyobubbletea.com.
Comments