Hulu Cat

Hulu Cat.

The last time I’ve been to this place was like 2007. That was a while ago and for a good reason. They’re located on Anzac Ave, near the Beach Road end. First, they seriously need to clean up their toilets cause I can smell pee like 3 metres away from the toilet door. Secondly, the damn place is cursed with no parking. I think they’ve removed like 90% of parking spots on Anzac Ave, so good luck to those who wants to “drive” to Hulu Cat. A couple of sampled drinks:

Wheat Tea with Pearl.

Mango Slush with Pearl.

I have to admit, their drinks are great provided you don’t let them go nuts on the syrup. What I’ve learnt, is that you have to request for less sugar for all these milk tea drinks. The staff just love to pile on the syrup. I wasn’t taking note of the price of these drinks but I think they were around $6. From what I remember, it wasn’t expensive or cheap, so pretty much standard price.

Anyway, they are famous for their pearl tea and quality is good. Environment is great and cosy, as long as you don’t sit near the toilet. Otherwise, a pain in the bum to go for a drink because of lack of parking around the area.

My rating is a favourable 8/10.

Chalin Tea House

A quick post during Easter. Happy holidays everyone.

Chalin Tea House is on Dominion Road, formerly known as Easy Way. There’s always a Beamer outside the place – most likely the owner who also works there. Anyway, I hardly go to this place because it’s kinda far. I ordered the Honey Dew Milk Tea with Pearl for $5.90.

Honey Dew Pearl Milk Tea.

My rating is 7/10. It’s too powdery for me. No actual “tea” taste. But I know this place is quite a popular one, so didn’t get too biased.

Taller Park

You must be thinking “What the f*** is he doing there?”

Yes, yes, I was hungry and it was late, and Taller Park was the only “decent” place open at night. Taller Park is not exactly famous for their hygiene (apparently there’s been rumours/”reports”). They are located on Wyndham Street, just off Queen Street. If you know where Kathmandu in town is, it’s sorta near there.

The first thing you can try to spot in Taller Park is their food premises grading certificate; it’s located behind the eftpos machine with the letter “E” covered by a cup or something. I was thinking, “Should I risk this?” Hehe, who cares, so I went in. I have tried this place a few times and quite like some of the dishes.

The menu was long and eventually decided on the same thing! I know, the combination rice (soya chicken + BBQ pork). But, the cool thing about this place is their large pearl milk tea (or green tea) drinks. For this occassion, we ordered the acidophilus green tea with pearl, and this is a special one. Pictures are shown below:

Combination Rice.

Acidophilus Green Tea with Pearl.

The combination rice was pretty good, plus there was the usual free soup. Also, I quite like the tofu side that came with the rice. For $10, it was huge and to be honest, tasted pretty good. I think Taller Park has a lot of potential, they just seriously need to work on getting a better food premises grading.

The drink was very good, the acidophilus green tea is quite a unique drink. It’s hard to describe but I do highly recommend it. For $4.30, you get the green tea, for $1 extra, you can have the pearls.

For this particular occassion, I don’t have any complains. It’s been more than a week since I had their dish and my tummy seems fine. Taking into account the size of the dish and its cost, and the unique green tea drink, I’ll give Taller Park an 8/10.

Momo Tea

Normally this isn’t a place I would go to. But a couple of friends dropped by in Auckland and wanted to meet there. Obviously this place is quite a popular hangout, as it was pretty full when we dropped in at around 11pm on Friday. Momo Tea has three branches in Auckland (that I know of), one in the CBD, North Shore and Mt Albert. This particular review is held in Mt Albert.

In my head, I knew how the milk tea would taste like – frothy and milky. And lo and behold, it is. We ordered the “hot” taro pearl milk tea and cold original pearl milk tea. And to fight the midnight hunger, we ordered the chicken, beef and lamb sticks. Have a look at the pictures below.

Taro Pearl Milk Tea (Warm).

Original Pearl Milk Tea (Cold).

Chicken, Beef and Lamb Sticks.

The milk teas were reasonably priced at $5. You don’t expect to pay more than $6 for the mik tea. But I’m not a big fan of the frothy milky taste (thus recommending Easyway if you prefer less milky and more tea taste). The meat sticks were quite delicious, especially the chicken and beef sticks.  The lamb sticks had quite a bit of fat on it, so I avoided that with a vengeance. For $1 a stick, it’s very reasonable. They had other sticks, like chicken heart, liver etc.

Personally, my milk tea taste is of a unique standard (not too milky) so I wouldn’t drink it here. But the meat dishes is a good recommendation from me. However, for that particular night, there was an ‘aggressive’ waitress and she didn’t really talk politely (bad day perhaps?).

So with all that taken into consideration, I’ll rate the place 6.5/10. Their meat sticks saved them! So, if you’re into kebabs, satay sticks etc, come to Momo Tea.

Easyway

Now, now, now….

Easyway, what can I say, a fantastic place to get the traditional Asian drink – bubble milk tea. I don’t know what the history is and I only started drinking lots of it thanks to my girlfriend. There are so many places out there that sell these drinks. Some notable ones are Momo Tea in Mt Albert and Northcote, Hulu Cat Tea House on Anzac ave, Quickly in the Atrium food court etc. There’s too many and they all vary!

Anyway, bubble tea is just a milk tea (brewed or powder) with the option of having pearl (tapioca balls?), coffee jelly, green tea jelly, coconut jelly etc. Furthermore, the milk tea can be flavoured, for example taro, honey melon, mango etc, or just stick to original.

In comparison, of all the places, Easyway on Hobson Street (next to the Pizza Hut) is absolutely perfect. Let’s compare it to Momo Tea. It is one of the most popular places in Mt Albert, but the powdery thick milk is just not natural tasting and it’s fatty! Next is Hulu Cat Tea House, their milk tea is too creamy and feels like a meal. Quickly is too sweet (urgh!). Easyway on Hobson street just got it right, good tasting tea, not too powdery, pearls are perfect and for the zillion of times I’ve been there – they’ve never got it wrong. Only at times, they ran out of pearls. This means they’re good and they do it right – not for profit!

Original milk tea with pearl.

I suggest going over to the place one night when you’re bored and order an original pearl milk tea. It’s only $4.90. If you’re feeling generous, go for a large, it’s only $5.50. If you buy 8, you get one free. I give this place a 9/10. Perfect drink.