Hello my bubble tea loving friends! Grayson and I recently discovered a super awesome new place called Bambu. Bambu is unlike any other bubble tea shop out there because not only do they offer homemade toppings but they also incorporate Vietnamese influences into their menu.
As a matter of fact, one of their feature menu items is Che, a traditional Vietnamese dessert. Another thing that sets this place apart are the swing chairs with durian pillows!
The toppings
As I have mentioned earlier, Bambu has a variety of toppings here that are unlike anything I’ve seen before. They have a bunch of popping pearls to choose from but they also have a lot of jellies. Grayson and I were most intrigued by the red tapioca and egg pudding. We had no idea what either of them were and when we asked about them, the lady who was taking our order gave us samples! Talk about good customer service!
Anyway, the egg pudding is made with egg powder and it’s similar to mango pudding in texture. The red tapioca is something unique to Bambu and it’s not anything like tapioca pearls. It’s red and the inside is a little crispy and crunchy. Now I don’t mean like a cracker, I mean crisp like biting into a watermelon.
While we both wanted to try the Che, we couldn’t pass up on the 12 different topping choices. We couldn’t decide on which to choose! We haven’t seen this many options offered anywhere except at Milk and Sugar cafe.
The drinks here are priced for a small size but for $1 more, you can get it in a large. $4.25 for a small tea/milk tea seemed like quite a bit to start but when we started considering that they use some real milk and give you free toppings, we decided that it was worth the price.
Rose milk tea
I decided to go with the Rose milk tea because I haven’t had it before. At first, I was nervous that it would taste like soap but was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t turn out that way. I got mine unsweetened with crystal pearls and rainbow jellies. I’m sure the toppings had syrup in it or the rose syrup was on the sweet side because the drink was slightly sweetened. I didn’t mind though because it was quite delicious.
Matcha tea
At first we thought that there was milk in it because of how creamy it looked but turns out that it only looked like that because of the egg pudding he got in it. He said that the matcha wasn’t very sweet but still strong enough that he could taste the “grassy” notes that come with matcha powder. He said that the egg pudding went well with it because of its neutral flavour. Overall, we were happy with our visit.
Mango fruit tea
It was made with real mangoes and was quite sweet. It had chunks of mangoes, basil seeds and it was supposed to come with rainbow jellies as well but they were out of it that day. You also get to choose your free topping so Grayson added pearls to it.
Taro milk tea
The taro milk tea was made with a mix of taro paste and powder but I asked for them to make it with just the paste and it was amazing! The drink had floral notes from the taro and it was a bit on the sweet side but I enjoyed it regardless. It was just too good!
Quick bites:
- Try the Che, it’s definitely something you can’t get anywhere else
- Choosing the perfect topping might take a while so expect longer than normal order time
- Come #Instaphotoready because we all know that’s what the swings are for