Taiwan: Bubbleology

I first encountered bubble tea while backpacking around Australia. Every day I would see gaggles of Asian teenagers surrounding a kiosk in a Brisbane shopping centre drinking weird looking concoctions through extra large straws, until one day my curiosity got the better of me and I purchased one of the less weird looking drinks - and my love of Bubble tea was born.

Bubble tea is simply flavored tea (hot or cold) with tapioca pearls at the bottom. Sounds nasty doesn't it ? But trust me, don't knock it 'till you've tried it. And if you do want to try it, Bubbleology is the best place in London to start.

The Bubbleology team trained under renowned Bubble tea masters in Taiwan to ensure that the bubble tea they brought to London was as authentic as possible. Bubbleology offer 13 varieties of tea both fruit and milk based, which come served in over-sized transparent cups with a wide straw through which you drink you tea and suck up the soft chewy tapioca pearls.

So far, I have tried 3 different varieties, kumquat, green apple and coconut and I loved them all. I'm sure in time that I will work my way through the other 10 flavors too.

Address: 49 Rupert Street, Soho, London, WD1 7PF
Opening hours: 8am - 12pm Mon-Fri, 11am-12pm Sat-Sun
Tube: Piccadilly Circus (Bakerloo, Piccadilly)
Bus: Lots of buses stop here, check the TFL website for a full list
Car: There is very restricted parking in the area, probably better to take public transport.



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China - Cantonese: NOW Street Food

 Now Street Food is a little dim sum shop opposite Liverpool Street station.  It's location means that it is very busy with office workers at lunch time and so to make things easier for customers in a rush you can pre order your food online and pick it up from  the take away window outside - a bit like a drive though for pedestrians!

The food at Now is delicious.  New varieties of steamed dumplings are regularly rotated into the menu and stand along side customer favorites like the amazing Chinese burger - yes a Chinese burger.  This unique dish is like a cross between a burger, burrito and char sui bun.  The 'bun' is a large thick and flat bau folded in half and filled with pork and fresh vegetables.  They're delicious and filling and I can't get enough of them . 

The dim sum come in mixed baskets such as the Classic containing chive, seafood, coriander, chicken and vegetable dumplings,  The Seafood containing Har Gau, coriander and seafood dumplings and the Vegetarian containing Golden, spicy and spinach and mushroom dumplings.  All are served hot and fresh and steamed to perfection. 

The menu also has a selection of soups and rice pots.  I had the Duck soup which as well as being a massive portion also tasted amazing and contained nice big pieces of meat, ramen noodles and fresh veg.

Even though NOW is not run by Chinese people the food is very authentic - as I was informed by the Chinese lady I got chatting to.  In fact she told me that you'd normally have to go to China Town to get dim sum this good and she loves the food at NOW so much she visits at least once a week.  You couldn't get a better recommendation than that.

This is a place I will definitely be visiting again as the food is excellent (and the cute Frenchman behind the counter didn't hurt either....)

Address: 22/23 Liverpool Street, London, EC2M 7PD

Telephone: 020 7042 9191
Opening hours: 7am-9pm Mon-Fri, 9am - 6pm Sat & Sun
Tube: Liverpool Street Station; Circle, Central, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City, and main line trains
Bus: Lots of buses stop here, check the TFL web site for a full list.
Car: There is no car parking near by and the area is within the congestion charge zone.




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