Bubble Tea Restaurant and Awesome Ph

I’m always on the look out for good milk tea in Manila. I’ve finally found a good hot milk tea at Lugang Cafe but so far the bubble milk teas I’ve tried have been disappointing. They all taste more milk than tea. Will this be the one?

I’ve seen Bubble Tea restaurant in SM Megamall but I’ve never tried it before. I saw they were opening a branch in Wilson street in Greenhills and I planned to try it one of these days. But then I saw this post on Philippine sites offering coupons and deals like Groupon in the US.

I signed up for email notifications with a couple of sites. Nothing really interested me until I saw this deal from Awesome PH.  I immediately bought the coupon and paid via Paypal Philippines.

Aside from the choosing anything from Bubble Tea worth P300 they also sent me a coupon for a free large milk tea redeemable at the Greenhills branch only until Nov. 14. So I went yesterday to claim my freebie.

Check out my bill. I paid P99 for a meal that cost P410. That was truly an awesome deal!

I ordered a Vancouver sushi made with 2 whole breaded shrimp wrapped with sushi rice, doused with teriyaki sauce and the whole thing was topped with spicy tuna salad.  I loved it!! The tuna salad wasn’t spicy at all. The teriyaki sauce added depth and flavor to the sushi. One piece was a big bite with the fried shrimp in the middle. I can’t wait to try their other sushi creations.

Vancouver sushi P285

The sushi came out in 15 minutes. The milk tea came out 15 minutes later. Granted that the restaurant was 80% full at 5:20 pm on a Sunday that’s still no excuse for a simple cold drink to take 30 minutes to make. There were two other people who ordered take-out at the same time as me and both were getting equally impatient.

I also noticed that all the tables had food and people were eating without their drinks too. Some people were already finished with their meal by the time their drinks arrived.

I requested my milk tea to have no sugar but I saw the receipt indicated less sugar. It turned out to be just right because the sago or tapioca (bubble) was already sweetened. It was the best sago ever! It was thick and chewy. In Hong Kong, Taipei and the US the sago is unsweetened. I prefer it the Filipino way where they cook it in sweetened water.

The sago was the only saving factor for the royal milk tea which was their bestseller. I barely tasted any tea just all milk. Disappointment again. Next time I will order a plain green or black tea with sago.

royal milk tea, large P125

I liked the fresh and youthful interiors. The lighting was very good too.

They really have to improve on the speed and efficiency of their drink production. Maybe it has something to do with the distance of the tea shaker to the production area?

It was really tedious work the way they made the bubble tea. The poured sago and other ingredients into a glass in the area to the right of the cash register. Then they put the tea into a special container and walked to the tea shaker which was to the left of the cash register.

After the shaking is done they go back, get it and pour it into the prepared glass. There were 3 people making the drinks and still they couldn’t catch up on all the orders. Maybe the employees were new? Hopefully they will be faster in the future.

This was a cute seating area too bad no one wanted to sit there. I predict this will be converted to traditional seating in the future.

Hmmm dessert coming soon.

Come back tomorrow for the best cold milk tea from Hong Kong.

Bubble Tea Restaurant menu
milk tea, milkshake, coffee, tea
green tea/black tea, tea slush
Tokyo side treats, stick treats
pasta, burgers/sandwich
Tokyo entrees, soup/salad/sidings
yoshoku rice dish, noodles/donburi
maki-zushi, nigiri-sushi, sashimi


Bubble Tea Restaurant
U3 220 Wilson St., San Juan, Metro Manila
telephone: 477-6381