Bang Bang! Thai Tea flavour.
I am always super thrilled about new Asian dessert places popping up in town. Opened early December of last year the cleverly named Milk Lab is tucked away in the corner of the Wellington Park Shopping Center.
We popped by around 1:30 pm on a Sunday after a late lunch. The place was surprisingly busy but I assume most people were doing as we were; getting a little treat after a weekend meal. Not to mention the demand for this stuff must be pretty high. I mean, it’s damn good and I know I can’t live without it.
Inside is clean, simple and modern. Honestly it looks like every other bubble tea or bingsoo place I’ve been in Vancouver so I think they’re doing it right (haha!) The basic look of the “Asian tea/sweets” business. Faux wheatgrass in the window and a cute little chalkboard menu, too.
Here they serve a bunch of different milk tea, fruit tea, and milks, with or without boba (and grass jelly, too!) alongside Thai inspired rolled ice cream, that come with unlimited toppings!
We ordered two small teas and two rolled ice creams. I’d say everything is averagely priced, a bit more than usual bubble tea but you’re paying for organic milk and a nicer ambiance, plus a fancy cup. One thing I really appreciated is that if you pay by card their system reads your name and they print stickers for each product you ordered with your name on it so nothing goes missing. I wish more businesses used this model, especially for busy times.
Here we have an Oolong Milk tea and an Oolong Milk Cap Tea. Super tough to tell apart.
I don’t know why the basic milk tea wasn’t stirred? Like I understand not doing so for the milk cap, and I guess this is just for the aesthetic but at a glance it’s super tough to tell which is which. Not a huge deal though as it takes two seconds to mix, just an observation.
Milk cap teas have been popping up around a lot of tea places as are absolutely on trend. It’s similar to what you’d get with a cappuccino, but a salted creamy foam, often made with cheese as well. Theirs boasts cream cheese, organic milk and pink salt.
This was my first time trying one, but being a lover of salty/sweet snacks I knew it couldn’t go wrong. I really really enjoyed it! The perfect amount of creamy, savoury and sweetness. Beautifully brewed tea and good texture boba.
I tried my husband’s milk tea and it was subtley sweet and perfect too, just as I’d expect from a bubble tea place, maybe a little nicer. There’s no powders or bubble tea cup shakers, you know that thing that looks like a paint mixer. And they come in very sturdy plastic cups that you can sip from like a coffee cup or pop a boba straw in there.
I wasn’t a huge fan of having to pay for boba though? I understand paying for extra boba but you’d think a bubble tea place would just come with the bubbles. I assume it’s because it might cost them more to order tapioca wholesale or that its just not popular here.
Above is the Bang Bang Thai Tea flavour, followed by Birthday Cake.
Now, two things with the ice cream situation. While I appreciate the glass to be able to watch my ice cream being created, it made it very difficult to communicate to the maker what toppings we wanted, the music was just a bit loud and since I’m short I had to try and yell upwards. A lot of people in the line including myself seemed to have to repeat themselves multiple times.
Still cool!
Unlimited toppings are so awesome! But, personally, I would have liked more Asian toppings. I’m not going to put oreos or fruity pebbles on a Thai tea flavoured ice cream. I want popping boba, red bean, mochi, aloe, grass jelly, and other weird goopy/chewy fun things. I understand I’m probably with the minority on this in North Carolina but I found that a bit disappointing. I ended up just asking for whip and an extra drizzle of sweetened condensed milk. My husband enjoyed his birthday cake but said it was pretty average, as expected really.
The Final Verdict:
It’s nice! Great bubble tea, awesome variety of flavours and good quality organic product. Fun and tasty rolled ice cream too!
It can be busy but the line up moves fast. A welcome addition to what little we have here! Keep it coming!
