Other than KOI that draw large crowds from the bubble tea lovers, Gong Cha(贡茶) is also another franchise from Taiwan and there are only 2 branches in Singapore located at Novena Square 2 and City Square Mall. I love milk tea, so usually I will go for their milk tea range like their signature
Gong Cha Ali Shan Milk Tea with pearl or
Gong Cha Milk Green Tea with herbal jelly shown above. Their pearl is soft and chewy and the milk tea taste smoothing and great with 30% sugar level which I find it is just nice compare to 50%.
You can also choose the level of sweetness range from no sugar, 30%, 50%, 80% or 100% which I will usually go for 30% only. So far the queue at Novena Square 2 was not that bad during lunchtime, and the average waiting time would be like less than 15 minutes or so. You can also add pearls or different types of jelly to your drink with additional $0.50 or so for the top-up.
Do you know why it is known as "Gong Cha - 贡茶"? The base of this tea is usually either matcha tea, black tea, tea or oolong tea that top with milk foam to arouse the taste and fragrant of the tea.
Gong Cha Outlets:-Novena Square 2
10 Sinaran Drive
#01-172
Singapore 307506
Telephone: 6397 6816
City Square Mall
#B2-K3/K4
Telephone: 6509 3803
A few days ago when I walked past a new shopping mall at Bugis(武吉士 ) area, I was surprised to see a very long queues at the end corner of the mall. Out of curiosity, I went nearer to the queues to see what are those people queuing for. And while approaching the store, I saw the popular milk tea signboard – "KOI Café" and I realize that those people are actually queuing for "KOI" pearls milk tea. From this photo and you will notice that most people really loves KOI and despite of the hot weather they still can queue under the hot sun just for that cup of "fragrant and chewy pearl milk tea". Out of all the KOI outlets, which one do you think draws the most number of customers and which is their most popular tea on the list? Upon looking at the queue, I actually have the urged to go and ask those people what makes them fell in love with this tea and willing to queue under the hot weather just for that cup of tea.
Similarly to Gong Cha(贡茶), KOI also allows the customer to choose the sugar level of their tea range from no sugar, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%. Personally, I found that 50% and above will be kind of too sweet to our liking unless you really have sweet tooth. The one shown on the photo above is their "Ice Cream Milk Tea" where a scoop of vanilla ice cream will be added into the tea so for this a 30% sugar level will be great.
If compare to Gong Cha(贡茶), the pearls from KOI has a wonderful texture that is soft and chewy which is not too hard and importantly it burst with mild flavour that goes well with their tea. If you don't like tea, you can also go for their coffee menu which they have a few decent choices too. So are you willing to spend more than 30 minutes queuing for a cup of chewy bubble tea.......
KOI Outlets:-Koi Cafe Ang Mo Kio
Blk 704 Ang Mo Kio Central
#01-2545
Tel: 6459 1518
Koi Cafe Bishan
513 Bishan street 13
#01-503
Tel: 6258 1729
Koi Cafe Iluma
201 Victoria Street
#01-15 Iluma At Bugis
Tel: 6884 6817
Koi Cafe People’s Park
1 Park Road #01-16
People’s Park Complex
Tel: 6536 8330
Koi Cafe Marine Parade
Blk 83 Marine Parade Central
#01-562
Tel: 6440 4869
Koi Cafe Toa Payoh
190A Toa Payoh Central
#01-562
Tel: 6256 1169
Other than the two HOT bubble tea competitors above, there are so many other bubble tea stores available in Singapore such as "Each a Cup - 各一杯", "Sweet Talk - 甜言密语", "Ochado - 茶の道" and many other small outlets in coffee shop or food court. I have tried all the 3 stores mentioned above and strongly agreed with most of my friends who have tried "Sweet Talk - 甜言密语" that they are really very generous with their sweet syrup which makes their bubble tea far too sweet to drink. I remember there is once I ordered their lychee flavour bubble tea and it seems like they have pour in half bottle of the lychee syrup which makes the drink so sweet and full of artificial lychee taste.
So after all, I think Each A Cup bubble tea still taste acceptable with their sweetness and mini pearls. Recently, they also have this sugar level choices for customer to select too.
Recently I spot a newly renovated shop around my area which has that unique decoration that resemble most Taiwan bubble tea outlet known as "Ochado - 茶の道". I was attracted to their wide range flavour tea such as Assam Tea, Oolong White Peach Tea, Okinawa Milk Tea, Fusion Iced Tea and etc. I have tried their “Okinawa Matcha Milk Tea - 冲绳抹奶茶” which has a very fragrant matcha taste that blends well with the sweet azuki beans and chewy pearls.
With a good impression of their tea and pearls, I went back on another day to try out their “Pop Eggs Milk Tea - 魔力爆蛋奶茶” which I am curious to find out what exactly is “Pop Eggs - 魔力爆蛋”. And after checking with the friendly counter staff, she told me that “pop eggs” are actually coffee flavour bubbles that will burst with light coffee liquid when you bite it. This is indeed a very interesting topping to go with milk tea and to me, I feel that I taste rather like those royal jelly capsule. 
OCHADO
Block 102 Yishun Avenue 5
#01-129
Singapore 760102
Telephone: 6757 4301
Note:~ The price of these milk tea from Gong Cha(贡茶),KOI Cafe and Ochado(茶の道) range from S$2.20 - S$4.90 excluding extra topping of pearls or jelly from S$0.50 each choice.
Last Saturday, after our monthly food outing at Cafe De Hong Kong, we had a great time of kite flying session at Marina Barrage. Although we have being there for a few times, but this is the very first time we have hands-on flying kite together with so many kite lovers there.
For your information, the once a year Kite Festival is back again this year which is on this coming weekend, 18th & 19th September 2010. This year event is held at The Promontory @ Marina Bay, where you can find more details on the map and information HERE.
But if you can't make it on either of the two dates shown above, you can always drop-by the Marina Barrage and join those kite lovers and enjoy the beautiful sight of the kites flying in the sky. You can access to the barrage by public transport bus 400 or shuttle service by the barrage itself near Marina Bay MRT station.
It's a very fruitful trip for everyone of us and Rey really enjoys himself. Look he can even fly the kite himself without any of our help despite with a little setback that he encounter.
These are two of the lovely sunset and night photos that I have captured. Admiring the Singapore Flyer at opposite end instead of boarding it and look far to the Barrage.
Love this "Postcard" layout photo, even though it might look slightly darker on the buildings. Must brush up on my night mode photo shoot skill now. For more photos of our kite flying trip, you can refer HERE. 
Our September Food Outing was held at 
First we have these lovely "
After the seafood roll, here comes our long waited "star" dish of the menu, “
“
Next interesting item on the list is this “
Talking about Fried Rice, which is your favourite choice? Although I am not a fan of fried rice because I often find it too oily or dry for my liking, but if I have to order I will always go for “Yang Zhou Chao Fan - 扬州炒饭” which I love it's special fragrant. For our last item on menu, we have this special fried rice that totally changed my view towards fried rice. This is also one of the chef recommended dish of this cafe which is known as "
