Out & About #234 | Roselle + Teara Lab Pre-Opening Event

To read Part 1 of the day's adventure, click HERE.

I have this one friend who constantly nags me for filling my stomach with snacks and desserts instead of actual food? And while I admit that I do have a tendency to opt for Mango Snow Ice from Cha Me. Cha instead of his preferred choice of Spare Ribs on Rice (really, I just can't be bothered to work my way around bones for sustenance) for lunch, it's not as if I never adhere to a regular eating routine. In my defense, I just happen to intentionally leave room after meals to allow for a larger sweets intake afterwards.

Likewise, this was the case with Roselle.

​The small, but insanely photogenic cups of light beige swirls had captured my attention early on in my Instagram searches, probably even before Sweet Jesus had debuted in the dessert scene. One might assume that Roselle only offered up candy pearl-topped Earl Grey Soft Serve due to the popularity of the single item, however it soon became apparent that the chef(s) behind the ever-hyped tea-based ice cream concoction were also in charge of producing beautiful, labour-intensive creations such as delicately torched Lemon Meringue Tarts and distinctly shapely Banana Cream Eclairs.

Roselle was definitely smaller in size than your average cafe but on par with majority of other dessert shops in Toronto, in which some don't even have seating at all - looking at you, Butter Avenue and Kekou Baldwin!
No more than four tables were situated for dining purposes; a L-shaped cashier area and brick-formed an industrial kitchen at the back of the tiny space. The sole remaining door led to a homey bathroom whose sink was in major need of a drainage check-up.

​Behind the glass display case was a menu that listed their entire assortment of pastries, along with several beverage options. Tea and coffee were not to be absent in the presence of baked goods, but Roselle included one more thing: the addition of freshly-made crepes.

We took no delay in relaying our order: Earl Grey Soft Serve, with lemon bits for an additional fifty cents.

​A cup of the shop's trademark soft serve was five dollars before tax, which was considerably pricey considering its size. The bill totaled a little over $12 for two people in the end - this wasn't something I was exactly ecstatic about.

The extra fifty cents had been a worthy addition though: in addition to a small squirt of lemon-flavoured soft serve being enveloped within the Earl Grey, a tablespoon-worth of lemon-flavoured candy pearls had been sprinkled on top and at the bottom of the cup prior to serving. Both portions were roughly 5-6 inches in height, each accompanied by a mini Earl Grey shortbread cookie and wooden spoon with "Roselle" embossed on the handle.

It often feels that my vocabulary isn't diverse enough to accurately depict every characteristic of the item(s) I consume; the soft serve presented to us can only truly be depicted as smooth and creamy. It possessed very faint hints of Bergamot - the citrusy flavour commonly associated with the particular blend of black tea - allowing for faint hints of lemon to shine brightly amidst the slowly melting, twisted tower.

Service was average at best, with the cashier being reluctant to introduce the shop's menu to us; she checked up on another table during our stay, but followed up on our table in a proud, almost-mocking tone and clearly unauthentic smile.

Nonetheless, their most popular Earl Grey Soft Serve had been great, and the environment allowed for ideal penetration of natural light from the outside world.

​We finished up our desserts, rather rapidly might I add, and made a quick stop at the Eaton Centre before trekking over to Teara Lab, where a pre-opening invitation had been graciously extended to me by a group of public relations personnel collectively known as Sweven Media.

With its grand opening only a mere week away, it was obvious the sandwich shop planned to garner as much interest and recognition as possible during its pre-opening period. More likely than not, the buffer time allowed both kitchen and serving staff to gain momentum in food preparations processes and improve efficiency for the actual launch, using social media influencers as "guinea pigs" for their test run.

Located directly across from the University of Toronto's main campus on College Street, the self-proclaimed Japanese fusion sandwich shop features a simple brick exterior and one single logo-stamped glass window. Leading up to the entrance is a short flight of stairs; the interior itself is comprised of a narrow hallway directly opposite an open kitchen, along a white-walled dining area capable to seating five groups of different sizes.

Natural lighting was scarce inside the establishment, and almost nonexistent once a lineup began to form near the ordering counter. It wasn't as if the dining area served as a good spot either, as the overhead pot lights made for seriously annoying glare spots. But this wasn't the downtown core's J-Town; it was intended to cater to the demands of students and fusion food-lovers alike by providing a spot to grab a quick meal.

View the full album HERE !

The concept of Teara Lab was derived in conjunction with the team from Markham's popular KAKA All You Can Eat sushi restaurant. While I have never step foot into the First Markham Place eatery, I was aware that they had brought forth currently trending items such as Aburi nigiri (normally served at higher-end restaurants such as Miku and JaBistro) to the AYCE scene.
The name "Teara Lab", as explained by one of the owners present at this event, had resulted from combining "tea" with a place where recipes were developed from scratch (ie. a "laboratory"). He described his creation as a restaurant where all elements of the sandwich menu had been crafted and developed in-house; along with food items, he also wanted to make aware that bubble tea options were available as well. As for "ra" of "Teara" though, he candidly admitted that it had simply been added to evoke more of a Japanese-sounding name.

​The menu included six types of Japanese fusion sandwiches, ranging from a classic Roast Chicken Burger to a fancy Red Wine Braised Beef Sandwich to a carb-heavy Curry Japanese Pork Sandwich. Customers could also opt for combos, which included their preferred choice of sandwich, one side dish (Sweet Potato Fries, Regular Fries, Poutine, or Asian slaw), and one tea-based drink (excluding toppings).

Despite being less expansive than Subway or Quiznos, I found the menu to feature enough distinctly different options to satisfy majority of student tastebuds. The beverage selection was also pretty diverse, and consisted of the most popular drinks from leading bubble tea chains.

​The event itself was a tad chaotic: the PR crew presented a speech towards the beginning, (all while making frequent references to their cheat sheet), sample food items were prepared in a tardy manner, and the delivery of ordered meal combos had been delayed as a result of unfamiliarity with the system.
Instead of preparing each item in the sequence in which they had been ordered, the kitchen had chosen to group several similar orders together. This meant that less popular items were delivered last, much to my dismay.

​My guest and I had purposely chosen different meal items for the sake of variety. Her Red Wine Braised Beef Sandwich arrived first - a prominent chunk of beef covered in crispy onions in a well-toasted poppyseed bun. My Curry Pork Sandwich made its appearance some ten minutes after on an identical wooden tray, crustless white bread and all. In all honesty, the trays were much too space-consuming for the tiny table, but we were too famished to care at this stage.

We first concluded that it would be impossible to go about the consumption process in a dignified manner. The chef was a generous man, and even went as far to overload each sandwich with more components than it was capable of holding. Curry sauce oozed between my lips, while bits of shredded lettuce escaped my guest's hands. Where were the plastic knifes when you needed them?
Teara Lab had provided napkins in excess, but one of the lab coat-donning members of staff coldly informed me that plastic knifes really "weren't a thing". Alright then.

Once both of us had adjusted to minimizing the mess to the best of our abilities, we agreed that the Red Wine Braised Beef Sandwich was mostly devoid of red wine flavor and the beef was coarser than it was tender. In contrast, I very much enjoyed my Curry Pork Sandwich, but definitely would have preferred a whole wheat bun and less dry of an aftertaste. The Sweet Potato Fries and Fries were well seasoned (read: high in sodium), but didn't exhibit the coveted crispy properties that I deem a basic expectation. Beverages were pretty much standard and on par with CoCo.

I suppose it's also important to note that neither the washroom nor garbage bin is particularly user-friendly. The sole method of disposal was a singular hole, roughly measuring two feet in diameter, cut into a podium-like contraption. The washrooms were only to be found after an extremely steep flight of stairs leading to the basement. While method of entry was similar to Gong Cha, the steps were much too shallow to be considered safe (I almost lost my balance during descent) and the ceiling too low for comfortable access and egress.

While Teara Lab loses points for ease of accessibility, I see great potential in the establishment once efficiency is improved. Once the team can obtain common ground in preparing items in a fashion resembling that of an assembly line, few issues will remain unresolved. Of course, the addition of plastic cutlery and a large garbage bin would also be much appreciated. Loyalty systems, joining Ritual, and including delivery would also greatly benefit the business, though it is my humble suggestion that the basic processes for delivery be perfected first.

The doors to Toronto's first fusion sandwich shop will open on May 27th, so give them a try!