Out & About #67 | Israel Day on Campus + Green Grotto Mississauga

In celebration of Israel Day, the atrium of the student centre had been set up with various booths yesterday; each booth represented a different major city in Israel, and a representative would enlighten the students walking by the tables on the highlights of each city.

Had I not stopped by, I would have never known that Israel invented the USB flash drive, nor discovered the hummus was in fact not pronounced "hum-us", but rather "hum-moose". In addition to four stations that displayed artwork and information boards regarding the city, there was also a makeshift brick wall where one could write prayers on small slips of paper and stick them on. We were informed that a member of the team would be visiting Israel in the near future and would personally bring the prayer slips to the wall in Israel, where they would be placed in hopes of allowing the prayers to realize.
Various Israeli foods such as pretzels, mini danish, and couscous were also made available to the students. After visiting all the booths, one could also enter a raffle draw for a SodaStream drink carbonator.


I had been wanting to check out Green Grotto after discovering that they had recently opened a location near the main bus terminal, so I swung by today to pick up a hot rose-honey tea in hopes of soothing my sore throat.

The sun was setting as we pulled up in the near-empty parking lot, so please excuse the unflattering shadow cast upon the storefront by a distant pole.

The decor was very similar to their Markham location: modern and sophisticated, with earthy tones.
While the other location's bookshelf was stacked with manga and a couple outdated magazines, this one featured interesting figurines (daruma and a metallic owl) along with a plethora of magazines from different regions. I was surprised to see that they also had Japanese and Korean fashion magazines.

The hot rose-honey tea that I had ordered was actually not an option on their menu, however the bartender said that he could still make it. In just a few minutes, a cup of warm, fragrant rose tea was delivered to me.

The seating is actually arranged kind of awkwardly in my opinion: the cashier is located right in the centre of the cafe, and a seating booth separator is the first thing that welcomes you upon stepping foot inside. To place my order, I was allowed to manoever towards the most interior section, but was directed to wait near the door as soon as I was finished paying. This is quite a strange theory to me.

While waiting, I noticed that the restaurant was unusually empty for a late weekday afternoon. Only three tables were occupied, which led to me to wonder how long this location would last, especially given that it was hidden in the far corner of a small plaza.

Price-wise though, Green Grotto take-out beats dine-in by far. Upgrading to a large size requires only a dollar more, and takeout drinks receive an additional 15% off! The girl at cashier actually gave me two packets of sugar along with my order, explaining that no sugar had been added to the tea. "Isn't this was rose-honey tea?", I thought, extremely puzzled. I didn't end up using the packets of sugar, as my speculation had been correct and a generous amount of honey had, indeed, already been added to the hot drink.
Another thing I noticed was that their take-out cup was much more sturdy and user-friendly in comparison to Ten Ren's.

I'm pretty sure I'll be coming back next time I need a hot tea fix.