The trek to Pacific Mall generally requires an hour and a half, and involves a ride on the dreaded TTC. I purchased a token this time around, and thus felt the need to snap a photo of it before sliding it into machine to gain access to the buses.
It was lunchtime by the time I arrived, so I met up with my friend in the food court.
It was lunchtime by the time I arrived, so I met up with my friend in the food court.
I ordered a Ham, Cheese & Veggie Crepe from Nicola's Cafe, while my friend got a ramen with a side of mediocre fried chicken.
My main purpose of the trip was to stock up on Korean beauty supplies, mainly hand masks as winter never fails to wreak havoc on my already parched hands. Electronic stores are just as popular as beauty retailers though, and I couldn't help but notice some cute character-themed car accessories and chargers while browsing the mall.
Snack shops are also considerably popular, but while these never-before-seen Matcha and Azuki Pocky flavours were surely tempting, I couldn't quite bring myself to relinquish $6.59 (+ tax) for a pack of four coated pretzel sticks.
We later stopped by Chatime to try out two of their new spring drinks: Thai Milk Tea and Thai Coffee Milk Tea.
The first time that I had tasted Thai Milk tea was last fall in Hamilton. Seeing the word "Hamilton", you can already guess that it was nothing short of an icky powdery mess. I had high hopes for Chatime.
The first time that I had tasted Thai Milk tea was last fall in Hamilton. Seeing the word "Hamilton", you can already guess that it was nothing short of an icky powdery mess. I had high hopes for Chatime.
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To my disappointment, Thai Milk Tea tasted just like regular milk tea, and Thai Coffee Milk Tea should've just been named Coffee Milk Tea. Despite the horrendous powdery mess that was Tea Hut's drink, it at least had a "Thai essence" about it. Nothing was "Thai" about these drinks than the slightly orange hue.
We went on to explore First Markham Place before I met up with other friends for pre-karaoke dimsum.
We went on to explore First Markham Place before I met up with other friends for pre-karaoke dimsum.
ten23 has an $8.99 Happy Hour deal between 4:00 - 8:30 PM that comes with two complimentary drinks.
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It was then decided that we would go to Shiso Tree Cafe, a cozy Japanese cafe with Wafu-style fusion pastas, for dinner after karaoke.
< Pictured above: Carbonara Pasta >
Wi-Fi was stable, servers friendly, and the meals incredibly satisfying (albeit a few of them being revealed as erring on the greasy side). Fusion food is a generally difficult concept to grasp, especially when crossing the cultural border. However, Shiso Tree Cafe is one of those few exceptions. While I hadn't tried the other pastas, I found my portion of Carbonara to be more than enough to fill my stomach; I had only managed to finish half of the plate, but enjoyed every bit of the shredded Parmesan and crisp bascon bits entwined between spools of creamy pasta. The single common aspect of the pasta that could be improved on would the viscosity of the sauce: a thinner, less congealed formula would have been preferred.
The full album can be viewed HERE.
I had also been bugging a particular friend about Cha Me. Cha, so we went for snow ice afterwards.
Wi-Fi was stable, servers friendly, and the meals incredibly satisfying (albeit a few of them being revealed as erring on the greasy side). Fusion food is a generally difficult concept to grasp, especially when crossing the cultural border. However, Shiso Tree Cafe is one of those few exceptions. While I hadn't tried the other pastas, I found my portion of Carbonara to be more than enough to fill my stomach; I had only managed to finish half of the plate, but enjoyed every bit of the shredded Parmesan and crisp bascon bits entwined between spools of creamy pasta. The single common aspect of the pasta that could be improved on would the viscosity of the sauce: a thinner, less congealed formula would have been preferred.
The full album can be viewed HERE.
I had also been bugging a particular friend about Cha Me. Cha, so we went for snow ice afterwards.
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< Pictured above: Snow White Snow Ice and Green Tea Wizard Snow Ice >
Cha Me. Cha was packed when we first arrived, but thankfully the wait only lasted a few minutes. We ordered three snow ices to share amongst all of us, in addition to three drinks to fulfill the minimum charge requirement.
The full album can be viewed HERE.
Cha Me. Cha was packed when we first arrived, but thankfully the wait only lasted a few minutes. We ordered three snow ices to share amongst all of us, in addition to three drinks to fulfill the minimum charge requirement.
The full album can be viewed HERE.
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Snow White was a vanilla-flavoured snow ice with popping boba, sugar syrup, and sweetened condensed milk as toppings. Green Tea Wizard had a light green tea-flavour, a red bean topping, and grass jelly hidden underneath. Nutty Storm was had a strong peanut flavour, had large tapioca pearls as toppings, and contained slivered nuts and semi-firm pudding underneath.
All three snow ices were much softer in texture than I originally imagined. Snow White and Nutty Storm contained just the right amount of flavour, but I found Green Tea Wizard to be slightly lacking. It may be because I generally prefer a stronger green tea taste though. Nonetheless, all three were great! It was just a shame that Mango Tango had been sold out, else I would've loved to compare and contrast against the one I tasted while in Taiwan.
I ordered a Guava Happy Lemon to go; it was essentially a slightly melted citrus-flavoured slush with lychee popping boba and green apple jelly. As with many reviewers, I did find that their drinks weren't as great as their desserts, but will admit that the Happy Lemon is a decent pick-me-up. Perhaps next time I'll go next door to try ZenQ's grass jelly desserts!
All three snow ices were much softer in texture than I originally imagined. Snow White and Nutty Storm contained just the right amount of flavour, but I found Green Tea Wizard to be slightly lacking. It may be because I generally prefer a stronger green tea taste though. Nonetheless, all three were great! It was just a shame that Mango Tango had been sold out, else I would've loved to compare and contrast against the one I tasted while in Taiwan.
I ordered a Guava Happy Lemon to go; it was essentially a slightly melted citrus-flavoured slush with lychee popping boba and green apple jelly. As with many reviewers, I did find that their drinks weren't as great as their desserts, but will admit that the Happy Lemon is a decent pick-me-up. Perhaps next time I'll go next door to try ZenQ's grass jelly desserts!
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