No thread that I can think of on cheese foam tea. It’s sort of a whipped cream with a cheese flavor version of the sea salt foam that 85°C has. It’s become all the rage in China and got here in February. More and more places are getting into the act. Hopefully, more soon on that (like in a couple of weeks). If that sounds good to you, give it a try (each place has different choices of teas, or in the case of Happy Lemon - coffee, that are topped with the cheese foam).
As far as Nothingness, I don’t know. But, whatever you do (and despite Huo La La signage and a large “Huolala Style” section on the menu), do not call them Huolala
I’ve had it a couple of times, at a couple of different places, on a couple of different drinks. One time, I didn’t drink it properly, so it’s hard to compare. Not unpleasant, but personally, I don’t get all the fuss. It’s ok. Worth trying, IMO.
I’ll be checking out at least a couple more. You know, being thorough.
Any recommendations? I assume you’ve tried it at Happy Lemon, given your previous comment. I only have a single point of reference at this time, and I’m certainly inclined to try some more!
went to the aforementioned ding’s garden this past weekend. i had never patronized any of the other branches.
the XLB, described as “with peanuts” were unremarkable, sad for a place that is supposed to specialize in shanghai-ese cuisine; the wrappers were thick and leaky.
otherwise, the waitress was surprised that this non-fluent mandarin speaker knew to order two of the most popular dishes on the menu.
for those who have never been & like cold plates, i recommend the cold plate with beef, beef tendon, pig ear & tofu. the pic does not adequately represent the size of the dish.
I’ll vouch for the cold plate. I had one of those at the Ding’s Garden when it was across from Sunny Plaza. Interestingly, I don’t recall XLB at the earlier Ding’s. That earlier Ding’s had some Wenzhou-style items.
Haven’t tried Fluffy, but I’ve gone to Tan Cha in the SGV. It’s actually pretty good if you like the combo of sweet + savory. I don’t have a big sweet tooth, so the best way to order is less sweet cheese foam tea, cold, but no ice. I find the ice just gets in the way when you’re trying to get a mouthful of foam. What I like about it is that it’s like milk tea, but b/c the foam stays at the top instead of being mixed in, it ends up not being a watered down mess.
Okay, did a mini-bang-bang today. I still like Little Fluffy Head most in terms of taste, but it’s expensive. Tan-Cha is good, and it costs a lot less. LFH has more dessert drinks, whereas Tan-Cha is more tea-based. I had a half sweet, low ice Pu’Erh Tea with Cheese Foam. Their lids, though, are not very conducive to drinking the tea while enjoying the foam. LFH wins on that one, hands-down.
I also tried Happy Lemon, and it was fucking gross. I had the matcha latte with tiramisù cheese foam, and even though I asked for less sweet and less ice, it was quite icy and overpoweringly sweet, so much so I couldn’t even really taste the matcha flavor! It was a sugar latte, and the cheese foam was super sweet, too. Fuck that; I don’t know what I expected of a tea shop inside a bakery.
What were your thoughts on the pu + cheese combo? I usually have the red oolong or what’s on their menu as “roasted oolong” with cheese and it’s a good balance. I found the pu + cheese to be…not the best.