Tea time at Serenitea!

B, who is a friend and a boss (not in that order), recommended that I check out Serenitea, since I have a thing for milk tea. So after my nearby shoot today, I headed over to J. Abad Santos (off Wilson) in San Juan try their milk tea.

At first, the options were daunting. But the girls behind the counter were very nice and explained the differences between Royal Tea (Earl Gray) and Hokkaido Tea (a bit caramel-y). I went with Royal Tea. Then they said I could select the amount of sugar I wanted in my tea. I tried 50% and they let me have a taste test first. 50% was pretty good. Not too sweet as to overpower the subtle tea flavor. But I went with 100% anyway. Haha. I think I can go for 75% next time. And despite the many options, I appreciate the precision.

The tea at Serenitea is freshly brewed, and it shows in the flavor of the milk tea. I like that I can customize the sweetness and that I can add other stuff like pearl and crystal bits. Next time, if I find myself tiring of milk tea, I will try their Grapefruit Yakult.

PS. J. Abad Santos Street seems to be a happening place. It's where one of my favorite bars, Moksha, is located. Gloria Maris is at the corner. And down the road, they have Sandy's Pizza and the new and improved Mann Hann. Worth further exploration in the future.

New picks

I haven't had much time to do a proper post lately. But I have had time to eat, and here's what I've been liking -
- Charlie's in Kapitolyo - good burgers, great buffalo wings (nuclear!)
- Chiggy's jumbo liempo - what's their secret, boil, brine, and/or marinate in crack cocaine?
- BBQ Chicken - but not the Red Hot Drumsticks (while they are hot, I find them too sweet) (this is the only Korean fried chicken place I know about in Manila)
- Mamou's chicken and pork with rice and beans
- Piri piri chicken in O'Sonho's along Jupiter - I can't believe this isn't fried
- Piri piri grilled pork and clams in the Portuguese stall in the Legaspi Sunday Market (this guy's piri piri sauce is much hotter than O'Sonho's but he could do with a better grill)
- Ukkokei ramen along Pasay Road - not cheap but worth it once in a while
- French dude's sandwich stall in Salcedo Market - the homemade sausages are great
- Mini stop fried chicken

save your money

Don't eat at John & Yoko at Greenbelt 5. Or at least don't order the Hollywood Tuna, basically a tuna sashimi salad drizzled with soy sesame dressing. Don't be fooled by the yummy-looking picture. The tuna is overpowered by way too much coarsely ground black pepper and the dressing is blah.

Their Dragon Roll is ohkaaay. But not great. The Beef Spinach Tamago is yummy, but not yummy enough to make up for the other two dishes.

The interiors are Cibo meets Tokyo Tokyo. Pero 'pag pumikit ka, feeling mo nasa cafeteria ka lang sa ingay ng mga tao.

So many of their waiters have blond highlights, I suspect it's an employee benefit. Or maybe they just work at salons during the day.

Overall, sayang sa pera. Mag-Omakase na lang kayo :-).