Alain's Exploits: The Tea Bar

V-Mall (formerly Vira Mall) in Greenhills (or GH, as I call it) is not exactly known for its food choices. It's the place to go if you're looking for affordable clothes and gadget--- that is if you're a good haggler.

They do have a food court and some food shops scattered all over the mall. Since I usually go there for my gadget fix and was sorta hungry and curious, I decided to try one of the food shops I often pass by on my rounds: The Tea Bar.

The Tea Bar is a comfy enough place. It has warm lighting which is inviting and relaxing, this is specially good for eating. The chairs are soft (at least the one I sat on) and the tables were clean as should all restaurants be.

The only unusual thing about the place was the strong smell of tea. I'm saying unusual because I can't decide if it's pleasant or awful.

Their menu book looks tattered from old use and was very weird to hold and look at so I just ordered two things just to get rid of it. First is the basket of chicken.

The pieces were a bit smaller than I'm used to but there were 6 pieces so it's forgivable. The taste is.. meh. Not a very exciting taste.

The Earl Grey Iced Tea on the other hand is very good. I was a bit surprised to be served with an Iced Earl Grey when I'm used to it being hot but they did good with it. The taste of this drink is very strong but not like strong-tasting iced tea of other food shops. The strong taste here doesn't come from too much sugar, like other shops, but from the strong tea flavor. This is probably the only real iced tea I've had.

Rating:

Service: 4/5

Place: 3.5/5

Chicken: 2.5/5

Iced Tea: 4.5/5

Another Japanese Dinner @Tokyo Cafe

Iced Chocolano @Tokyo Cafe

We got stuck in Megamall as the car was coding that day. Bored, tired and dizzy... hypoglycemic perhaps, we decided to check out Tokyo Cafe. We had enjoyed their pizza there, but the last time we ate in their SM north branch was perhaps a year ago. It can be noted that there had been new additions to their menu and thus we decided to check out their Omurice. It's obviously a rice dish with a chicken ala pobre, topped with scrambled egg. Apart from that, we also had his favorite chicken trio, which is basically 3 pieces of fried chicken with fries, and for our drinks, Iced Chocolano, which they've recommended as their best tasting choco-coffee based drink.

Omurice @Tokyo Cafe

Chiken Trio @Tokyo Cafe

Location: Tokyo Cafe, SM Megamall

Food Ordered: Omurice, Chicken Trio, and Iced Chocolano

Cost: Omurice-P140; Chicken Trio-P210; Iced Chocolano-P133

Can't wait to feed my hungry tummy...

She says...

The cafe still has the same ambiance. I like their couch. It was really comfy. The staff were also courteous and attentive. Waiting time though was quite long, about 20 minutes but their free wifi internet access made waiting slightly more pleasant. For the food itself, the omurice was really tasty.The garlicky sauce blended well with the scrambled egg. Their fried chicken does not have any remarkable taste. Just your usual breaded fried chicken. However, I really like how crispy it is. The meat was juicy, but I did not notice any oil dripping out of it as I take on the meat. That's perhaps what made me appreciate their chicken. As for the iced chocolano, it looked lovely. The whipped cream on top was very sweet, but it did blend in with the slightly bitter choco-coffee drink. If you want the drink to be sweeter, a syrup was served alongside. adding a drizzle gave the drink a boost in flavor.

She rates: Omurice-5/5, Chicken Trio-4/5, Iced Chocolano-3.5/5

He says..

I first saw this shop at SM North-EDSA and as with all food stories go, we got curious and hungry. We were very happy with the food.

Sometimes, though, different branches of the same franchise produce different taste even tough they have the same menu so we thought Why not try the SM Megamall branch of this the great food store? I'm glad to report that this is not the case here. Their taste is the same for both branches.

The chicken tastes as juicy and soft as ever and the Omu rice, to my surprise, was even more delicious than the Omu rice from my other favorite Japanese restaurant. The same goes for their Iced Chocolano. I like the part that they give you a separate container for the syrup so you can control how sweet your chocolano is gonna be.

He rates: Omurice-5/5, Chicken Trio-5/5, Iced Chocolano-4.5/5