Bubble Tea

Being the curious george that I am, I had to go and investigate this place after I spied it out of a window at the gym.

What looks like a large portaloo in the middle of Cabot Circus is in fact a shipping container, home to CUPP cafe. Apparently the company upgraded to this big blue box about a month ago after they outgrew their old Citroen van!

Inside, the cafe comprises of a tiny kitchen and an equally tiny waiting area full of wooden boxes.

The menu baffled me because I had absolutely no idea what on earth 'bubble tea' was, so I got the nice man in the kitchen to explain:

Bubble tea originates from Taiwan and is a milky, tea-based drink with chewy 'tapioca' balls added to it. Thus it is known as "the drink that you chew".

I didn't want to tell the nice man that I thought it sounded absolutely disgusting, so I went along with it and decided to try one anyway. I fancied something less milky and a bit more refreshing, so opted for an iced fruit version of the traditional bubble tea.

Step 1: Pick your flavour - I chose lemon.

Step 2: Pick your tea base - On the expert's recommendation I chose green tea, although you could also choose between black tea or jasmine tea.

Step 3: Sit on a box and wait.

Here is the result: 

The actual drink was delicious and refreshing. The balls on the other hand were effectively soggy wine gums, and made the whole drinking experience very strange. At first they were fun and exciting, but I was soon sick of them constantly getting in the way, and ended up pinching my straw so that I could enjoy my iced tea without them.

One man in the cafe told me that he liked firing them at people in the street through his straw. Maybe I should have tried that...

Personally I think I will opt out of the balls next time, as half of mine ended up in the bin. Regardless, the lemon and green tea concoction was very enjoyable and I look forward to trying out some different flavour combinations in the future.

Healthy Monday

Warm chicken salad with tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, onions and all that good stuff - beauuuuuuutiful.

After the closure of M&S (which according to all the old ladies waiting outside was due to a mysterious alarm going off inside) we were forced to reconsider what to have as a post-gym lunch.

The answer, in fact, was right in front of us...directly in front of M&S in one of those permanent food stands which usually look more than a little bit dodgy. Selling warm baguettes, jacket potatoes, salads and other healthy fast foods, this one was far from dodgy. Freshly made in front of you, this was much better than any supermarket version. Would recommend anybody in the Cabot Circus vicinity to check out this out if you're hungry and in a hurry. Delicious!

Not so classy eating it on the side of the road while waiting for a bus but we won't dwell on that...