Tea Station (revisit)

Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!! This food blog is a compendium of road trips, vacations, food store shopping, events, meals, snacks,  events and general food-centric posts.  Kirk usually posts here, but is catching up from his recent vacation.  Ed (from Yuma) is also recovering from his recent San Diego vacation. Cathy is writing today, about another meal during her staycation in the County.

I discovered Tea Houses and Boba places several years ago when one day a friend took me to one and realized that snacks were served in addition to beverages.  It was so fascinating as well as tasty. Since then, I've written two  individual posts about visits here.  It's simple, good and a nice place to share a snack or meal with friends. (I'm the White girl on this blog and there were no Tea or Boba places when I was at the Unversity of Michigan...heck, there was no Zingerman's when I was there).

The exterior and expanded interior have remained the same; neat and clean.  Once you order, a basket of utensils, bowls and napkins are brought to the table. 

The teas and all beverages are made to order here, (which is why you can get a beverage with half, quarter or no sweetness added-something you can't always ask for from other boba shops because they use pre-mixed syrup bases) and this pot of Kuan-Yin (monkey picked) tea ($5) actually was brought to our table last, perfectly brewed. We usually ask for a bit more water to be added after we finish the first serving; the tea leaves are just about as strong on the second pour. (A brief explanation of 'monkey picked' meaning premium tea is here.)

One order of Taiwan sausage ($5.50)...my 2013 obsession (see this post ).  Served with slices of raw garlic, the combination of the sweet in the sausage with the slight bitter of garlic is amazing.

Inside the menu was a "monthly special" card -the 'fried shrimp roll' ($3.99) was really a version of  Vietnamese Tau Hu Ky (beancurd wrapped shrimp paste), which I order with bun at Vietnamese restaurants.  You can see this is a large serving and that there were pieces of whole shrimp as well as paste inside the delicately fried tofu skin. This was excellent.

We were handed a "Daily Specials" ($6.50) card with the regular menu and the day we were here, the special was  chicken curry (quite a bit of chicken, onion, carrots, potatoes and green pepper in a not spicy but a sweet, medium-hot Japanese curry). The football shaped mound of rice divides the curry from the three daily side dishes (which change). This day it was green beans with slices of dry tofu, delicate (rice) noodles with beef pieces and pickled vegetables with pork pieces. A tasty variety that complimented the semi-spice of the curry.

Another nice visit with good food and a really good pot of tea.

Tea Station 7315 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92111 (858) 268-8198 Website

 

 

 

Comments

[Theo]

I think Tea Station food items are on the expensive side and their drinks are too sweet. You'll definitely have to ask them for half or less sugar if you don't want to have a blood sugar problem when you're old.

That being said, their strawberry pudding drink is the best. Just remember to ask for less sugar.

[Cathy]

After many visits, I do try to make good ROI choices here, Theo. I can see how the bill can shoot up with a few not thought out menu choices. You'll notice the only carbs in this meal are the potato in the curry and the rice; I'm a Type 2 diabetic and always look for low or no sugar/carb items. {Will try the strawberry pudding drink next time- as a shared dessert item.}

[caninecologne]

Monkey picked?

Haven't tried Taiwanese sausage (yet). Looks good!

[Cathy]

I've seen 'monkey picked' tea at 99Ranch and it's always expensive, cc; on the menu here, it was not only one of the lower priced pot choices, but also the darkest color of tea within that category. The sausage is an excellent snack choice.

[Nhbilly]

Looks yummy.

[Cathy]

Thanks, Bill.