Chatime

Cafe at 236 Portobello Road
Chatime image
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6 / 10 from 1 review
Address
236 Portobello Road
Ladbroke Grove
London
W11 1LJ
Map
Nearest Station
Ladbroke Grove
0.19 miles

All In London Review

With over a thousand branches worldwide, Chatime open new site on Portobello Road

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If you haven’t heard of bubble tea yet, where have you been for the last two years? Also known as milk pearl tea or boba tea, where this signature Taiwanese drink is concerned Chatime are one of the biggest players, with over a thousand stores over the world primarily spread over Taiwan, China, Malaysia and India. It gets its name from the starchy tapioca balls that sit at the bottom of the drink and are slurped through a fat straw. The teas are often cold and fruity, but milky, hot and sweet milkshake-like drinks are also popular. Plus the “bubbles” don’t need to be plain old tapioca, with many places offering toppings like fruit jellies (a bit of a misnomerhowever as they don’t float at the top).

Chatime already has three stores in the West End, but their latest is on bustling Portobello Road, the bit nearest to Ladbroke Grove station where market stalls are interspersed with cafes and popular new eateries like Honest Burgers. Chatime itself is mostly a takeout place with the selection split into fruit teas, milky teas and smoothies; they cater (slightly) to dietary requirements with milk suitable for lactose-intolerants, and you can choose your level of sugar, if any at all. We try the jasmine green tea, a milky drink available hot or cold, with tapioca pearls. It’s smooth like a milkshake, but not overly sweet. The gyokuru genmaicha is a blend of green tea and roasted brown rice, ideal if you’re not a fan of sweet drinks. We choose adzuki beans as the topping for this one, used to make the red bean paste that forms the filling of so many moreish Japanese pastries. Tasty and refreshing.

Reviewed by Leila
Published on Sep 30, 2014


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