Chatime Atealier

Update: Name has been changed to Chatime Atealier rather than Chatime Innovation Bar

Feb 12, 2021

New flavours at Chatime Innovation Bar for BOGO

Jade Berry Blossom Tea ($7 for 2) and Hibiscus Berry Blossom Tea ($7 for 2)

The drinks were beautiful with the colourful gold swirls (which also made them only available in cold). 

The jade berry blossom tea had a strong jade jasmine tea flavour that stood out. 

The hibiscus berry blossom tea was really good too with a nice floral scent and berry flavour - it was much better than the jade version. We got both teas with one having 0% sugar and the other having minimal sugar just to taste the difference and I think the added sugar made the tea flavour stronger and brought out the berry flavour in some ways. The hibiscus was still really good with 0% sugar (but the jade was a miss). 

Feb 8, 2021

Definitely have to take advantage of the Ubereats BOGO promotion with my favourite drinks as many times as possible before it ends! 

Handwhisked Taro Tea Latte (hot, no sugar $7.65 for two) and royal blueberry milk tea (hot and no sugar $6.95 for two) 

Since I got 4 large size drinks, I got a purple pocket from Chaime with a promo coupon!

The taro tea latte was delicious! Grainy texture from the ground taro (not as many bigger chunks of taro like last time though) and it came with frothy lactose free milk which made a delicious sweet combo that wasn't too sweet. This is definitely my favourite taro drink and favourite chatime drink! 

The royal blueberry tea came with options: milk tea or tea latte or teaspresso - I got one of the milk tea and the tea latte to try it out since they were BOGO. 

The milk tea version had a yummy smooth equally balanced blueberry and milk tea flavour that was pretty strong - but it definitely needed minimal sugar to make it taste better. 

The latte version had more milk, less tea flavour and the blueberry flavour was stronger and more prominent than the tea or milk flavour - I definitely preferred the milk tea version. 

Feb 4, 2021

I can't believe I saw my favourite taro drink on sale (BOGO) on Ubereats!

Taro Tea Latte ($7.65 for 2)

Such a good deal! It's made so much better at their Innovation Bar (now Atealier) locations. 

For taro lovers, this is a dream! It's filled ith tons of ground taro and has a really strong and sweet taro flavour even when you get the drink unsweetened (so guilt free pleasure!). Definitely worth a try here (and for that price now - amazing!)!

July 6, 2020

OMG I've been craving Chatime Innovation Bar's Handwhisked Taro Latte for a while now (especially since they opened up their HQ to offer Innovation Bar drinks). Their HQ on Scarsdale Road is delivery only. 

I was a little sad I couldn't get my drink hot (since that's the way I prefer it), but the no ice version was okay. The flavour wasn't as strong when it was cold and the texture is a little weird when it's not hot (I think the hot water helps to melt the grainy texture of the ground taro into a more smooth texture). It was also much more expensive $7.30 for the drink (compared to the Innovation Bar location at Wellesley's $5.80) and when I contacted Chatime about it they said: "due to COVID, there has been an increasing in demand for our products, and we opened a cloud kitchen uptown to fulfill the orders. With the cloud kitchen, there has been extra costs and therefore resulted in higher prices for the Scarsdale location."

May 30, 2019

Blue Crystal Coconut (less ice and no sugar)

It looks better for pictures than it tastes. It turns out butterfly pea flower tea is actually kind of bitter, you definitely need a lot more sugar for this drink to taste better. Personally, I don't like super sugary drinks, so I'll skip this in the future. 

Taro latte (hot with no sugar)

This was REALLY GOOD! I think this is my new go-to drink. It's perfect even unsweetened because the taro is sweet enough by itself and it tastes like a warm soothing milky taro drink - aka AMAZING. It does have a bit of a grainy texture from the taro, but that's how you know you're getting the real taro.

Mar 15, 2019

I've been watching and waiting for this Chatime location to open up. They're supposed to have special drinks that aren't available in regular Chatime stores. 

Black Onyx and Royal Blue tea lattes

I think the Royal Blue tea is supposed to compete with The Alley's Royal No.9 milk tea, unfortunately, it's got a long way to go in my opinion. I probably should have gotten it with more sugar or something so that the flavour is enhanced, but I generally don't like to have super sweet drinks. The Black Onyx was much better. 

Website: https://chatime.com/

Gong Cha

Feb 11, 2021 @ 3250 Midland Ave

Peach Green Tea ($5.20 for 2) - one was hot and one was cold

The hot version was okay for a hot fruit tea - decent peach tea without the peach or tea flavour being too overpowering

The cold version wasn't as good as the hot version (which I was surprised by - usually it's the other way around with fruit teas). It tasted more like peach juice than tea. 

Jan 18, 2021 @ 3250 Midland Ave

Hurray! A bubble tea BOGO promotion on Ubereats!

Hot Royal Milk Tea with tapioca and no sugar ($5.99 for two)

Good tea flavour and a well-mixed milk tea that wasn't too sweet! Very consistent between visits - a sign of a good milk tea place.

Dec 3, 2020 @ 5449 Yonge

Since I was grabbing takeout at Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu a few doors down, I thought I'd also pick up a milk tea while I was waiting.

Regular hot milk tea with 0% sugar (about $5)

Pretty good milk tea with a smooth and rich flavour and even without added sweetness, it was a sweet and strong tea flavour. I would definitely get milk tea from Gong Cha again (and I signed up for their points/text system to find out more about deals). 

I remember trying the taro coconut a long time ago and not being impressed, but their milk tea is pretty good!

Website: https://gong-cha.ca/

Mr. Congee Chinese Cuisine

Feb 8, 2021

M21. House Special Chicken ($14.95 for two portions) and Z6.Roasted Pork ($15.59 for two) BOGO

The house special chicken was a juicy chicken with a nice crispy skin on the outside and it also came with a portion of shrimp chips - pretty good value! 

The roasted pork was on the saltier side, but the flavour was good and the sauce on the side complimented the pork really well. 

We also got B.19 Sliced Beef Congee ($8.78 for two) and H22. Chicken with Vegetable Chow Mein ($14.89 for two) but they're not pictured. 

The chicken with vegetable chow mein was great value, super big portion and lots of sauce that was savoury and tasty (not too salty). 

The congee was good too, but it didn't have a lot of beef slices. I preferred the other things we got. 

Jan 3, 2021

First Ubereats BOGO adventure of the year (all prices below are for two portions which aren't pictured)

From top: Fried Chili Turnip Patties $11.69, Soy Sauce Chicken $13.33, Sweet and Sour Pork $16.84 (not pictured Shredded pork and preserved egg congee $8.78). 

The prices were super reasonable for two portions of each and they gave us a lot of food with all the orders (like the soy sauce chicken was a full chicken split into two boxes). 

The turnip patties could have used more spice/seasoning since the flavour seemed a little light and turnips are pretty bland vegetables. The texture and firmness of the turnips was pretty good though. 

The soy sauce chicken had good flavour and it was super tasty (would get this again!)

The sweet and sour pork was good, but the portion seemed a little small considering this was the most expensive item in our order. 

The congee was also pretty good. 

Overall: Everything was pretty good and tasty and with the Ubereats promotion, it's a great deal! 

Website: https://mrcongee.com/

Hey Noodles

 Feb 6, 2021

Chongqing Street Noodles ($8 for 2)

Rice noodles pictured above with less spicy and no numbing (figured out the right spicy combination now). The rice noodles were okay, but they didn't absorb flavour as well as the potato or egg noodles, but the broth still had lots of flavour and was still quite spicy. 

Jan 23, 2021

I've heard of the cheap noodle promo deals at Hey Noodles (where you get unlimited noodles), but this was my first time trying their noodles - especially since I can't pass up a BOGO deal on Ubereats

Chongqing Street Noodles ($8 for two)

One noodle had the normal thin egg noodles and the other bowl had sweet potato noodles. The broth was flavoured with sesame paste, green onions, garlic, cilantro, peanuts and sesame seeds.

The soup also came with varying degrees of numbing (peppercorn) and spiciness. I opted for less numbing and less spicy since I wasn't too sure what I was getting myself into and when I tried the less numbing version, I could understand why it was called "numbing" - I couldn't feel my lips. The broth was a good level of spicy and was flavourful with savoury elements like the peanuts and sesame as well as pickled vegetables. 

In terms of the noodles, the sweet potato noodles were okay since they did absorb some of the flavour, but not as much as I wanted and the noodles were pretty slippery. 

The egg noodles were good and absorbed the broth flavour a lot better, especially when they sat in the soup longer - but it also got a lot spicier as it stewed together. 

The portion sizes were pretty sizable (and if you eat in person when things open up again, they do give you unlimited noodles), but there wasn't any meat in the street noodles. 

Overall: Great value for money! $8 for two bowls of noodles with the Ubereats BOGO promotion is a great deal for two super filling and deliciously spicy portions of noodles. Worth the trip!

Website: https://heynoodles.com/

Orient Express

 Feb 5, 2021 @ 4271 Sheppard Ave E

$11.99 for two with the Ubereats BOGO deal

Classic Noodles with beef slices

Thin Flat Noodles with beef brisket (+$3)

The beef brisket was tastier and more flavourful than the beef slices (and extra cost), but the soup bases and toppings like green onions and cilantro were the same. Personally I like the flat noodles (and even more when they're wide since they're hand-pulled), but the thin noodles and classic noodles are tastier since they absorb flavour quicker from the soup and meat. Definitely one of the better noodle soup places in Toronto!

Jan 28, 2021 @ 4271 Sheppard Ave E

BOGO Lanzhou Beef Noodle on Ubereats? Gotta Try It!

Lanzhou Noodles ($11.99 for two) and Clip Bun (2 for $5.99)

The clip bun had slightly game-y marinated beef with coriander in a bun and while it was okay, the seasoning had a lot of cumin (and other spices you would use with lamb meat). 

Lanzhou noodles were pretty good for a takeout version. The noodles were a tad congealed in the takeout container, but once you heated it up, it was pretty quickly fixed. The broth was a simple radish vegetable broth and you could choose how spicy you could make it with the chili oil on the side. The chili oil was pretty tasty too and having it on the side made it great for moderating the spiciness of the soup. 

Overall: The noodle dish was pretty good, but it didn't have a lot of beef though. 

Website: https://orientexpresstoronto.com/

Grandone Chicken

Feb 4, 2021

6 Pieces of Chicken for $8

Really good and juicy fried chicken with spicy powder on top (Taiwanese fried chicken style)

Jan 16, 2021

I found out about Grandone's 50% off promotion on Redflagdeals. With 50% off the menu, it's a great time to try it out!

 

8 pieces of chicken: 4 mild spicy and 4 regular fried chicken pieces (regular $21.99)

Since I wasn't too sure how spicy the chicken could get, I got mildly spicy for half of the 8 pieces. It turns out it was a Chinese dried spice rub that was thrown on top of the freshly fried chicken (similar to the huge Taiwanese night market fried chicken cutlets I had before). The chicken was really crispy and juicy and it ws pretty fresh out of the fryer so it was super good without being too greasy and had more of a crunchy crispy texture.

Shrimp Sandwich (reg. $7.99)

There were lots of tiny shrimp inside what seemed like a fish paste burger and the fish paste also had peas in it (the green above) - very interesting. The shrimp sandwich wasn't spicy at all. 

Chicken sandwich (reg. $7.99)

The chicken sandwich had a lot of mayo and excellent crispy chicken, but it wasn't as flavourful as their regular fried chicken. I liked their cheese, lettuce and mayo combo, but it wasn't as good as Popeye's.

Shanghai Shikumen Fine Cuisine

I didn't really notice that there was a Shanghainese restaurant in the outside plaza of First Markham Place (since there's way too many options here) until I saw their BOGO offer on Ubereats.

BOGO Xiaolongbao ($6 for 2 servings of 6 each)

The xiaolongbao (steamed soup filled dumplings) were really good and perfectly made with a thin skin at the bottom and a thick stem at the top. The insides had lots of meat and soup and when you picked it up, it didn't break. Really good xiaolongbao here! 

Website: https://shanghaishikumen.online/

Phoenix Restaurant

Jan 31, 2021

Ubereats BOGO deals!

Cuttlefish Ball in Fish Soup ($10.90 for 2) and Baked Chicken Steak with red curry cream sauce on rice ($15.25 for 2) and HK Milk tea ($3.45 for 2) 

The cuttlefish balls were hand made with pieces of cuttlefish in a fish ball (you could tell the harder gummy chewy pieces of the balls were cuttlefish) and the soup also had yummy tofu pockets. The broth itself was pretty good too and the whole dish felt like it missed noodles, but it was still really good. 

For the baked chicken steak with red curry cream sauce, we added in the comments for it to be spaghetti instead of rice - and they delivered! (I'm a huge noodle fan rather than rice, so this was perfect!) The spaghetti with chicken had a nice spicy curry flavour which was tempered by the cream sauce and one of the best parts too was that the chicken breast was all meat and no bone. 

The milk tea was great! A good HK style milk tea with strong tea flavour and perfect ratio of milk/evaporated milk/condensed milk (whatever makes it taste like HK milk tea). 

Sept 15, 2018

Chicken steak with tomato sauce

It's a decent portion size, but I'm not really a fan of their tomato sauce. 

Clubhouse sandwich with steak

I find it really cute that they cut off the crusts and I like that they toasted the bread.

Yunnan Vermicelli in fish broth

This dish is probably one of the best things to get at Phoenix restaurant. The fish broth is really good and the fish balls and deep fried tofu fish cakes are delicious. 

Seafood spaghetti with cream sauce

The cream sauce by itself either isn't that great - the best combination here is to combine the tomato and cream sauces (if you like that kind of thing). 

July 8, 2017

Yunnan Rice Noodle and Pork chop with gravy sauce spaghetti

The rice noodle was delicious as always - it has nice subtle flavours and this really yummy spongy fish ball. The pork chop was a lot of meat, but probably not as much sauce as I would have liked since there was also the spaghetti to absorb some of the sauce. 

Half tomato sauce and half cream sauce baked spaghetti with pork

I really like these HK style spaghetti meals - you can always decide to eat the tomato side first, or the cream side first or mix them together for an extra yummy sauce with spaghetti. The pork was really good too. 

June 18, 2016

I was craving some HK style spaghetti, so we came to Phoenix for big plates of spaghetti. 

Beef with spaghetti and Garlic and honey breaded pork with spaghetti

Both dishes had gravy sauce and interestingly enough, you could still taste the garlic and honey of the breaded pork despite the gravy sauce. The food was okay for the most part and filling. 

Jan 10, 2016

Hainan Chicken and Yunnan fish and tofu with rice noodles

Both were as delicious as I remember them - you can always count on Phoenix for consistently great meals with great value-for-money! 

November 8, 2014

We came for a quick lunch before hitting Markville Mall for some Christmas shopping. 

The service is fast and the food is reasonably priced and they serve a mean cup of Hong Kong Milk Tea.

Malaysian Beef Curry with Rice and Hong Kong Milk Tea

The beef curry was delicious! A little on the spicier side, but the steamed rice and cucumber helped to cut the spiciness down. Really hearty and delicious curry with huge chunks of beef. 

Baked Pork Chop with Cream and Tomato sauce on Fried Rice with HK Milk Tea

I didn't even realize I got the same thing that I ordered almost exactly two years ago - I guess I'm more of a creature of habit than I thought. The pork chops were still huge! I also figured out that the sauces individually aren't the best, but together the mix of the sauces works pretty well with the tomato adding a slightly stronger flavour to the lighter cream sauce and the combined sauces makes the fried rice taste better. So in the future - order this with fried rice not spaghetti. 

November 11, 2012

I love Chinese Afternoon Tea. It's great on weekends - especially if you grab dim sum early in the morning and skip lunch, then you're usually starving by 2:30pm which is when afternoon tea specials kick in! It's that perfect time between lunch and dinner when you can grab food. Some Chinese restaurants serve a special afternoon tea menu, while others serve the same dishes at dinner but at a discounted price as an afternoon tea special.

Hainan Chicken with rice

This is probably the most popular dish on the menu at Phoenix Restaurant. They're well known for their Hai nan Chicken with rice. The chicken is super tender and juicy - the best part is that there are no bones! My second favourite part of the plate is the rice (which is amazing). It's really fragrant and you can tell that it was steamed with chicken oil. 

Yunnan fish and tofu with rice noodles (mi xian)

I really like Yunnan rice noodles. The noodles are soft, thin and tasty and with the clear and simple broth - it's yummy. The fish, tofu and winter melon were great complements to the noodle soup. Even though the fish looked like it was fried, it actually wasn't - instead it was lightly battered and a little soggy which I thought was a great way to cook the fish.

Yunnan preserved vegetables and shredded pork with rice noodles 

Whereas the fish and tofu had a simple and clean taste, I thought the preserved vegetables and shredded pork overwhelmed the noodle soup since they were so strongly flavoured. The vegetables added more of a saltiness to the broth which took away from the tastiness of the noodle soup.

Baked pork chop with tomato and cream sauce on spaghetti

I found the ketchup sauce was too sweet for my liking and the cream sauce was a like a watered down version of cream of mushroom. I didn't like either of the sauces. However, they did serve us two gigantic pork chops (which was a lot of meat) and it was quite good. 

Overall: Phoenix Restaurant serves one of the best Hainan Chicken rice dishes I've ever tried and the accompanying steamed rice is also delicious. However, I found that the quality of the dishes has decreased over the years - it used to be much better. The service was insanely fast though - we were in and out in 40 minutes. 

HK Sweets

An Ubereats BOGO feast (with drinks)!

Curry Fish Balls (BOGO total of 16 for $5.99), Golden King Drink ($6.99 for 2), Lychee Green Tea ($5.49 for 2) and Baked Chicken Cheese on Rice ($12 for 2)

The curry fish balls had a sauce that was on the spicier side (tasty, but with a little kick)

The Golden King was a sweet mango sago yogurt drink with popping mango bubbles, mango chunks and sago that was super tasty and not sickly sweet (which is good!)

The lychee green tea, we got a hot and a cold version, and the cold version was definitely the better of the two since the lychee juice held up better than in the hot version (no more hot fruit tea drinks)

The baked chicken with cheese on rice was okay with some black pepper and a ketchup-like sauce, but the chicken was a little dry (maybe from being a little overfried). 

Chichop

Update: Location has permanently closed

Chichop is co-located in one store space with a few other places (one of which being Coco Fresh Tea & Juice), so it made sense when their BOGO combo had Coco tea drinks on the side (added bonus!)

Spicy (Deep Fried) Chicken with bubble tea ($11 for two)

The spicy fried chicken was pretty nicely fried, but it was more batter than chicken though. The sauce was pretty good, but sadly it didn't cover all of the chicken. The dish also came with rice, steamed vegetables, chapchae and a fried egg on top - pretty well balanced. 

And then we got to choose the Coco bubble teas: sago mango green tea for one and pearl milk tea for the other. 

A pretty good deal for the price considering Coco bubble teas are about $5 regularly. 

Haidilao

I've heard so many good things about Haidilao's hot pot, but due to COVID-19, they were closed for dining. Instead, they had takeout and were doing BOGO on Ubereats

Kobe Beef (2 portions for $49.95), Assorted seafood mix (shrimp, scallop, mussels, fish and noodles x 2 for $29.95)

The Kobe beef was delicious! Thin strips of marbled, tender, tasty, flavourful beef - easily prepared with a quick wash in the boiling soup or a quick pan fry in its own juices and it's ready to eat. The fatty parts of the meat make it oh so tasty. 

The assorted seafood mix was okay overall. The shrimps and scallops were okay and sweet, even if they weren't super fresh. The thin slices of fish were really good and when you use their soup bases in your hot pot broth, it really soaks in the flavour well. The mussels were good too. 

Shrimp paste ($11.95 for two boxes)

The shrimp paste, while good, wasn't anything excpetional and it was a rather small portion for $11.95 (definitely would not pay regular price for this)

Sadly, none of the food we ordered came with soup base (but it came with dessert and some crackers) and while the kobe beef was delicious, it didn't really seem worth it overall since you weren't really getting the full hot pot experience. 

Website: https://haidilaohot.business.site/