Drinks 😜💦🥛🍵

This fanatastical dessert - comprising bandung, grass jelly and cotton candy - is just the kinda thing you’ll slowly nurse over several hours; a much-needed treat for surviving a long week!😋
📍The Lobby Lounge at Shangri-La!!
💲+$3.50 on top of lunch buffet
#burpple

Mmm feeling quite divided on this one😭 On one hand, the inner fitspo in me is like “yumyum healthy shake!!” and on the other...let’s just say every fiber of my being is screaming NO!!! Don’t order this expecting a light and sweet refreshment - each cup is dense and packed with natural grassy flavors that take some getting used to. We surmised that these smoothies are probably meant to be some kind of healthy meal replacement...albeit to the point where you can almost taste the LACK of sugar😱

We got the Green Warrior and Açaí super boost! One thing both have in common is that the “superfood” component is nearly nonexistent - the former (comprising avocado, mixed greens, flax seeds and chia seeds) reeked of spinach with the avocado apparent only in the super “gao” texture and the latter (açaí, beetroot, strawberries, oats) basically was beetroot mush with just a berry-like hint of açaí and strawberries. Meh. Not to be overly critical, but for $7.80 a cup, we expected a lot more. Health freaks will probably go nuts for deez though!

This juice bar is a gem that I wish I’d discovered earlier! They have a whole gamut of rather unorthodox flavours such as ume, avocado coconut, durian avocado (like WHUT?!?) just to name a few. I really liked my choice this time - the golden kiwi provided a refreshing tang, just slightly offset by the soft and sweet clumps of aiyu jelly 🤤 Comes with little kiwi seeds that you can munch on too!

They sure know how to make a mean cuppa Thai milk tea! Fragrant and sweet at first, leaving behind a bittersweet aftertaste as tea usually does. A good end to the meal! 😊

Just a short walk from Toa Payoh MRT, Hollin is easily spotted with its mini blue floral backdrop, perfect for that instaworthy bubble tea shot! 😉 In terms of taste, their silky smooth black tea latte doesn’t differ much from the traditional milk tea. 50% provided just the right amount of sweetness for me! Their honey white pearls present much more of a surprise; smaller and a lot softer than what I’m used to, just the faintest hint of honey can be detected...and it is almost immediately overwhelmed by the tea. I’d prefer more flavorful pearls, but for 50% off, I can’t complain! 😋 Hopefully their other pearls will be much better (black sesame and matcha, I’m lookin’ at ya!!!) the next time I return!

A very elaborate set-up, that actually works to keep the tea warm! The tea itself came in a bag containing brown rice grains and green tea leaves. What shone through most was the taste of green tea which was accompanied by a lighter and milder note of brown rice. Very ordinary, I just find the set up impressive.

There’s a special rich hue to this tea that immediately differentiates it from its peers - and it’s not just its appearance that’s outstanding. Boiled with red dates, this tea has a sweet undertone that complements and heightens the traditional floral taste of chrysanthemum. Simultaneously refreshing and soothing, it certainly works well to cleanse one’s palate between dishes!

An obvious appeal to the Sakura-loving crowd: wisps of pastel-coloured strawberry cream interspersed with strawberry bits beckon titillatingly from amidst clouds of whipped cream. It tasted just like how it looked; light, covert...and maybe even a little cloying at the end. If you discount the rice pops and strawberry bits (which admittedly did add some texture to this mild Frappuccino), I think it’s comparable to a milkshake made of strawberry Meiji milk. Quite delectable, but definitely not worth the price.

I don’t think this one tiny satchet of Dilmah tea (yes yes, I’m an uncultured swine so save your insults, all you tea aficionados!) is worth $5...but the ambience and view more than made up for it! I especially loved the open-concept workspace just adjacent to the dining area - one can opt for casual sofa seats or proper chairs at a long table fully equipped with plugs! Needless to say, the evening spent nursing my tea over 50+ backdated lectures flew by in the blink of an eye!