The name Chado derives from Japanese and usually translates to ‘The way of tea.’ The new gleaming white two-storey Chado on Street 19, however, is far more Asian tea mashup than it is any homage to the ancient ceremonies from the land of the rising sun. Chado serves teas of the Taiwanese milky and bubbly variety, and even ‘hybrid’ concoctions that stray happily away from the drink’s decidedly Taiwanese roots. Think fruity black teas in cutesy plastic cups with tapioca pearls (the bubble), rainbow jelly and oversized straws to suck down all the sweetness. Chado’s menu includes a respectable selection of coffees and more than a dozen flavours of Italian soda, too, and staff promise that food and evening barbecues are just days away (December 6, to be exact). Add to all that the chilled-out Japanese-style seating, frigid air-con, decent wifi and buy-one-get-one-free grand-opening offer, and it’s easy to see how milk bubble tea is all the rage.
Chado, #197 Street 19.
