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| - As if Markham needed another bubble tea house, in comes Gong Cha, which I'm told originated from Taiwan.
It is no doubt in direct competition with the hugely popular Cha Time located just up the street from Gong Cha.
In essence, it's bubble tea. I'd say 75% of the GTA has had it in one form or another by now.
Service was a bit slow, we had to wait about 10 minutes after placing orders for our drinks to receive it. We were told ahead of time that they were in their soft opening so thus the staff were still getting used to the process of making the drinks to Gong Cha's specifications.
I briefly talked to one of the owners of this franchise, Ethan about this establishment. Nice, friendly fellow, he was surprised to meet a Vietnamese patron in Markham. We both agreed that it was due time for the Vietnamese diaspora to move out from our usual enclaves of North York/Mississauga/Brampton and into Markham/Richmond Hill.. ("Started from the bottom now we here..." lol!)
I ordered a passion fruit slush, while my gf ordered a passion fruit green tea QQ style. I enjoyed my slush, not too overly sweet or sour, the pearls textures were chewy and soft. While she thought the pearls in her drink were overly chewy, but to be honest, she was never a fan of pearls in the first place and only orders them once in a blue moon. The tea tasted great at least, that we agreed on. The subtle green tea flavor could be tasted strongly in the aftertaste despite the passion fruit flavoring.
Would we be back? I definitely would as I'm a strong supporter of fellow Vietnamese entrepreneurs. And because I really dislike the lines at Cha Time and all the INCONSIDERATE, IDIOTIC DRIVERS at Cha Time up the street who don't park but clog up the already CONGESTED PARKING LOT while sending in their passengers to wait in line for their drinks! There is NO DROP OFF POINT in that plaza so move it elsewhere damnit!!!
*ahem* Gong Cha has made a fan of me and I will definitely be back in the near future!
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