...."That’s not bubble tea… THIS is bubble tea!
Despite reassurances that Milo is available here I’ve yet to see it. In all honesty I haven’t really looked that but still, upon arriving one of the things you quickly realise is that milk is barely a drop a of rain on the cuisine landscape of Taiwan.
In all honesty though given the fact that a little wimpy 200ml or so carton of flavoured milk sets one back a few dollars AUD here, it’s probably a good thing I haven’t found a source yet. I don’t particularly fancy bankrupting myself just to feed a chocolate milk addiction.
Still wanting my daily fix of milk however I’ve been forced to source alternative means. Practicality wise this has meant adapting to the local palette which has invariably led to me adopting iced milk tea as my morning beverage of choice.
Coupled with a constant stream of 25+ degree celsius days this actually makes a lot of sense. With iced coffee costing quite a lot here in comparison iced milk tea is readily available and dirt cheap.
Thankfully iced milk bubble tea here comes in my size:
This hulking 1 litre monstrosity of a drink is the perfect start to the morning and will set you back around $35 TWD (just over $1 AUD). If you’re new to Taiwan to order this you’ll want to ask for ‘eee nein-TA’ (almost comes out as nintaa with an emphasis on the ta not nein/nin).
If you wan’t it with sago (the little chewy balls not pictured), it’s ‘gentou neinta’.
I can’t believe back in Australia we pay like $3-$4 for like 300-500ml of this stuff… All I have to find out now is if drinking 1L of tea a day is going to shutdown my kidneys or make me grow an extra arm or something.
…guys?
December 25th, 2009 at 6:34 pm J(Quote)
You probably won’t stuff up your kidney Oz but you should watch your waistline if you don’t keep up your biking exercise in Taiwan lol
Just like you said its so dirt cheap and can be found almost everywhere so why drink other stuff.
Though bubble tea is probably the no. 1 culpit towards obesity in Taiwan. A 750ml of it you’ll be intaking about 393cal.
That’s the same calorie for a bowl of rice, not counting the non-dairy creamer + fructose they add into it. You gain approximately 1kg every 20days if you don’t exercise.
Seriously, Milo isn’t that expensive in Taiwan. A quick search on the internet auction, 1.5kg cost NTD220, that’s about AUD$7.80ish.
December 25th, 2009 at 7:32 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
I think at the moment without my phrasebook my lack of eating will cancel out any overeating or drinking. I just don’t have the confidence to walk into the Taiwan places and order food without the book as a backup (I literally hit a brick wall if I can’t see the food and point as I don’t even have basic Mandarin at this point).
I’m trying to avoid the western places (Subway, KFC, McDonalds), as I know a. they aren’t staple food for me to rely on till I get a book and b. I’ll stack on the kilos.
Subsequently after cracking the shits with myself and force marching my body into the fifth food place I’d walked past, today I had my first ‘chicken testicles’ moment.
I’ll do a writeup at some point. I seriously have no idea what I ate.
Oh and the price of Milo won’t be the problem, the price of milk will be.
December 25th, 2009 at 8:53 pm Yi(Quote)
go to a Maccas and see if they sell anything different there (like chicken feet burger).
December 25th, 2009 at 9:57 pm J(Quote)
Hopefully you’ve taken a photo of what you ate today. It’ll be easier to explain it.
Did you had any luck finding the phrasebook at Eslite Bookstore?
Sorry to tell you, Maccas Taiwan doesn’t sell Chicken Feet Burger, but offers fried chicken, soup and a whole lot of ‘normal’ fast food that you can’t find in Australian Maccas.