[Review #747]
2023-033
Drinks Order:
NAM VAN (coconut milk, palm sugar, jackfruit, cendols-pandan jelly, red pearls, white pearls) & STRAWBERRY MATCHA with STRAWBERRY COCO JELLIES
Server: Alyssa
It's another of those hot summer days, & I was up visiting my aunt during the last weekend in July. After a relaxing dim sum lunch at her fav restaurant, I wanted something to "cool off" & Boba Luv popped up on my search.
BL is located in a small plaza just east of First St. between a collectibles shop & massage parlor, somewhat obscure & not in a high foot traffic area. The shop is small, open with limited seating; upon entry there's an IG photo op: "Let's Par-tea" neon signage against a faux foliage wall.
The drinks & food menu pays homage to Taiwanese style, but I think it's also an eclectic mix of Vietnamese, Mexican, & Japanese with offerings such as Nam Van, Vietnamese Iced Coffee, Mangonada, Spam Musubi, Musubi Bowl.
I was taking my usual snaps when I was greeted. Alyssa was friendly & patient in explaining their drinks. This is one of those pics (signature menu) where it's not worth a thousand words, requiring an explanation of the ingredients/toppings. A couple caught my eye, so I tried a standard signature: Strawberry Matcha (added Strawberry Coco Jellies to complement the strawberry flavor) & Nam Van; while I kinda knew what Nam Van was (seems like a riff on chè trái cāy or chè thái), I wanted to be sure. I ordered both drinks with half ice & 50% sugar level. Since chè is a dessert, I don't think it needs added sugar.
I really liked that they used real strawberries instead of a jam in the strawberry matcha, but the matcha was not a good matcha because its flavor was muted; it didn't have a slightly bitter & vegetal taste that I'm accustomed to with matcha teas. And there was just enough strawberries & jellies to get through the drink. My son liked BL's version because it didn't have the norm bitterness of a good matcha. In this almost 100° weather, it was a sweet & cool counter to this summer heat. The Nam Van is a solid chè drink, though I needed to break the lid to get some of the larger jackfruit out; typically chès are served with a straw & spoon. BL was particularly generous with the toppings. M thought this was more similar to the Filipino halo-halo, but without the yam & ube ice cream, because of the multi-colored layers. He's a boba, not chè, connoisseur.
Boba Luv's concept is a BYO drink format of: fruit or milk tea, slushie, fruit juice, galaxy drink, or smoothie, with 16 of their signature drinks. Drinks run at $6.25, excluding toppings (either 55¢ or 75¢ ea.), with signatures at $6.75; it's been less than a year & their signatures increased 12.5%. Is it me, or has boba become expensive? I can still get them in the $5 range with a topping in my neighborhood (South Bay), but they're also hitting $6 - $7.
A tad farther from my aunt's place, it's one of the better boba shops that I wouldn't mind going out of the way for, especially since we often dine at Imperial Garden, it's only a minor detour. C'mon & let's par-tea over to Boba Luv for their boba refreshers!
Recommended: Nam Van (if you're a fan of Vietnamese chè, this is a really great dessert drink), Strawberry Matcha. read more