Quickly

I grew up in a town with zero asian influence.  I didn't even know that there were asian desserts besides fortune cookies until I moved to San Francisco.  And boba tea?  Definitely not something I'd heard of.  I've only had it a few times in my life, but for some reason, I really started craving one the other day when it was hot out.  Milk tea sounded refreshing, and just so much more fun than an ice tea or lemonade.  I think it had been in the back of my mind since I saw that several of the Quickly locations use GoPago, even though I'd never been to a Quickly before.

I pulled up the menus, and was quickly overwhelmed.  So many flavors, so many add ons, ahh!  There are a slew of Quicklys in the city, but only 3 of them are on GoPago.  One was only a few blocks away, and it had a few specials, a handful of hot and cold drinks.  Being frugal, and totally indecisive, I went for one of them, since it helped narrow down my possibilities considerably.

The service was friendly and efficient.  This location had a small amount of seating downstairs, a ton upstairs, and free wifi, although I didn't stick around to really check any of it out.  I'd definitely go back, as I want to try some of the other creations, like a "snow" and a "slush"!

Taro Milk Tea with Small Boba.  $1.99.

You can't see from this photo, but the drink was a lovely purple color.  It was milky, sweet but not too sweet, and had a good taro flavor.  It was the perfect temperature, not too cold, not too hot, with just a few small chunks of ice cube remaining in it.

Taro milk tea is a bit of a misnomer, as it doesn't contain tea.

I also added in small tapioca, since that is half the fun.  They were also well executed, soft but not mushy, a tiny bit chewy.

Overall, I was really impressed.  A simple drink, but every aspect of it was nicely done.

This was one of the specials, at $1.49 for the drink, plus $0.50 for the add in of the boba, normally $2.75 plus the boba.  An excellent price.  I'd get again.

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Catering by La Boulange

Last week, I attended a special event "Under the Dome" at the Westfield, catered by La Boulange de Dome, an outpost of La Boulange that is located in that space.  They had the area sectioned off for the event, and the regular cafe was closed, with food being prepared somewhere in back, and then brought in, which seemed a little strange, but I think that may be how they operate normally for the cooked items anyway, since there isn't a kitchen in the main cafe.

I was excited to see that the event catered by La Boulange, even though I haven't loved many of their offerings, because I love baked goods, and I always want to like them more than I do.  Plus, discovering their yogurt and granola is still one of my fondest food memories.

I am glad I got to try even more of their goods, but I can't say I have any interest in getting any of it again, which is basically how I feel about everything I've ever tried from there (except the granola of course!)

Mini French Hot Dog. $2.

This was pretty good.  A decent quality hot dog wrapped in puff pastry.  Not amazing, but decent for finger food catering.  I would have liked it more with some ketchup or mustard.  They said it had mustard inside, but I didn't taste any.

Available in full size at the bakery for $4.25, minis are $2 each for catering.  My favorite of the savory items.

Petite Quiche: Vegetable. $2.33.

Small little quiche in a tart shell.  The vegetables were a mix of mushrooms, tomato, and leeks.  There was a plentiful amount of veggies, but they were somehow not very flavorful.  The shell was very disappointing, kinda mushy, and not buttery nor flavorful either.  They were served warmed up, but almost seemed microwaved or something, as they were a little soggy.

They also sell larger versions of these at the bakeries, which they'll warm up for you, for $4.25.

Petite Quiche: Salmon and Dill. $2.33.

After disliking the veggie quiche, I tried the salmon and dill version.  Same size, same crappy shell, but the filling in this was much better.  The dill and salmon flavors were both strong and complimentary.  There was also some greens, spinach I think.  The distribution of the ingredients was strange however, with salmon only on one half.  Second favorite of the savories, but not something I'd get again.  They also have these in larger sizes at the bakery, again $4.25.

[ Not Pictured ]

Goat Cheese and Butternut Squash Crostini

Whoops, this was the first item I tried, and I dove in before taking a photo.

I really did not like this.  The bread was soggy.  I don't like goat cheese.  The little cubes of butternut squash were ok, but not remarkable.  Least favorite of the savory items.

Choux Choux.  $0.75.

The Dome location of La Boulange has several special desserts, offered only at that location, where they have a pastry team.  One such special is the Choux Choux, or what I'd just call a cream puff.  They had three varieties at the event, and of course, I had to try them all.

The choux pastry was decent, fairly light and airy, although a little more eggy than I'd like.  The fillings were all very creamy, and squirted out all over the place when you bit into them, no matter how careful you were.

The vanilla filling was my favorite.  It had a really strong vanilla bean flavor.  I'd happily consume a bowl full of that as pudding!  The mixed berry was my second pick.  It again had a strong flavor, this time of assorted berries, and it had some seeds in it too, leading me to believe it was made with real fruit.  My last pick was the chocolate, which was also good, but not quite as flavorful as the others.

Of all the items offerred, these were certainly my favorites, but I don't think I'd ever go buy them.  $0.75 was a very good price.

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Chocolates from Gallito

Gallito is a Costa Rican chocolate maker.  They reminded me of Garoto, from Brazil.  Which reminded me of Hershey.  Basically, a big national chocolate maker, not particularly good.

• Guayabitas: “Chocolates filled with the best national guava jelly.”  Tasting notes: Milk chocolate shell, sweet jelly filling.  Chocolate is very mediocre and doesn’t go with jelly at all.  Jelly is tasty though, and firm consistency.
• Tapitas: “chocolate with sweet peanut bits.”  Tasting notes: Milk chocolate that isn't creamy and has weird bitterness, tons of crunchy things that I guess are peanuts but don't taste like it.
• Dulce de Leche Tapitas: Tasting notes: same not good chocolate, just sweet filling that is almost caramel like, but not quite.
• Milan: "Pure chocolate bar".  Tasting notes: Solid milk chocolate log.  Not creamy.  Not good.

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