Green tea with rock salt and cheese. Who could refuse?
Happy Lemon is the latest drinks chain to hit Australian shores, a Hong Kong company that started in 2006 and has since spread to over 100 stores across Hong Kong and China.
It's easy to get swept up in the cartoon chirpiness of the place, a dizzying entrapment of winking characters, video game-like footage on the TV screen and walls that are splashed with, well, lemon yellow.
The characters of the store have ridiculously cute names to match their happy-go-lucky smiles, names like Lemon Boy, Creamy Baby, Drinky and Ms Pudding.
There are 47 different drinks to choose from, a mixture of flavoured teas, juices and yoghurts mixed with optional toppings of coconut jelly, red beans, seaweed jelly, custard pudding and sago pearls in either small or large.
Little smiley faces on the menu promote their recommended drinks, an often eyebrow-raising combination like Italian blood orange black coffee, perilla fruit tea, cocoa matcha with brown sugar jelly and blueberry with coconut jelly.
Lemon honey with seaweed jelly $4.20 small
Lemon honey with seaweed jelly comes with two slices of fresh lemon, but the drink itself is rather sweet. Seaweed jelly balls don't taste much of seaweed, vibrant in a disconcerting shade of fluoro green.
Green tea with rock salt and cheese $4.70 large
I know exactly what I'm ordering. The green tea with rock salt and cheese is my kind of playground.
The shop assistant tells me to lift the lid off the cup and drink the cheesy foam on its own so I can appreciate its flavour. It's like slurping an aerated cheesecake, tinged with salt. The flavour profile is odd at first, but I warm to it quickly, a pleasing mix of salty, creamy and sweet.
The shop assistant is right. When I push the straw down further into the clear depths of the sweet and strong green tea, the flavour of the cheese foam is lost. The tea is refreshing, but it's more of that glorious cheese foam that this happy little lemon wants for breakfast, lunch and tea!
View Larger Map
Happy Lemon
225 Broadway, Glebe, Sydney
(between Little Devil Cakes and Broadway Shopping Centre, near Bay Street)
Tel: +61 (02) 9571 7717
Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Broadway - Hot Wok Master (Chinese)
Broadway - Malacca Straits (Malaysian)
Broadway - Shalom (Indonesian)
Broadway - Sunflower Crepe Cafe (Taiwanese)
Very odd flavour combo indeed, here I was thinking there will be a solid chunk of cheese in a tea drink, how wrong was I? Sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteOh weird...! Very cute though :)
ReplyDeleteHehe, you are braver than me, I was imagining real cheese and I never would have picked that flavour. Sounds nice though.
ReplyDeleteMy eyes hurt! LOL
ReplyDeleteI want to try that one., I am so thirsty now.
ReplyDeleteInteresting drink.. Never had those combos of tea before... The tea alone is refreshing enough. But with salt and cheese? Wow... Incredibly weird. :)
ReplyDeleteA salty aerated cheesecake. Now that I want to try!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, Helen, you know how I feel about novelty dessert-y things, cheesecake-y things, and crazy colourful sweet Asian creations! Fingers crossed one of these opens in Canberra... I'm giddy with excitement even thinking about all the choices!
ReplyDeleteI love how you're never one to shy away from the bizarre flavours! I hope this chain doesn't go the same way of Happy Cup (similar motif of smileys back in the day) - thanks for the awesome description of the green tea and cheese. I wonder if anyone's tried to replicate that in a pastry (HEY HEY! There's an idea)
ReplyDeletehehe so cute! that green tea combo sounds crazy.. i need to try it!
ReplyDeletewhat kind of cheese flavour is it? cream cheese?
ReplyDeleteI just went and tried the Green tea with rock salt and cheese one. It tasted bizarre but strangely refreshing. The cheese was very sweet.
ReplyDeleteThe drinks are interesting, I'm so thirsty after read your post :)
ReplyDeletehaha! THis place looks awesome!!! so kawaii
ReplyDeletecheese in a tea..wow....who would have thought! Another drink to add to my list to eat n drink when I head back to Sydney!
ReplyDeleteHi Gourmet Getaway - I always go for the craziest thing on the menu!
ReplyDeleteHi Margaret - Ooh I like where you're going with this! Interesting idea!
Hi Anna - We were told it was cheddar cheese.
As soon as you said cheese, I pictured a strong cheese grated or cubes. How you describe it, it sounds quite good.
ReplyDeleteDo u think that will be more popular than Chat time soon ?
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you reviewed this place! I've been meaning to check it out every time I go by in the car :P
ReplyDeleteOMG cheeeeesie foam!! Freaking awesome! Cannot wait to try it :D
such an awesome drinks place! but it is that much cheaper to drink in hong kong..... :(
ReplyDeleteSaw the newly opened George St one tonight and stumbled across this post. Looks sublime! I wanna try them out.
ReplyDelete