“Say cheese!” That was exactly what the LiHo staff said to me when she handed me my cup of cheese tea at their Ang Mo Kio outlet. And you know what? It did bring a smile to my face. ?
Most of you in Singapore would have already known by now that the popular bubble tea brand, Gong Cha has made its exit from here. The ex-franchisee of Gong Cha decided to launch a brand new made-in-Singapore bubble tea brand by the name of LiHo which meant ‘how do you do?’ in Hokkien.
A new bubble tea brand in Singapore didn’t seem all that exciting to me as I’m not a hardcore bubble tea fan. But it was their introduction of cheese teas to Singapore that really caught my attention.
Cheese in teas. Never before in Singapore. Being a cheese lover, this was definitely something to look forward to.
This new range of cheese teas was so well received that for a period of time, LiHo ran out of cheese and I couldn’t get hold of any though I looked out for it at various outlets around Singapore.
Finally got to try my first LiHo cheese tea early last month. This was the Cheese ‘n’ Choc Smoothie ($6.90) + Pearls ($0.50) which is also my top favourite in the Say Cheese range. It’s a must-drink for me now every weekend, haha.
I happened to watch one of the LiHo staff making the cheese concoction with a blender. Saw cream cheese, butter and milk on the table while she was doing so. Really reminded me of the famous egg coffee I had at Cafe Giang in Hanoi previously.
The cheese was in a foamy form that was quite light in texture. Wasn’t overly cheesy in flavour (hence not cloying) but the cheese taste still stood out nicely. I thought it was a perfect combination with the rich, sweet and chocolatey mix below.
I drank it without mixing and sort of moved my straw up and down so I would get a gulp of chocolate followed by some cheese. When I was halfway through the drink, I mixed everything up but couldn’t taste the cheese anymore because the chocolate flavour was stronger. In my opinion, I thought drinking them separate was better as each had its own distinctive flavour which complemented each other very well.
This was the Cheese Melon Tea ($4.10 for medium or $5.10 for large) which was not too bad if both parts were drank separately too. No point in mixing everything up because you’ll just lose that cheese in the overly sweet melon tea (pre-sweetened so can’t choose sugar level).
Recently, I tried the Cheese Guan Yin ($4.10 for medium or $5.10 for large) which was my least favourite of all. Chinese tea brew with cheese just didn’t work for me. No harmony at all and it was just weird, lol.
Other cheese range flavours on the menu include Cheese Black Tea, Cheese Green Tea, Cheese Jing Syuan Tea, Cheese Mango Smoothie, Cheese Yam Smoothie and Cheese Ovaltine Smoothie.
If you like both chocolate and cheese, I highly recommend that you get the Cheese ‘n’ Choc Smoothie. It isn’t really a drink but more of a dessert treat that will make a perfect ending to your meal. Craving for one now! ?
You can find LiHo outlets at the following locations:
Ang Mo Kio Hub
Alexandra Retail Centre
Bedok Mall
Bukit Merah Central
Bugis +
Changi City Point
Clementi Mall
Gek Poh Shopping Centre
Greenwich
Hougang Mall
NUS
IMM building
Junction 10
Jurong Point
Rivervale Mall
Sun Plaza
Tiong Bahru Plaza
Toa Payoh Central
Tampines Mall
Tanjong Pagar Central
Vivo City
West Coast Plaza
Far East Plaza
Paragon
Cineleisure
Scape
The Centrepoint
One Raffles Place
Asia Square Tower 2
Square 2
100AM@Amara Hotel
The Central
V Hotel Lavender
Sentosa Beach Station
For more information, visit LiHo on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/lihosg/