Tuesday 1 October 2013

Bubbletea Café... A Dairy Queen's Dairy Dream with Pancakes

Little Reykjavík is growing up. New cultural influences are finally native to my little city and a new generation of a multicultural descent is changing the once monocultural mood of the northernmost capital city in Europe.  


I love the new city I now call home. I love the energy brewing in the heart of the city and the artistic vibe that emerges from the little alleys and the colourful boutiques in old - some historical - corrugated buildings lined along the Laugavegur high street.   

Laugavegur is quite possibly the only high street in all of Reykjavík. Unlike residential boroughs in the UK, suburbs in Reykjavík are quite often just that, residential quarters with emphasis on the residential aspect. That means some suburbs are without a decent commercial centre and flourishing restaurant scene isolated to the city centre.

Luckily for me, my little borough, the Westside otherwise known as Vesturbær, has been around for a while. It's one of the oldest residential quarters in the city and many of the homes were built in the the post-war years, primarily it seems in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, and some even pre-war. The three-storey apartment building I call my home - and share with the best kind of neighbours a family of three can ask for - was built in 1946.

What I cherish with all my heart is that there is past to my present. History is written in the walls and in the very soil. The tall trees in the yard have been residents to these grounds since the very beginning, even longer, watching generation after generation go about their business every single day. The stories they could whisper in my ears...

Across the "rounded road" called Hringbraut is the oldest part of my borough with narrow streets and a beautiful old cemetery that overlooks the man-made lake we know as the Pond or "Tjörnin." 


The centre of Reykjavík is so much more than a commercial centre. It's vibrant in culture and rich in the flavours of the world. In-between the simple but detailed carving in the walls of the city - most noteworthy being the carving in the rooftops peaking over the edge to watch life go by - are restaurants that have been around for years and decades. New ethnic restaurants are beautiful markers of the new multicultural world that has finally caught up with us. 

Amidst the endless arrays of cafés is a new café, a café that is different from the traditional genre of cafés that so far have been prevalent in the capital city. The Bubbletea Pancake Café is bright and beautiful, a homely haven just a few feet from the original home of the newest and truly authentic Italian restaurant, Piccolo Italia. 

Bubbletea is where I go for my sugar and lemon pancake dessert after my Chicken Tagliatelle pasta dinner. 

It's where I go when I want something cool on a summer's day. 

It's where I go when I want a dessert that isn't sweeter than all that is sweet. 

I go there when I need a shelter away from pouring rain and when I fancy a fusion of dairy heaven and fresh fruits.

I love nothing more than the light but creamy dairy drinks they serve at the Bubbletea Café. It's the kind that is naturally sweet, an oasis that like the gentle passing of the River Nile through the golden sand of her desert banks, leaves one feeling refreshed and comforted. 

Yoghurt drink with mango and lemon..yummy!
The interior design is simple but delightful. The walls are painted in blue, green and purple and the large window frame faces the upper Laugavegur High Street. Bar stools are lined up along the glass frame and drinks rest on the high table, almost too tempting to resist. Inside are simple wooden tables dressed with colourful table cloths, and in the corner of the café there is a shelf with handmade souvenirs.  

The Bubbletea Café
The creamy drinks are flavoured with fresh fruits, and the customer can choose between a yoghurt drink or a milkshake. My favorite mix is a yoghurt drink with lemon and mango.

Then it's the pancakes... the perfect golden hue... soft and silky... it's about as perfect as it gets when topped with lemon and sugar.

A pancake with sugar and lemon - yummy!


Other options, well, they're seemingly endless with peanut butter, jam and cream and so much more. Being a creature of habit, I confess to having only tried it with lemon and sugar... always with my favourite yoghurt drink.

I've only just started to make my way down their menu and I am yet to try their coffee, after all, they do offer Illy, and it's a pretty decent brand. Neither have I tried their fruity ice-teas or hot tea drinks. 

I am even more intrigued to try a beverage with their special ingredient. The Bubbletea Café is very likely the only place in Iceland where Tapioca is available and being a curious traveler, this is the perfect opportunity to do a little bit of culinary traveling domestically. 

I am dying to try just about every single one of their drinks from the Special Drinks menu. It's the fusion of fresh fruits and tapioca that intrigues me. Most of the drinks on the menu contain tapioca. The infusion of exotic ingredients and dedication to create a feast for the palate is a divine combination, and for the health-conscious sweet tooth it's a safe haven to emerge oneself in natural sweetness. 

For a non-drinker like myself, it's such a joy to finally have a café where creativity is put to work to create something sweet and distinctive, something as enjoyable as a mojito on a saturday afternoon, something that gives an impression of a celebratory cocktail.  

The Bubbletea Café is most definitely the most exciting new café in the whole city of Reykjavík, offering an extraordinary selection of beverages and both sweet and savory alimentation suitable to all ages and tastes. 


The Bubbletea Café
It's the perfect place to spend an afternoon when you need a bit of colour in your life, and since tea and coffee and fruit drinks have little to none intoxicating effect on the body (unlike traditional cocktails and alcoholic beverages) it's possible to (literally) drown one's sorrows in seasonably fruity flares beneath the rainbow walls, and walk out into the sun intoxicated with physical wellbeing. 
  



No comments:

Post a Comment