Xing Fu Tang in Manila : More than Milk Teas

Milk teas...Nai Chai... Bobba Tea...

Called in various ways all over the world but it's pretty much the same. A cold, refreshing drink made out of brewed tea with milk and with a generous amount of sago / pearls or whatever sinkers at the bottom of the cup. You all know how much I love my milk tea from the time I discovered this back in 2010. Such perfect (or I would say, bad) timing that I just had to get so addicted months before our BIG day that my dreams of walking down the aisle in a slimmer frame went kapoof! Anyway, I'm just glad that Paul loves me in all my chubbiness glory. Seriously though, I really have to get in shape. Gained so much after I've stopped breastfeeding the twins. *sigh* Any tips out there?

Recently, I discovered a new milk tea brand in Greenhills called Xing Fu Tang. I guess, it's because this place targets a lot of Filipino-Chinese students, families and even senior citizens that we sure have an abundant amount of milk tea brands all over the Greenhills Shopping Center. In my last count, there are about 10 milk tea players that you can find all over the complex. This doesn't even include some of the restaurants that offers milk tea too. That's a lot for a 16 hectare shopping place, but hey, we're not complaining!



A few months back, the craze on brown sugar milk tea came to Manila and I remembered seeing then newly-opened Xing Fu Tang located at the middle of the new Promenade Mall. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of brown sugar so seeing this new brand didn't prompt me to quickly give it a try as I thought that's the only drink they have. After all, there's that huge huge pot filled with brown sugar sago being cooked for everyone to see, right? Well, it's a good thing that I took some of my friend's advice and gave Xing Fu Tang as try. Actually, when I celebrated my birthday a few months back, I remembered how my auntie R was so excited to head to Promenade after dinner as she wanted to buy from Xing Fu Tang. In my mind, I thought "since when was Auntie R so into milk teas?" Wish I went with her then I would have discovered that Xing Fu Tang actually offers more than the usual milk teas.

On my first visit, I tried the Mango Smoothie with Rabbit Panna Cotta (Php. 140). I wasn't sure how this will taste like and I had to make sure that the rabbit was not the real thing too. I'm happy to share that the rabbit is actually milk jelly shaped like a rabbit similar to the yummy dessert being served at Choi Garden, Xing Fu Tang's sister restaurant. The mango smoothie tastes like our favorite mango sago so you pretty much get a good idea that this one is a very yummy after-meal drink.

I also got to try the Soda and Handmade Jelly (Php. 130) on another visit and this one has a nice bubbly fizz which paired well with the chewy jelly. I got to admit that I ordered this because I find it so pretty! Shake the drink and it brings out this glittery effect of blue and purple which reminds me of mermaids and unicorns. I'm pretty sure my kikay little L will love seeing this. Another drink that you have to try is the Lemon Black Tea (Php. 100) which surprisingly was Paul's favorite! Yes, it was indeed a surprise as he isn't a big fan of tea. According to him, it has a nice comforting taste reminiscent of his childhood summer drink.

There's really a lot more drinks that you can try at Xing Fu Tang if you want to explore a bit more than the usual milk tea drinks. However, do take one day to enjoy their Brown Sugar Boba Milk (Php. 120 cold / Php. 135 hot)  which remains to be their best-selling drink since day 1.

On my list though, I am excited to try the Strawberry Boba Milk (Php. 130) and the Grapefruit Green Tea (Php. 150) which sounds really healthy. This will be perfect when I seriously start to improve my diet and to go back to working out once again.

At the moment, there are only two Xing Fu Tang branches but the store elements are so similar to one another. There's that huge pot of brown sugar sago and these prayer sticks which brought back so much fond memories of our life in Singapore. Not so long ago, Paul and I would frequently visit the Buddhist temple to pray to kwan ni ma to bless us with a baby. Who would have thought that she (as well as our Catholic God) have answered our prayers and blessed us with two adorable kids. We're forever grateful. ♥

So anyway, how you normally do this is you ask a question and shake the container (it's way smaller than this really) until one stick falls out. You then bring the stick to the temple counter and they give you a piece of paper with a quote and a short explanation of what it means. As with life, it's not all good though. Sometimes, your question gets a bad meaning or a warning so you pray hard and do good deeds so as to bring in good karma. Be sure to try picking out a stick when you visit Xing Fu Tang!

Xing Fu Tang is located at the G/F, Greenhills Promenade, Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City. They also have a branch at the 5th floor of The Podium Mall in Mandaluyong City.