M&H Café: Because sometimes you just want bubbles! (Boca Raton)

There are several places in South Florida that I know of at which to purchase bubble tea: Lan’s Pan Asian Café (Miami), Lollicup (Palm Gardens), and M&H Café (Boca or Davie). My love and I frequent M&H café the most since we live close by.

The store is right outside of the Town Center Mall in a small shopping plaza. The café itself is so cute, decorated with bright and vibrant colors!

There isn’t a ton of seating, but there is never a lot of people there at one point in time, so it usually isn’t an issue.

As usual, we brought a friend with us (because it’s more fun that way, sharing good food and drink with those around you ^_^). My boyfriend and I ordered our regular bubble teas and our friend had a chocolate bubble tea.

The coconut bubble tea is outstanding! My boyfriend always asks them to put extra powder in his for a stronger flavor. I’m not a huge fan of boba, the tapioca bubbles on the bottom of the teas. They aren’t really packed full of flavor, but they do have a fun slightly chewy texture. However if they are too chewy and tough, they haven’t been cooked thoroughly enough. Thankfully at M&H café, they’re really great at cooking the boba correctly!

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My favorite has to be the taro bubble tea though. Yes, I’m aware it’s a non-standard American flavor, but in terms of an Asian flavor it’s a staple. =) Even my non-Asian friends who have tried it have fallen in love with the taste!

As you can see I opt for the lychee jellies, which are not as fun to eat but definitely have a pleasant sweet flavor. Sadly they are a bit harder to suck up through the straw than the boba.

M&H café’s boba tea is definitely oishii noms!

M&H Café
2200 Glades Road
Boca Raton, FL
(561) 544-1008

California: Half and Half Tea House (San Gabriel)

Back Blogging #7:

Our last stop before the airport was for bubble tea at Half and Half Tea House in San Gabriel. The allure of honey boba was just too much for me to resist!

We had a bit of a rough time finding the place, but I place that squarely on the gps! Ok…it was really me, I input the wrong address. =( I actually started freaking out a bit, thinking that we might not make it back to LAX in time for our flight, all because of bubble tea.

Anyways, we made it there despite some setbacks! Like most of the places we went to eat this vacation, it was a small café tucked away in a strip mall. There were a bunch of people just hanging around outside and some gamers inside playing DOTA (woot gamers!). The atmosphere was easy going and very laid back, I’d go here just to curl up with a book and a cup of bubble tea.

Another one of those infamous pictures where if you squint really hard you can see me in the reflection! …And yes, that IS a penguin hat that I’m wearing.

I ordered a honey boba tea and my boyfriend had an almond boba tea. (Almond Boba tea pictured below)

The almond tea was great, it had a great flavor and wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet. The honey one was a mixed bag. The tea itself was a bit bland, but the honey boba was AMAZING! Heck, if I could just order a cup full of the honey boba itself I would have. They solve the entire problem I have with boba, the tapioca balls are usually just bland and add a chewy textural element to bubble tea. But the honey boba truly had flavor, an attitude of their own! In the end I should have ordered an almond bubble tea with honey boba. ^_^ Next time Gadget, next time!

I also ordered a piece of milk toast (no, it wasn’t called that, but it’s the best description that I can think of).

This was also pretty yummy, like a piece of French toast, just probably slightly drier (not to say this toast was dry, it really wasn’t). I’d kill for some honey boba in the bubble teas here in Florida…


Half & Half Tea House
120 N. San Gabriel Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91775
(626) 309-9387

Lan's Pan Asian Cafe (South Miami)

I spent my college years at the University of Miami frequenting Lan’s Pan Asian Café for lunch, dinner, and the inevitable bubble tea cravings. This small establishment is a stone’s throw away from UM at Dadeland Station. It is inconspicuously placed on the first floor across from Michael’s.


“Pan Asian” usually signals to me that an eatery is unable to cook their cuisine authentically and can only make it taste like some semblance of “Asian” food. An example of this kind of pan Asian eatery would be Stir Crazy. I’m sorry to those of you out there who truly love Stir Crazy, but their food is definitely NOT authentic. However, Lan’s is quite different, and instead serves a variety of dishes from a variety of Asian cuisines from Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, to Japanese. It is not just a hodgepodge of flavors in one dish, but rather each dish is a portal into a different country’s cuisine.


For my birthday, we trekked all the way to Coral Gables from West Palm Beach for dinner shabu shabu style. Yes, I realize shabu shabu is usually eaten when it’s cold outside and it’s never truly cold in Florida…but give me a break here! Before we got to the main course, we started off with a Lan’s salad. It’s a simple salad of field greens, but what sets it apart is its ginger vinaigrette. This dressing is amazing! I, for one, hate salads, but this dressing is so light and flavorful that I just can not stop eating this dish. I really wish they would bottle and sell this dressing to the customers. I would eat a ton of salad at home if only I had access to this delicious dressing.

Another highlight out of their appetizers is the crispy calamari. The calamari is dry rubbed with spices, lightly fried, and garnished with scallions and a mango sauce. This is yet another dish which defies my rules for food. I hate mixing sweet and savory together. It is my opinion that fruit of any kind does not have a place in a savory dish. However, this sauce is spot on and compliments the calamari perfectly. The spices added give the calamari a kick that no other batter I have ever encountered can rival.

Now shabu shabu (or as I refer to it, hot pot), is not on the printed menu. However if you call in advance and talk to the owner, she can set it up for you. If you aren’t familiar with shabu shabu, it’s basically the Japanese equivalent of fondue. You are given a basic soup stock and you cook a bunch of raw food within the stock.


The server brought out a portable burner as well as a pot of broth. The broth by itself tastes like miso soup broth, sans the miso. However you add flavor and dimension to the stock by cooking the vegetables, meats, and seafood in it. We were brought out several large plates of pork, chicken, kobe beef, vegetables, noodles, tofu, and seafood.

The presentation as well as the selection of proteins and vegetables was absolutely stunning. I especially had a soft spot for the kobe beef and enoki mushrooms. My boyfriend, being the wonderfully thoughtful man that he is, requested beforehand that if at all possible that kobe beef be included in the selection of proteins for the dinner. If you have never tasted kobe beef before, let me tell you that it is to die for! The tenderness and flavor of the meat is out of this world.


For dessert, I always finish with their signature passion fruit crème brulee. I have yet to taste a crème brulee as delicious as the one at Lan’s. Neither Runyon’s in Coral Springs, Dada’s in Delray Beach, nor the Breaker’s in West Palm can come close to the heavenly taste of this crème brulee. This crème brulee is on a tier all of its own with its delicate balance between the sweet caramelized sugar coating and the slight tartness of the passion fruit custard. Not only does this dessert garner acclaim for its taste, but also for its lightness. None of the desserts at Lan’s are heavy desserts. So even after an extremely filling meal, do not pass up on dessert (you’ll be sorry if you do). As my friend Holly said,” I never want to put anything else in my mouth ever again.” *sigh* …And now I’m having cravings again.

Lan Pan-Asian Cafe
8332 S Dixie Hwy
South Miami, FL 33143
(305) 661-8141