Eastern Roads with Anabear and LT: Leisure Tea & Coffee
There’s an abundance of dessert places in Vancouver, but not as many specialty, good, Asian ones so we decided to check out Leisure Tea & Coffee as it’s apparently been there for decades now. On a map, it was very hard to pinpoint where it was, but after walking a few blocks, we discovered it’s almost directly across from Caps Bicycles; super easy to find!
1986…well they must be doing something right to have been there for so long!
The place has a very rustic feel, like it’s an old winter lodge found deeply rooted in the mountains.
Menu section for the icy and slush desserts. We ordered the Assorted Bean Milk Slushy ($6.25).
If you’re unfamiliar with asian style desserts, don’t be alarmed, I can assure you this is how it’s supposed to look like. With red beans, green beans, black beans, tapioca pearls, raisins, and peanuts, it was like a dessert sampler platter of all the things you can get in a bubble tea. Despite it being frigid outside, the mix of bean flavours with the condensed milk and ice was very refreshing! However, $6.25 is a little steep for something like this, so, despite it being pretty good, it was a little on the expensive end.
This portion of the menu shows their coffee and iced coffee selection. I ordered the $4.75 Leisure Iced Coffee.
Honestly, I was not expecting much much of a kick from the coffee but boy, was it ever strong! I’d say it’s very comparable to the Vietnamese Ice Coffee you can usually get at Pho places, albeit a lot less sweet.
The final portion of their menu shows some of their other desserts. Anabear ordered the Japanese Light Cheesecake ($4.75)
It was VERY light in that it almost tasted like Chinese Sponge Cake, though still exhibiting a small hint of cheesiness. It was oddly watery though in one portion of it.
LT decided to go back to basics and get a Green Milk Tea ($4.75). It was a “solid” bubble tea, I guess you could say. You’d think it’d be impossible to screw up a bubble tea, but believe you me, it is possible and it happens quite often!
Good:
-Very “leisurely” and comfortable setting
-Solid slushy desserts and bubble tea
-Very clean washroom (that gets brownie points from me!)
Bad:
-Cheesecake was a little odd
-Service is a bit inattentive
-Kind of pricey
Closing Comments: The place is an alright dessert joint when it comes down to it, though I would be lying if I said it was the best thing I’ve ever had. Maybe their steep prices are what’s kept it going, haha. Maybe I’ll try their sandwiches next time, as they’re apparently quite good.
Overall Rating: 3.3 PBJ’s out of a possible 5
