It’s been a crazy two months since AllEricCanEat launched
over the holidays and we’ve had tons of support and views from Urbanspoonists
(thanks guys!). With the flurry of holiday get-togethers, birthdays, and dining
week events (i.e. Calgary’s The Big Taste and upcoming Edmonton’s Dining Week)
it has been a gastronomical marathon of mostly upscale dining experiences. Not
that I can complain, but every diner needs that low-key, late-night snack -place
where you can order late-night fried junk to quell those late-night munchies.
Whenever I am in Calgary, that place for me is Bubblemania. I first discovered
Bubblemania back in first year on my third or fourth visit to the city. Since
then, Bubblemania has grown considerably – expanding into the shop next door
and upgrading their look with brand new renovations. The new Bubblemania
features spacious booths that could easily fit 10-15 people as well as modern,
minimalist tables throughout the restaurant for smaller groups. After CHARCUT,
both my cousins and I were craving some bubbletea, and we headed straight to
Bubblemania after the bills were settled.
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| Hot Honeydew Milk Tea |
We weren’t particularly hungry since we had just finished
our meal at CHARCUT but I have almost never been to Bubblemania without
ordering at least one platter of
their wings. Bubblemania usually offers fairly decently sized wings for 35¢/wing
on weeknights and 50¢/wing on weekends. With each order being 10 wings, it’s
not too bad of a deal and definitely hits the spot when you’re having those late-night
cravings. As it was Sunday, my cousin also decided to order the special of the
night, fried scallop (Bubblemania has food specials each night of the week) and
his favourite dish at Bubblemania, fried rice. For my drink, I ordered a hot
honeydew milk tea while my cousin Nam ordered one of Bubblemania’s new drinks,
The Wizard of Oz.
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| Fried Scallop and Garlic Mayo |
Our drinks came out fairly quickly. Bubblemania does not
have the best bubbletea that I have ever tasted to be honest and the hot honeydew tea that night was pretty
standard. Good, but nothing special about it. My cousin’s drink, The Wizard of
Oz, which featured a special ingredient – mint – was neon green in colour. It
looked fairly…interesting, so I ended up trying a sip of it. Luckily for me, it
was one of the more unique bubbleteas I had tasted and I loved the extra hint
of mint! Definitely worth a try, especially with all the buzz building around
the movie by the same name.
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| Seasoned Salt Chicken Wings |
The food also came out quite quickly following our drinks.
The scallops ($4 on special that night) was served with garlic mayo. The garlic
mayo was actually quite flavourful and had a nice garlic flavour. I’ve never
had fried scallops with garlic mayonnaise, but they went surprisingly well
together. Bubblemania has a fairly decent selection of chicken wings, some of
my favourite being Korean Spicy, Honey Garlic, and Salt and Pepper; that night
we chose the Seasoning Salt chicken wings. While I usually enjoy the wings,
that night the wings were a bit over seasoned and salty and did not have the
freshly-fried “crunch” that I look forward to when ordering chicken wings. A
little disappointing since I usually enjoy Bubblemania’s chicken wings. The House
Seafood Fried Rice – which had scallops, shrimp, and tobiko mixed in with
the typical ingredients of fried rice – was served last. I enjoyed the
additional flavour of the tobiko, but it was fairly standard otherwise. In
addition, it wasn’t served nearly as hot as I would have liked.
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| Seafood Fried Rice |
I have been to Bubblemania and have always found the environment
very lively and inviting, especially when I’m there just to hang out with my friends or family. Though I
normally enjoy a number of their hot dishes (try the chicken karaage if you get
a chance!) and their wings, both the food and bubbletea are fairly mediocre
otherwise compared to other bubbletea cafes. Perhaps it was an off night for
Bubblemania, but my most recent experience was not quite as enjoyable as many
of my previous visits to Bubblemania either. Regardless, Bubblemania is still a
great place to hang out and satisfy those midnight munchies, and I will likely
be back in a booth at Bubblemania at some point the next time I am in Calgary.
Top Pick of the
Night: The Wizard of Oz and Garlic Mayo
Rating: 3/5 Erics'
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