Restaurant Review: The Alley

THE ALLEY

5 St. Joseph Street ~ the-alley.ca Instagram: @thealley.ca Co-Diner: Tim Golem

On a scale of one to ten; how in love with bubble tea are you? The correct answer is eleven. While there are lots (and I mean lots) of places to get bubble tea in Toronto, one place stands out to me above all of the rest: The Alley. blogTO calls them the #1 Best Bubble Tea in the city and I completely agree. But first, a little history on bubble tea. It's a tea-based drink that was invented in Taiwan in the 1980s. (I'm pretty sure that I tried my very first bubble tea in Toronto in the 90s.) The main feature of the beverage are the chewy tapioca balls, or pearls, found within the drink. These are often referred to as "boba" and are usually black in colour. Today, there are endless amounts of flavours and combinations available. Many are fruity while others are milky and still others are slushy. You can enjoy your bubble tea cold or hot. The options are truly infinite but the one unifying element is typically the presence of tapioca pearls. The Alley is a bubble tea chain from Taiwan that opened its first Canadian location in Toronto in 2016. Three short years later... And there are now 14 locations in Ontario. Not only that, but there are shops in Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton as well. So yeah. That's how you blow up. I visited their original location on a Monday afternoon and they're always pretty busy. Even on a Monday afternoon. I was a bit thrown off by how nice The Alley looks at first. There are plenty of tables and seating if you're in the mood to hang out in the shop. And then there's all of the distressed wood, exposed brick, white subway tile, industrial lighting, and of course the deer-with-giant-antlers logo felt extremely hipster... And somehow not traditionally Asian. However, I got over my unnecessary preconceptions pretty quickly when I tasted their products. The Alley makes their own sugar cane syrup in-house. They also freshly handcraft their tapioca (which they call deerioca) from scratch. A whole lot of care and attention to detail is put into every single one of their beverages, which is certainly a key factor in their success. The menu is large and somewhat overwhelming, especially for first-timers. They try to help alleviate confusion by featuring their top six beverages as "The Alley's Picks." Adhering to this list is a pretty safe bet to ensure a pleasing drink. However, there is a whole lot more to choose from. There are sections of the menu for Brown Sugar Deerioca, Milk Tea Series, Snow Velvet Series, The Alley Specialty, Tea Latte Series, Lulu Fresh Fruit Series, Winter Series, The Finest Collection, The Alley Original Brewed Tea, and Aurora Series. What do half of these even mean?? Most of the drinks are offered in two sizes (regular or large) and many of them can be made cold or hot. Cold bubble tea is a bit more traditional but a hot bubble tea can be quite glorious as well. While everything that they make is very good and carefully created, my general happiness seems to have landed within the Brown Sugar Deerioca section of the menu (for now, anyway). These seem to be the drinks that truly feature what they do best. This is what they're famous for. Namely the Deerioca Fever ($6.00), which is most certainly The Alley's signature beverage.

Only served in one size (regular) and with the option to have it made with either cow's milk or soy milk, this is definitely the first thing that you must try. As with all bubble tea, you'll grab an over-sized straw and punch your way through the lid. My recommendation is to first sip the boba pearls in the bottom without mixing the drink. This will allow you to experience their signature flavour - which is really the whole reason for visiting the shop in the first place. Next, stir well for a whole new flavour party. The Deerioca Fever is perfect because it showcases the brown cane sugar and housemade tapioca in an ideal, deliciously milky way. You get an amazing hint of molasses and lots of creamy sweetness. It doesn't get more solid. I'd been eyeing up the Aurora Series for a while and decided that it was time to finally try one. There are two multi-coloured drinks in this series that appear to be bottled. I was very intrigued and selected the Northern Lights ($8.00).

I had no idea what to expect because the flavour isn't described anywhere. All I knew (from pictures) was that it looked beautiful. They make this drink from scratch and bottle it while you wait - they don't just have these bottled and sitting around. It is served cold and slushy. After some low-key digging I was able to determine that the flavours and colours come from a combo of butterfly pea tea, apple vinegar and grape juice. And I have to say, after taking one sip my reaction was "WOW!" It was a big flavour punch in the face that I didn't quite expect and it tasted very sweet and delicious. You can certainly taste the apple but I was having a difficult time placing the other flavours off of the top of my head. I'm not sure what I expected, but what I received was much, much bigger. I now want to try the Morning Dawn, the second drink in this series. Like most bubble tea shops, you'll be asked how sweet you would like your drink and usually how much ice you want used. I typically just request the "regular" amount of everything. You can also add different toppings to any beverage such as; tapioca, grass jelly, aloe, purple rice, coffee jelly, pudding, rainbow jelly, pineapple jelly, or milk pudding. What are half of these? Only one way to find out. At this point I have tried quite a few of the drinks at The Alley and I have not been disappointed yet. Their ideas are so creative and they place aesthetics on a high pedestal which means that you'll always end up with something impressive in your hand. My favourite drink overall would have to be the Deerioca Puff, which is basically the Deerioca Fever with custard pudding added. This creates a delicious richness and a wonderful crème brûlée-like flavour. Highly recommend!