Yumioca

There have been quite a few new bubble tea spots opening up in Edmonton recently, particularly in the southside. One place is Simply Yours Cafe, which I visited back in October (read my review here). Exactly a week later, I checked out Yumioca - the latest addition to Edmonton's bubble tea scene.

Yumioca.

Yumioca (5940 104 Street NW) is a bubble tea and dessert shop located next to Tropika Malaysian Cuisine along 104 Street. It is in the same strip mall where you'll find Let's Grill Restaurant and Escape City. I can imagine many people stopping by for bubble tea after dinner at either of those restaurants, or after trying out an escape room (which is really fun, by the way). 

The interior.

The interior - check out those chairs!

Now to describe the interior: not too big or too small, modern light fixtures, and fun, colourful chairs to contrast the textured gray carpet and walls. The atmosphere is very cozy... it's a place where you can spend awhile just hanging out with friends over bubble tea and snacks. 

Drinks Menu.

Shaved Ice Dessert Menu.

Yumioca offers a variety of drinks, including a signature cheesecake + red/green tea drink I'm curious about. They also serve shaved ice dessert, which I prefer to call shaved snow (because it's not just plain shaved ice like in halo-halo, it's softer and the 'snow' already constitutes the flavour). To be honest, I wanted to check this place out just to try their version of shaved snow! 

They have a food menu!

One thing I was worried about was if Yumioca offered a (savoury) food menu since they currently do not have one shared on their Facebook page. Good news - they do! These menus are found on each table but there is also one next to the cash register. I thought the menu could have been organized better... smaller snacks first, more filling options, and then desserts? I didn't really like seeing a green onion cake listed under two desserts (but that's just me). 

Taro Bubble Tea.

I think CJ was a bit overwhelmed by the number/variety of drinks available, so he wasn't really adventurous and ended up going for a classic Taro Bubble Tea ($4.75). I thought the taro was great... perfect consistency, prominent taste - I would totally order this for myself but without tapioca. CJ also noted that the quality of the tapioca pearls was much better at Yumioca compared to Dream Tea House... I guess you could say they were "yumi-oca" (haha I'm funny right?). 

Chocolate Shaved Ice Dessert.

I picked their Chocolate Shaved Ice Dessert ($6.95) for myself. Although there are a lot of choices for toppings, each topping costs an extra $1. I obviously did not want to go overboard with toppings, so I only asked for strawberries in my dessert. Surprisingly, I was given some chocolate sauce and chocolate rolled wafer sticks for no extra charge - thank you Yumioca! However, in spite of the free extra toppings, I was disappointed to see very little shaved snow in the bowl... I was expecting a lot more for the price I paid. Imagine how this dessert would look without any toppings... yea, I wouldn't be happy either receiving such a small amount. Furthermore, the quality of the shaved snow wasn't the best... most of it had an icy consistency instead of a melt-in-your-mouth softness. At least the chocolate taste itself was okay. The toppings were the best part of this dessert, but overall I felt that the $7.95 I paid wasn't worth it. To improve this, I think Yumioca should 1.) reduce the price to match the amount of shaved snow in the bowl or, 2.) increase the amount of shaved snow and keep the price and finally, 3.) either add set toppings for each flavour (at no extra cost) or reduce the price of each topping (so people are more able to pick and choose how many toppings they want). 

Green Onion Cake.

I knew CJ would want something to snack on (the reason why I hoped for a food menu!), so I got us a Green Onion Cake ($2.95) to share. The version at Yumioca is the big, soft, and fluffy kind of cake, with a surprisingly strong green onion taste. I thought it paired well with the sauce we were given, although it would have been nice to see some specks of green colour throughout the cake (really just a minor detail though). 

A variety of games to play at Yumioca.

CJ and I were in a hurry to do some errands, so we weren't able to stay longer to play some of the board/card games available. I really liked how the games are organized on big, roomy shelves - you can see what's available clearly and easily grab it off the shelf. It also looks like there's space to add even more games in the future!

Yup, we arranged the Jenga blocks to be a rainbow.

I think Yumioca makes for a great hangout spot in south Edmonton. The inside is very clean, modern, and cozy, and the bubble tea drink we tried was quite good. The only issue I really have is with their shaved ice dessert... it needs to be improved by adjusting either the price or the portion accordingly. As for the rest of the food - well, I'm interested in seeing how they serve yam fries and what their tiramisu cake is all about. I also had no problems with their service... very quick and friendly which is always great to see (although I do question why there were so many staff near the cash register when we visited lol. But again, not a big deal). My first time at Yumioca was good overall, but for my next visit I think I'll go for their bubble tea drinks instead of shaved ice (until they improve it, that is). I love seeing Edmonton's bubble tea scene continue to grow!