Not Matcha of the Day: fungal weirdness in Pret a Manger, London

Quite the most disgusting drink I've had in a while. x2. Oh my! 

"Pret" is one of London's ubiquitous eatery chains. It sells coffees, sandwiches, salads, pastries, to take-away or eat-in quickly. The food is fresh, decent quality. And not cheap. 

So when matcha latte was introduced during my stay, I was quite excited. In general, the UK does not do Japanese foody things well, and has a tendency to completely misunderstand them. Which is how the strange output of places like Wagamama still get accepted as Japanese food! 

But accessible matcha in a fairly classy place like Pret seemed worth a try. And in the absence of an Asian Tsujiri or Nana's on my way to work, this could prove a boon. 

But no.

Fashionably rancid
OK, on my first try, and despite the fact nearly all matcha latte in Asia is made with regular milk, I didn't specify regular milk. And so was automatically (inexplicably) given a Western-healthy, vegan, matcha made with a bizarre trend here: coconut-rice milk. Good grief! Revolting is not the word! A truly rancid concoction. And, despite its high price (around £2.50/S$4.50/$3.40 for a small cup) this green tea approximation had to go in the bin! 

Unperturbed, I went back the next day and requested another one with normal cow's milk. And though 100% better than the awful coconut one, it was still revolting. Bitter, yes. But nothing creamy or dreamy going on at all. It was grim; tasting as if very old, fungal-infected green tea  powder had been used instead of fresh stuff. 

No wonder so many British pals had been suspicious of my matcha obsession! If this weirdness is what's served up in the UK, they have every right to be turned-off! 

So, definitely save your pounds and avoid. Pret does good coffee and Western things. But it's up there with Itsu and Wagamama for the 'Japanese' stuff!

Advertised with pride! OMG :/

For more matcha reviews, click the Matcha Addiction label :) 

Also on this blog:

A visit to Ramen Champion

After Asia: a dearth of smartphones in public!

There are hardly any smartphones on show in public in London! Compared with SE Asia, that is. 

Travel on any public transport in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, or Bangkok, and almost everyone will be on their phone, often with loud games or Malay/Hokkien/Thai dramas playing openly. 

Not so in London. Ride the Tube here, and there will be a few people quietly on their phones, a lot reading the free newspapers (Evening Standard, Metro) given out at stations, or listening to music on headphones. Almost zero noise apart from talking, and the vehicle itself.

Some of this is because there is high crime in London. Waving an expensive device is not wise, and some friends using their phones in public have literally had the gadgets snatched by fast-running thieves! Having said this, places like Kuala Lumpur are hardly famous for their low-crime. And yet it's smartphones a-gogo over there! 

Also, there is currently no signal on the London Underground (aka Tube) - you can register to access a poor one in stations only, but most people don't. A comprehensive 4G network is set to launch this year.  But, apart from occasional teens, people here rarely make phone noise where there is a signal either. 

It seems there are differences in culturally-acceptable sounds. In the UK, for example, loud - sometimes disturbing - racket around public drunkenness, sports events, or house-parties - is tolerated. Or at least people do it, and others are powerless to change it. These kinds of noise pollution simply don't occur in somewhere like Singapore. Anyone holding a loud house-party there would be very unpopular - the general sympathy lying with any neighbours having to endure it. And people would push to have it shut down.

But while this kind of racket happens a lot in London, talking in the cinema, for example, or a blaring device in a restaurant (both common in SE Asia!) are absolutely unacceptable. And people rarely do either. 

Anyway, my stop comes up soon. I'm writing this on an old, undesirable device, while quietly listening to my iPod on the way across London :)