The family of stalls at Chinatown’s Maxwell Food Centre recently welcomed a newcomer a couple months ago. Dot Sugar, selling a mix of bubble tea drinks and traditional Chinese desserts, makes things affordable for the office crowd and the aunties/uncles who frequent the popular hawker spot.
Helmed by two merry lads who chirp out a sunny “remember to shake your drink!” after you purchase the signature (and currently trending) brown sugar pearl fresh milk, the store offers quite an extensive selection of milk teas, fresh tea brews, milk “form” drinks (we’re pretty sure they mean “foam”), and brown sugar beverages.
But the best part is the price tags on all of ’em. Only one item goes over the $3 mark (and barely) — the Milk Tea with 3 Dot: pearl, pudding, and herbal jelly at $3.20 — so if you stick to the basic drinks without toppings, you could probably get two here for the price of one Gong Cha/Koi/whatever your go-to bubble tea place is.
Cheap and cheerful, it should be called.
If you’re going for jasmine green tea, it’ll set you back just $1.60. And Earl Grey milk tea with pearls go for $2.50, while the brown sugar pearl fresh milk costs $2.90. Toppings include golden, black and white pearls ($0.40-$0.50), aloe vera ($0.60), grass jelly ($0.60), and basil seeds ($0.50). However, think of it as your friendly neighborhood bubble tea kiosk — you’re not going to get high quality stuff here à la Tiger Sugar or Jenjudan, but the price is right and sometimes you just need your pearl fix without going overboard on your spending.
Besides drinks, the desserts at Dot Sugar are wallet-friendly too, with options such as sesame and walnut paste ($2.80), glutinous rice ball in ginger soup ($2.50), peach resin soup ($3.20), and mango pomelo sago ($3.50).
FIND IT:
Dot Sugar is at #01-61 Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur St.
MRT: Chinatown/Tanjong Pagar
