Surreal Creamery

Surreal Creamery , which has locations throughout the Mid-Atlantic, is a chain with a split personality. One side is dedicated to "freakshakes," a trend from the 2010s in which milkshakes are topped with candies, cookies, cereal, and just about anything else imaginable. The other side produces bubble teas made with a bit more restraint.

However, even the bubble teas at Surreal Creamery can come with some embellishments if you like. The specialty "floateas" consist of bubble teas topped with soft-serve ice cream in fun and tasty pairings. Thai milk bubble tea with Vietnamese coffee ice cream, taro bubble tea with matcha ice cream, matcha bubble tea with taro ice cream, and brown sugar bubble tea with Earl Grey ice cream are some of the available floateas. You can also mix and match your own ice cream-boba creation.

Wanpo Tea Shop

Wanpo does offer the popular types of milk and cheese teas, including several made with Oreo crumbs, as well as the by-now de rigueur taro milk tea. However, tea connoisseurs may appreciate pure teas made with luye biluochun, Alishan oolong, or Muzha mountain leaves. Fruit tea selections include such nonstandard selections as kumquat lemon, plum green tea, and lemon bazhong tea. In contrast, seasonal beverages include smoked plum tea, starfruit juice, and a floral crataegus roselle drink.

Get unique, TCM-inspired “bubble tea” at The Flower Mulan at Bedok, freshly made daily by an ex-fine-dining chef

Bubble tea shops may be a ubiquitous sight in comfy, air-conditioned shopping malls these days, but when was the last time you saw one in a hawker centre?

If you’re thinking of going on a BBT run, it’s unlikely that a trip to the hawker centre is the first thing that comes to mind, these days.

Unless you’re staying in Bedok — then you can head over to Block 216 Bedok Food Centre and Market, where The Flower Mulan is selling bubble tea inspired by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Newly opened in October, the Flower Mulan is an interesting new addition to the hawker centre — it specialises in a style of drink that’s something of a hybrid between bubble tea and cheng tng .

Behind this interesting concept: 29-year-old Kenneth Teo, a young hawker who was a fine-dining chef prior to this.

So, what exactly drove Kenneth to open his BBT concept and why in a hawker centre?

Always loved hawker centres

Even though he had spent five years in fine-dining as a chef — including two Michelin-starred restaurants — Kenneth has always had great affinity with hawker culture.

His grandfather and family members are all involved in the scene and it was through his grandfather that he heard of the vacant stall at Bedok — what we know today as The Flower Mulan.

Says the former fine-dining chef: “I’m used to helping out at stalls run by relatives and family friends.”

“I wanted to contribute to the hawker scene, since I love hawker culture,” he adds. “Many hawkers are getting older and we still have a slim chance that the hawker scene can still be as vibrant as it used to be in the future.”

For Kenneth though, he knows the hawker journey is not an easy one.

He understands that running a hawker concept is not just all about passion, but also requires business acumen to succeed. He had some other ideas for his venture, but The Flower Mulan was a calculated punt.

“You can see that in this entire hawker centre, there are no dessert stalls. The closest you can get to it are the gelato stores nearby,” he points out.

The Bedok boy muses: “A lot of business in hawker centres depends on what the residents like. For example, we have more fish soup stalls than any other type — residents seem to like soup and noodles, more than anything else. It’s a very Bedok thing.”

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It hasn’t been very long since The Flower Mulan first started, but Kenneth enjoys the journey and is heartened by the support he gets from customers — and also fellow hawkers!