The Green Tea House Cafe

I don't know if this is better than other boba "bubble tea" houses on Convoy Street, there are a million, but it's the one I go to most. Most of them seem to be Taiwanese, but the patrons are mostly Vietnamese and Filipino teenagers if I go after work.

If you haven't tried it, boba tea is a good thing. Mixtures of tea, milk or soy milk, fruit juices - sort of like a smoothie, but with "tapioca pearls". Now these sound like a bad idea- mysterious, chewy, marble-sized black slimeballs suspended in your drink. You'll quickly figure out why it came with a huge, cartoon-like fat straw, designed for vacuuming out the slimeballs. They kind of grow on you though, and soon other drinks will start to seem textureless and boring....

I think "regular" boba tea is black tea with condensed milk and honey, but there are seemingly infinite types and combinations. I like chai and honey best, boba Thai iced tea, or sometimes berry. Green Tea House knows how to make them right, a lot of the places are little franchise shops that have opened up where they don't necessarily know how to make them right... If the tapioca pearls aren't cooked right, they're either hard or mushy. They have snacks and food here too.

The name is retarded, but this is one of my favorite places to eat in San Diego. Like most cafes here, it's in a horrible strip mall by the freeway.

This is one of the few places in San Diego that's all vegetarian. Usually if you don't feel like eating meat, you have a couple odd things to choose from or a salad, but here all the top items are meatless. There's a variety things to choose from, all good. Vietnamese, Chinese, Italian, Thai, and combinations of these (the fusion part). The chef is pretty innovative. I think it started off as a boba tea house, but evolved into a restaurant - so the boba tea is really good.

Here are a couple examples of the good stuff-

Orange "chicken" - I'm not sure what it is, nothing like chicken, but it's really good. Stir-fried with spicy sauce and fresh orange slices

Japanese fire noodles - my favorite, strangely lumpy, asymmetrical clear noodles with all kinds of vegetables and a sweet-spicy sauce

Vietnamese Pho - somehow they've recreated Pho, thin sliced meat in meat broth, without meat. It's actually better than regular pho, not as salty, and has the usual plate of mint leaves, hoisen sauce, chili paste...

Everything's very earth friendly, sustainable, profits donated, employees taken care of, etc., but patrons aren't the usual eco-head, dreadlocked, hemp wearing types, everyone eats there. It's definitely a place to try if you're in town, something unique to this area.