Pour some bubble tea on me…

Bubble tea at Saint's Alp

I stumbled upon Chinatown’s Saint’s Alp Teahouse two years ago while working on a story on places to hang out along the route of the Chicago Marathon. Like a sprawling bright orange beacon of bubble tea heaven, this teahouse (actually a chain based in Hong Kong) is right on Archer Avenue, under Phoenix restaurant. An orange footprint and tons of windows marks the spot, where $4-$5 can get you a steaming pot of almond milk bubble tea, agar-filled coffee drinks or regular hot teas. Although it looked like leftover milk from a bowl of BooBerry cereal, the hot taro milk tea with black tapioca bubbles was a recent discovery and new personal favorite. The place is open until midnight on weekends, so it’s a nice alternative to dessert or when you want to stay out but you don’t feel like boozing. And if you are out boozing and looking for late-night Asian eats on the cheap, they’ve got those as well. Be prepared for lots of servers hanging out but not hounding you, no music but a great energy nonetheless, and as hard as it is to fight, your brain’s tendency to want to call the place Saint Alp’s. 2131 S. Archer Ave., 312.842.1886