ronnycakes and Wils reviews: UFO, Bandar Manjalara

There are so many Taiwanese dessert places cropping up nowadays that you can’t really tell which one is good and which one is bad anymore. Snowflakes used to be the place that everyone headed to to satisfy their Taiwanese-style dessert cravings but I hear that nowadays due to overwhelming demand and business, they have begun to machine make their taro balls instead of hand making it like they used to. Thankfully, we still have UFO who serves us authentic hand-made Taiwanese desserts.

We haven’t had a chance to properly try out UFO yet, so the food review invite from ChopChop came at just the right time, and we were incredibly fortunate to sample almost everything they had on the menu.

 

UFO is a homegrown brand specializing in Taiwanese desserts that all of us know and love, but offers a little more than that in the form of savoury snacks for hungry patrons.

Various toppings for our iced-fancies.

The bosses, Aaron and Fadzrul at the counter.

Fadzrul in the foreground and Gan Leong (the third owner of UFO) in the background.

 
First up we were treated to UFO’s drinks. The Winter Melon Tea (RM3) tasted fragrant but was a tad sweet (we chose 100% sugar level), whilst the Aiyu Lemon Green Tea (RM4.50) was refreshingly tangy with soft aiyu jelly offering something to chew on with every sip.

 
Left: UFO’s Pearl Milk Tea (RM4.50); Right: Honey Peach Yoghurt (RM4).
What’s worth trying here is the Pearl Milk Tea, which also came highly recommended by UFO. The pearls truly make the drink stand out as they are not too hard nor too chewy at all, just the right amount of springy. Much better than the commercialized versions from Chatime and much cheaper too.

Here come the main attractions!

 
Soya Ice Series with Red Bean, Taro, and QQ Balls Toppings (RM6.00). Comparable and perhaps even better than the one they have at Snowflake. The QQ balls were really nice and chewy and had strong taste of taro and sweet potato.
On the right is UFO Lemon Aiyu with Aiyu Jelly and yoghurt popping balls (RM4.50). I absolutely loved the yoghurt popping balls! And it’s an incredibly refreshing concept because I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else with this yet. The only thing that comes closest to is the coffee pearl thing that they have at Ochado, which is too sweet for me. UFO’s yoghurt popping balls pop in your mouth and release a burst of sweet and sour flavour in your mouth.

For those who prefer something hot to warm their tummies up, you can opt for Hot Grass Jelly with Mini QQ Balls.

 
On the right is Grass Jelly Series with Sweet Potato, pearl and QQ balls topping (RM6.00). Pretty much the same as what you can get from similar chains outside but the difference is in the QQ balls (handmade of course) and the ice which packs a punch in grass jelly flavour, unlike the increasingly watered down versions of some other places. The left is Grass Jelly Series with pearl, red bean, QQ balls and Ocha balls. I love how generous UFO is with the pearls.

Finally, my favourite of the day: Matcha Ice Series with Red Bean, Taro, Ocha Balls and Yoghurt Popping Balls (RM6.00). Unlike any ocha balls that I’ve tasted before, the ones at UFO actually taste like ocha and have none of that weird bitter after taste that I find are present at some other places. It’s a perfect complement with the refreshing Matcha Ice (another unique one!) and the tangy yoghurt popping balls. Hands down the best one.

Don’t worry if you’re craving more than something sweet! UFO also serves light snacks to satisfy the glutton in us all.

 

UFO offers five flavours of savoury non-greasy fries: Cheese, Chilli, BBQ, Wasabi and Seaweed. What’s nice about the fries are that they aren’t too oily at all and come in 5 different interesting flavours. We loved the cheese fries and the wasabi fries especially (the wasabi ones gave our tastebuds a kick!). Chicken fillet, calamari rings and cheese hot dogs are also available at UFO but we didn’t get the chance to sample them that day as the franchisor hadn’t delivered it to the outlet yet.

UFO is definitely a place to watch out for, with such good offerings for such reasonable prices, there is no reason why you shouldn’t head down there right now to curb your sweet tooth craving!

UFO is affiliated with ChopChop; which means that you can scan the code directly from the cashier and collect your loyalty stamps via smartphone instead of traditional loyalty cards. No more forgetting your loyalty card and losing out on rewards.

How it works:

1. Download the ChopChop app for your smartphone (a version is available for iOS, Android and Blackberry OS!)
2. Ask the cashier for your QR code and scan it using the QR code scanner in the app.
3. You will have received your chop! Collect enough chops to redeem your reward soon!

Blackberry download link: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/103285/?lang=en
Android download link: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.chopchop
iOS download link: http://itunes.apple.com/app/chopchop-loyalty/id472666873?mt=8

Right now, ChopChop is affiliated with more than 40 restaurants including 42East, Frontera, and Artisan Roast.

Click here to visit ChopChop’s site for more information!

Address:
No. 53, Jalan 3/62a,
Bandar Manjalara,
52200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : +60 3 62626478
Mon – Sun: 1:00 pm - 1:00 am

Map *here*