Halloumi Sandwich at Starbucks

The other week I promised a photo of the halloumi sandwich at Starbucks, so here it is. It’s pretty delightful.

Starbucks Middle East

I can’t make a complete comparison against all Starbucks branches in the Middle East simply because I’ve only visited Starbucks in Kuwait and Dubai. I can say that the similarities are striking, so I’m going to work off the assumption that all Starbucks branches in the GCC offer similar products.

Well, I know that as a chain coffee shop, Starbucks ought to be similar worldwide, and it mostly is, but each region usually offers something a little unique to add some local colour, like the green tea frappucino with white chocolate pudding in Thailand or the cherry blossom latte in Korea (that was a short-lived special, but it was amazing). In Korea, they also sold Jeju Green Tea (why it was Jeju Green tea and not Jiri Green tea is a mystery to me), while in Thailand, they offered a special blend if coffee beans produced in Thailand.

So what does Starbucks in the GCC offer to celebrate its regional uniqueness? Not too much, actually. Of course they have old favourites like yogurt with granola.

They do have a halloumi sandwich (I don’t have a picture to share, but I’ll come back and modify this post when I do) as well as a trio of wraps with Arab/Mediterranean specialties, like this one:

But short of a halloumi sandwich and wrap, I don’t really see much on offer at Starbucks in the GCC that embraces this part of the world. When it was PSL season, Starbucks offered pumpkin spice lattes. Now that we’re moving into the Christmas season, Starbucks is offering gingerbread lattes and toffee nut lattes and, as much as I love toffee nut lattes (and feel nostalgic for the days I could get a toffee nut frappucino from the Starbucks in Thailand), I can’t help but be a little disappointed that Starbucks in this part of the world isn’t doing a little bit more to put their regional stamp on their products. Starbucks, it would be so easy to appease me. Just add Arabic coffee to your menu. Or offer a cardamom latte. Not only would that be insanely, ridiculously delicious, it would jive well with this part of the world.

Mmmmlove’n’hugs!

Improvised Soju Apple “Lattes” at Starbucks

 

Since I seem to have a coffee shop theme going this week, let me just tell you that this happened the other week.  I was in line at Starbucks waiting to buy a cherry blossom latte, and the guy behind me starts talking to me.  He was friendly and funny, and when you’re an expatriate, it’s totally cool to be friendly and funny and chatty with strangers.  Then, his friend showed up, and I invited myself to join them at their table to chat a little more.  Here’s what we did.  We downed our lattes and used our empty cups to mix soju and apple juice, and then we all had a little tipple.  It was spontaneous, it was fun, it was harmless, although I’m fairly certain that Starbucks would neither approve of nor endorse this behaviour.  But it was a fun, quirky, this-is-actually-happening kind of moment.

Starbucks Cherry Blossom Latte and Cherry Blossom White Chocolate

In honour of the impending cherry blossom season, Starbucks has a special flavour: cherry blossom lattes and cheery blossom white chocolate.

I love everything about this special season.  Even the cardboard thingies which you put around the coffee cup so it isn’t too hot to hold are cherry blossom pink.  It’s cherry blossom season.  Inside of Starbucks.

Now, you might think that flowers and coffee are two flavours that don’t go together.  And you’d be wrong.  Flowers and coffee are DELICIOUS!  I wish this flavour could be a permanent fixture on the Starbucks menu.

Starbucks Mooncakes

Starbucks mooncake, complete with the Starbucks logo on it

When they say there is one egg inside, they are being literal.

The rock solid egg yolk in the centre of my mooncake

Alright, these pics are actually from last month, but I’ve been a little backed up with sharing pics of food (I figured I’d get that confession out of the way, because mooncakes are really only sold in Asia during a certain time of year, and I’m not really sure whether they’re still being sold now in Thailand– they were certainly being sold in Thailand throughout August).   I’m not actually clear on what the significance of the mooncakes are.  All I really know is that they are NOT delicious (at least, not to my Western palette).  And I do know that you are likely to see them in China and other Asian countries with a Chinese influence around August.  I’m not sure why, though.  And they have one egg inside, but I’m not sure the significance of the one egg.  If you have any insights about mooncakes, feel free to leave a comment and educate me!  Mmmthanks!

Starbucks Green Tea Frappuccino with White Chocolate Pudding

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned, but I’m actually an expatriate in Burma (Myanmar).  This means that, usually, I have to go without certain creature comforts.  If I crave a Big Mac, I can’t just go out and get one.  If all I want is a Frappuccino from Starbucks, well, I could always go to a local coffee shop (there are a few coffee shops in Yangon that do decent coffee), but chances are I will not be getting a Starbucks quality and style Frappuccino.  One of my first stops when I arrive in Bangkok is always Starbucks, and my order is always the same: a caramel Frappuccino with extra caramel on top.  Except this time, they were offering a mocha Frappuccino with white chocolate pudding and cookie crumble topping.  It sounded amazing, so I went with that.  Unfortunately, the white chocolate pudding had a consistency somewhere between Jell-O and plastic (to be fair, closer to the Jell-O end of that spectrum, but still), and I wasn’t able to finish more than a quarter of my Frappuccino before trashing it. I learned to love the Frappuccinos with white chocolate pudding mixed in, though.  You see, wifi at Starbucks in Thailand is not free.  It costs 150 Baht per day to use wifi here at Starbucks or 300 Baht per month.  Waitasecond!  So… if I buy a 300 Baht wifi card, I can come use wifi at Starbucks anytime I like for the next month?!  I understand that the expectation is that I would at least buy a coffee every time I come, but reality and expectations often diverge in funny ways, and since I’m broke, that is exactly what has happened.  I think 300 Baht for a month of wifi at Starbucks is one of the best deals on their menu. Initially, they didn’t seem to mind that I only bought something about every third time I would come into the shop.  Then, they did start to mind and would slyly offer me a takeaway coffee menu (I’ve got it tucked into my wallet for easy reference).  Then they kind of just accepted that I was a freeloading internet user, but since their internet privileges are not free and I’d PAID FOR the right to sit here and use internet for an entire month, there’s not much they can really do about it. Somewhere along the line, they’ve stopped stopping by my table offering me free samples of drinks and food, but that’s okay.  I’ve had enough free samples to have developed a firm liking for the chocolate pudding frappucino.  An acquired texture, for sure, but delish!