Jaclyn’s Pick:

Tsaô Cha
2903 Samson Way (Bellevue)
Fare: Bubble Tea | Fried Chicken | Egg Waffle
Cost: $72 for two drinks, three appetizers, two meals and two desserts
Reservations: Not that type of place

Greetings, Eaters and Readers!

If you’ve never had Korean fried chicken, do yourself a favor and try it. Unlike its American counterpart, which is usually brined and dredged in flour and buttermilk, Korean fried chicken is light and crispy with a thin, almost paper-like skin. The coating is usually made with potato or corn starch, which gives it this delightful texture. (Just to be clear … I like American fried chicken, too.) And then there’s the sauces. Oh man, the sauces! Honey butter. Garlic butter. Soy garlic. Sweet chili. Hot chili. Curry. Cheese curry. They’re to die for.

Knowing Martha had yet to try one of my favorite cuisines, picking Tsaô Cha for blog research was a fun and easy choice. As far as I know, there aren’t many restaurants in Omaha that sell Korean Fried Chicken. I’ve been to one, Koko’s, several times and highly recommend it. Spoiler alert: Tsaô Cha’s take on this yummy chicken is fantastic. Let us tell you about it – plus the other fun menu items we tried. 

Strawberry Purée Milk Bubble Tea ($5.25) | Brown Sugar Milk Black Tea with Bubble ($5.65)

Martha knew she had enjoyed bubble tea once upon a time when she lived in Boston. But that was over 10 years ago. With no idea what to order flavor wise, she engaged a customer who walked in and confidently ordered his drink. He got the Brown Sugar Milk Black Tea w/ Bubble (BSMBTWB, if you’ll allow me) and highly recommended it. That’s about the same time the employees chimed in that the BSMBTWB was probably their most popular drink. Done and done – Martha ordered it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Nodding in agreement with Martha’s bubble tea drink order (brown sugar milk tea really is quite heavenly), I went the strawberry route – which is one of my go-to boba drinks. If you like strawberry-flavored milk, you’ll love this drink. It’s light and sweet with fun slurps of boba. 

Korean Corn Dog ($2.99) | Spam Musubi ($2.99)

Martha was almost more excited about the various appetizers on the menu than the chicken. I’ll chalk that up to her not having had the chicken before – but I digress. She easily decided her meal would be comprised of a handful of the apps. The Corn Dog was – as far as both of us can tell – a cheese stick. There was no hot dog or meat inside – it was a giant, kind of sweet cheese stick. It didn’t stop her from enjoying it, but she would have preferred experiencing these flavors with meat. We’ve since learned this was no accident, as many-a-Korean corn dogs are in fact, without the hot dog.

Good news – the Spam Musubi completely outshines the corn dog confusion. We had seen a similar item on a menu for a different place, so when Martha saw the spam musubi on Tsao Cha’s menu, she was excited. It’s a warm, sticky-rice filled morsel, with a small portion of spam in the middle. She only ate it slowly to make it last a little longer.

Fried Dumplings ($5.99)

Martha’s final appetizer was an Asian staple: the fried dumpling. Always the dumpling lover, she ordered it in case anything else was underwhelming — knowing she could end on a good, traditional note. Given how much she loved the spam musubi, the dumplings were an afterthought. Nothing special, and not freshly handmade – she would pass on these in the future and double her musubi order.

Korean Fried Chicken Wings ($16.99) – Sweet Amber | Honey Garlic

Wanting to try three flavors, but only hungry enough to try two – I ordered the honey garlic and sweet amber. What is sweet amber? Honestly, I couldn’t tell ya. But it was so good. Sweet and sticky, Martha and I both loved this wing flavor. It’s hard to put your finger on just what the flavor is exactly, but just know it’s divine. 

The honey garlic had an enjoyable zing, almost like a sweet chili. The garlic wasn’t overpowering, just enough to blend in with the other flavors. We both really liked this flavor, too.

The third sauce we wanted to try, but didn’t, was the soy garlic. We’ll be sure to add that one to the order next time.

Bubble Waffle Ice Cream ($7.25 each) – Cookies & Cream | Strawberry

These egg waffles are just as fun to eat as they are to look at. And when you slap ice cream in the middle – chef’s kiss. We were impressed with the physics of the ice cream tucked into the waffle. If you look close enough, there’s a small opening at the base of the ice cream for melty drippings to fall right into the cup. Not a mess to be had.

The waffle was sweet and fluffy, and when I worked through enough of my ice cream, I picked it up like a sandwich and ate the rest. The experience was enjoyable from start to finish.

Martha’s cookies and cream was exactly what she hoped it would be. The heat from the waffle warmed the ice cream just enough – but not too much. The only thing she didn’t like is a personal preference more than a critique – she doesn’t like cold, hard chocolate chips when trying to enjoy soft, creamy ice cream. She let most of those fall down into the cup as the ice cream melted.

Final Bites

“Loved it. Big fan. Many many forks, all the way up.”

That’s what Martha said when I asked her for her overall opinion on Tsaô Cha. And if you can’t tell (see all words above), I couldn’t agree more. 

Cheers!
The Good Bite Gals

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