Address: 201 Harbord St.
Phone: 416-537-5959
Store Hours: Mon-Tues 5 PM - 11 PM, Wed-Thurs & Sun 11 AM - 11 PM, Fri-Sat 11 AM - 1:30 AM
Website: www.bampottea.com
Study Appropriate?: No
Wi-Fi?: Yes
Stamp Cards?: No
Interior
Menu
Drinks - Soy/Almond/Lactose-Free Options?: Only lactose-free
- Coconut milk available
Foods - Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free Options?: Yes to all
- All food is vegetarian
Xantou Mandarin White Pu-erh, $6.50 (free refills)
Soup of the Day - Thai Curry Soup, $6.50
Review
Drink of Choice: Quangzhou Milk Oolong, $5.25 (free refills)
When I first heard about Bampot through social media, I knew I had to check it out and bring my boyfriend along. We both love tea and board games so it was the perfect combination. We went to check it out a couple of weeks after it opened.
The environment of the cafe definitely suits the name. The cafe is decorated with yellow, orange, and dark red walls, reminding me of the Indian culture. There are some areas where you can sit in the nooks and crannies of the cafe with only pillows and drapes, giving off that bohemian vibe. The space gives a lot of intimacy compared to most places I have been to; which is nice and unique to Bampot.
Bampot serves a vast selection of tea, some with free refills. Like most places, it has a $5 sitting fee if you would like to play the board games. However, it only costs $3 if you decide to order food. My boyfriend got the soup of the day, which was some sort of Thai curry soup the owners whipped up. He absolutely loved it and I enjoyed it as well. It had that spicy flavour that curry lovers would be familiar with. I had the Quangzhou Milk Oolong tea, which tasted exactly what you would expect a milk tea would taste like. It wasn't my favourite, but I didn't mind drinking it either. For each pot of tea you receive, you get a timer as well, so you know when the tea is perfectly steeped. Between my boyfriend and I, we pretty much drained all the hot water they had for our free refills haha.
There are currently about 160 games available and when I was there, many of them were unopened. My boyfriend was in heaven for a short period of time after I found a brand new Firefly board game towards the end of our stay. Unfortunately it was a two hour game and we were already there for about two to three hours. He sadly had to wave goodbye to it.
The cafe hosts different events here and now. They have Scrabble Night on Mondays and free knitting lessons often. They planned on having a Dungeons and Dragons game night as well. The owners said that they were looking for games to host events for. If you are a game enthusiast and would like to bring an event to Bampot, definitely reach out to them!
Overall, I highly recommend Bampot. It's so good that it's now my boyfriend's favourite board game place, knocking Snakes and Lattes to his second favourite. This is definitely a great date location to spend with your significant other. Also if you are a tea enthusiast, it is a must to visit! The cafe is very intimate and cozy with such a lovely staff. I don't recommend coming in with a large group of friends unless you are willing to break the group down. It's best to have no more than three (or at most four) other friends with you because of the space. The cafe also has hookah available as well.
