JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Hey Foodies!
Wait until you try traditional countryside Chinese food only at a tea house on Beach Boulevard: Hakka Kitchen! This is where a meal is a whole experience.
"When I'm drinking tea, I always feel relaxing," said Owner Wen Raiti.
Raiti knows more about tea than probably anyone you know. The yellow tea she served to the First Coast Foodies took her a long time to get her hands on.
"Yellow tea, it's really rare," Raiti said. "I have been waiting for this tea for five years."
It takes a high-speed train plus a drive through the mountains to get to her tea in China.
"That changed my life, that trip," Raiti said about her travels there. "That's the inspiration that got me to do all this."
Hakka Kitchen serves 30 different teas, but you also have to try the ancient Chinese countryside food.
"If it's your first time in Hakka Kitchen, there are a few things I would recommend," Raiti said. "The first is crispy tofu and the second is dumplings. Third is a bao, means a steamed bun."
Hakka Kitchen makes their own specialty tofu in-house.
"We also have scallion pancake," Raiti said. "Scallion pancake actually is a really popular breakfast food in northern China. If you go visit northern China, especially in Beijing, you will see everywhere people making the scallion pancake in front of you. It's the best pancake in the world. Everybody craving for it."
You also have to try the dessert, starting with the peanut pancakes, which Raiti says is her favorite food.
"Peanut pancakes, yes," she said. "We have best dessert. We also have vegan ice cream. Peanut pancake, we call it grandma's secret recipe."
Hakka Kitchen also prides itself on striving to be organic. Raiti says eating "clean" food like what she serves at Hakka Kitchen helped her overcome IBS.
"My personal health journey brought me to this because I know there's a lot of people out there suffering like I was."
When you're at Hakka Kitchen you may hear this: "Make tea, not war."
Let Hakka Kitchen at 14474 Beach Boulevard be your first cup.
Hakka Kitchen is doing weekly summer specials. You can sign up to get text messages about the specials by texting JOIN to (833) 243-3246.