Asian restaurants find new home in Rockville Town Center
October 16, 2018
Rockville Town Center is always bustling with new restaurants to try, and recently, four new ones have joined: Lab Cafe, The Spot, Yamachan Ramen, and Pearl Lady. All feature mostly Asian style cuisine and have so far been promising.
Lab Cafe is the oldest of the bunch, opening around one year ago in what was once Ev & Maddy’s. The cafe primarily sells bubble tea and allows customers to personalize their drinks through toppings and sweetness levels.
“I’ve tried a passion fruit and an Oreo drink, and those are pretty good,” senior Harrison Namocatcat said. However, bubble tea is becoming an increasingly competitive product, as Kung Fu Tea, Pearl Lady, and Gong Cha also sell it.
Besides bubble tea, Lab Cafe also serves coffee and freshly made in-store pastries. “The Lab Cafe is delicious and I highly recommend students to go there to grab something good and play the fun games they have,” junior Eddy Rizkalla said.
It also boasts a relaxed, quaint interior with wooden furnishings and white brick walls. “Lab Cafe is very pleasing and they have a nice atmosphere for hanging out and chilling with friends,” Sampson said.
After its opening in July, The Spot has also become popular. Unlike traditional restaurants, The Spot is an Asian Food Hall currently housing five different places to choose from: Mian, serving pull noodles, Cheers Cut, a Taiwanese fried chicken and seafood stand, Gong Cha, a bubble tea stand, Poki DC, a Hawaiian poke bowl stand, and Alpaca Dessert, with Thai ice cream and waffle bubble cones.
“Personally, I think the Spot is the best because of its versatility. There’s a lot of choices there,” Sampson said. “I go to The Spot most often [and it] has 20% off [discount] after school, so that’s cool.”
Yamachan Ramen and Pearl Lady are the most recent to join RTC’s community of Asian restaurants. They are two separate restaurants, but operate in the same space with Yamachan Ramen selling ramen bowls and Pearl Lady selling bubble tea.
“[Yamachan Ramen] has pretty nice food for a decent price and they play anime on the screen which is awesome,” Namocatcat said. “But the problem I have is that there is not enough room. Also, I wish they combined Pearl Lady and [Yamachan Ramen] so I can order just one time instead of going from one place to the other.”
Others do not mind the tight space and enjoy Yamachan Ramen for its authentic taste and fair prices. “Yamachan has really good ramen and they’re the only place in RTC that does it well,” Sampson said. “Yamachan has like a flat rate of $12 for the ramen bowl.”
The diversity of food choices available at Rockville Town Center is one of the many perks of being a Richard Montgomery Rocket. With its close proximity to school, RM students have the access to sample the eatery at lunch or after school and find something they enjoy.
The Spot is its own building at 255 N. Washington St., next to Brightview Senior Living. Yamachan Ramen and Pearl Lady share a building at 201 E. Middle Ln., on the same block as Panera Bread. Lab Cafe is located at 101 Gibbs St., next to Little Dipper Hot Pot House
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