LELECHA（Tea and Bakery） — Restaurant in New York

I’m so excited to see the Asian bagel trend making its way to the US. The fillings are rolled inside the bagels, and the texture is fluffier than NY style bagels.

I was skeptical about their egg tart (as I’ve had some of the best back in Hong Kong), but I was so wrong.. IT’S GOING TO BLOW YOUR MIND!

Their drinks are surprisingly affordable, and you can add milk mochi (my fave!) as a topping. I asked for minimal sugar, and they were actually lightly sweetened.

＊Butter Caramel Egg Tart 黃油焦糖盒子撻 $5.49 * Their egg tart boasts a 1:1.8 egg-to-milk ratio: the custard was creamy, and jiggly. The laminated pastry stayed crisp and flaky even without reheating, thanks to how fresh they make them. They even have a tiramisu version that I’ve been eyeing.

＊Garlic Pretzel Bagel 蒜香鹼水貝果 $5.49 * This low-oil, low-sugar pretzel bagel makes it more guilt-free, and I really wish pretzel bagels were more common here. You can imagine it as a mix between a salty pretzel and a chewy bagel.

Heads up: the garlic aroma is INTENSE. You can even smell it through the packaging lol. Bring breath mints. You've been warned.

＊ Spicy Pork Floss Bagel 豬肉脯辣肉鬆貝果 $5.49 * SPICY ALERT! It was a soft, chewy dough rolled with pork floss, then topped with a crunchy topping. Every bite hit me with heat and savory. I’d get this again.

＊Taro Mochi Black Ceylon 芋泥麻薯紅錫蘭 $6.49 ** My favorite drink! Get this if you love taro and milk mochi. I only wished they offered alternative milk.

＊Supreme Grape Tea Smoothie巨大顆手剝葡萄 (冰沙) $5.89 The grape was decently sweet even though I got it with 30% sugar. It was refreshing and low in calories.

＊Matcha Dirty Boba Milk Tea 抹茶波霸髒髒茶 $6.89 It came with matcha cheese foam, oolong milk tea and brown sugar boba. If you always find brown sugar boba too sweet for your liking, this...

TL;DR: Not a safe place.

Visited on Oct 27th around 2PM, just having tea with a friend when a man walked in asking for money. When I didn’t respond, he started pushing me — and then pulled out a knife. Yes, an actual knife.

What shocked me even more was the staff’s complete inaction. Despite me calling for help multiple times, they ignored me, and when they finally came over, they threatened to kick me out for “causing a scene.”

Meanwhile, they offered the man who pulled the knife a piece of bread and let him calmly go on his way.

This place is not safe and clearly doesn’t prioritize customer safety. I won’t be coming back — and honestly, nobody should until they take responsibility for what happened.

Edit: At the time of the encounter, I was repeatedly yelling, “the guy has a knife” and “he pulled a knife on me.” The owner — who was right there, no joke — responded, verbatim, “I know.” When I later returned with the police, suddenly she “didn’t know” and claimed it was “too busy.” What a joke. Seeing the response below — evasive yet again — I can’t say I’m surprised. I’d strongly recommend avoiding this place...

Was excited to try a new tea shop. Very cute concept and the breads look tasty (sadly sold out when I was there in the afternoon).

But don’t be fooled by the 5 star reviews. They will give you a free keychain if you give them a 5 star reviews.

The tea is okay, but what left a bad taste was the poor business practices. First, it took over 20 min for them to start making my drink (forgivable since they just opened and may be figuring out the kinks). Second, I knew they hadn’t started my drink because when they called my number after 20 min, it was to tell me what I ordered was unavailable and they asked if it was okay to substitute. This might have been forgivable, but I noticed many people both before and after me who were also told what they ordered was unavailable.

Why this is a terrible customer experience: they don’t tell you something is unavailable when you’re ordering, so you pay, wait 20+ min. By the time you’re told, probably not in the mood to fight for a refund and have to settle for something you didn’t want. Hope they get their act...