Short N Sweet is an easy place to love; the staff is friendly, and the décor’s an eclectic mix of homemade drawings and decorations. Best of all, unlike your garden-variety antiseptic bubble tea café, this one sports an array of jars filled with pickled fruits, vegetables, and jerkies. We particularly like the curried beef and squid jerkies, but many are very spicy, so beware. Fortunately, there are ice creams to cool you down. Some have that purity of flavor that only comes from being made in-house.

Most importantly, though, is the best bubble tea in town. It strikes the ideal balance between icy and creamy, unlike those slushier versions everywhere else; and it doesn’t skimp on chewy-but-not-hard pearls. We love the fresh durian flavor—this preparation is much more approachable than raw durian, but it still has the strong flavor of a tropical fruit rolled in stinky cheese. Or try a “Crazy Drink,” a bizarre mix of fruit gelatins in winter melon juice that has a cooling effect.

There are some Vietnamese street foods here, like duck noodle soup and bahn cuon, a steamed rice cake full of ground pork and mushrooms, but you can do better in that arena. We recommend eating your meal at Pho Saigon or Baguette House and leaving this café to its short and sweet genius.