Madarin offers alternative to coffee

New Tea Room is a unique addition to Oberlin scene

The Mandarin filled up that looming space in front of the restaurant with the Mandarin Tea House. It's a quiet, pretty alternative to the Feve or the Java Zone, and no more expensive than either.

The Tea House offers a variety of teas including Oriental teas such as both Chinese and Japanese green tea, oolong tea and jasmine tea. The exotic teas are a combination of different herbs and assorted flavors and are made by the Tea House. They have interesting names such as Spicy Rock, which is a ginger tea sweetened with cane sugar. It comes in a bowl with slivers of fresh ginger at the bottom and cleared my sinuses and gave me energy. Herb teas are also offered. All the teas have various medicinal properties, whether they are supposed to help athsma, tiredness, acne, colds or just clear the senses. The Oriental and herb teas come in a small tea pot with a tiny little cup, and the exotic teas are served in large cups or bowls at $1.50 a serving.

There are a few food options. Congee is a rice soup that comes in three different flavors. The soft buns come four to an order and can contain vegetables, chicken, pork or beef curry and are reasonably priced. So are the vegetable buns which are steamed and filled with green onion, carrot and peppers. The filling was very good but the bun itself sort of overwhelmed the contents and was a little dry. Sushi comes six to an order for $3.50 and there is a choice of vegetable, chicken or shrimp. I've never heard of chicken sushi, so I ordered the vegetable. The rolls were large and well-crafted, and each contained avocado, red bell pepper, carrot and cucumber. The vegetables were very fresh and crispy, and the rice was appropriately sticky. They were accompanied by the traditional soy sauce and green mustard.

The atmosphere was nice and a definite change from the other coffee places and studying spots at Oberlin. It was actually quiet in the restaurant, with classical music playing in the background. The lighting doesn't offend the eyes and there is enough room between the tables for people to walk and move their chairs around without bumping into someone else. The decor is nice, too; the ceiling is a strange and comforting red-purple, and the tablecloths are red cloth. There are Chinese characters written on the back wall that read "tea house," among other things. The dishes are handmade and each one I saw was different and pretty. All the food and drink is served on black laquered trays.

It's fun to eat at the Tea House and the food is pretty good, but the draw is the atmosphere; somewhere to sit and talk or study, where people won't try to rush you along to fill the table with someone else.