Every time I’ve come back to Melbourne over the last six years, it feels more and more Asian to me. It doesn’t seem to matter what neighborhood we are in or what block we’re walking along, but there is inevitably yet another noodle or dumpling spot, many of which are chains from China or Taiwan or Malaysia. They have have both Chinese or Vietnamese or Thai writing in addition to English. The food always looks authentic and beautiful. And there’s always Caucasians ordering the “right” dishes at the restaurants when we pass by and I take a quick peek through the windows.

And then lo and behold, as we were walking through Melbourne’s Central Business District today, I noticed Happy Lemon, a popular chain of “salted cheese” milk tea drinks that originated in Shanghai that has hundreds of locations around Asia and the world now. They have a location in Flushing in New York, but not yet in Manhattan. And in the Bay Area when my two friends introduced me to it, it’s located in Berkeley, not in San Francisco. This is their first location in Oceania.

It’s overwhelming in a delicious way. I want to eat everything.