indian: i recommend KHANA KHAZANA

KHANA KHAZANA  

No. 366 Keelung Rd, Sec. 1 

臺北市信義區基隆路一段366號

(02) 8786-9366 

MRT: Taipei 101 / World Trade Center 

website: khanakhazana.com.tw

Hours: 11am-2:30pm; 5:30pm-10:30pm 

Visit reviewed: 4/13/2016 & 2/12/2014 & 10/21/2013

It's been a while since I've been to Khana Khazana, but I've been wanting to retry their lunch sets.  They are one of the few Indian restaurants in Taipei offering lunch sets under NT$200, as well as a halal menu. It's not very far from the original branch of Mayur's Indian Kitchen, also on Keelung Road, across from Grand Hyatt Taipei. You can see the bright orange sign when you are approaching, and huge photos of the owner with Ang Lee, who shot Life of Pi in Taiwan.

Inside is decorated with jewel colored tones, Khana Khazana seat about 40 people, but I've never seen it very crowded in the handful of visits I've gone over the past few years. The menu is sprawling and varied, but what sets Khana Khazana apart is their business lunch set menu. Good options for vegetarians with over 20 vegetable dishes on the menu. 

The set comes with a curry, chickpeas, pakora, rice and naan. Chicken set is NT$180 and vegetarian set is NT$160. Beef and lamb are also available. I had good impressions of the vegetarian lunch set as well as the chicken tikka wrap from the last time I went, so lunch with mom was a good excuse to go back. Thanks to my instagram to remind me what I thought back then in 2014. 

I decided to get the chicken set, even though in the past I haven't had the best of luck with lunch sets in Taipei. Usually it's a watered down, cheaper version of their regular food, especially for the meat curries because they have to sell it such a low price. But I wouldn't know until I tried it. I was debating on whether or not to add a butter chicken to my order, but the server (owner?) dissuaded me, telling me that the set would be filling for one person. (Little did he know who he was talking to! Lol!)

Vegetable curry set (NT$160)

The sets came out fairly quickly and were slightly different than my last visit. Instead of aloo gohbi, this time it was a vegetable curry for my mom; the salad was instead chopped onions and the hot fried samosa type dumpling was instead pakora. 

Chicken curry set (NT$180)

The good? You really do get a lot of variety for the lunch price since meals at many Indian restaurants can add up since they are portioned and priced to share. The naan was great, and more chewy than I recall than at other places.  

The bad? My mom disliked that the pakoras (fried onions) were not served hot and the chickpeas were a bit sour (is that typical?). She also disliked how big and thick the samosas were, although I had no problem with it. I told her that usually people like it when they are getting a big portion for the price. Lol. 

Samosas (NT$90 for 2) stuffed with curried potatoes and peas. meat option available too. I liked the samosas as they are similar to the ones I've had in the states, but it's very filling.

When the food came, I still ended up having to add an ala carte butter chicken since the chicken in the set was a bit bland, being chicken breast, and not tandoori chicken, and there were only two pieces. Come on, I needed the butter chicken curry to dip my naan in and be satisfied! Of course, altogether it ended up being too much to finish, (along with adding the samosas), but I packed leftovers to go for later.

Butter chicken (NT$350) 

In the future, I'd probably share veggie lunch set with my mom (neither of us finished the naan) and add butter chicken (NT$350). I wouldn't mind getting the chicken tikka wrap again, or inviting a bigger group of friends to share more dishes. 

In terms of how Khana Khazana ranks with other Indian restaurants, I think Balle Balle and Saffron are still my favorites, along with Joseph's Bistro. I do want to try MIK 4ever (Mayur Indian Kitchen's buffet style restaurant). I wish one of the Indian restaurants in Taipei would figure out a way to do lunch set with choices-- so that I could opt for the butter chicken curry or whatever I wanted, add a side of veggies or two and choice of naan and rice, like they do in the states or Singapore, so it's portioned for one person, but charge a little more than they do for the lunch sets they have now. If it was good quality and portions, I wouldn't mind paying NT$250-400 for that.

dessert/froyo: LLAO LLAO

LLAO LLAO

at XinYi Vieshow

No. 20 SongShou Road
松壽路20號

MRT: Taipei 101

Kid friendliness: Yes kids will love to choose their own sugary toppings

Visit reviewed: 

Newly opened Llao Llao frozen yogurt at Xinyi Vieshow sits across from the newly opened Jamba Juice giving us more options for icy snacks during this very cold Taipei winter. Can Llao Llao succeed where other froyo shops in Taipei have not? 

It all looks familiar- the Pinkberry-esque glossy white and green signage, an array of fruit, candy, berries and nut toppings to choose from, as well as fruit and chocolate sauces too. But the taste of the frozen yogurt here tastes quite different than the tarter Pinkberry/Yogurtland flavor that I'm used to- maybe more milky and sweet and less tart? Can't put my finger on exactly what it is.

Because of the grand opening they are handing out bitesized samples as well as coupons with trivia questions on them to win a free topping. Multiple choice questions like how do you pronounce the companies name, Llao Llao, to help initiate customers into familiarity to the Spanish froyo chain. (The answer by the way is that it's pronounced Yao Yao with the double Ll making a Y sound)

Available are mini (NT$69), small (NT$89 +one topping), medium (NT$119 +3 toppings), large (NT$139 +3toppings) and sanum, which has fruit and topping options buried in the center kind of like McDonald's berry parfait, as well as smoothies. I had a free coupon thanks to my friend P so I decided to give it a try with some friends.

Toppings include oreo cookies, white chocolates, muesli, candied pecans, chocolate smarties, dried cranberries and chocolate covered peanuts. 

I was happy to see strawberries and blueberries included in the fruit toppings. There were also cantaloupe, kiwi, grapes, watermelon, pineapple and (ewwww) tomatoes?!!! Hopefully the berries don't disappear after a few months as I've seen that happen at other froyo places here. 

The sanum (NT$139) is the largest of the options with three fruits, two toppings and one sauce. I probably wouldn't order it again, (I'd get a small instead) but it was the only option for my free coupon. I tend to stick to berries for frozen yogurt- so it was blueberries and strawberries for us. I only had a couple bites, but my friends enjoyed it a lot. For those of us used to the tart version of frozen yogurt might have a harder time getting used to the different flavor of Llao Llao. But maybe that is preferable to locals who like their desserts sweet instead of sour. If frozen yogurt and smoothies aren't your thing, you can run across Vieshow to Krispy Kreme and Ireland Potatoes for donuts and french fries. 

CLOSED/revisited/korean: I recommend HONEY PIG

HONEY PIG

No. 415-3 XinYi Road, Sec. 4
台北市信義區信義路四段415號-3
(02) 2725-5757

closed as of 2021

MRT: Taipei 101

website: Honey Pig Taiwan's FB page

hours: 24 hours! (although I feel like sometimes when I drive by it doesn't look open 24 hours)

$$ (about NT$600/person)

Kid friendliness: high chairs available, as well as scissors to cut meat for kids

Visit reviewed:  11/12/2015
Last Visit reviewed: 1/9/2015

Round 1- kalbi, beef brisket, sliced pork belly, fresh pork belly

Round 2-spicy pork belly, spicy sliced pork belly, bulgogi, fresh pork belly, kimchi 

Revisited Honey Pig with some friends last week and was happy to find that I could make reservations over the phone fairly easily. The only thing is that they told me that the 12noon reservations for that day were full, so I had to choose 11AM or 12PM. It seems they stagger their seating so that the servers can cook for the tables at different times, as when we sat down there were only a couple other tables seated at 11AM.

The menu is slightly expanded from my last visit, with more soups and cooked foods available, as well as fresh romaine lettuce to wrap your bbq'd meats in.

There are also combos now that they didn't have at my last visit, during their opening weeks. They are a good deal if you have more people, but I wanted more kalbi and less thick cut pork belly slices. So if you're choosier about what you want, you should stick to ordering ala carte. We ended up with the Pork and Beef combo NT$2332 which saves you a few hundred NT and was two rounds on the grill and enough for 6 people. 

Fresh romaine (NT$100) 

Japchae Korean Stir fried noodles (NT$219)

This was good, with sizeable strips of meat and vegetables with the noodles. We wanted to get the kimchi fried rice, but they make it on the grill and the servers insist on making it after they cook your meat, so of course by the end of the meal we were too full to order it.

The servers are still a bit hard to wave down and the music was a bit too loud for some of my friends (especially if you sit near the speakers), but they are not as crazed and chaotic and overwhelmed as my previous visits when they first opened. 

snapshot/taipei: 7-ELEVEN X MISTER DONUT

7-Eleven X Mister Donut 

Spotted at 7-Eleven in Taipei 101 today. I wonder if it's just at a few locations, or there will be Taiwan-wide displays to tempt you while you wait in line at the front check out. 

It's a smart move by Mister Donut considering they shut down most of their stores a few years ago. Even the one I went to most often at Xinyi Mitsukoshi closed. Now I can only think of the one at  Hankyu.  

Will Krispy Kreme vie to be next to pop up?

afternoon tea/dessert: MOCKTAIL TEA

MOCKTAIL TEA
at ATT4Fun
No. 12, Songshou Road, 4F
松壽路12號4F
(02) 7745-2168

MRT: Taipei 101

website: www.mocktail.com.tw 

hours: 11AM- 10PM

$$

Kid friendliness: kids will want try the soft serve boba mocktails, but glassware not too kid friendly. probably can ask for extra bowls for sharing.

Visit reviewed: 4/29/2015

Afternoon tea, Taipei style. There's no shortage of dessert/ boba milk tea places in Taipei, let alone at ATT4Fun, where the whole fourth floor is a collection of cafes and dessert shops. Recently on my dessert crawl with Kirbie's Cravings, visiting from San Diego, we stopped at Mocktail Tea. Mocktail has that annoying 1 drink minimum per person, but if you are doing afternoon tea, then it's the price to pay for an air conditioned place to chill for 90 minutes.

The signature and most visually striking "drink" is actually a dessert served in a cocktail glass, the signature Pearl Milk Tea Soft Serve Ice Cream (NT$160) so you can see the layers of oolong tea tie guang ying jelly, boba, soft serve and milk tea. It's not even served with a straw- instead it's served with a spoon that doesn't quite easily scoop up through the smaller rimmed opening of the glass. The separate elements aren't too memorable tastewise, but the presentation is key.

There's also fruity teas and sparkling drinks, with flavors like passionfruit and lemon or an odd iced tomato honey tea (I couldn't imagine the taste and didn't give it a try, but the waiter said it's popular). Drinks marked with the crown are house specialties.

There's light cafe fare- quiche and soupy rice dishes- in case you're looking for something savory.

I ended up ordering the iced lemon matcha (NT$140) and I quite liked it. It was frothy from being freshly shaken and stirred, and the matcha worked well with the lemon and sweetness.

The tie guang ying soft serve ice cream NT$130 is easier to eat, served in an open glass and is the same as the pearl milk tea mocktail except it doesn't have the tapioca pearls. 

Personally, I'd prefer the classic Chun Shui Tang at Mitsukoshi A9 for a tall glass of boba milk tea (and fried radish cakes) or Ice Monster for bubble milk tea shaved ice and a side of gooey chewy boba, but Mocktail is less crowded and piles the soft serve ice cream inside, like a Taiwanese root beer float. 

dessert/taipei food trend: GLAM AIR

GLAM AIR
at Xinyi Mitsukoshi A11
No. 11, Songshou Road
(02) 8780-2334

MRT: Taipei City Hall or Taipei 101

website: Glam Air's FB page $

Kid friendliness: kids will definitely want one.

Visit reviewed: 4/29/2015

Google "cotton candy ice cream" and spheres of sky blue and glowing pink swirled scoops of ice cream show up. (Personally, as a kid, I was more partial to rainbow sherbet kid rather than the sickly sweet cotton candy ice cream, but that's another story)

The first time I ever had actual clouds of cotton candy stacked on top of ice cream was at Coffee Alley in 2011, where it was more of an interactive experience. A small pitcher of espresso is served to pour on top of the cotton candy so that it melted into a caramel coffee sauce over three scoops of vanilla ice cream. I've since spied imitations at a cafe in LA that opened a few years ago.

Then I spotted wisps of cotton candy on soft serve at Honey Creme, which was more known for their honey comb ice cream.

Glam Air takes it one step further, by making the cotton candy into literal eye-candy. Sugar rainbows are molded and stacked high like Taipei 101 and dry ice is added so that each cup has its own special effects of fog drifting out, its own "Glam Air". The visual result is hypnotizing- you can't help but to feel like a kid again,  those times that your parents agreed to buy you cotton candy. The concept is so simple it's brilliant- cashing in on those kid at heart fantasies for NT$150 a cup. 

Glam Air also has soft serve without the cotton candy (NT$110-140)- plain, with caramel, honey, honey comb, chocolate or with fish taiyaki instead of a cone, or as a float with bright hued sodas or shake.  

Everyone taking selfies with their cotton candy ice cream (and not eating it. Lol)

It's amazing to see how crowded it usually is, even on weekday afternoons, especially in comparison to other ice cream shops in the Mitsukoshi malls. One news clip on Glam Air's Facebook page reported a 40 minute wait on weekends. There's a liquid nitrogen ice cream shop in a different building that had no buzz going on. The thing with liquid nitrogen ice cream is that it looks cool when it's being made, but the end result looks just like regular ice cream- while Glam Air's final result is purposely eye catching.

Each Smokie Cloud is made to order. The three tiers of cotton candy tower are made from freshly spun puffs of sugar then molded into doughnut rings to fit around the soft serve. When it's done, a small scoop of dry ice is put in a larger cup and then the smaller cup of soft serve is placed inside and served.

Selling #dessert #clouds and #sugar #rainbows 🍦🍭🍦🌈 #glamair #cottoncandyicecream #hungryintaipei_dessertcrawl #hungryintaipei #hungryintaipei_dessert #taipeieats #taiwanfoodie

A video posted by Joan (@hungryintaipei) on Apr 29, 2015 at 3:47am PDT

I know by posting this, I'm perpetuating the hype, but dang it if it isn't pretty. It's only a matter of time we see a copycat in the states. I know some of you will go and get one just for the photo ops and it won't even matter how it tastes! Isn't that crazy? Thanks Kirbie's Cravings for the excuse to finally try one during our Xinyi dessert crawl.

Glam Air is one of those businesses that succeeds in the age of social media- you see it online, you try it once for your own post/selfie, but unfortunately it doesn't taste very good.  It's much prettier than it tastes. The cotton candy tasted like cotton candy and I found the soft serve overly sweet, but in the end, most people won't care. We'll have gotten our sugar high and photos and Instagram likes and endorphins from the rainbow hued memories of being a kid again.