vietnamese: I strongly recommend VIETNAMESE BISTRO

VIETNAMESE BISTRO

No. 7-1號, No. 103, Lane 46, Chongqing N Rd, Section 2, Datong District

(02) 2556-1155  

MRT: Zhongshan or Beimen

hours: 10:30AM - 2:30PM ; 4PM - 9PM; Closed Wednesdays

$

Visit reviewed: 9/28/2021 (I was invited, but all opinions are my own)

Oh man. While writing this post, I took a look at the last time I posted about Vietnamese restaurants in Taipei and it's been years (blame insta!) and quite a few of them have closed since I posted about them. So this is the perfect time to post about this new Vietnamese restaurant I can't stop thinking about. 

Opened over a month ago by two cousins from Hanoi, Vietnamese Bistro came from when Anya and Ryan couldn’t find any authentic Northern style Vietnamese food while studying here in Taipei.  They reached out to me to give it a try and I went looking for it in the alleys not far from Taipei Main Station. 

With a table full of delicious noodle soups, spring rolls and salads, we’ve barely even scratched the surface of their extensive menu which includes pho ga, classic salt and pepper chicken and sliced goose marinated with lemongrass and ginger. The rice noodles in their pho and French rolls for their banh mi is all made in house, by Ryan, the cousin who was a chef back in Vietnam. 

My favorites I kept going back to were 

the Bun tron (dry rice noodles) with pork (NT$120), 

(I've always been partial to noodle salads which are the best of both worlds with slippery chewy noodles and crispy lettuce, carrots and veggies all in one bite. Light for a summer day or when you're not feeling like something soupy.)

the chicken papaya salad (must order) (NT$70)

(Crunchy, sweet and refreshing)

fried spring rolls (NT$80/120) nem rang 

(Cut into bite sized pieces, these were so crispy and addictive with plenty of flavor)

and washing it down with sweet Tamarind juice (NT$50)

The  bun ca (rice noodle fish soup) (NT$120) and pate banh mi (NT$80) are among their specialties to try if you have room, as well as their version of Northern traditional beef pho (NT$130). When we tried both at the same time, as the tangy and spicy broth of the bun ca was overpowered tasting the flavor in the lighter broth of the pho. Vietnamese Bistro’s pho comes from simmered beef bones and star anise, and their rice noodles are wider and soft. Because they make their pho rice noodles from scratch, they’ve broken into shorter strands to spoon up rather than do noodle lifting. The broth of the bun ca had a sweetness from the tomato and large pieces of fried fish were filling. If I had to pick one of the two, I would try the bun ca just because it’s so different. 

The pate banh mi comes as a whole sandwich, but they kindly cut it into quarters after we asked them to. I am almost too full after all the food to take a bite, but I couldn’t resist. The French bread is made in house too, with a smear of pate, crunchy fresh veggies. Next time I would probably try the pork banh mi. 

The restaurant is small but clean, with charming murals hand painted on the walls by Anya, one wall has their most popular dishes making it easy to order. The pricing is student friendly, or as they say CP is high, so it’s definitely worth a try the next time you’re craving Vietnamese food. 

taiwanese: I strongly recommend ZHENG PORK KNUCKLE

ZHENG PORK KNUCKLE 鄭記豬腳飯

No. 22, Yanping S. Rd., Zhongzheng Dist, Zhongzheng District

台北市中正區延平南路22號
(02) 2371-1366

MRT: Taipei Main Station   

hours: 11AM - 8PM

$  

Kid friendliness: sidewalk seat and limited indoor seats. bentos available to go

Visit reviewed: 4/2021

Opened for over 60 years, Zheng Pork Knuckle is a tiny neighborhood shop a few minutes walking distance from North Gate near Taipei Main Station. The must order dish is the braised pork knuckle bowl (NT$110), that comes over rice with a shiny stewed hard boiled egg, pickled mustard greens and veggies. The menu signage lists three main dishes to choose from- braised pork knuckle, dong po pork or milkfish, but I spied a lot of other side dishes you could add on like bamboo or intestines and a serve yourself bone broth. 

The pork knuckle is a sizeable piece and easy to eat since they deboned it. Slowly braised until tender, the thick pork skin is Q and velvety, more collagen than fat. I was surprised the sauce wasn’t sweet at all, but the flavor was still rich and perfect for scarfing down with rice. 

There was a short line since we got there after 1pm, but it moved quickly. There's a few shaded tables on the sidewalk and a few tables inside. Bento boxes are also available for takeaway. This post was so popular on Instagram, I had to throw up a post with the address for the next time I'm in the area. 

Thanks to my friend Lucie for taking me here. It's a stop on her historical walking tour, with tons of information about the Taipei Main Station area, what it was like almost 100 years ago and how it's changed. There seems to be a lot of recent renovations for the historical buildings in the area and I got to check out the recently reopened National Center of Photography and Images . There's a small coffee shop on the first floor if you're in the area. Loved these vintage typewriters spotted there. 

american/bakery: i strongly recommend HERITAGE BAKERY AND CAFE

HERITAGE BAKERY AND CAFE
台北市中正區漢口街一段73號之2
(02) 2311-1079

MRT: Taipei Main Station (about 10 minute walk) or Ximen Station (about 8 minute walk) or NTU Hospital (about 10 minute walk)

website: Heritage Bakery's Facebook page

hours: 11AM - 7PM (closed Mondays)

$$ 

Kid friendliness: seating on second floor, elevator available. kids will love the cinnamon buns and desserts

Visit reviewed: 3/16/2017

Must orders: cinnamon roll, salted caramel cheesecake, carrot cake

[TAIPEI]  Anyone who has been craving warm, sticky cinnamon buns in Taipei must get themselves to Heritage Bakery now. Opened in September 2016, Heritage Bakery is the result of owner Sally Song transforming an old family building into a gorgeous bakery/cafe serving a counter full of American style cakes and desserts, including a plate of cinnamon buns beckoning at the entrance's window. The cafe's classic and clean decor, peppered with refurbished vintage fans and speakers as decoration, and bookended by the original building's brick and concrete walls, looks like it could be out of the pages of Pottery Barn or Williams Sonoma catalog, both companies that Song previously worked for.  

There's currently only one savory item on the menu, a bacon mushroom potato tart, creamy and crisp, topped with a thin layer of cheese with a subtle layer of local pepper (NT$180). I wished there were more mushrooms and less potatoes since it's quite filling, but I polished off the entire thing anyways anyways.

But we are here for the desserts and there's so many to choose from! I settled on trying the most popular items- the cinnamon roll and the salted caramel cheesecake. Song said that there was definitely a learning curve in working with her pastry chef, who is Taiwanese and has never traveled to the US, to create authentic flavors and textures with rounds of recipe testing without having tasted the real thing. Considering the differences the palate between Asian desserts and American desserts, the results are pretty amazing, as all the desserts I tried were on point. 

Cutting open the salted caramel cheesecake, I could already tell I would like it. Not as dense and firm as NY cheesecake (and less cakey than the Japanese style cheesecake that is popular in Taipei), Heritage Bakery's cheesecake is more melt-in-your-mouth creamy and smooth, as a result of being made from cream cheese, marscapone and sour cream. Perfection with the sweet caramel swirls and touch of salt to balance the sweetness. 

And the cinnamon bun tasted as good as it looks. My fork easily cut apart each layer, which was moist, fluffy and pleasurable with a sticky finish from the caramelized sugars and cinnamon coating. I've tried my share of cinnamon rolls in Taipei (Fly's Kitchen, Mia Cucina, IKEA, Original Bakery, Bonjour Bakery, La Petite Pearl to name a few) and this one is the closest I've had yet to my Cinnabon cravings.  My only regret is that I didn't pick up a few extra to share and eat in the morning for breakfast. Don't make my same mistake.

Balsamic strawberry chocolate tart 

Guava Delight (NT$150)

Passionfruit meringue (NT$180)

Good Ol' Carrot Cake (NT$150)

Even though Heritage has been open for only a few months, Song has ideas about the bakery's space for the future- hoping to bring other bakeries or chefs for pop-ups in Taipei, since the bakery is only open during the day time and she has a full kitchen on the third floor. Until then, I will be happy to come back to try out the other delicious desserts one by one, or maybe one of their beer and dessert pairings. Heritage Bakery is worth the trek to Hankou Street, near Taipei Main Station and Ximen areas.

chinese/dim sum: i strongly recommend TIM HO WAN

TIM HO WAN 添好運
at HOYII
No. 36, ZhongXiao W Rd, Sec. 1
台北市忠孝西路一段36號1樓
(02) 2370-7078

MRT: Taipei Main Station

website: Tim Ho Wan Taiwan's FB page

hours: 10AM - 10PM

$-$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available and lots to choose from for dim sum loving kids

Visit reviewed: 11/10/2014 & 1/30/2015 & 6/29/2015 & 12/4/2016

WILL PEOPLE LINE UP FOR YOUR RESTAURANT? That seems to be the gauge for new places opening up in Taipei. People infamously lined up for hours for Mister Donut, Krispy Kreme, Honey Pig, Honey Creme, Hai Di Lao, Taipei In and Out pop up, and a few years ago, it was Tim Ho Wan. I just revisited Tim Ho Wan today and realized that I had this blog draft sitting in my folder for the past few years! So here it finally is...

Tim Ho Wan is famous for being one of the cheapest Michelin starred restaurants you can dine at with dishes averaging about NT$100+ for its dim sum. I've never been to the original location in Hong Kong, but luckily I was with a group of friends who knew how to order-- everything on the menu! To my surprise, everything lived up to its reputation and was delicious-- my favorite was the baked bun with bbq pork which had an thin, sweet crust instead of the bready white bun we have grown up with. 

I would stick to the dim sum over the rice bowls or congee that they have, which I think are better at places like Lao Yo Ji. Also note there isn't much for strict vegetarians here, most of their dishes that might seem to be vegetarian might have pork fat or oil in it, so there's only one or two things that you'd be able to try here if you are vegetarian. For an entire array of vegetarian dim sum, you can head over to Yang Shin. 

If you only have a group of two or four people, then the MUST ORDERS at Tim Ho Wan are the baked bbq bun, the shrimp or pork liver chang fun, the pork dumpling with shrimp (aka siu mai) and one of the more unique fried items like the spring roll with egg white, and save room for the mango pomelo sago and steamed egg cake. Those were my favorites. 

Baked bun with bbq pork (NT$118 for 3) The first time I had this, I loved it. But on my most recent visit, I noticed that it can be a little overly sweet since the filling is sweet and the bun itself is sweet. But inside the bun is mostly air and so it's easy to finish one. But I don't think I could eat more than one in one sitting. 

The chang fun here is dubbed the vermicelli roll, and comes with shrimp, bbq pork, beef, plain or pork liver. 

Vermicelli Roll with Pork Liver (NT$128) 

Steamed Pork Dumpling with Shrimp (NT$128)

Spring Roll with Egg White (NT$98) 

 Vermicelli Roll with Sweet and Sesame Sauce (NT$108) vegetarian

Steamed Prawn Dumpling (NT$138)

Pan fried carrot cake (NT$98 for 3) aka Radish cake is soft and not that crispy, but it's good and you can taste the chunks of radish inside. 

Steamed Pork Rib with Black Bean Sauce (NT$108) 

Steamed Beef Ball with Beancurd Skin (NT$98)

Beancurd Skin Roll with Pork and Shrimp (NT$98) 

Braised Chicken Feet with Abalone Sauce (Not for me, but so you can see the portion and size and how it was more saucy on one visit than the other :) 

Spinach dumpling with shrimp - one of the few with veggies in it. 

Deep Fried Beancurd Skin Roll with Shrimp

Wasabi Salted Prawn Dumpling (NT$128)

Congee with Lean Pork, Century Egg and Salted Egg (NT$108) I still like the the congee at Lao Yo Ji the best. 

Seasonal Veggies

Rice with Beef and Fried Egg (NT$138)

Chicken, sausage and mushroom rice (NT$138) 

Glutinous rice with lotus leaf (NT$128) I would get this over the rice bowls- it's massive enough to share and the glistening sticky rice is stuffed with meat, mushrooms and surprises.

Mango Pomelo Sago (NT$118) Yum! I'll always remember the first time I had this kind of dessert in Hong Kong, and this dessert soup is refreshing at the end of the meal.

Steamed Egg Cake (NT$98) To my surprise, I liked this a lot! Fluffy and spongy, this was like a moist brown sugar cake.

Now that there are several locations and take out counters, the lines aren't as insane on a daily basis, but on weekends make a reservation in advance to avoid the wait. Also good news is that they haven't raised their prices yet since opening. 

OTHER LOCATIONS

Xinyi Mitsukoshi A8, B2

No. 12, SongGao Rd, Xinyi District

(02) 2722-9358

11AM- 9:30PM; until 10PM on friday and weekends

Hankyu Mall Food Court
No 8, ZhongXiao E. Road, Sec. 5, B2
(02) 2729-3378
7:30AM-9:30PM; until 10PM on friday and weekends (wow! 730AM!)

MegaCity
No. 28 XinDian Road, B1
新北市板橋區新站路28號B1
(02) 2955-7978
11AM- 10PM

Taichung
No. 251, Taiwan DaDao Sec. 3
台中市西屯區臺灣大道三段251號B2 
(04) 2258-6778

Kaohsiung
No.777, Bo'ai 2nd Road, Zuoying Dist | B1F, Hanshin Arena Shopping Plaza, Kaohsiung 813
高雄市左營區博愛二路路777號（漢神巨蛋B1美食廣場）