chinese: i recommend ZHU JI

ZHU JI XIAN BING ZHOU DIAN 朱記餡餅粥店

No. 106, Ren Ai Rd., Sec 3 台北市仁愛路三段106號

(02) 2702-9411

MRT: Zhongxiao/Fuxing or DaAn (both a 15-20 minute walk from MRT)

website: http://www.zhuji.com.tw/

hours: $-$$ (NT$200/person)

Kid friendliness:  high chairs available, additional seating on second floor- stairs only

Visit reviewed: 2/1/2011 & 1/24/2013

Zhu Ji was one of the first places my family friend took me to when I visited Taipei when I first started spending more time here, probably 9 years ago- it was near her office, it had vegetarian options for her and my mom and it had great prices. The red and golden storefront made for a memorable and lasting impression, so on my repeat visits, I recognized it even before I knew where RenAi Rd was or a "xian bing" was. In fact, a version of a post for this restaurant has been sitting in my blog posts folder for at least 8 years. 

The two story restaurant is busy at lunchtime, but not touristy enough yet that you can't grab a table by walking in. It also helps that they have many locations across Taipei. Upstairs has more tables to seat larger groups, while the main floor has peek into the dumpling wrapping open kitchen. 

Small plates of cold dishes (NT$40/each) are available in the back, perfect for sharing until your food arrives. Find the decked out shelves and help yourself to your choice of pickled vegetables, spicy eggplant or choice of tofu/soy. My favorites include bamboo, eggplant and thousand year old egg with tofu.  They have a pretty large selection compared to most places, which works for my mom who is vegetarian.

Hey, I just noticed the plates have gotten slightly (considerably) smaller since my last visit two years ago. 

Ordering is off a check off sheet in Chinese, but if you ask for an English menu, they have one. It's funny to also see how the English menu has evolved from a greasy, one page laminated sheet to a full fledged fancy book, with pictures next to each item for easy identification.

So what to order? You have to order the house specialty- xian bing (NT$40)- which comes filled with beef, pork, vegetables or leek. In English, it's listed as a "beef pastry," in the past as a "beef meat pie," I've also heard it called a "beef pancake." Tastewise, it's probably can be described as a pan fried, flattened dumpling. The dough  is thinner than a bao, but breadier than a regular dumpling, while the patty-like meat inside is juicy seasoned ground beef with spring onions. Like a burger, it's a bit hard to eat without making a mess, as you can't eat it in one bite without having juices dribbling down your chin.

Another one of my favorites is the beef roll which is a spring onion pancake rolled up with beef and spring onions and hoisin sauce. The chewy yet flaky wrap makes for a surprisingly satisfying compact appetizer and is not as messy as the xian bing. Everytime I see this, I have to order it and I think Zhu Ji makes some of the best ones.

I usually pull out the spring onions and just keep the cucumber inside, since I don't really like raw spring onions. 

There's also quite a few noodle soups to choose from- beef noodle soup, won ton noodle soup, hot and sour soup, cold noodles with shredded chicken or to name some. The great thing about Zhu Ji at this location is the knife cut noodles, which come in long wavy strips and have a fresh chewy bite. The soup was a tad salty for me on this visit, but I've enjoyed it on other occasions at their Mitsukoshi location (which doesn't have the knife cut noodles). For my favorite knife cut beef noodle place, check out Shan Xi Dao Xiao Mian- it's not as nice of an atmosphere, but the food is great.

Skip the wonton noodles, a bit mushy and bland.

And of course there's no shortage of dumplings to choose from- steamed pork dumplings (NT$110), veggie dumplings (NT$110), shrimp pork or pork wontons, pan fried dumplings.. the best thing about eating with family or a large group is that you can share to sample them all! 

I quite like the veggie dumplings which come with finely chopped chives, glass noodles and mini cubes of tofu.

Shrimp pork wontons with chili oil on the side (NT$120) 

I probably wouldn't order the pan fried dumplings (NT$100) again as they were not crispy as I've had at other places (for perfectly pan fried dumplings try Ma Shan Tang or Zhang Ji Fried dumplings or the local chain Ba Fang Yun Ji).

Come hungry since you will leave full.. Order a table full of food for less than two baskets of Din Tai Fung XLB and use your savings on dessert.

OTHER LOCATIONS 

No.32-B1, Baoqing Rd., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City

遠東百貨寶慶店 台北市寶慶路32號B1 

02-23825809 

No.12-B2, Nanjing W. Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Taipei City(Hall 1) 

新光三越南西店 台北市南京西路12號B2(1館) 

02-25676169 

No.152-12, Sec. 1, Zhongshan Rd., Banqiao Dist., New Taipei City

遠東百貨板橋店 新北市板橋區中山路一段152號12F

(02) 8953-8858 

No.203-B2, Sec. 2, Dunhua S. Rd., Da’an Dist., Taipei City 

遠企購物中心敦南店 台北市敦化南路二段203號B2 

(02) 2739-4175 

No.11-B2, Songshou Rd., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City(Hall A11)

新光三越信義店 台北市松壽路11號B2(A11館) 

(02) 2723-7292 

No.7, Zhongshan S. Rd., Zhongzheng Dist.

誠品台大醫院店 台北市中山南路7號B1 

(02) 2322-5465#626 

 

No.202-3, Sec. 2, Zhongcheng Rd., Shilin Dist.

新光三越天母店 台北市忠誠路二段202號3F 

(02) 2874-6669

No.77-8, Sec. 6, Zhongshan N. Rd., Shilin Dist

SOGO百貨天母店 台北市中山北路六段77號8F 

(02) 2835-3619 

No.323-9, Xida Rd., East Dist., Hsinchu City 

遠東百貨新竹店 新竹市西大路323號9F 03-5238120

(03) 5238120

japanese/tonkatsu: i recommend PIN TIAN TONKATSU

PIN TIAN TONKATSU
No. 45, MinSheng E. Road, Sec. 4, B1
(02) 2718-6566

(This branch closed a/o 2014. Now Chili Crab)

website: http://www.pintian.com.tw/ Chinese and Japanese only

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available. kids meal sizeable

Visit reviewed: 5/1/2010



If you don't mind cafeteria style service, then Pin Tian Tonkatsu is a lot of food for a good price. That's probably why it was packed on a weekend evening and we had to wait almost an hour for a table for six without a reservation. For under NT$300, you get a set menu meal that includes a steamed egg, a drink and small shot of vinegar, on top of the tonkatsu, miso soup, rice and dessert other places also offer.



Once you get a seat, you have to check off what you want to order by yourself after browsing the menu. I much prefer the Saboten style- where you place your order while you are waiting in line, so your food is nearly ready after you are seated. If you can't read Chinese, there are a few photos, but try matching up the characters to check off what you want. Besides fried pork cutlets, they also offer variations like cheese tonkatsu (stuffed with cheese and seaweed and bacon), takoyaki style tonkatsu (topped with squid and bonito flakes) or topped with grated radish.



I found it hard to wave the waiters down, as they were busy rushing around getting trays to give to customers and loading up trays to a tall rack that had dirty dishes that they rolled around the restaurant. They weren't particularly friendly or unfriendly, they just seemed too busy to really give you any service. Perhaps it would be better experience on a weekday lunch.



I got the tonkatsu with curry which was crispy and juicy and not too fatty. I quite liked the apple cider vinegar drink that came with the dish- it was sweet and sour and tasted just like apple cider with vinegar mixed in.



I was most impressed with the kid's meal which seemed to have an equally big piece of tonkatsu as an adult's portion for half the price. And with french fries! This is definitely the best sized kid's meal that I've seen at all the fried pork restaurants.



I didn't even realize that our set came with a steamed egg until they brought it to us when we were nearly done with our meals. I was too full to really even try it.



The fruit ice tea was way too sweet with too much fructose, but the green tea ice cream was a nice way to end the meal, with some red beans on the bottom.



The restaurant is in the basement, so you descend the stairs to get there. It also makes the restaurant quite dark since there are no windows.



OTHER LOCATIONS

Banciao
No. 7, Zhongshan Rd, Sec. 1, 2F
(02) 2964-2661

No. 146, Nanjing E. Road, Sec. 2, 2F
(02) 2507-7279

dessert: i strongly recommend LAETITIA

LAETITIA
No. 11, Lane 49, Anhe Road, Sec. 1
(02)8771-7720

MRT: Zhongxiao/Dunhua

website: laetitia.com.tw mostly Chinese

hours: 11 AM - 8 PM

$

Kid friendliness: shop is strictly to go, but kids will definitely love the cream puffs

Visit reviewed: 5/28/2010



I have a serious sweet tooth. Give me red velvet cupcakes with clouds of cream cheese frosting, a slice of lemon meringue pie, or warm chocolate chip cookies out of the oven and I'm an extremely happy camper. But actually, it's hard to find a lot of perfect desserts here in Taipei unless it's a bowl of shaved ice.

But if you're a fan of cream puffs, you're in luck. You might have heard of Beard Papa which makes a cream puff so popular it's found its way to the US and of course has shops all across Taipei.

But who would have expected the perfect cream puff to come out of this tiny little shop called Laetitia that will have you back for more. Step inside the shop and you'll be hit with the smell of deliciousness. Opened by a Japanese chef trained in France, Laetitia imports a lot of their ingredients from Japan, France and



At the counter, you can see their menu- besides cream puffs, they also sell (tiny) fruit tarts and pudding. The cream puffs come with custard cream (NT$45), bitter chocolate cream (made with Valrhona chocolate NT$50) or the changing flavor of the month, banana mango cream (NT$55).



Once you figure out how many cream puffs you have to bring back and share with everyone, they'll take the puff, pump in the cream and dust it with the right flavor so you can tell which is which.




On my second visit, I can't even wait to get home to eat my cream puff. The puff itself is light and crispy on the outside without being too dry and moistened with the cream on the inside, which my friend likened to tapioca pudding. If you're looking for vanilla flavor, then Beard Papa's has a stronger vanilla bean flavor. This one tastes like custard that oozes out of an eclair. Every bite I took, I asked, how do they make it so freaking good?!



The chocolate is worth trying too- it's not totally bitter like the name, but it's got a deeper dark chocolate flavor than you'd expect, courtesy of the Valrhona. I thought it would be a grown up's cream puff flavor, but my friend's kid devoured his faster than we ate ours.

If you purchase some to take home, definitely try to eat them the same day, as they soften and are definitely not the same experience the next day.

That is, if you don't eat them all before you get home.


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OTHER LOCATIONS

at KMall
No. 50, ZhongXiao W. Road, Sec. 1
(02)2370-6796

Banciao Train Station
No. 7, Xian Min Da Dao, Sec. 2, B1
(02)8969-3469