american: I recommend SPROUT

SPROUT 初芽
No. 33, Zhongshan N Rd, Sec 7, Tianmu
台北市士林區中山北路七段31號
(02) 2876-6080

MRT: Shipai

hours: 8:30-21:30

website: Sprout's Facebook page

price: $$-$$$ (NT$300-500/person)

kid friendliness: kid's menu and dishware available 

visit reviewed: 9/30/2016

Avocado and spinach grilled cheese sandwich. Roasted vegetable quinoa salad. Lemon ricotta pancakes. Feta spinach turkey burger. Spinach and turkey lasagna. The menu from Sprouts, a casual and busy cafe in Tianmu, reads like a menu from a restaurant in LA and one of the hardest things to do at Sprout is to decide which dish to try first. 

Serving up brunch, salads, sandwiches, pastas, smoothies and desserts, Sprout joins the latest wave of Taipei restaurants offering up American menus that were nearly nonexistent here just a few years ago. Pricing is on the higher side, but reasonable considering the portions, especially for the salads. Quite a few vegetarian friendly dishes as well as some unusual hot plates like jambalaya or Hungarian chicken.  Reservations recommended, especially for weekends. Customers are expected to place orders and pay first at the register, get a number and grab utensils, plates, cups, water, condiments at the self serve station in the center of the room. 

Self serving station

I was torn between a lot of things on the menu, but I decided to try the prime rib roast with caramelized onions sandwich (NT$400) and add the tomato soup and iced green tea for an extra (NT$120). The sandwich came with a choice of a side dish, which you can see at the counter, and I was happy with the roasted vegetables, though I wished the portion was slightly bigger.

Loved the tomato soup as it had the right amount of creaminess, sweetness and tomato sourness and it was a satisfying portion to lead into the meal. Hard to find a good tomato soup in Taipei, and I would definitely order this again (maybe along with the green monster grilled cheese sandwich).

I used to always order the french dip at 1Bite2go, but they've recently taken it off the menu. The prime rib sandwich version at Sprout might be even better than 1Bite2Go's,  as it came with a fat tomato slice and pickled onions on the side, along with the caramelized onions that were already with the beef. The provolone and horseradish also add some depth to the flavors, so you almost don't need the au jus, though I still found myself dipping pieces of the fluffy ciabatta into the sauce.

I enviously eyed the heaping bowls of salads my lunch meeting friends ordered- the mexican chicken and avocado salad (NT$360) came with chicken, corn, baby tomatoes and avocado on a pile of lettuce  and the roasted vegetable quinoa salad (NT$340) had a touch of crumbled feta cheese atop the roasted bell pepper, zucchini, carrots and tomatoes. Some of the restaurants in town have salads on their menus, but when it comes, there's no lettuce in sight, so it's great to see these American sized portions so you could potentially share dishes or pack half the salad to go for later. 

Scallops and salmon pasta in pesto sauce (NT$530) 

I wished I had saved room to try some of their desserts on the menu, like the caramel banana cream pie or the apple and maple cake, but I will have to make a return visit to try them then. I also wanted to try the breakfast smoothie bowl, which you can choose any smoothie and make it into a bowl topped with bananas, berries, chia seeds, coconut and granola. (NT$150 + price of smoothie) Otherwise, you could always swing by Dairy Queen which is right next door for a blizzard or ice cream sandwich. 

american/market: i strongly recommend WELLMAN'S MARKET

WELLMAN'S MARKET
No. 472 Zhongshan N. Road,  Sec. 6, Tianmu

台北市士林區中山北路6段472號

(02) 2871-4454

Sadly, Wellman's closed in 2019

MRT: Shipai

Hours:

Visit reviewed: 9/24/2015

Have you ever looked for Pop Tarts, Rice Krispies cereal, hot dog buns, Spam, enchilada sauce, food coloring or corn meal in Taipei? I know you have since I've gotten your emails over the years about "where to find..." and I've been looking too. 

Now you'll have at least one place in Tianmu to go to- Wellman's Market. I'd heard of it for years, but never made the trek out to investigate, but I'm telling you if you're a long time resident of Asia and willing to pay a little extra instead of loading your luggage with groceries from the states, then it's worth the trip. Instead of doing a scavengers hunt around Jason's/City Super, Carrefour, Wellcome and your local market's "import aisles", the entirety of Wellman's will look familiar to those of us from the states. It's probably how our parents felt discovering the local Ranch 99/Nijiya/Korean market rather than shopping the sad instant noodle aisle at Ralphs. Lol! There is even a  small selection of personal care goods like Irish Spring soap and various shampoos and deodorants.

Let's just walk through the aisles- there's only three since the market isn't huge, but it's packed from top to bottom.

Duncan Hines cake mixes- chocolate Devil's food, fudge marble and Betty Crocker fudge brownies sit in rows below Old El Paso, Snyders and sour cream, garlic dips.

Lots of salsas, nacho cheese, canned beans, taco shells and sauces for Mexican food DIY. Even corn meal to make your own tortillas! It's actually really hard to find corn meal in Taipei.

Tomato pasta sauces and jams and jellies like apricot, green fig, lemon curd and raspberry. I also spotted cherry, blueberry and apple pie canned fillings- I remember my mom used to use the cherry filling to top homemade mini cheesecakes.

The cereals! Rice Krispies, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Honey Smacks, Frosted Flakes and more. Note a box of Rice Krispies is almost NT$300 so you will have to really love it to buy it. Imagine the rice krispy treats you can make!!!

Small packs of hotdog and hamburger buns so you don't have to buy the megabucks from Costco.

Candies like twizzlers and Oreo Hersheys.

Poptarts and lots of them. I remember going through a pop tart phase in college but haven't really touched them in the past 10 years. Who's been looking for pop tarts in Taipei? There's also spice mixes and seasonings, and funnily enough, brown paper lunch bags and Reynold's aluminum foil, supplies we take for granted in the states.

Here we have the dressings, mayonnaise, mustard, honey, Hershey's chocolate syrup. Sriracha.

Spam and turkey spam to make your spam musubis.

Baking supplies like food coloring, active yeast, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla extract, strawberry extract. I know you can find these things here at the DIY shops too, but some of the comfort is being able to recognize brands you like and read the English instructions that aren't covered up in a Taiwanese sticker for translation.

Different types of Swiss Miss hot chocolates, even with mini marshmallows since that's the best part of hot chocolate right?

Wellman's has a small refrigerated goods section, with small tubs of sour cream, heavy cream, whip cream, and some deli cheeses, chorizo, salami. The chorizo iberico is actually quite addicting.  Next to the front are also some root beer and other beverages.

So good luck finding what you've been looking for at Wellman's. Doesn't hurt to ask them if you don't see what you are looking for. I asked them about Jello, but they said that Taiwan doesn't import Jello anymore. For those of us who've been living in Taiwan a long time, you might find yourself oohing and aahing at something you forgot that you wanted/needed on the aisles at Wellman's. 

What have you been looking for in Taiwan/Asia that you couldn't find? Comment below and maybe we'll find it!