chinese/dim sum: i recommend SWEET DYNASTY

SWEET DYNASTY 糖朝
No. 201, ZhongXiao E. Road, Sec. 4, Da'an District
台北市忠孝東路四段201號
(02) 2772-2889 

MRT: ZhongXiao/DunHua

hours: 24 hours

$$ (average NT$400+/person)

Kid friendliness: restaurant is on second floor with lots of stairs, though upstairs roomy with room for large parties

Visit reviewed: 12/29/2014
Last review reviewed: 8/2005

I haven't been to Sweet Dynasty in years, and I've always gone with people from out of town, so this was the first time I've been since they moved to their new location near Luxy and Starbucks on ZhongXiao, at the former Shin Yeh Table location. It's definitely amusing reading my old review in 2005 and seeing how much I've improved at taking photos (and how much better our cameras/iphones/easy photo editing tools are now)! I used to just say whatever I wanted, not worrying about the readers or the haters and letting my thoughts just flow. So being a new year, I hope to be able to do the same in 2015- not overthink things, share photos and places sooner than later and hopefully still help you guys find some good places to eat in Taipei.

Sweet Dynasty is a Cantonese restaurant known for its desserts and dim sum and its new digs are roomier, more stylish and perfect for a night of modern Chinese dining. If you have room and enough people, order the soy tofu in the bucket that you can scoop out yourself. Unfortunately, we didn't have room that night for it, so I don't have pictures of it, but maybe another night.

The menu is thick with pages of noodles, congee, dim sum, seafood, rice and stir-fried family style dishes, but if you only have two people like we did that night, you can still find some options. Large photos highlight popular menu items and the menu is in both English and Chinese.

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The wonton & beef brisket noodle soup (NT$200) comes with four rotund pork and vegetable wontons, beef brisket and egg noodles- perfect if you want to have a taste of both wontons and beef, though remember that the noodles and broth are Cantonese style and not Taiwanese beef noodle soup style. Pretty decent sized bowl and amount of wontons and noodles and we finished the bowl.

The shrimp rice noodle (NT$180) came at the same time as the noodle soup and I was slightly surprised to see that it wasn't drowned in sauce.

I always have to order the xian shui jiao or deep fried crispy glutinous rice shrimp dumpling (NT$100) when I see it on the menu, and I'm glad I did. Perfect crisp on the outside, sticky and sweet on the inside of the shell and plenty of filling on the inside. So good, but so bad for you.

I pretty much forgot that the truffle shu mai was coming as it came much much later after we had finished our food. We were pretty much ready for the bill when it finally came.

And it wasn't until we had left the restaurant that I realized we didn't even get the matcha dessert that Clarissa had ordered. It's too bad since I did want to try it, but I was pretty full by the time the shu mai came, so it ended up not being a big deal to us. Trip Advisor has overwhelmingly negative reviews for Sweet Dynasty, but besides the ordering issue, the service was fine for me that night.

With the opening of two Taipei branches of Michelin starred Tim Ho Wan (review coming soon!), all the dim sum joints in Taipei have some fierce competition and should step up their game. But not everyone wants to wait one hour plus for food, so if you're looking for a chill place for some noodle soup and dim sum in the East District (Dong Qu) then you could give Sweet Dynasty a try (even at 4AM since they are open 24 hours, and then you can wander over to 24 hour Eslite bookstore down the street). Thanks Clarissa for dinner and conversation- it's always great to meet other food lovers/writers and I look forward to following your adventures this year.

dessert/soft serve: HONEY CREME

HONEY CREME

No. 8, Lane 169, DunHua S. Rd, Sec. 1
台北市大安區敦化南路一段169巷8號D室
(02)2740-7070

MRT: ZhongXiao/DunHua

website: Honey Creme's FB 

hours: 11:30AM- 9:30PM, open until 10:30PM on weekends

$ (about NT$150/person)

Kid friendliness: kids will want their own cone/cup.

Visit reviewed: 3/5/2014

If Honey Creme had NT$150 for every person that was curious about their glistening honeycomb soft serve ice cream, then they'd be rich. I suppose that's the idea. A rebranded version of Softree's soft serve from Korea, Honey Creme had lines around the block early on when it opened and it was not even summer yet. Even when I went in drizzly gray March, there were people lingering and eating their cones outside, though you could just walk in and order your ice cream. Was it the honey comb? Was it the craze for everything Korean because of the Korean soap You Who Came From the Stars? Was it just because people in Taipei LOVE to wait in line?

With the soft serve wars going down in Taipei, you could opt for a cone at 7-11 or Family Mart that would be less than half the price and just as tasty (with Matcha, Mango, Strawberry or flavor of the moment), or at Godiva, Gakuden or maybe your neighboring bakery. But then you wouldn't have the honeycomb- is it worth the extra dinero? 

I think part of Honey Creme's success is the design of the store and elements- everything is so photogenic and instagrammable. After all, that is how I started seeing a flurry of photos of colorful cones stacked up high, piles of honeycomb under the glass counter and perfectly swirled vanilla topped with a mini honeycomb chip on instagram. Otherwise, who would choose to pay US$5 for ONE soft serve cone (outside a theme park or restaurant).?

 

You can get the ice cream in a cup or a cone, from NT$110 plain to NT$170 for the ice cream in a pastry like twist roll and honey comb. There's also options for organic (?!) cotton candy, chocolate beans, honey castella cake or dark chocolate sauce toppings. There's only one vanilla ice cream flavor to choose from, which is rich and milky, like the hokkaido milk soft serve I've tried from Costco, but less intense.

After you order and pay, the next server will make your order to deliver to the pick up window. I stuck to the classic Honey Comb in a cone (NT$150), which she expertly swirled high on the skinny colorful cone. 

A small chunk delicately set atop from a box of precut honeycombs.

The yellow cardboard cutout at the base of the cone is a great idea for catching melty drips that are bound to happen in the hot Taipei weather.

Finally!! I get to try it after seeing it for weeks on friends' timelines and instagrams. 

The honey itself had a nice flavor and sweetness, though I kind of wished there was a bit more of it. At Softree in Seoul, which I tried in March, they were actually out of the honeycombs (which they called honey chips) and so have an option where you just get honey. Obviously that's not as hard to replicate at home and not as cool looking, but to be honest the honeycomb itself was waxy and not edible. If you suck all the honey out, then it's a bit messy. At first, I tried chewing it expecting it to be a bit crunchy, but instead it was soft and waxy and then I had bits I had to spit out. So I'm glad I gave it a try, but it's too pricey to be a regular treat. 

Before I left for LA, I spotted a branch of the OG Softree from Korea opened up in Taipei at ATT4Fun with less fanfare (and no lines) so it's interesting how marketing (and branding) plays a factor into the success of a dessert shop. Honey Creme is definitely more pretty and enticing, while the Softree location looked less appetizing (even their honey chips were not as beautifully presented). I wouldn't have even noticed it except that I had recognized their signage from visiting the Korean Shop and researching them when Honey Creme had opened. Interesting to see if it will ever blow up in the same way.

But if it doesn't, we'll have Honey Creme to fulfill our honeycomb ice cream desires.

snapshot/japanese: i still recommend COLD UDON at FU YU WU

FU WU YU SANUKI UDON

富玉屋 讚歧烏龍麵 

No. 14, Lane 83, DaAn Rd, Sec. 1 

大安區大安路一段83巷14號 

(02)2778-5255

MRT: ZhongXiao/DunHua

$$ Cash only  (about NT$300+ per person)

Snapshot review: 4/3/2014

Previous review: 10/2012

After my first few visits to Fu Wu Yu Sanuki Udon, I ended up falling in love with a cold tomato udon that was their specialty there. It was a unique and refreshing bowl. Unfortunately it's gone missing from their menu for the past year or so, on my past few visits (maybe the original chef is gone, or maybe it's only available during the summer?).

So instead I've ended up getting another cold udon on their menu, the Tempura cold udon (NT$340) which comes with julienned cucumber, seaweed, bonito flakes, a soft boiled egg, crunchy tempura bits, dashi broth and two tempura fried shrimp and fishcake. The hot shrimps and fishcake make it more filling than the usual salad cold noodles, 

And though this is no longer part of a set (no appetizer, no dessert), you can add refills of the QQ udon noodles for free! 

bakery/french: i recommend LALOS BAKERY

LALOS BAKERY
No. 91 AnHe Road, Sec. 1
台北市安和路一段91號
(02) 2755-5968

MRT: ZhongXiao/DunHua or XinYi/AnHe

Hours: 11AM -7PM

$-$$

Kid friendliness: lots of breads and sweets. small seating area

Visit reviewed: 1/2014 & 3/5/2014

What sets apart Lalos Bakery from all the corner shop bakeries you spot in Taipei? Award winning baker Frederic Lalos-  the youngest chef to have won the “Meilleur Ouvrier de France or M.O.F.” (Best French Baker) in 1997 and Baker of the Year in 2010. He's opened a number of bakeries in France, which supplies top restaurants in Paris, and now has two shops in Taipei.

If you try one bread from Lalos Bakery, get the honey lemon bread (NT$85) or the Miel Citron Confit. I fell in love with it at STAY and again when I picked it up from the new branch shop on Anhe Road. You don't even need jam with the pops of lemon peel flavor in the chewy honeyed bread. I love tearing apart and gnawing on the crust, which is crispy but not too hard.

There's a lot of tempting selection in the store, but after trying different types of breads, the honey lemon bread remains my favorite, while others weren't as memorable. 

The flaky and yummy Pain au Chocolat (NT$60) is another thing I would pick up again.

I wanted to love the caramel almond brioche rolls, but they were not sweet enough for my American tastebuds. Same with their baked apple tart that usually sits near the cash register. 

Always want to try some of their desserts, but always end up resisting. Anyone have a favorite they can recommend? 

OTHER LOCATION

Taipei 101 No. 45 ShiFu Rd, B1
台北市信義區市府路45號B1
(02) 8101-8355