CLOSED/bakery: i strongly recommend BREAD SOCIETIE

CLOSED! a/o March 2015 as well as the one on RenAi

BREAD SOCIETE
No. 267, XinYi Rd, Sec. 4
(02)2701-1598

website: thebread.com.tw

hours: 7AM-10PM

$

Kid friendliness: great options that aren't too sweet

Visit reviewed: 2/16/2011



With so much competition in town, a bakery has to be pretty good for me to keep going back. So after passing by Bread Societe and its unique logo for months, I finally stopped in one afternoon. When I found myself stopping by Bread Societe again and again, I knew that I had to try different things in the store to see if it could become a new favorite.

If you pick up one loaf, the one that had me addicted was the walnut bread (NT$38) which is dusted with sugar on top to give nuttiness an extra layer of sweetness. The bread is soft and usually devoured by the time I get home. There's also quite a few healthier loaves that aren't as sweet, including cranberry walnut bread and multigrain wheat bread.



I also love that most of their items feature English as well as Chinese signage so I'm not guessing like I often am in most bakeries around town. The shop is also very clean and modern.



I also like their soft garlic cheese bread (NT$36) and pineapple bun.




And how could I not pick up one of these adorable panda breads (NT$35)? I've seen a lot of cute bread, but this one rivals Mr. Donut bear donut cuteness. I just noticed that the sign says that the it is a raccoon, but I think it looks more like a panda. LOL.



The bun is heavier than expected with a firm exterior for the crust.



There's also pudding breads, loaves of sliced bread made with soy milk, cookies and cakes. I even spotted Boston Creme pie and three types of cheesecake by the slice. (Try the lemon cheesecake for creamy, thick cheesecake with a citrusy topping).



There's also coffee, teas and soup (priced somewhere between Starbucks and 85 degrees) and mellow interior seating in some shops for those looking to afternoon tea or grab an early breakfast.

OTHER LOCATIONS

SYS Memorial location
No. 449, RenAi Rd, Sec. 4
(02)2751-8185

No. 511, ZhongHe Rd, Yonghe
(02)2922-0132

Taida shop
No. 331, Roosevelt Rd, Sec. 3
(02)2368-0080

No. 92, MinQuan W. Rd
(02)2552-9940

No. 36, DeXing W. Rd
(02)2832-2132

Tianmu shop
No. 20, Lane 38, TianYu St.
(02)2872-9517

No.121, MinSheng E. Rd, Sec. 5
(02)2760-9877

No. 85, BaDe Rd, Sec. 3
(02)2570-8008

Shida shop
No. 45-2, Shida Rd

XinDian shop
No. 217, Xinzhuang Rd.
(02)2911-6718

No. 763-5 Xinfu Rd.
(02)8991-1396

Neihu shop
No. 2, ChengGong Rd, Sec. 2
(02)2790-8166

night market/taiwanese: i strongly recommend LEHUA NIGHT MARKET

LEHUA NIGHT MARKET
Yonghe Road and Zhongshan Road

MRT: DingXi Station

website: Public Health Bureau gov.tw
hours: 4 PM- 1 AM

$

Kid friendliness: lots to eat and play, though can be crowded

Visit reviewed: 5/20/2009



Stinky tofu- check!



Shaved ice- check!



Cute animals to gawk at -check!



Cheap goods to bargain for- check! And rows and rows to shop and eat- check.

Now you know you are at a Taipei night market.



When I first came back to Taipei after 17 years for the infamous Love Boat, the only night market I knew about was Shilin. After all, that was the closest one to campus and easy to get to. It was the biggest and the best, so there was no need to discover any others. But since living and eating in Taipei with it being my home, there's an abundance of awesome night markets here.

Lehua Night Market has all those things, plus a few variations of the familiar, located in Yong He, a suburb which is a bit southwest of downtown Taipei city. I have an aunt that lives in Yonghe, so she is always wanting to take us there to eat, but I've only been there twice. It's definitely worth visiting.



It's the first time I had Snowflake Ice or "Shue Hua Bing" which is shaved ice with milk in it already, which my aunt delighted in being the first person to introduce it to me and my sister. "What?! You NEVER had shue hua bing before? Never?" she exclaimed in shock to both of us, in Mandarin.



Nope, never. But it was pretty fantastic. The ice itself is superfine, like how you would imagine sticking out your tongue and eating freshly fallen snow. It's also a bit sweet, since the ice has milk in it instead of water. Then of course, you dump more condensed milk ontop and your choice of toppings- pudding is pretty good- to eat before it melts on a hot summer night.

Or you can opt for Aiyu bing or a lemon jelly with chunky ice that we got with boba. But I'd pick the snowflake ice!



After the sweet, we had some salty, or should I say stinky. Apparently, this vendor is pretty famous and has the newsclips to prove it.



The stinky tofu had some of the crispiest skin I'd ever tasted, like a crunchy shell to the spongy pungent inside. Complete with a heap of pickled cabbage and sauce, the guy deserved his newsclips- it was some of the best stinky tofu I've had.



So wander over the Lehua night market if you've never been. It's oh so sweet and stinky.


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