new in town/mall food: i recommend BREEZE SONG GAO

BREEZE SONG GAO
No. 16, Song-Gao Rd., XinYi District
台北市信義區松高路16號

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: Breeze Song Gao FB page

hours: 11AM - 9:30PM

$-$$

Kid friendliness: lots to eat and check out, including Dairy Queen and new Ice Monster!

Visit reviewed: 11/23/2014

 

When the construction started popping up in the already crowded Xinyi area for new shopping centers, I thought, "Seriously? Do we need more malls when there's already Taipei 101, ATT4Fun, Vieshow, four Shin Kong Mitsukoshis, Bellavita, Eslite and Hankyu all in a few blocks of each other?" But once Breeze Song Gao opened with its huge hot pink sign and a new Ice Monster, I gave in to curiosity and had to check it out.

Breeze Song Gao sits next to the new-ish boutique hotel, Humble House, across from Bellavita and next to Xinyi Mituskoshi A8. You can spot the recently opened TEXAS ROADHOUSE from the front as well.

Breeze Song Gao did a good job bringing some new things to their mall that you can't find in the nearby malls or Xinyi area- the number one thing being ICE MONSTER. With a prime window spot on the first floor, it's hard to miss, and with the shortage of great shaved ice in this Xinyi area in general, I can definitely see them drawing crowds to their mall. Mango shaved ice lovers get ready to line up next summer!

AGNES B. CAFE sits in the front of the first floor for sandwiches and coffee. Their expansion has been pretty impressive- almost like a Taiwanese Starbucks, in that there's one on each corner and they always seem to be filled with customers. On the way to the MRT, you can hit two more Agnes B Cafe's at Xinyi Eslite and Hankyu.

Breeze Song Gao doesn't have a food court, but rather a floor of restaurants with each place having its own seating area. On the day that I went, the Japanese restaurants seemed the most popular, while TJB Pho, Pepper Steak, Kiwi Cafe and Liz Gastronomie offer some variety. 

Here's a quick first look at the restaurants on B2 floor. Leave a comment below if you've tried any and what you think!

OOTOYA KITCHEN/ 大戶屋- Japanese katsu, udon, katsu don, soba dishes

TIEN HSIANG LO- Hangzhou cuisine, fast casual style

OBON DE GOHAN/ 御盤 de 食堂 - Japanese set meals and desserts in cute cafe setting. Original outlets in Japan and Narita airport.

FUJI TEPPANYAKI/ 富士鐵板燒

INAKA UDON/ 稻禾烏龍麵- freshly made udon bowls with tempura options, served cafeteria style. Also near Xinyi Eslite and inside SongYan Eslite

Kiwi Cafe/ KIWI日味義麵 -  Japanese Italian pasta in valentine red and pink chaired cafe

SHENG SHI TONKATSU/ 勝勢豬排- this is definitely the next place I want to try. I spotted their black tonkatsu on instagram and they had one of the longest lines to get in.

TJB PHO - have yet to try any of the TJB Cafes or TJB dim sum so it's interesting to see that they've expanded to pho! Kind of how Dazzling expanded to Thai....

OLYMPIA/ 世運食品

LADERACH - Laderach's chocolate bark are SO good and I occasionally get them as gifts or gift to myself. My favorite is their raspberry blackberry chocolate and recently discovered their chocolate covered orange peels. It's a bit pricey, but it's made in Switzerland and imported from there. Ask for samples if you ever pass by. They also have a store in Taipei 101.

TRINE AND ZEN- at Breeze Fuxing, Trine and Zen took over the ex-Dean and Deluca space so it's a deli/cafe. Didn't get a chance to see if it's also a deli here, or just a cafe.

Wine guy

SHUI JIAN BAO - good for a snack on the go

PEPPER LUNCH/胡椒廚房 - sizzling steak on the iron plate, with various toppings.

MENYA MUSASHI RAMEN/ 麵屋武藏- I ended up here for lunch after making a circle around B2. Menya Musashi is a popular ramen shop from Japan, and also has locations in Hong Kong and Singapore. They have tonkotsu, ship and miso ramens as well as tsukemen dipping ramen. I'll post more pictures and details in a separate review.

LIZ GASTRONOMIE- bakery and desserts. Didn't spot this place behind the escalators until I went to the bathroom. Haha! It's a bit hidden, but I guess you'll pass by it if you are looking for the restroom. 

With new malls come new food courts and restaurants to explore, making the competition for everyone's dining dollars fiercer than ever. It's really insane the density of food available now in just the shopping areas alone, I think it hurts some of the nearby restaurants since it's easier to meet at a mall and walk around to find a place that can seat you when you're with a bunch of friends, than to walk across the street to the shops behind Zhongxiao. While it is convenient to be able to have so much available in the area, the downside is that it's sure to increase the traffic which was already so horrific in this area during rush hours.

I'm excited to check out the rest of Breeze Song Gao later, since there's another floor of eats on B1, including Dairy Queen, Beard Papa Cream Puffs and Favvi Cafe. I'm also curious to see what the bigger Breeze Xinyi will have when they open.

CLOSED thai/foodcourt: i recommend BLUE SPICE at BREEZE CENTER

CLOSED!

BLUE SPICE
at Breeze Center, B2
No.39, FuXing S. Road, Sec 1

MRT: ZhongXiao/FuXing

hours: 11 AM - 9:30 PM / THURS-SAT 10PM

$

Kid friendliness: seating is in food court; some items might be too spicy/sour for kids

Visit reviewed: 5/31/2010



One of the things I miss in Taipei is Thai food delivery. In LA, if I feel like some pad thai, tom kha gai soup or green curry, I just make a quick phone call and half an hour later, I'm eating my steaming hot food and I didn't have to fight traffic, find parking, or find other people to eat with. In Taipei, if I want Thai food, I usually end up at Thai Town or Mei Kung, both great, but more sit down and suitable for a meal for a larger group so you could have more variety. In Taipei, I have yet to find a Thai restaurant that delivers, or maybe I'm just missing some special code or place that you guys need to clue me into.

So the next best thing to delivery is to-go. So I decided on pad thai(NT$150) to-go after musing over Blue Spice's English and Chinese menu of curries, noodles, fried chicken and appetizers after catching a movie at Breeze.



The prices range from NT$55-$180 and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that with my to-go order I could choose either soup or thai ice tea. I chose thai ice tea and it was sweet and not watered down.

Another thing that surprised me was the complimentary mini appetizers on the side that were included- glass noodle salad, pork and egg which had strong sour and spicy flavors that complimented the pad thai. The portion was filling, but not quite enough to share.

I look forward to going back and trying some of the other things on their menu- the green or red curry with chicken or the fried chicken with chili sauce, which the friendly cashier said was a best seller.

I've had some pretty bad experiences with Southeast Asian food in Taipei food courts for some reason- the Singaporean/Malay stall near Jasons in 101 or Pho in Eslite and Breeze Main Station- but Blue Spice is definitely worth a try for Thai food lovers.

OTHER LOCATIONS

CLOSED
QSquare
B2 Food court
No. 209, Civic Blvd, Sec. 1
MRT: Taipei Main Station

Tienmu Mitsukoshi
3rd floor food court
No. 68 TienMu East Rd
MRT: Zhishan

Mitsukoshi Nanjing West Rd
B1
No. 12, Nanjing W. Road
MRT: Zhongshan station

chinese/mall food: i strongly recommend XIAO NAN MEN at BREEZE

XIAO NAN MEN DIAN XIN SHI JIE
(or Little South Gate Dim Sum World)
at Breeze Center
No. 39, FuXing S. Rd, Sec 1

$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available.

Visit reviewed: 9/6/2009 and 3/22/2009



When you first come back to (or visit) Taipei, you think, wow, most of this mall food is awesome! It's way better than any Asian mall food back home. And for the most part, that's true- it is better than the mall food back in the states. But once you eat at enough mall joints, you discover that a Taipei hole-in-the-wall is usually better and more filling than the average food court ramen/tonkatsu/korean bim bim bap.



But when I ate at the corner of Breeze Center's food court at Xiao Nan Men, it was like eating at a hole in the wall, but in a nice air conditioned food court.



A long list of the usual suspects on a Chinese-only check off menu, you can't go wrong with the beef noodle soup, the hot sour soup, the steamed dumplings, the beef roll, stir fried vegetables, or my favorite, the crispy, pull apart pancake or zhua bing. But I think here it's called lao4 bing. I really wanted to order another one after everyone took their piece. Zhua bing was one of my favorite things to order when we'd go as kids to Happy Family, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant in LA. It's something you can find from certain street vendors, but Xiao Nan Men perfected the crispy edges and soft doughy center, so you must must order it here.



Don't forget to grab a few of the colorful liang tsai or cold appetizer dishes at the front near the register. Everyone has their own favorites- pickled cucumbers, eggplant, or soybeans wrapped in tofu skin



The pan fried dumplings or guo tie (NT$110) weren't as crispy the second time around. Longer and flatter and greasier versions of the steamed dumplings with ground pork, they come in a set of 10.



The steamed dumplings (NT$110) can be ordered with pork, beef or vegetable fillings and come 10 in 1 steamed basket order. The dumpling skin has a nice handmade bite to it, and the fillings are soft and finely chopped/ground.



I've had better steamed and pan fried dumplings elsewhere, but they were decent.



And you can't forget the noodles. There's rice noodles in a tofu soup,(NT$100) pan fried hand cut noodles, or jia jiang mian. BTW- what the heck is the right spelling? Is it mien, mein or mian??

The tofu soaks up all the soup and makes for a juicy bite. The noodles and soup seemed a little blander on second visit, but it mights a light choice for those not wanting anything too heavy.



The Moo shi chow mein are chewy stir fried noodles with sliced pork, eggs and vegetables mixed in.



The ja jiang mian (NT$100) is thick and slightly oily, you should mix the sauce and everything together. The noodles are al dente and chewy and slippery.



If you just feel like soup, the hot and sour soup(NT$45) is peppery and with strong vinegar flavor without being too spicy, with bits of rice noodle, congealed pig's blood and silky tofu that tastes like Xiao Nan Men's famous dessert soy tofu dou hua. In Chinese, the name suan la tang is a literal translation- sour spicy soup.



Or this tasty seafood soup that my uncle ordered back in March- had a slightly sweet flavor that I couldn't figure out.



The total damage after everything is devoured on one visit- a little over NT$1100 (US$33) for 7 people. Awesome.



OTHER LOCATIONS:

Breeze Food Court at Taipei Main Station
No. 3, BeiPing W Rd, 2F
MRT: Taipei Main Station

Xinyi Eslite, B2
No. 11, Song Gao Road, B2
MRT: Taipei City Hall


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