japanese/mall food: i don't recommend SUGAKIYA

SUGAKIYA
at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, A8
No. 12, Song Kao Rd, B2
(02) 8780-9573

$

website: sugakiya.com.tw Chinese only

Kid friendliness: sure

Visit reviewed: 6/4/2009

Maybe I should have listened to my suspicions when the bowl of ramen was only NT$100. But I thought I'd give it a try, especially since my nearby fave Ajisen Ramen was now an run-of-the-mill udon food court shop.

I was a bit disappointed when I got the bowl. The lonely piece of meat looked unfulfilling. Then after one bite, I didn't want anymore. The noodles were soggy. The broth tasted like soy sauce broth than anything else. The crab meat was, well, krab. A packet of instant ramen would have been better than this. There was no depth to the bowl.

The most interesting thing about it was the spork that it came with that reminded me of sporks I used as a kid from KFC. Kinda cool.



It's possible that their other broths or ramens or other locations would be better, but I'm not taking my chances. Back to the Korean place or Mos Burger in that food court.

CLOSED! afternoon tea: i don't recommend DEAN AND DELUCA afternoon tea set

CLOSED! there is still a deli/coffeeshop in the same space, but very local. not Dean and Deluca

DEAN AND DELUCA
at Breeze Center, B2F
No.39, Fuxing S. Road, Sec 1
(02) 6600-8888 ext 7301

$$

Sun - Wed 9 AM - 9 PM
Thur-Sat: 9 AM - 10 PM

website: deandeluca.com

Kid friendliness: finger foods. area to sit down

Visit reviewed: 10/21/2008
Review of their lunch sets here



After walking around with a friend around Breeze, we decided to find a place to sit down and catch up. We didn't want to squeeze into the crowded Starbucks area and spotted a sign for the afternoon tea set at Dean and Deluca with two coffees or teas (no special lattes).

We lined up at the coffee bar, but when we asked for the afternoon tea set (NT$450), they said we had to order from the middle counter instead. So we placed our order there and grabbed a seat.



All in all, everything on it was just okay. The only thing I really liked was the pudding. Everything else was disappointing- the fruit was not sweet, the pastries were dry, the finger sandwiches forgettable. I guess I expected more from Dean and Deluca.





The next time, I'd just get some of their sandwiches or sides from the counter or sweets from Maison Kayser and make my own little afternoon tea set.

CLOSED! american/burgers: I don't recommend JB BURGER

where's the beef?

CLOSED! a/o 4/2012

JB BURGER
No. 2, Lane 345, Alley 15, Ren Ai Road, Sec 4
(02) 2775-3027

hours: 10AM - 10PM

$$

website: wretch.cc/blog/theJBburger

Kid friendliness: small space for seating.

Visit reviewed: 7/9/2008



A semi-new little burger place near Lane 216, JB Burger looked promising. The bright white, red and yellow sign and menu and fonts that oddly reminded me of In N Out (a very popular burger chain in the states, in case you've never heard). Maybe it was the promise of "the fresh experience" or the English menu with the double patties or the fat onion on the burger.

Anyways, it was enough to draw me in for a "snack" before dinner "research" at around 4:30PM. And it had quite a few other people who felt the same, eating inside or waiting for their order.



The pros: they offer not only a beef patty, but also pork patties. Their fries are freshly cut and fried and they offer veggie sticks if you want healthier fare. If you can read Chinese, you might spot their options menu on the counter which says you can ask for grilled onions or other styles for your burger. They also have coffee/latte, Budweiser and Root Beer as drink options.

The cons: they were out of their fresh cut fries and only had potato slice(NT$40).




I did eat a few wedges in the car before I took this picture


Also their beef patty in my burger (NT$65) was much, MUCH smaller than I would have liked. It looked small on the grill and even smaller next to the huge hunk of lettuce they stuff inside the burger.



Overall, the taste is not bad, but it's just an unwieldy bite. The huge lettuce actually makes the burger harder to eat since it's not pulled apart for you. It's not an anomaly since I saw them putting together other burgers with other semi-wedges of lettuce. They also add a thousand island like dressing without asking.

JB Burger has been open since April 2008 so it shouldn't have any more opening kinks to work out. All in all, it's one thing if your burger is small but fat OR skinny but wide enough for the bun- but my burger patty was neither and just not enough to be satisfying or fill out the bun.

And I shouldn't have to get a double patty burger to feel full either.

Granted for these prices, it is nice to know I'm getting a freshly made burger and I'm not asking for a burger like I'd get at Chili's, but I shouldn't have to think that I'd rather get a Whopper from Burger King while I'm eating it.

Have I been brainwashed into thinking everything should be American-style "supersized?" or am I justified in my gut feeling? My burger doesn't even look the same as the ones on their website and outside their store.




Guess we'll just have to wait to go back to LA to go to In N Out for the real thing, or maybe finally try out Mary's Hamburger or California Grill.

CLOSED! mexican/revisited: i do not recommend LA CASITA

"No reservations? No enchiladas for you!"


CLOSED
a/o August 2010

LA CASITA
No. 7 on Lane 64, SongJiang Rd.,1F
(02) 2531-9246

$$

kid friendliness: if you can take the attitude, no high chairs and a little room for strollers

visit reviewed: 4/23/2008
previous visits reviewed: 12/9/2006 and 7.29.2005

Have you ever seen that SEINFELD episode with the Soup Nazi? He has a set of rules that you must abide by if you are to eat his food, abuses his customers, but even though he is so mean, the customers can't help but to buy the soup. I feel like I was in a Taiwanese variation of that episode after my lunch experience with La Casita today.

There really is no where to get decent Mexican food in Taipei... so despite my previous up and down experiences, I thought I'd head over to eat some chicken enchiladas during lunch. It's never been completely full when I'm there, so I figured I didn't need to call ahead to make reservations. Boy, was I wrong.

When we stepped inside, it was empty, though the tables were separated into large configurations. I figured some reservations were probably made. The owner asked if we had reservations and after saying, no, he bluntly stated they were booked.

He pushed, "All my old customers know that they should make reservations." Okay... well, shouldn't you treat all your customers with respect whether or not they are new or old, make reservations or not? While my mom offered congratulations for being so busy, he said, "No need for congratulations, I'm booked at lunch til Friday."

I asked if we could to-go something, he reluctantly agreed, saying that the kitchen wasn't really open yet (though they open at 11:30am and it was already 11:45am) and said if wanted to to order, we should hurry because once his "reservation" customers arrived he would not be able to help us.

He also very reluctantly agreed to let us sit down while we waited for our order. Keep in mind the restaurant is COMPLETELY empty at this point.

His demeanor was just so uninviting and downright rude, I was about ready to leave without ordering anything.

I was torn. Should we just walk out and away from his attitude?

But I figured I came all this way, I hadn't eaten Mexican in so long, I might as well order what I wanted since my friend and Mom didn't care. Even while ordering, he was pushing me to hurry. I felt like if a "reservation" customer walked in, he would tear the menu away from my hands and no longer let me order.

As our order came out, it was 12:08pm.

The restaurant was STILL empty.

He could have sat us down, served us and we might have been out the door by the time all his tables came in. Or at least gave us a semi-apologetic response and kindly asked us to make reservations the next time.



I ate some of the nachos with cheese, beef and guacamole (NT$300) in the car and my chicken enchiladas with rice and beans (NT$280) at home. The guacamole made with imported avocados was freshly made and did hit the spot.

But the whole experience definitely left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

When I complained to my friend that the owner was mean to me again (he had been with me and our friends the last time the owner was cranky), he said, "I should get mad at you. You should have left without ordering anything and you should not support his business and his attitude."

My girl friend who had come with me tried some of the food and agreed that it's the best she's had in Taipei, but that she just didn't understand why the owner was such an a-hole.

The owner also complained to my mom and friend that before SARS he had a huge restaurant with lots of employees and after SARS business wasn't as good. Ummm, maybe there is another reason why your customers are not coming back....

Before I headed over today, I was excited about re-reviewing the place and giving it a good recommendation, but after the way we were treated today (I don't think it's out of the ordinary), I can't recommend it despite the food being good (for Taipei) especially to new (or occasional) customers who aren't going to be treated with respect. I'm not even angry (like with the terrible service at Diamond Tony's), just really sad since it could be a place I'd like to eat at often. I guess if you are really desparate to eat there, just be sure to make reservations and deal with crochety service.

Should I have left without ordering anything? Have you ever endured bad or even rude service for food?

revisited/breakfast/brunch: i do not recommend BRASSERIE (ala carte menu)

BRASSERIE
Grand Formosa Regent Hotel
41 Chung Shan N. Road, Sec 2
(02) 2523-8000 x3870

website: grandformosa.com.tw/english Chinese, English and Japanese

hours: breakfast until 10:30 AM

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available

Visit reviewed: 2/10/2008
Original review here : sometime in 2003/2004

Trying to reconfirm the search and recapture the magic of my memories of a decent waffle in Taipei, I headed over to Grand Regent Formosa one morning. I don't know if my fuzzy memory served me incorrectly or that the hotel has just changed, but I can no longer vouch for the waffles there, much less their breakfast.

Okay.. a few years ago, when I went on the hunt for an American style breakfast, my cousin and I taxi'ed all over town to finally land at a hotel that would serve us breakfast past 10am. I remember driving up the steep hill and sitting in an open space which is why I thought it was for sure the Grand Regent Formosa.

But present day, Azie (their lounge-y restaurant) is not open for breakfast so we're directed towards their buffet, Brasserie, which already feels not right.

But we still forge ahead, we're here, we're hungry and we'll check it out. We don't have the appetite for the full buffet breakfast, and they do have an ala carte breakfast menu. It's not a bad price for a hotel eatery, but later on after we get our food, I suspect it's because they just plate stuff that is being served from the buffet!



The waffles were cakey and dense, far from the crispy lightness I remember from so long ago. I think I saw the waitress bring it from the buffet waffle chef. It's made to order, but the batter is just too thick for the waffle to be fluffy. I barely finish one quarter of the waffle and leave the rest on the plate.

The eggs (pictured first) are overdone and inedibly dry, and served with a side of broccoli (for breakfast?), reheated triangle hash browns and dry slices of ham.

The omelette was a tad better- a lot of ketchup helps too.



In the end, the hash browns (though probably frozen and reheated (not even refried)) are the best thing even though even they aren't good.

I can't say if the food we ordered reflects on the food at the buffet, but it has to a little bit if it's coming from the same kitchen, right?

Because it's a buffet setting, there's not really any service even though we ordered from the ala carte menu. I almost hope that since it's a fancy hotel that they would ask if there was anything wrong with our food when most of it is left on the plate, but they do not. I even dare ask the waitress if there is a different waffle available, to which she gives me a very confused look.

I guess it's back to making my own breakfasts.

japanese: i don't recommend YABU SOBA

YABU SOBA
106 Nanjing E Rd, Sec 1
(02)2511-8017

hours: 11am to 2:30pm

$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs. lots of booth seating.

Visit reviewed: 11/28/2007

After some bleary eyed typing, copying and pasting, I created an index page for all the restaurants reviews so you can look up a restaurant by name and I'll try my best to keep it updated as new reviews come along.

Very friendly service in a casual, old school Japanese restaurant, though the food was very disappointing. The soba was soggy instead of chewy, the tempura and agedashi tofu were not served crispy hot, and the oyakodon had strangely too much corn starch in it. It was one of those cases where we were hungry, wandered in, finished the food because we were hungry and got out of there. I guess you could forgive the kitchen if one thing is off, but if everything we were served was not good, then I have give it a "don't recommend." I've eaten better soba from boiling it from a package at home.

This Taipei Times article says that dinner seems to be the izakaya small dishes are the way to go. Maybe some of you who have happened to eat here can let me know if you agree or disagree. Menu was with pictures in Japanese and Chinese with some items written in Japanese on the walls.

japanese: i don't recommend KYOMOMOYAMA

KYOMOMOYAMA
Japanese restaurant next to SABOTEN
Mitsukoshi XinYi, A9, 6th FL
No. 9, Song Shou Road Taipei
(02) 2720-5533

$$

Visit reviewed: 6/11/2007

It looked promising. The packaging for to-go was pretty. But the taste... bleech.

Who puts ginger inside a tempura shrimp roll (NT$300+)? Who wants to eat unagi don (NT$500+) where the eel's bone are prickly rather than cooked until soft? I certainly don't.




While this Japanese eatery seemed semi-upscale and good for family sit down dinners, next to the popular tonkatsu place Saboten and a Korean bbq restaurant I want to try- our to-go experience left me hungry for something else.

Anything else.

other locations:
Tien Mu Mitsukoshi
No. 68, Tien Mu E Road, 7FL
(02) 2875-5055

Miramar Mall
No. 20, Jing Ye 3rd Road
DaZhi, Taipei
(02) 2175-3558

buffet/indian: i do not recommend AALEJA weekend buffet

the buffet trays were practically this empty

AALEJA
6, Alley 5, Lane 70, Yanji St.
(02) 2773-3227

hours: weekend lunch buffet: 12 PM - 2:30 PM

NT$399

Revisit reviewed: 6/10/2007

It's 1:20PM and the natives are getting restless. For at least 30 minutes, more than 80% of the trays have been table scraps- bits of meat in curry or last few bites of oily veggies in curry or the bed of onions that usually houses the tandoori chicken.

Well, there's rice. And it's good rice because I'm starving.

The restaurant is half full and quickly fills up with new tables of customers- each one eyed like competition for the new food when it comes out.

If it ever comes out.

Everytime the kitchen bell *dings*, all eyes dart towards the kitchen to see what's coming out. Scenario from a game show? No, Sunday afternoon lunch buffet at Aaleja. My first time at the weekend buffet and most definitely my last time- I'm too disappointed to be angry really. From the bits and pieces of meat and curry I've gathered with my rice, the flavors are quite distinct and hearty, (if not a bit oily). The eggplant, the lamb, the beef, the vegetable curries all mildly spiced for a wider range of tastebuds.

Some garlic and plain naan makes it way to our table to fill us up, but it's heavy as a pizza without any toppings. It's not fluffy and magical like I'm used to.

was the naan always this dense?

The waitress half heartedly apologizes to us in Chinese saying that "everything is made fresh to order" when we complain that there's nothing to eat. I hear her echo that to at least four other tables in the room. Sure I can sort of understand if you are packed busy and my food is going to take some time to get to me. But it's a weekend buffet! Aren't you supposed to be prepared with trays and trays of food- it's not time to be "making things to order"? Refill it before it even gets close to running out, not to mention making customers wait for an hour with no results.

I've filled up on juice, rice and curry and managed to snag a few pieces of tandoori chicken that must have been on a diet, and my friend managed to get two samosas. There's no hope left for us getting anything else coming out of the kitchen in our lifetime, especially with a full house now of at least 40 customers and the hungry newbies milling about the still empty trays. It's like that episode of Survivor where all the contestants are drooling at the mere promise of food and we'd pay NT$399 even though we don't know what we're getting- in this case, not our money's worth.

maybe standing in front of the food will make it appear faster

Couldn't have been that bad? I can't believe it still and I was there. Honestly, it was the first time I wanted to walk out of a restaurant and refuse to pay. We should have, maybe it would have made them get their act together. Hello, Aaleja management- it's a weekend brunch BUFFET, please hire more chefs and don't run out of food in the first hour of your buffet! Is there any decent weekend Indian buffet in Taipei?

what about the last time I ate at Aaleja?

CLOSED! indian/food court: i don't recommend CURRY AND TEA HOUSE

CURRY AND TEA HOUSE
at 101 Mall foodcourt
(near JASONs Supermarket)
45 ShihFu Rd., B1

$$

Visit reviewed: 12/26/2006




After passing by this mall court spot a number of times, I finally got the chance to try it out. It looks appealing with good portions, but too bad the taste of the meal didn't live up to its promising appearance. You can choose a curry set menu with chicken (NT$120), beef (NT$160), mutton (NT$150), and your set menu comes with rice and a small salad. I added a naan (NT$35) to try it out.




The chicken curry (NT$120) was extremely watered down yet oily- I didn't even want to dip the naan into the curry. The rice had no flavor and naan was more a tortilla than naan. I didn't bother finishing the meal or packing it to go. I kind of picked out the chicken to eat with a few bites of rice. For Indian mall food, you're better off trying Tandoor at the Far Eastern Mall since they offer you two different curries in their set menu (which is still a bit watery but at least it has good flavors) and their naan is actually naan, or just going to a sit down restaurant.

But now everytime I pass by Curry and Tea House, I don't have to be tempted anymore.

italian: i don't recommend VINO VINO CAFE

VINO VINO CAFE
2, Lane 80, ShiDa Rd.
(02) 2362-1167

$$

Visit reviewed: 12-12-2006

I had been hearing so much about Bongos... but after a winding taxi ride around the lanes and alleys near Shi Da, we simply could not find it. The telephone number we had was not being answered. The address we had seemed to lead to a dead end. So hungry and lost, we directed the taxi to take us out to the nearest main street and spotted a charming looking Spanish looking cafe with people lingering on the patio with a little park in front of it, and that is how we ended up at Vino Vino Cafe.



However, maybe we should have tried harder to find Bongos? Despite the appetizing sounding choices of pasta and main dishes on their English and Chinese menu, we ended up with some not so savory plates (NT$960 for 3 set menu lunches). Well, at least my friend did- her penne pasta was so salty it was inedible.



My risotto was not bad with bits of mushroom and chicken mixed into the creamy, soft rice, but the other parts of my set menu were nothing to brag about and I felt bad that my friend didn't enjoy her food.



A very plain lettuce salad and a watery soup under a not flaky puff pastry. I think the most places I have seen so many puff pastry soups is only in Taipei- it's not a phenomenon that I've seen as much elsewhere. But it doesn't mean that it tastes as good as it looks.



And then a sad watered down gelatin dessert- the pale lemon yellow looked slightly like "ai-yu" or yellow jello, but tasted like someone had forgotten to add the flavor packet.



Watered down seemed to be the theme- the watered down soup, the watered down dessert, the watered down ice tea, the watered down service.

With so many great little Italian spots in Taipei to discover and eat at, this was a big disappointment- so don't be lured in by the good looking facade unless you just want to hang out on the patio.

chinese: i don't recommend HWA YOUNG GOURMET AND BANQUET

HWA YOUNG GOURMET AND BANQUET
at MIRAMAR MALL, 5th FL
22 JING YE 3rd ROAD
DAZHI, TAIPEI
(02) 2175-3888

$$-$$$

hwayoungtaipei.com.tw

visit reviewed: 11/18/2007


sau mai, chicken feet and shrimp balls

When the Miramar Mall or Mei Li Hwa first opened a few years ago, it was a popular destination for its shopping, movies and IMAX theater, but mostly the ferris wheel (the third largest in Asia). Families, couples and tourists waited for over an hour for a 17 minute ride in a private seat for a sky high view of Taipei. Nowadays, you can hop on the ferris wheel for less than a 10 minute wait.

While visiting Miramar, our family wanted to eat somewhere decent, but not at the food court. While checking out our options on the 5th floor, there was a 20-30 minute wait at Hwa Young which seemed packed with customers eating amidst dim sum carts, a Japanese restaurant and a steak place. We ended up putting our name on the list for Hwa Young- thinking it must be worth the wait- it must be good if that's where everyone is eating. The wait sped by as we shopped nearby and waited for our cell to ring.

The inside was booked with a wedding, so the seating was limited to the outside seating area, sort of like a patio that provided a view of the escalators and the mall. After checking out the website, apparently much of their business is offering wedding banquet services.

The extensive menu, in English and Chinese, had a lot more to choose from than I expected- lots of main dishes, dim sum options and specialty appetizers with nouveau sounding names. We stuck to dim sum with a few side dishes- kon ching tsai vegetables, fried tofu and duck.

I was excited by the first few bites of duck, but overall the dim sum was a disappointment. Partially because I expected more with the higher mall prices, but everything tasted flat and lacked the right flavors. I wouldn't go there again and I wouldn't recommend it to others.

rice noodle

The sauce inside the cha sau bao or bbq pork bun was so thick and overly sweet while the bun was dry that I couldn't finish it after one bite.

The vegetables were not bad, though the fried tofu was totally not what we expected- not the classic cubes of deep fried tofu. Instead, it was if the chef mashed the tofu into chunky bits, reformed it with some vegetables and then pan fried it. It would have been okay if it tasted good, but it didn't.

kon ching tsai


chinese broccoli


fried tofu?

I don't know if it was because they were busy making the better food for the wedding banquet, or if that is just the style of their dim sum or if we just ordered the wrong things off the menu, but I'm sure there are a lot of other better options to choose from nearby. The search continues... any recommendations?

sesame balls and puff balls

other locations

HWA YOUNG BOUTIQUE CUISINE
at 101 Mall
No. 45, Shih Fu Road
(02) 8101-8666

HWA YOUNG GOURMET AND BANQUET
No.209, Sec. 3, Civic Blvd.,
Jhongshan District, Taipei
(02) 8772-9666　

i don't recommend random korean place

random korean place
name and address TBA
(around the corner from Lane 141, Hu Lin Street)

$$-$$$

visit reviewed: 11/28/2006



You know how sometimes you are headed for one place, but then you end up at another? Sometimes it yields awesome results. In this case, not so awesome.

I was with a friend and thought she would enjoy the delicious and very affordable pho from Delicacies of Vietnam. After a short walk, I was extremely bummed to find their shop mysteriously closed at 6:30PM on a Wednesday. So we took our hungry stomachs to the nearest decent looking place we could find. Around the corner, the bright neon sign indicated korean BBQ and I thought, sure, why not?

Inside, it was warm colored walls, but sparsely decorated. The menu was only in Chinese, mostly handwritten, and a few pictures in the front and the back. I ended up pointing at the bimbimbap in the stone bowl, the seafood pancake and the beef (to be grilled) (or galbi, though they didn't know what I was talking about when I said galbi).



Excited to see a tray full of side dishes, or panchan, at our table on top of the grill, I was slightly confused when the owner/waitress seemed to be taking it away. Apparently, they weren't free here, they were NT$40 each. A bit impatient, she hurriedly pointed out the different ones and practically walked away before we could make up our minds. We ended up choosing the seaweed and sprouts (instead of the cucumbers, kimchee, and kimchee radishes).



Although they were quite speedy, they were not the most friendly, or at least to us. There were two white guys at the next table who also seemed to have a bit of trouble communicating with the owner/waitress, though she seemed quite friendly to the larger parties that eventually trickled in.

The beef came first, and simliar to what I experienced in Korea, it is already cut off the bone and they start grilling it for you. However, it was quite different from the picture in the menu and that it seemed like a lot less than we envisioned for NT$300. It is also grilled without any marinade- instead you wrap it with the lettuce and can use the sauce to flavor it.



Maybe I had high expectations, but it just seemed like not a good value- a little bit of meat for almost US$10. It would have been worth it if the quality of beef blew me away (like some of the Korean bbq I had in Pusan), but it wasn't memorable at all.

Next came the seafood pancake (NT$300)- it was doughy and crispy- the thicker texture made it a bit heavy. The owner/waitress cut the freshly panfried pancake into slices in front of us.



After awhile, the bimbimbap (NT$200) came out and again the owner/waitress "served" it by mixing the ingredients before we could touch it. I didn't get a picture of it, since it didn't look as appetizing after it was all mixed in with the kimchee redness being the main element. The spiciness stood out the most about the dish, and after a few minutes, the bottom of the rice hardened into a crispy, browned crust to enjoy. It was dried out and gave my teeth a work out, but I enjoy that part of eating with the stone bowl. You can also get it without the stone bowl for NT$150.

In contrast to the warm hospitality I felt at my only other experience of Korean food in Taipei so far, Fire Tree Silver Flower Korean bbq buffet, this place left me feeling like they didn't really care if we ate there or not. Some places, the food is good enough that you will brave that kind of service. This place, why bother if there are other tastier, friendlier options just a few steps away.

CLOSED! dessert/american: K2 GELATO & i do not recommend STATES FRIES

as of October 2007: CLOSED! States Fries has been replaced by two different fries places, with serving options like Poutine?

K2 GELATO
STATES FRIES
Warner Village outdoor food court
16 Song Shou Road
Xin Yi district, Taipei 110

$$

EDIT 6/22/2007 walked by States Fries the other day, and now there is a Irish Potatoes in its place. Didn't get too close for a look, but seems like the same thing- maybe new management? or just a new name?

EDIT 10/27/2006: about a month ago, K2 gelato has been replaced by a donut place, which is a bit strange considering Mr. Donut is just down the block. Has anyone seen it relocated somewhere else, or is it the end of K2?

date visited: 7/25/2006

When I first heard about States Fries, I thought that the owners were a bit insane. Charging $80-$120 NT for just french fries? That's the equivalent of US$2.75-$4. Every time, I passed by- the oily aroma of freshly fried french fries would waft towards me. The menu included chili fries. I was tempted. Then they renovated the food court indoors, and somehow States Fries ended up outside, next door to K2 Gelato. Sometimes I would see a short line. I ended up nicknaming them "devil fries" because they were so bad for you, but so tempting!


So I caved recently, while walking around on a hot afternoon near Warner Village. I blame the gelato. You know how sometimes when you have something sweet, then you crave something salty, or vice versa. It was hot, so I had some gelato. Then I had the fries.

So which do you want to hear about first?

K2 is a tiny gelato nook with about 10-14 flavors. The guy who scooped my flavors said that they make it there every few days. I sampled few flavors, which are labeled in Chinese and what I assume is Italian. I ended up getting 2 flavor cup (NT$80) the caramel which is a sweet, sugary flavor, which tastes like caramel (well, duh) and banana (which I did not sample because I felt bad because I already had three samples).



Now, I always make this mistake. I feel bad asking for samples, although I should not because ultimately I spend money there at Fill-in-the-blank ice cream/frozen yogurt/gelato place. Often times, after I've had three or so samples, I will decide on a flavor I like, and then sometimes pair it with another flavor that I think I will like, but not actually sampled, but think will be okay because all the other flavors I sampled were okay, and how bad could it be.

Caramel and banana. Sounds good right? Well, for whatever reason, I didn't like the banana gelato. And I like banana! Something was off about it... I don't know if there was additional flavor that was added, or it was from a syrup rather than fresh? But I ended up eating all of the caramel and none of the banana. If I had known this advance, I would have just gotten the 1 flavor cup (NT$60). I like the gelato at K2... It's not as dense and heavy as the ice cream at Haagen Daaz, and it's not watery like some of those mall places where they make ice cream from ice and chocolate syrup. I will have to try their fruit flavors one day.

So back to States Fries... it's hard to find chili cheese fries here. And yes, it's not good for you. But sometimes, you just want to eat them! States Fries offers fries plain (NT$80) or with various toppings such as honey mustard, cheese, chili, chili cheese or even sweet toppings that you can see on their menu wall. They also have combos where you can pair the cup of fries with a sandwich and drink.



But sadly, the chili fries (NT$95) are another thing that are just not as good here. The chili is watery, bland and made the fries soggy and watery and not very tasty. I go back to the counter and request that they add the cheese, hoping it will save it. After telling them that the chili is too watery, the fries guy says something along the lines of that the chili didn't sell well earlier, so it was in the freezer or fridge, and when it was reheated became more watery. Basically admitting that they gave me bad chili. And they also take my extra NT$20 for the cheese, instead of apologizing or offering up the cheese for free.


Unfortunately, the cheese, which is melted from an oven and then put onto the fries (not a cheese sauce, for those of you that are curious), does not save this chili fry mess. The cheese becomes cold fairly quickly and of course, can't change how watery or bland the chili is. I end up being unable to finish it.

Long story short, if you are desparately craving, you can make better chili cheese fries yourself at Chili's. Their chili soup is actually not bad, at least relative to this, thick with meat, beans and tomatoes the way it should be; their fries are also crispy and hot. A better choice would also be to enjoy the fries with your combo at McDonalds or Doner Kebab nearby- and get a whole meal for the price you would pay at States Fries.

PS.. It's too bad they don't have garlic fries. Now if made properly, that would be pretty delicious. I wonder if you could find garlic fries in Taipei