snapshot/instagram: PICO PICO, SQUARE PIZZA, BURGER AND CO., LALOS & CYCLO

This past week on instagram,  I revisited some old favorites, tried new Peruvian and pizza by the slice restaurants and made Hello Kitty rice krispies! And as you should when are you in Taipei,  scarf down a bamboo steamer full of dumplings for breakfast for only NT$45. Thought I would try something new on the blog- to post some instagram highlights every so often to share new restaurants and finds and capture my thoughts before a full blog post. Enjoy!

PICO PICO 

Finally tried Pico Pico, a Peruvian restaurant that my friend C had been telling me about for awhile. Among our favorites were the chicken paella, or arroz con pollo, which had a curry flavor and juicy chicken thigh atop, the charred octopus and the beef heart skewers. Lunch and brunch menus also available.

PICO PICO, No. 28, Lane 102, Anhe Rd, Sec. 1, 安和路一段102巷28號, (02) 2755-1161

SQUARE PIZZA AL TAGLIO

Stopped by newly opened Square Pizza al Taglio for a quick bite. Rectangular pizzas by the slice with toppings like house made porchetta and eggplants with sundried tomatoes. Reminded me of my trip to Italy and the delicious pizzas at Bonci Pizzarium in Rome! 

SQUARE PIZZA AL TAGLIO, No. 39, Lane 160, Dunhua S. Rd, Sec. 1, 

敦化南路一段160巷39號, (02) 2751-7998

BURGER AND CO 

Listened to old school jams and ate burgers with mustaches at Burger and Co.

BURGER AND CO.,  No. 49 TongAn St., 通安街49號, (02) 2784-0182

LALOS BAKERY 

Liked the perfectly tangy lemon tart with meringue at Lalos Bakery on Renai Street. I also love their honey citron bread and chouquettes. 

LALOS BAKERY, No. 91, Anhe Road, Sec. 1, 安和路一段91號 

CYCLO 洛城牛肉粉

Visited the new location of Cyclo for the first time near Sogo/DaAn Road. The original location serving up LA style pho near Renai closed last year. Get the pho with brisket, meatballs and tendon. 

CYCLO 洛城牛肉粉, No. 9, Lane 75, DaAn Road, Sec. 1 大安路1段75巷9號 , (02) 2752-8666

revisited/middle eastern: I still strongly recommend SABABA PITA BAR

SABABA PITA BAR 
No. 17, Lane 283, Section 3, Roosevelt Rd
台北市大安區羅斯福路三段283巷17號
(02) 2363-8009

MRT: Taipower Building or Gongguan

website: sababapita.com 

hours: 11:30 AM to 9:30PM

$-$$

CASH ONLY

Kid friendliness: kids might like chicken pita and french fries or meatballs

Visit reviewed: 5/21/2015

Previous visit reviewed: 6/6/2007

When craving hummus, baklava or pita sandwiches in Taipei, I've always headed to Sababa, tucked behind one of my favorite Taiwanese shaved ice spots Tai Yi Milk King. Everytime I'm in that area, I notice a bunch of cafes and restaurants I want to try. What's great is that since Taida University is across the street, most of the eateries in the neighborhood are priced to be student friendly, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Sababa had kept its portions generous while having very budget friendly prices.

Sababa's menu had expanded a lot more than I had remembered, but it had also been years since I had last eaten there. Besides the popular falafel pita and soulvaki pita sandwiches, egyptian cigars and salads, there were also now Mama's meatballs, roasted Iranian chicken plates and crispy fish fillets (which are only at this branch).

Sababa's space is casual, cozy and can get crowded, but service and food can be fairly quick.

Sababa Pita Bar's menu has starters, salads, plates, pitzas and 11 types of pita sandwiches, with plenty of lamb, chicken, beef, fish and vegetarian options from NT$160-410. Combination plates are a good way to go to try different flavors. 

I strongly recommend getting the Plata Sababa  (NT$260) which has hummus, baba ganoush (mashed roasted eggplant), falafels and hard boiled egg, as well as plenty of pita slices to dip and devour. I ended up also getting the Meatballs pita (NT$220) which turned out to be two half pita sandwiches so you could actually share it, if you wanted to try different things. The meatballs were huge and perfectly sauced with a Arabian spiced tomato sauce, but a tad softer than I would have liked, but still very delicious. (Probably better that they were slightly soft than too hard and overdone). The pita didn't fall apart despite holding the juicy contents, and was perfect with a bit of hummus and cheese. I was definitely ambitious when I ordered this for myself, and packed the leftovers to eat for dinner.

Sababa used to have more locations, but the ones at Taipei Main Station and Yong Kang Street closed down and this location in Gongguan has the largest menu. Sababa Bakery Kitchen branch at Heping has a slightly more limited menu than here, but offers half pitas at NT$75-100 and salads, stuffed pitas, platas, shashuskas and baked pitzas NT$100-210 (link to menu here). Or you can look for their stand at the Gongguan night market with 5 pita sandwiches to choose from for NT$75-95 (although if you want meatballs, you'll have to come to this location). It's definitely worth trying and great to know they've maintained the quality over the years, since it's nearly impossible to find delicious Mediterranean eats in Taipei. I'm getting hungry just looking at the photos and it definitely won't be as long until my next visit. 

OTHER LOCATIONS

Sababa Pita Bakery

No. 9, Alley 54, Lane 118, Heping E. Road, Sec. 2

台北市大安區和平東路二段118巷54弄8號

Gongguan Night Market stand
No. 18, Alley 286, Roosevelt Road, Sec. 3
台北市大安區羅斯福路三段286巷18號

revisited/street food: KO FU SHUI JIAN BAO at XINYI/GUANGFU

KO FU SHUI JIAN BAO 口福水煎包 
LONG XIANG SHUI JIAN BAO 龍香水煎包
No. 355 XinYi Rd, Sec. 4 (XinYi/GuangFu intersection)
台北市信義路四段355號(光復南路口)

MRT: XinYi/AnHe

$ (NT$14/bao)

Kid friendliness: kids probably prefer all pork fillings. scallion pancakes also available

Visit reviewed: 2/3/2015

Recently an anonymous reader asked on an old post from 2008 about an address for the shui jian bao shacks on the corner of Xinyi and Guangfu, and since I had revisited it recently I thought I'd throw up photos of that corner's new look. The baos look (and taste) the same, but the shops got a facelift in the past few years with brighter red and orange signage. 

If you've never had a shui jian bao, it's basically a bun typically filled with pork or veggies and is steamed and pan fried at the same time, so that it has a nice golden crispy bottom.  Shui jian baos can work as a breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon snack, post meal snack, midnight snack... you get the idea!

2008 Xinyi/Guangfu baos

2015 Xinyi/Guangfu Baos

The English signage at Ko Fu Shui Jian Bao helps identify the different fillings for the baos, but there's still a little that got lost in translation. Fillings include black pork, radish, squash (not cucumber), mustard greens (not green mustard), leek, cabbage and bamboo shoots. Hey, five out of seven isn't too bad! I admit I'm human too... back in 2008 I said the shop was at the corner of Xinyi and Yanji, which isn't completely wrong since Yanji ends when it hits Xinyi, but is easier to find if you go to the intersection of Xinyi and Guangfu.

There's two different bao shops on the corner, the one on the front has the fancier sign and there's another one next to it. Which one is better? 

Ko Fu also has scallion pancakes, radish pancakes and soy milk. Once a long time ago, I think I also got a huge, fried crispy red bean pancake there for a snack. It was one of those things you wolf down because it's so good when it's hot and then regret eating the entire thing by yourself when it's over. It's probably still available somewhere on that corner- I've been scared to go back and look for it!

There's also a Yong He Dou Jiang right next door (which I have yet to try!) and then further down GuangFu, there's a Mango Cha Cha for those looking for mango shaved ice.  

The baos are NT$14 now and larger than the ones you'd find at Tonghua or Shilin night market and I prefer the juicier, crispier baos at the night market, where the pork juice is going to be dripping down your chin and you usually get it hot out of the pan, but when you're having those cravings during the day, this isn't a bad option. 

If you're looking for steamed baos instead, you can also try Chao Zhou Bao Zi on Lane 216, or worst case scenario, any 7-11 in Taipei! Man, now that I'm looking at that old post, I realized their signage got bigger and fancier too!!!! I'm going to have to do an update post for them too!

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.

snapshot/pizza: i still strongly recommend CHICAGO PIZZA FACTORY

Pizza isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think Taipei, but finding good pizza is pretty important to those of us who live here. Yesterday Taipei had such beautiful sunny weather that we had a picnic at DaAn park and my friend brought a couple of boxes of from Chicago Pizza Factory, which I haven't had in probably over a year (and last wrote about in 2009)  One slice of the combo pizza and it kickstarted my appreciation for their delicious pizza- the pliable chewy yet crispy crust, the plentiful toppings and the proportion of sauce to cheese to toppings to crust. Note to Chicago Pizza Factory fans, they are moving to a new location in March of this year-- hope they will let us know where.

Then I ended up making a collage of all the pizzas I instagrammed and ate and made a new tag (#taipeipizza)...

And I know I have lots more places I've yet to try. Where is your favorite pizza in Taipei? Check out all my past pizza reviews here!

PS. OMG! It's 2015! SO weird. I just looked at the date on blogger and thought it was wrong for a brief moment when it said 1/5/15.

CLOSED/snapshot/japanese: i still strongly recommend SUMI SUSHI

CLOSED 12/2014 -- new version at IZUMI BY SUMI

SUMI SUSHI 澄壽司 
No. 17, Lane 248, ZhongXiao E. Rd, Sec. 4
 台北市大安區忠孝東路四段248巷17號
(02) 8771-9986

MOVED April 2014 to Ximending
No. 17 lane 53, Hankou St. Sec 2
(02) 2361-5550

MRT: SYS Memorial Hall

website: Sumi Sushi's FB page

hours: 12PM- 2:30PM / 5:30PM - 9:30PM Closed Mondays

$$ Cash Only

Visits reviewed: 1/22/2014 & 12/2013 & 5/2013
Previous review: 2/2011

I have been getting my fix for Americanized sushi rolls at Sumi Sushi every so often the past few months. I love fancy omakase "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" sashimi as much as everyone else, but I hold a special place in my heart for monster rolls topped with scoops of orange roe and special sauces. While it can get quite pricey if you order a lot of rolls (expect to pay around NT$300/roll and order 2-3 rolls per person), I've tried to find the ones that are bigger and more filling like Spider or Sumi rolls to get more for my money.

Besides my go-to spider roll, dynamite and crunchy roll (with scallops atop and mysterious crunchy bits. Favorite!), I tried some new rolls that were equally delicious- Blue Gordon with tempura shrimp, avocado, Philly cream cheese (taken out on request) topped with tuna and fish roe (pictured above), guilty pleasure Sumi Sushi roll (smoked salmon, cream cheese and eel and the entire thing is deep fried). Also try the seared salmon belly as well for some melt in your mouth bites. 

Deep fried signature Sumi Sushi roll- unagi, philly cream cheese and salmon with the entire roll deep fried and topped with tobiko and special sauce- has become one of my favorites as it's served hot and is still warm even in a to go order.

Philly roll with salmon, cream cheese, tempura shrimp and avocado- not one of my personal favorites but my friend ordered it. I also wasn't crazy about the lobster roll as I had hoped.

Order of rolls to go! 

Dynamite, crispy and Philly rolls.

Bummed that Sumi Sushi will move to Ximending sometime later this spring (May 2014) since it's farther for me, but I will make the trek to fulfill my cravings.