western/drinks: i recommend LOVE LOVELY

LOVE LOVELY 美好生活古董行
No. 3, Lane 345, Alley 4, RenAi Rd., Sec. 4
台北市仁愛路4段345巷4弄3號
(02) 2771-3800

MRT: Zhongxiao/Dunhua

website: Love Lovely's FB page

hours: 12PM - 10PM

$$ (about NT$300-600/person)

Kid friendliness: high chairs and kids meals available

Visit reviewed: 6/19/2012 & 9/7/2012



Part Alice in Wonderland, part vintage shop, part cafe makes up the whole of Love Lovely, another new cafe making its mark in Taipei's East District.



Opened earlier this summer, Love Lovely's lovely decor has already landed it on a new book about, what else, Taipei cafes. I was invited to check it out by my friend before they soft opened, but the menu has since been revamped, so I'll be writing about my most recent visit.

The store section of Love Lovely serves as a living room counterpart to the restaurant's roomy dining area, with a large white bookcase and long tables filled with treasures to Instagram about. All of the items are handpicked by the owner and brought over from Europe. There are no price tags or obvious way of knowing that things are for sale, so if something catches your eye, just ask (though some pieces are actually just for decor as part of the owner's collection and not for sale).

The vintage pieces feel quite classic and modern, or is it that what's old becomes new again? Love Lovely's vibe is more Anthropologie than Antique Roadshow. I haven't really seen the hybrid shop/cafe model in the states, but in Taipei, the eclectic VVG restaurants and Whiple House come to mind.

Lots of charm in the small detail in everything, from the menus covered with vintage newspaper articles to the napkins and letterpress paper coasters bearing the hand drawn illustrations that seemed to have escaped a tea party from Lewis Carroll.

The English and Chinese menu features mostly Western fare, with salads, pastas, chef specials and desserts. Lunch and dinner sets are available, that include choice of sparkling water, glass of red or white wine, coffee or tea with an additional NT$70.

There's also Little Princess Mermaid or Little Price Ranger meals for the kids (with the sets costing more than the adult fare. Haha!)

The Dutch baby definitely caught my eye and I made sure to order the oven pancake with carmelized apple before my meal was over.

I had to start off with the truffle fries (NT$180) which I devoured on my first visit.

I wanted to try the quiche, but it had unfortunately been reserved by another big group to serve the whole pie with a candle atop instead of birthday cake, so I had to pick something else. The Nicoise salad (NT$230) had big chunks of potato, hardboiled eggs, and sprinklings of tuna, olives and baby corn.

The set menus came with a cup of soup- it was a broth of something or another.

I really enjoyed the black and white fried calamari (NT$210), which had some pieces breaded in squid ink batter to give an eye catching appearance. The serving basket for this and the truffle fries are fun.

We all also talked ourselves into getting the Frozen coconut mojito, which was inspired by the signature drink from The Modern Honolulu hotel. I had no idea what it was until it arrived to the table, but food je t'aime was quite excited, having had the real thing before in Hawaii.

Coconut rum + lime juice + fresh mint + ice = mojito smoothie- Now this is definitely the way to have a lunch.

I wasn't as crazy about the sauteed mushrooms and shrimp (NT$150) as I was about the other appetizers.

Bolognese Tomato Meat Sauce Spaghetti (NT$280/set)

My cousin is a VIP customer at Love Lovely, so she was able to talk them into making her favorite dish from the dinner menu, the shortrib steak for us. I would definitely order this again, it was nicely grilled and tender with that shortrib chewiness.

Before we were done eating, I wanted to make sure to order the dessert so we weren't waiting too long while it was baking and made to order. The oven pancake with apples is definitely a must try and is quite large. It probably can be shared with at least 4-6 people- we had three and barely made a dent. The pancake was fluffy and slightly crispy on the edges and is basically a dessert yorkshire pudding (if you've had that at Lawry's). It's more eggy than sweet and tastes more like a fluffy cream puff shell than an American pancake, and serves as a crust to the carmelized apples. I'd definitely order this again, and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream next time.

I think I'm going to have to try making this at home sometime.

So whether you're browsing for random pieces from Paris to put on your bookshelf or a place to linger for afternoon tea (for scones, cupcakes, whoopie pies or tea), wander over to the alley near Lane 216/Yanji St to find Love Lovely.

CLOSED! dessert/western: i recommend TIM & MEL PATISSERIE AND BISTRO

CLOSED! a/o 2014

TIM & MEL PATISSERIE AND BISTRO
No. 39, Lane 345, RenAi Rd, Sec. 4, 台北市仁愛路四段345巷四弄39號
(02) 2752-1829

MRT: Zhongxiao/Dunhua

website: timmel.com.tw

hours: 12 PM - 9 PM

$$ (about NT$600/person; NT$300 for afternoon tea)

Kid friendliness: no high chairs, limited space.

Visit reviewed: 3/7/2012

Opened last summer, Tim & Mel Patisserie and Bistro joins the growing myriad of chic and cute cafes dotting the alleys and lanes in Taipei. A rainbow of macarons, shelves of dainty pastries like yuzu hazelnut bombes and an centered, open kitchen greets you in this tiny bistro that seats about 20 or so people.

There's bar seating at the open kitchen to watch the chefs hard at work, or group seating available at tables in the front and back where you can gaze from afar.

The lunch menu is limited to seven or so savory dishes to be ordered ala carte, and on the day we went there were quite a few things not available- steak, gnocchi and souffles. We ended up ordering a few pastas and a roasted duck breast to share, saving room for dessert. 

The food took quite a while to come out of the kitchen and a dish at a time, so it would be hard to wait for all the dishes to arrive to eat. My favorite was the elegantly plated roasted duck breast with sauteed mushrooms and green beans (NT$580) which was very tender and juicy, with the right amount of salt and pepper.

I ordered the Scallops with truffled gnocchi  pasta (NT$660) which was supposed to come with gnocchi, but since they were out, they replaced with pasta. I was fine with that since I don't like gnocchi anyways. The scallops were cooked well done, rather than seared medium rare and the pasta was gone in a few bites. 

I felt for the price they charged for the scallops, they could have served more pasta, but I guessed that the plate was chosen for gnocchi and not switched up make more room for more pasta. Since Tim & Mel's bucks the Taipei trend of offering sets and everything was ala carte, a meal could get pricey with the portion sizes- since this portion was not filling as a main dish.

My friend's pan crisped chicken pasta (NT$380) was a better size for the price, but I didn't try it. He said it was a little over seasoned, but finished it.

If I came back for the savory, I'd order the duck breast again and maybe try the waygu beef salad.

Tim & Mel Patisserie should be more popular for afternoon tea- they offer a set that has a strawberry mille-feuille, selection of three macarons, panna cotta and drink for NT$360. Or you could pick and choose your own desserts. Browsing the flavors, it's hard to choose just three for the set. 

Let's go back to the macarons... cassis, mint chocolate, blueberry, raspberry...

black sesame, mango, lemon lime...

Macaron boxes are tucked along the back wall and framed news clippings to read about the brother and sister chefs from the East Coast while you wait for your food.

   

Since they didn't have souffles (bummer!) that day, we shared an afternoon tea set and a strawberry crepe (NT$160).

The desserts were all very drool worthy and competitively priced. The macarons here slightly bigger and at NT$65, a better deal than the other famed macarons around Taipei which usually run NT$80-100 a piece (Patisserie La Douceur (which recently expanded to two floors and opened a second location in DaAn district), Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki (which is going under renovation at Bellavita to expand the seating area), Paul (which has expanded its menu), Robuchon, Boite de Bijou- am I missing any?), which makes me feel slightly less guilty about paying US$2 for a bite of sugar. 

Ok, a bite of happiness is priceless. Happiness times three.

The strawberry mille-feulle is slightly awkward to share, but the crispy and creamy layers elicit mmms around the table.

I also end up picking out two flavors to try that my friend didn't pick, that ended up being my favorites- mint chocolate and lemon lime macarons. 

After finding out about Tim & Mel Bistro, I found out that Chef Melissa Chang also opened another shop nearby called Tartine Bakery that served even more macaron flavors and goodies to discover- so of course I had to try it out. Stay posted!