Showing posts with label zhong xiao east road area. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zhong xiao east road area. Show all posts

Monday, November 21, 2016

ramen/japanese: i strongly recommend TOTTO RAMEN



TOTTO RAMEN 鳥人拉麵
 No 9, Alley 5, Lane 107, Fuxing S. Road, Sec. 1
台北市大安區復興南路一段107巷5弄9號
(02) 2778-9866

MRT: ZhongXiao/FuXing

hours: 11:30AM- 2:30PM; 5:30PM-10:30PM (Saturdays 12PM-12AM)

$$ (about NT$250/person)

Kid friendliness: kids will love the chicken broth original paitan, no high chairs spotted and very narrow tight seating so no room for strollers 

Visit reviewed: 10/30/2016 & 6/17/2016



WHAT SETS TOTTO RAMEN APART FROM OTHERS is that its broth base is made from chicken stock rather than the more popular tonkotsu pork bone broth. For a first time visit, the server recommended we try the unadorned chicken paitan (NT$200) which is a velvety version of chicken noodle soup, with two slices of charsiu pork and thin al dente noodles. Paitan translates into white soup, so you'll see it's a milky, opaque, almost creamy soup rather than the clear chicken stock Amercians are used to. 


Some of you might recognize Totto Ramen from NYC and the Taipei shop is the real deal. Located in the alleys behind ZhongXiao Sogo, it seats about 20 people in one row of tables and one row of bar seating. On my third visit, I discovered they were more adamant about seating customers after everyone in your party had arrived (which I always find annoying especially since I was one person waiting for one other person and would occupy 1 table) even when the restaurant isn't full and there is no line. 



If you sit at the bar (or are waiting to be seated) then you can spy huge vats of chicken and chicken stock bubbling away, to become the base for the ramen broth. 



Totto Ramen's menu has four basic bowls- Chicken paitan, miso paitan, vegetable ramen and mega paitan and then spicy versions of it. There are small rice bowls available and some side dishes like seaweed salad or kimchi tofu. No grilled shisito peppers from their NY menu, as someone asked me on Instagram. You can add extra stuff to your bowl like bamboo or kimchi, or extra noodles for NT$30, or even chicken.



The cucumber (NT$90) is deceptively spicy. 


I always find myself gravitating towards spicy miso paitan (NT$230). Pretty delicious and yes it's the same one as the one in NYC. The chili oil and miso paste is added into the chicken paitan broth, so if I ordered this again, I would ask for the sauces on the side. The last time I had it, it was a bit heavy for me, maybe since I had it after a workout. But if you're looking for a rich spicy miso, this will fit the bill. Another thing to note is that the chicken paitan comes with a slender straight noodle (and no egg) while the miso paitan comes with a thicker wavy ramen and half an egg. I felt the pork was also fattiest on my most recent visit, so I ended up being a bit charsiu deprived after peeling away all the fat. 





For a heartier bowl, the mega paitan (NT$290) comes with more pork (I think three different kinds), and bears the number one label on the menu. If you're hungry, this is worth the upgrade. (Still cheaper than the chicken paitan I had in LA which started at US$12)


Anyways, head over to Totto Ramen before too many people discover it. And let me know if you find any other chicken paitan ramen spots in Taipei. The first place I ever had chicken paitan ramen was at  Afuri Ramen in Tokyo and then here at Totto Ramen in Taipei and then Tentenyu on Sawtelle in LA. The broth reminds me a little bit of the intense chicken soup at G-woo, although this is for a fraction of the cost. I would kind of kill for a bowl of this right now at one in the morning, as I'm finally updating some posts.



Friday, June 03, 2016

mexican/ fusion: i recommend TWINKEYZ TACOS



TWINKEYZ TACOS
No. 7-1, Lane 131, Yanji St. 
台灣台北市大安區延吉街131巷7-1號(02) 2778-7707
MRT: SYS Memorial Hall
hours: 6PM - 11PM weekdays 
11:30AM-11PM weekends (although call before you go, this is from their Facebook page but two people told me they tried to go today (Sat lunch) and they were not open)

price: $$ (about NT$500/person)

kid friendliness: lots of non spicy options for kids, there are also fries and corn and chips

website: Twinkeyz Taco's FB page

Visit reviewed: 6/1/2016


I'M ON THE HUNT FOR TACOS IN TAIPEI on a quiet alley near Yanji Street. My phone GPS tells me I'm close and I spot the bright blue neon sign not far away. After attempts to walk in at Mume (packed), Le Blanc (kitchen closed at 9pm), Thai Made (closed at 9pm), Chi Mac (too heavy), I remembered that I wanted to try Twinkeyz and we walked from Yanji/RenAi to Yanji/Zhongxiao. 

Opened just a week ago, Twinkeyz Tacos aims to bring both street and uptown tacos to Taipei in a casual yet cool vibe. Along with tacos, there are nachos, kimchi fries, mexican corn, chicken wings, horchata and beer (although don't expect any burritos or quesadillas here). I know we all get excited everytime there is a new taco place in town, and even though I didn't want to get my hopes up, I can say, I think there's a lot of promise and y'all can get excited too.



In neatly lettered writing on the chalkboard above the counter, there's over a dozen tacos to choose from as well as a handful of munchies. It wasn't until I spied someone else with a paper menu that I asked to see it later for photos, even though I had already ordered. If you're traditional, stick to their street tacos like chicken, carnitas (pork), barbacoa (beef) or baja fish (which can be fried or grilled). If you're adventurous, you can try some fusion flavors like bollywood chicken (indian spiced), korean beef bulgogi (all the rage in LA, 10 years ago), gua bao remix (replacing the bun with tortilla in a Taiwanese pork belly bun), or sous vide Carne Asada. There are also three vegan tacos on the menu with soy chorizo, tofu taco or veggies.

I ordered an assortment to try (although I wish they had told me about the taco flight deal when I ordered) and my favorites surprised me..








It's great that Twinkeyz gives you free chips and salsa which is strangely rare in Asia. That being said, they just opened a week ago and are still in their soft opening, so they are still working everything out- from their pricing to the serving style to QC. The chips in my first round were fine, but the second round of chips were not crispy and not appetizing. 

TACOS! From left to right - Daddy's shrimp shebang (NT$130), Carnitas (NT$95), Carne Asada (NT$150), Barbacoa (NT$95)



When I ordered you can choose between flour or corn tortillas. Of course, corn. 

Let's take a closer look at the tacos. 

Daddy's shrimp shebang taco (NT$130) was hands down my favorite bite of the night. With shrimp marinated in the Shrimp Daddy's shebang sauce, mango salsa and (a bit too much) sour cream, the taco was filled to the brim and the shrimps were fresh and sweet. It was so good, I had to order another one. I haven't been to Shrimp Daddy's yet, but this taco made me want to try it. And if you're wondering why they are offering Shrimp Daddy's sauce, it's because the chef here at Twinkeyz used to make tacos at Shrimp Daddy's on Thursdays and it was so popular, it evolved into Twinkeyz Tacos.


Carnitas pork (NT$90 ) solid


Barbacoa beef (NT$95) solid 


Carne aside with guacamole (NT$150)-  I was a bit disappointed with the carne asade, especially since it was one of the most expensive tacos on the menu. The 48 hours sous vide made the meat quite tender, but the amount of meat in the tacos seemed lacking in proportion to the price and the guacamole though creamy, didn't taste sweet or maybe it wasn't ripe yet. I could get a whole burrito elsewhere for the price of this taco. I wouldn't order this again personally.




Nachos de Twinkeyz (NT$240)
Although there were a lot of chips on the platter, this was overpriced for me with no meat included in this price. (Meat is extra) There wasn't enough cheese, or it was oddly distributed, so that there were clumps on certain chips and zero cheese on many of the pieces. I have to say I'd prefer the nachos at Machos Tacos, 1Bite2Go or even the diner over this version, but it's an easy fix here. I would totally order Korean kimchi bulgogi nachos or even shrimp nachos, so if Twinkeyz could figure out some way to custom the nachos with marinated meats they already have on hand for the right price, it could offer the customers a lot more options. 


Round two 


Daddy's shrimp shebang taco (NT$130) still good as the first round, more mango salsa and less sour cream.


Baja fish taco- grilled mahi mahi. I originally was going to get the fried version, but the server suggested I try the grilled version and I'm glad he did. With purple cabbage and Twinkeyz orange sauce, this might have been my second favorite taco of the bunch.


Gua bao taco remix (NT$120) with braised pork belly, pickled vegetables, peanut powder and onions/cilantro. I've often bemoaned about the fact that many of the Mexican restaurants in Taipei were localized into weird versions of mexican food to suit local tastes (Doritos plus salsa does not equal nachos). But this kind of Tai-Mex fusion is something that I can say YES to. Why not take the heavier bun and swap it out for a tortilla, but keep all the elements of the gua bao? I wonder what locals will think of this, but it doesn't matter. This is totally something I could see happening on a food truck in LA.


The printed menu is fun with directions of "how to eat tacos like a boss" and more descriptions of each taco that I wanted to see when I was initially ordering. But eventually Twinkeyz will have to have either photos of some of their tacos and other dishes or photos of their food out front, if they want to draw in locals passing by. Macho Tacos, Eddy's, the defunct Juanitas and all the Mexican restaurants before them have done a lot of educating Taipei on what and how Mexican food is, but Twinkeyz has a slightly more gourmet vibe with the fusion tacos and higher price points, so they will still have to figure out ways to explain their different tacos quickly, so that if there are lines not everyone is asking a million questions on their first visit (like I was) instead of ordering. 

The prices on the menu are already different than the ones on the chalkboard and the chalkboard was taken down after I ordered and erased, so price points and menu are still being worked out and may not be exactly the same as this visit. That being said, I do think Twinkeyz should offer some sort of soft opening deal for early adopters/supporters who go and try their tacos while they are working everything out and also elicit feedback from customers. It would be great to have taco flight being buy 3 tacos, get 1 free or something along those lines, since it's best to try a variety of tacos and you need at least 3-5 to be full, since they are not that big. That being said, I'm happy there's another taco place in town, there's room for more. I know you guys love tacos too, so let me know if you try it based on this review and what you think, do these pics make you want to try it? Looking forward to my next round of tacos and trying to Twinkeyz into making me some customized nachos with more cheese please. 





Monday, April 11, 2016

taiwanese/dessert: CHILDHOOD ICE



CHILDHOOD ICE 小時候冰菓室 
No. 39, Lane 51, DaAn Road, Sec. 1
台北市大安區大安路一段51巷39號
(02) 8771-9521

MRT: ZhongXiao/DunHua

website: Childhood Ice's FB page

hours: 1PM - 10PM

$-$$

Kid friendliness: yes for fruit and shaved ice lovers

Visit reviewed: 3/28/2014


Opened for almost one year, this shaved ice shop in the East District has a retro feel complete with a Street Fighter arcade game in the front. My eyes were first drawn to the cans of condensed milk stacked on the tiled counter then to the simple red and white menu above. When I tried to decipher the menu, they pointed me to the photos of their popular bowls taped up on the wall behind me. The decor is simple, but themed- reminders of our youth- with faded movie posters of A Better Tomorrow and hopscotch squares chalk outlines on the cement floor accompanying a few metal tables with colorful stools.





I was here for the strawberry adorned shaved ice I had spied on instagram, with strawberry halves carefully laid out in rows atop a small mountain of shaved ice. Other options include mango (when in season), peanut milk ice, green mung bean milk ice, red bean milk ice and fruit smoothies.





Strawberry shaved ice with condensed milk and panna cotta (NT$200)




The shaved ice was like eating a huge bowl of crunchy, small shards of ice rather than the finer kind that melts in your mouth. The ice itself was flavorless despite being soaked in brown sugar and condensed milk, and because it wasn't powdery, it didn't absorb the sweetness. I also prefer it when the condensed milk touches the ice rather than the fruit, but since the strawberries weren't super sweet, it probably needed the extra boost. If you are the type of person who likes to crunch the ice in their drinks, then you won't mind this kind, but we ended up not finishing half the bowl, and we can usually finish a bowl of shaved ice. If I came back, I would try the smaller matcha strawberry ice available for half the price at NT$100, although the texture of the ice would probably be the same. So I'd probably end up back at my favorite, oldie but goodie Tai Yi Milk King, or at one of the snowflake ice shops instead. 

At least I got in a couple free games of Street Fighter afterwards. Funnnnnn! Definitely reminds me of my childhood.


:)