chinese: i strongly recommend GWOO

GWOO 雞窩

No. 63, Lane 81, Dun Hua S. Road, Sec 2 台北市大安區敦化南路二段81巷63號

(02) 2704-3038

MRT: DaAn Station

hours: 11:30AM- 2PM; 5:30PM- 9:30PM

website: gwoo.web66.com.tw

$$ (about NT$500/person)

kid friendliness: high chairs and kids dinnerware available

visits reviewed: 5/5/2009, 3/6/2011, 5/12/2012

Cold and rainy night in Taipei and you're tired of hotpot or Grandma's got a little cold and you want to bring some food to her... where to go? Gwoo is the answer to those needing hearty chicken soup that will warm you up from head to toe. 

Opened in 2007, the space still feels fairly new with the wood and brick design and can seat large groups up to 10 at their round tables in the main dining area. Private rooms are also available. Service and food is fairly quick. 

A jumble of Chinese characters in a Chinese-only menu with too many dishes to choose from can make for a confusing dining experience in Taipei. But don't let that deter you from trying some of the good eats in Taipei like GWoo. If you are desperate, you can study the collage of photos outside their restaurant of some of their more popular eats (or take a pic of it on your phone) to refer to avoid any confusion. Or just bring someone who can read Chinese, since that's what I do.

The centerpiece and must order of the meal is the signature chicken soup. You can order the original version, or if you order the soup with mushrooms or cabbage and tofu, they'll serve it the original first and then add hot water and the vegetables for the second round.

The Gwoo chicken soup comes in a huge ceramic clay pot, steaming and full of chicken falling off the bone as the result for being cooked for hours. Comes in small, medium and large sizes, depending on how many people you need to feed- menu prices for the original soup range from NT$360 feeding 1-2 people, jumps to NT$1400 feeding 3-4 people and NT$2400 feeding 4-6 people. Prices get more expensive from adding tofu and cabbage to mushrooms to bamboo/pith and then shark fin being the most expensive. I've also ordered to-go from them, and the soup comes bundled in a large enough plastic bowl and double bagged to ensure no leakage. 

The broth is so "thick" that an ultra thin layer forms to coat the soup when you don't drink the soup right away and the cooler air touches the soup.

The meat is so tender, unlike some chicken soups which have all the juice cooked out of the meat. If we were in the states, there'd be some noodles floating around it. But since we're in Asia, you can order some puffed rice squares (NT$15/2) to dip in it. 

Now that I've been there quite a few times, here is my usual must orders. These dishes also come in small, medium and large sizes depending on how big your group is, but I usually order medium for these since I like these dishes.

Boiled pork or lamb with vinegar dressing

Scallion pancakes and string beans -  the string beans are a bit more fried and greasy here than I've had it in other places, but they are addictive tucked and rolled up inside the scallion cake. I also wrap the pork inside the pancakes too.

Fried bread - best eaten hot and crispy

Sometimes we'll also get the stir fried noodles which sometimes comes heavy on the onions.

Fried shrimp with mayo and rice puffs. (Make sure you get the right kind, they have several types of fried shrimp and shrimp and I've ordered the wrong kind in the past not knowing the Chinese name. Again, you can try to reference the photo in front of the restaurant, which they should just offer a copy of in addition to its menu)

Veggies of the day

You can see once they add the cabbage and tofu after everyone has had a bowl of the original chicken soup, they also add hot water and the soup is not as rich.

Fresh fruit to end the meal.

So the next time I'm craving chicken noodle soup, you know where I'll be. 

snapshot/costco: i recommend MANGO SHAVED ICE at COSTCO

It's hard to tell from this photo how monstrous this mango ice is. A mountain of frozen chunky shaved ice, cascading frozen mango cubes, two scoops of vanilla ice cream and a generous pour of condensed milk. We had three people share this and there was still leftovers. Not as good as Ice Monster or Mango Cha Cha since it was basically a mango flavored slushy once all the semi-frozen mango was gone, but at NT$79 it's about half the price of the other places in town.

vietnamese/pho: i strongly recommend CYCLO

CYCLO 洛城牛肉粉

No. 377, RenAi Rd, Sec. 4 

仁愛路四段377號1樓  (this location closed, but new location near Zhongxiao/Daan)

(02)2752-8666 

MRT: Zhongxiao/Dunhua 

website: Cyclo's FB page 

hours: 12PM - 2PM; 6PM - 9PM

$-$$ (NT$200-300/person) cash only

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted. semi-tight seating except for one table in the front

Visit reviewed: 4/23/2012

Cyclo is a newly opened LA style Vietnamese pho and rice restaurant, seating about 25 people in a bright, new space with a row of tables leading up to a semi-open kitchen. Bubbles of thoughts appear on one decorated wall like a stream of consciousness mission statement- "Pho!!! Fresh, casual, healthy... Create your own! Fast, delicious!"

Bottles of Sriracha and hoisin sauce sit on each table, waiting to be squirted into diners' bowls. Seats fill up fast, so show up a little early if you want to make sure you get a table. 

If you don't get handed a menu, grab one from the pile next to the door and a pen. It's one menu per person and mark your initials in the top box so you know who's order is whose. Cyclo's menu reminds me a bit of the Counter, but instead of building your burger, you're building your bowl of pho. I love that there's English and that there's even a sense of humor- "For People who Don't Eat Beef" and "For People who Don't Eat Noodle." You can choose your type of noodle, 3 items for NT$190 or 4 items for NT$230, yes or no for richness in the broth and your choice of herbs. Appetizers and rice plates are listed at the bottom in Chinese only, but our server that first day helped us out with swift and patient English translations. 

Vietnamese cha gio egg roll (NT$45) comes stuffed with vermicelli and ground pork. Nice and crispy.

Vietnamese spring rolls with spam. (NT$55) Yup, spotted cans of spam in the back on the shelf. Spring rolls are also available with fried shrimp. I preferred the fried ones, over the summer rolls at this shop.

Lemon ice tea (NT$70) was nice and refreshing, with sugar to adjust your own sweetness. My friend said it was like lemon ice teas she's had in Hong Kong. It is also the only drink to come with free refills, so a better deal than the honey lemon and the lemon sugar cane drinks.

One of my lunch dates ordered one of the rice plates, I think this was pork (NT$230). Or was it chicken? Haha, I didn't try it, but it looked delish and filling. 

Not too long after we ordered, our bowls of pho came out. If you write your name on your menu, then it would be easier for them to ask which bowl goes where. The waiter waved the menu at me and I didn't know what she wanted until I realized she wanted to know who had ordered on the menu she was holding.

My rare beef, brisket point and tendon pho with rice starch noodle (NT$190) was pretty awesome. The brisket point was so tender and I kept savoring it as I chewed. The rare beef was pink and cooked a little more as I swirled it in the golden broth. The slippery noodles were the perfect texture. And like in LA, you get a small plate of basil, sliced jalapenos, bean sprouts and here a slice of lemon to add to your pho. I tried the "rich" version of the broth on my second visit, but while it wasn't salty while I was drinking it up, I was a bit thirsty later that day.

Cyclo will be sure to have strong word of mouth. The day my friends told me about it, they had gone for both lunch and dinner. The last time I went, I ran into three separate groups of friends, without knowing that they were going to eat there too, which was pretty funny. I even wasn't sure if I wanted to blog about it yet, but I figure it can't be more crowded than it already is. Some of the days I went, the waitress was even turning away people from empty seats because the kitchen was slammed with an entire restaurant's orders at once. Personally, I would have let the poor hungry people just sit, mull over the menu and wait for their food... after all, some people in Taipei wait in insane lines for a bowl of noodles (at the newly opened Ippudo and Santouka), so why not for pho.

snapshot: MCDONALDs at TAIPEI ZOO

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McD's has summer drink menu featuring fruit flavored soda floats, including grape, strawberry and mango and costs only a little more to add to your meal. So today at the Taipei Zoo, given the insane blazing heat, I was brainwashed into trying the peach soda float and eating a quarter pounder without cheese which I haven't had in years. Between McD's and Burger King, I personally prefer the Whopper since you get a tomato, onions and bigger pickles, as well as more sauce. As for the soda float, it was like what you'd expect, a sweet, cold, fizzy drink that turned creamy when the ice cream got mixed in. Creamsicle soda.

Speaking of McDonalds, there'a an interesting video that answers the question of "why doesn't my McD's burger look like the one on the ad?" The video gives a peek behind the scenes at food styling for advertisements. I admit, for a split second, I was surprised that there were no tomatoes in my burger, but another glance on the box revealed the red was just ketchup. Tricky.

McD's also has the Monopoly game thing going on, but you only get stickers when you buy a combo meal.

It was so hot I had to get another drink at the snack shacks- in this case a honey lemonade with boba. They have a more limited selection than most 50 Lan, but I guess it's better than nothing!

vegetarian/western: i recommend CAFE SHOWROOM

CAFE SHOWROOM

No. 462 FuJin St. 台北市富錦街462號

(02) 2760-1155

MRT: SongShan Airport

website: Cafe Showroom's FB page

hours: 11AM- 9PM; 11AM - 11PM on Friday, Saturday

$$ 

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted

Visit reviewed: 3/14/2012

Those of you that follow me on Facebook know that sometimes I post photos of things I'm eating in "real time" or before I have time to organize the pics and write up the post. One photo that caught the eye of many readers was of the quiche from Cafe Showroom, an interesting cafe & art gallery space in the Song Shan district near the airport. The whole street was lined with interesting shops and cafes to revisit someday, and Cafe Showroom was the perfect place to start. My friend said it reminded her of Brooklyn somehow, or maybe the Larchmont Village for those of you in LA, a neighborhood to walk around and shop.

The front has about 3-4 seating areas for groups with spartan white walls and a few pieces of curated art dotting the walls.

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Tucked in the back is the art gallery space, or the Showroom, where there are new exhibits every few months.

After glancing at the restrained menu, I realized everything was vegetarian, which sounds limiting, but once the food arrived, the simple yet fresh fare fit the atmosphere quite well. There's only four main dishes available, but on weekends, brunch sets are offered. The cafe's coffee offerings include Chai Tea Lattes and various teas like sweet ginger peach tea and high mountain Oolong tea.

Farmer's salad (NT$200) was quite bright, and the only salad on the menu.

The crowd pleaser was the feta quiche (NT$160) which had soft broccoli, tomato, peppers and olives in it as well. The thin flaky crust was a nice contrast to the creamy egg. We ordered to share that day, but usually each order comes with a small side salad.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the mushroom spinach panini (NT$180) since it didn't sound that exciting, but the bread was so good and the touch of balsamic vinegar gave the sandwich an extra boost of flavor.

The burrito (NT$180) on the other had fell a little flat- it was more like a veggie wrap or pressed soft taco and not as fulfilling as the panini and quiche. 

The yogurt with fruits (NT$120) was served with the sweetest fresh peaches and blueberries and served in a cute glass jar.

We split the desserts, so I didn't get a shot of the originals, but cheesecake and waffles are also available.

One of my friends said that this Astoria coffee machine was the Porsche of coffee machines... it was very sleek and shiny.

But save room for the nutella banana panini (NT$120) which you could totally make at home with a jar of nutella smothered atop some good french bread, but if you don't want to keep a jar around, this is the place to try it.

So another neat little space in Taipei, probably the perfect place to bring a notebook on a rainy day, drink some coffee and detox from last night's mala with a light lunch.