Friday, March 18, 2016

korean: i recommend UNCLES TAIWAN

#itsrainingcheese

UNCLES TAIWAN 엉클스대만

No. 31, Lane 260, GuangFu S. Rd

光復南路260巷31號

(02) 8771-8097

MRT: SYS Memorial Hall

hours: 11:30AM- 3:30PM; 4:30PM- 11PM

website: Uncles Taiwan's FB

$$ (about NT$300-500/person)

kid friendliness: not a lot of non-spicy options for non-spicy eating kids

Visits reviewed: 11/19/2015 & 3/17/2016

OMG! The moment I saw this on Instagram, hot, melty, stringy cheese bookended by deep fried giant squid on a bed of spicy Korean tteokboki rice cakes, I knew I must try it. I counted down the minutes until I could go the very next day (last November). The first time I went, Uncles Taiwan had been opened for less than one week. A popular tteokbokki restaurant from Korea, Uncles Taiwan is located in the alleys across from SYS Memorial Hall. Uncle's Taiwan was brought in by TKK (Taiwan's KFC) so they know how to make deep fried goodness.

Live out your construction worker fantasies with pseudo uniforms, hard hats and wands to light up and wave down the waiters.

On the first visit, the Chinese only menu can be a little confusing, but you basically choose the base (step 1) (spicy saucy rice cakes or a stir fried version), opt for cheese or without (YOU MUST CHOOSE CHEESE for the full experience) and what you will top it with- fried squid, pork belly or chicken wings, and the prices are added together accordingly. There only one portion size, and I would say probably best suited for 3-4 people. They don't pack up leftovers so go hungry or with friends. There's also Korean instant ramen, seafood pancake and rice balls. FYI there's a minimum per person fee of NT$300.

Spicy chicken feet with rice cake or Korean fishcake oden

Seafood Pancake (NT$290) Last fall when we tried the seafood pancake, it was quite disappointing, served a bit too thick and underdone. This time, my friend asked for it to be extra crispy. It was better than before, and there's a decent amount of shrimp, oysters and squid inside, though it's a bit pricey for the size.

Seaweed, mentaiko rice balls (NT$80) This is the only rice option, which isn't really necessary since you're getting a pan full of starchy rice cakes, but if there's someone who doesn't eat spicy at the table or kids, then this is one of your few choices. It's not bad, it's just something you could totally do yourself at home. Depending on what server you get, they will offer to mix up the hot rice for you and form little rice balls, or leave the plastic glove and ball on the table for you to do yourself.

I've been to Uncles Taiwan three times and I still get a tiny thrill seeing the monster squid coming to the table. This is the before of the must order dish at Uncles Taiwan... Crispy whole squid atop mozzarella cheese and spicy Korean ricecake tteokbokki, fishcakes and hardboiled egg. The squid legs dangle off the pot and you wonder how you are going to eat it, but they cut the body and legs for you into pieces after they've pulled it apart into oozing melted cheese. (NT$390 cheese rice cakes + fried squid NT$250 = NT$640). On my second visit, I went with more friends so I could try more of the menu. But we still all liked the deep fried squid over cheesy Korean rice cakes the best. The low spicy/xiao la still has a kick and tinge of sweetness.

First they have to light the fire (that's when you have to get your camera ready for the MOMENT)...

Say cheese. Click here to see my instagram video of the cheesy magic.

You can opt to stir it all together, or just scoop up the parts you want to eat. Low spiciness is pretty dang spicy.

Buried underneath is the rice cake (tteokbokki) and

thin strips of fish cake...

Some thoughts after three visits- skip the ramen- unless you want to try to add it into the tteokbokki. Make sure your squid is hot when it comes to your table, if that's important to you. On my third visit, I instinctively touched the squid when the dish didn't appear to be hot and I was right when it wasn't. So we sent it back a new one because what's the point of wasting calories when it's not hot out of the fryer. I also missed the cute, helpful waiter from our first visit-- this time the servers were all clumped together at the bar, not looking toward the customers and we often had to walk over and wave them down. Also different servers will create different experiences, and since this dish is a bit interactive, then it's even more important that the servers provide a good experience for repeat business.

I'm sure I'll be back when another friend tells me that they want to go, there's nothing else like it in Taipei that I know of. I know there are quite a few Korean restaurants that have the cheesy spicy Korean rice cake hotpot available, including the not-so-new Tiger Tteokbokki, but in a city where often the nachos and sandwiches and dishes need to up their game on their cheese factor, Uncles Taiwan seems to know what we want.

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

news: RESTAURANT ROUNDUP WINTER 2016

Oh my poor blog. I've neglected you for over a month, but it doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about you. I've just been traveling (LA, SF, Vegas, Hong Kong, Guam) and away from my computer. I can blog from my phone, but it just takes longer. Not to mention I have been busy with the very important exploration of recipes for my new slow cooker, watching the last season of American Idol, new episodes of the Good Wife, Scandal, Grey's, Younger, and getting some sleep.

So how to ease back into it? I want to post pictures of the new winter menu at RAW, dishes from Mume's one year birthday dinner, long due photos of Achoi, or about new spots in Taipei to get steak frites, chicken and waffles, deep dish pizza, and cheesy fried squid korean rice cakes. There have a been a slew of new-ish burger, steak and fusion cafes the past few months. Or updated pictures from the night markets, some posts which need updates badly. And SO MANY SUSHI BARS to write about. Or a food court round up. My indecision results in procrastination which leads to over a month of staring at the Hello Kitty Shabu post. Sigh Sigh Sigh. This is when I have at least 100 places in my drafts folder, some places that sadly closed since my last restaurant round up. Ok let's start with that.. and then see if we can get the motivation back.

NEW AND NOTABLE- WINTER 2016

Uncle's Taiwan
Le Blanc
Revel Eatery and Juice Bar
Morton's Steakhouse
Ramen Hero (and all the restaurants at Breeze Xinyi)
Paradise Dynasty
Dim Dim Sum
Breeze Nanjing
Moustache Cafe
Jamba Juice
Llao Llao frozen yogurt
Origines
Hello Kitty Shabu
Yum Yum Cafe
Ebisoba Ramen
Zorro Steak
TK Steak at Hotel Proverbs
Beer and Cheese (moved to a new location on Keelung)
Habibi Macaron
Love at First Bite
Big Boyz Pizza
Alexander's Steakhouse
Purplehood
Fly's Kitchen
Wayo
Cova
Triple A Burger
Hai De Lao
Garrett Popcorn
Quelques Patisserie
O Rose Ice Cream
Purebread Bakery
VVG Hideaway
C25 Plus
Palsaik Korean BBQ
Baptong Korean

CLOSED (I know there's more than this.. I'll add to it when I remember)

California Pizza Kitchen (which turned to Sonoma which also ended up closing). Now there's a huge Anzu tonkatsu in that space
Les Bebes Cafe
EIEIO Gastropub
Brklyn
Juice 8
Woogo Juice (original location closed, but other branches popped up at Citylink mall and other malls)

Juanitas

Quiznos on Fuxing
added 3/19/2016
Swensens
Juicy Diary
Tartine

Friday, January 22, 2016

japanese/hotpot: i recommend HELLO KITTY SHABU

HELLO KITTY SHABU SHABU

No. 17, Alley 27, Lane 216, ZhongXiao E. Rd, Sec. 4

台北市大安區忠孝東路四段216巷27弄17號

(02) 2711-5216

MRT: Zhongxiao/ Dunhua

website: Hello Kitty Shabu FB page

hours: 11:30AM - 10PM

$$ (about NT$500-700 per person)

Kid friendliness: booster seats available

Visit reviewed: 2/20/2016

Before my childhood friend Jenny even got to Taipei, she messaged me from LA, "Can we go to Hello Kitty Shabu?" And being the good host, friend and curious food blogger, I said, "Of course!" A reservation and few days later, we found ourselves wandering the alleys near Zhongxiao near Lane 216 looking for it.

Once you get closer, the glow of Hello Kitty's face beckons and a lifesized Hello Kitty greets you at the door, ready for selfies (also in that alley, NCIS Sushi, Hoshina udon and a new branch of dessert spot Monteur Cafe).

The inside decor seems to be casual Japanese, with lots of small tables for individual hotpot and a side area with tatami-style, lower seating for bigger groups.

Reservations at Hello Kitty Shabu Shabu are limited to one and half hours, and when we arrived at 5:17pm, we were a little late. In Taipei, busy restaurants will usually tell you, you have a ten minute grace period before you potentially lose your table, i.e. If people are waiting there. Sometimes the restaurant will call you, or if you call them sometimes they'll be nice enough to hold it for you. I didn't call and they didn't call us, so when we told them our reservation was for 5pm, the girl told us we were late and it seemed like she was going to tell us we lost the table. But since the restaurant wasn't full and there weren't people in line, I emphasized that my friend had flown all the way from LA to eat Hello Kitty hotpot, and after some discussion between her and another server, they directed us to a small table in the back.

Tables for four are divided with a removable divider, which is smart for the restaurant but crowded for us. Even though no one sat next to us, you can see there isn't a lot of space, so you have to do some Tetris-like maneuvering to make everything fit with your hotpot, once your veggies, meat and steamed egg comes.

Hello Kitty Shabu offers individual yuan yang hotspots, so you pick two broths out of four choices- regular kombu, pork bone broth, tomato or Mala. Then you choose your meat- there's three kinds of beef or pork available or chicken or seafood. Then you pick noodles or Hello Kitty shaped rice. Everyone gets their own veggies and fish cakes, and additional hello kitty-fied fish cakes are available to add on.

There's also fried shrimp, chicken and croquettes to order on the side, and a colorful drink menu.

Once you've ordered, let the photo ops begin!! (Haha the only reason you're here right?) The servers asked us if we were done taking photos before whisking away the bow adorned wooden lids.

Complimentary pre-meal amuse bouche- I think it was konjac- but I found it inedible and tasteless..

I ended up choosing the pork broth and tomato. Next time I would skip tomato (it intensified when cooking) and choose the plainer kombu or go for spicy Mala.

Additional fish cakes we added filled with mentaiko. You can also pick cheese filled. (NT$160 for 2)

The vegetables are quite bountiful- with chinese cabbage, cabbage, various mushrooms, corn, one piece of pumpkin, broccoli, taro and some tofu skin and fish cake.. And then topped with a Hello Kitty thing-- we think it was some sort of tofu soy thing with the HK face burned in, which actually gave it a smoky burned flavor that was kind of unpleasant. But oh, it makes for a cute photo. Lol.

See how we barely managed to fit everything on the table, and it fits just so. I got the beef (NT$550) which wasn't as tender as the short rib (NT$650).

I loved this little apple bowl and cover with the spoon. I would maybe buy a set if they sold them there. The steamed egg inside was decent too.

Of course most of you know how Shabu works, but in case you don't, you basically cook the meats and veggies in the hotpot until it's to your liking. You can dip in the sesame or soy sauce, but pork broth was actually quite flavorful already.

Lots of chopped veggies at the bottom of the large bowl. Sometimes restaurants cheat and it's actually empty or raised inside, but I was pleasantly surprised to find plenty.

Cooking and eating.. As for the mysterious Hello Kitty faced tofu, it was a spongy, mysterious bite and tasted a bit burnt from what I'm guessing is the char from imprinting the face onto the tofu. I took one bite and wasn't sure if I wanted to take another.

Dessert at the end included in the set are a few bite sized, brown sugar mochi..

All in all, it wasn't a bad meal as shabu spots go. Would I recommend it? Sure, I'd come back with other Hello Kitty loving friends- I like how they give you a lot of veggies, broth options and steamed egg on the side. And if you're a Hello Kitty fan, then you kind of have to experience it for yourself. It's not as bling and overly cute like Hello Kitty Sweets (now Hello Kitty Kitchen) so now Hello Kitty fans have two places to choose from, three if you count Hello Kitty Bubble, four, if you count the Hello Kitty food souvenir shop next to Ice Monster I have to write up. I was surprised to see an older couple next to us eating (and chilling) who didn't appear to be Kitty fans, but maybe they just liked the food. Also there were empty seats in the restaurant during our hour and half so maybe they save spots for walk ins. It will be interesting to see if Hello Kitty Shabu becomes popular- on one hand, Taiwanese people love hotpot, especially in the winter time. On the other hand, because they loved hotpot, the hotpot game in Taipei is fierce- there's super cheap version and fancy, luxe versions, spicy mala, all you can eat, vegetarian only, herbal broth, the list goes on and on, and now, you can add Hello Kitty Shabu to it.

Monday, January 11, 2016

taiwanese: i still strongly recommend SHIN YEH

SHIN YEH 欣葉台菜
112 Zhong Xiao E Road, Sec 4, 2FL
台北市大安區忠孝東路4段112號2樓

MRT: ZhongXiao/DunHua

website: shinyeh.com.tw

hours: 11 am-3:30pm, 5-10:30 pm

$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs and kids dining ware available. lots of kid friendly dishes and kids will enjoy the chewy almond tofu

Visit reviewed: 12/1/2015
Previous visits reviewed: 8/2008 & 9/2006

Din Tai Fung might be the most popular restaurant in Taipei for tourists, but if you have a Taiwanese relative visiting, it's very likely you'll end up at Shin Yeh, as I did with during my last lunch with my aunt visiting from NY. A perfect choice for those looking to try family style classic Taiwanese dishes in a modern, comfortable setting, I've taken many a group of friends from the states who dug the stir fried vermicelli, the soupy loofah squash with clams and the upscale version of the street snacks guabao and run bing. Even with just the three of us (and my grandma doesn't even eat that much), we ended up with a table full of my Googoo's favorite dishes and a bagful of leftovers she could enjoy for a midnight snack. If you want to go all out and fancy, Shin Yeh has a branch on the 85th floor of Taipei 101. Shin Yeh 101 has set menus and window seats for a premium to dine with bird's eye view of Taipei (though I prefer their ala carte menu over their sets).

Stir fried noodles with seafood (NT$195)