desserts: i recommend SWEET TEA at TAIPEI 101

SWEET TEA by STAY at TAIPEI 101 米其林三顆星
No.45 Shifu Rd, 4F 台北市市府路45號4樓
02-8101-8177

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: Sweet Tea FB page

hours: 11AM- 9:30PM

$$

kid friendliness: high chairs available

Visit reviewed: 5/13/2012

If you haven't been to Taipei 101 lately, then you're in for a surprise. The former "restaurant row" on the 4th floor is being transformed into mini Rodeo Drive with huge Louis Vuitton, Prada, Miu Miu, Dior and Burberry, in various stages of completion. Page One? Gone from its central spot to a different area. And with high end brands, you need high end dessert shops to match- Sweet Tea and chocolatier Jean-Paul Hevin.

I had eaten at STAY last year, also in a corner on the 4th floor, and Sweet Tea features confections by the pastry chef at STAY, opened by Michelin starred chef Yannick Alleno.

The colorful menu includes pastries, macarons, gelatos and ice creams as well as afternoon tea sets.

On a recent meeting with Singaporean food blogger Brad Lau (aka Lady Ironchef), we had a crazy dessert trail that ended up at Sweet Tea at 101. It was a good choice, since it was the first time for both of us and I had heard about it for awhile, but never had the chance to go. At the entrance, the hostess informed us there was a NT$380 minimum per person to sit down. It's a little annoying, but better than the trending drink minimum where the drinks are overpriced and not that good. At least this way you can spend all your money on sweets.

And sweets galore, there are. Walking around the small space, there is a lot to choose from. Long rectangular tarts with rows of fresh raspberries listed on the menu as strip pies, or the collection cakes, displayed like miniature works of art under individual clear cases under the glass display.

Or a sweet'dwich (NT$170-240) if you prefer your sandwiches stuffed with cream.

Or the ever popular macaron (NT$80), with flavors like almond, raspberry, hazelnut, lemon or chocolate.

Or maybe tea pastries are more your speed.

We carefully made our selection, mentally calculating our minimum amount we needed to spend and returned to our seats, where shortly a plate was delivered to be photographed from every angle, and then savored. 

I can barely believe that we could still eat this, after lunch and sharing a cotton candy with espresso and ice cream from Coffee Alley as well as a cake sampler from Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki.

My favorite out of the bunch was the lemon meringue which had the right amount of sweetness and tartness as well as the cloud of torched meringue atop.

The St. Honore also surprised me with the light and airy vanilla bean speckled cream and crackling, sweet carmelized mini cream puffs.

Despite the prime location, Sweet Tea wasn't too crowded and was a great place to relax and chat and people watch the streams of tourists headed up to the Taipei 101 observatory deck.

news: spring 2012 Taipei restaurant round up

Wow! This is my 600th post!

CLOSED
- Cactus was a new Mexican restaurant in town, but was closed when I tried to visit in April and posted on their FB page that it is closed permanently though the chef may reopen elsewhere.
- Eddy's Cantina in Danshui is closed- but you can still find Eddy at his Tianmu location.
- Fu Diner closed its second (and last) location. Now where to find creamy omu-rice?
- JB Burger closed
- I-Sushi closed
- Sweet Dynasty closed (It's sad seeing the restaurants emptied and gutted)
- I-Baked in Shida will closes today. Still has a location in Xinyi area
- Mu Kung Hwa Korean Viand on Zhongxiao closed. Always passed by, but never tried it.
- Masala House in Shida had been on my to-do list for a long time, but now it's gone. Sigh.


OPENED (I've eaten at almost all of them- which one do you want me to post about first?)
- Joy's Creperie near the Taipei City Bus Station in the Xinyi district near the freeway ramp entrance
- Santouka Ramen opened to long lines at Fuxing Sogo (and it looks the same as Japanese chain that people line up for in LA!) as did Ippudo Ramen, famous from Japan and NY
- Yo Shabu Shabu near Yong Kang Street
- Tartine Bakery in January serving desserts, macarons and sandwiches
- Cyclo, new pho restaurant
- Acquatic Addiction Development, a fish market renovated by Mitsui, has locals going crazy over the standing only sushi bar and fresh, affordable take away sashimi
- Mayur Indian Kitchen near Grand Hyatt
- Spotted a new branch of Wang Wei Ramen in the alley behind San Want Hotel
- Thai Made on DongFeng
- Bellavita recently made some changes- doubled the seating for Patisserie Sadaharu AOKI and made more room for diners at Elite 
- Will Taiwanese people pay a premium for European chocolates and brands? Pierre Marcolini chocolates and tea area in Xinyi Mitsukoshi A4, near Chanel and priced accordingly, and Jean Paul Hevin at Taipei 101
- Toasteria Cafe 3, a roomier place to get your grilled cheese sandwiches and Mediterranean food in Dong Chu East District.

RUMORED
-I heard that Patisserie La Douceur opened a second branch in Daan district, but I cannot find the address. It's not listed on their website. Does anyone know where?

Any other news to add? Do you like the restaurant round ups? Please leave a comment below!

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!