market/vegan: i recommend IVEGAN SUPERMARKET

IVEGAN 愛維根蔬食超市

No. 54 Wanlong Road

文山區萬隆街54號

(02) 2395-0900

MRT: Wanlong 

hours: 8AM -10PM

Website: https://m.facebook.com/iveganmart

Price: $-$$

Visit reviewed: 6/2/2016

WRITING AN ARTICLE ABOUT VEGAN RESTAURANTS in Taipei has opened up a new dimension to Taipei that I never knew existed. Who knew that there was such a thing as a vegan supermarket in Taipei?! And it's huge. A whole basement level floor of fresh vegetables, fruits, packaged goods and frozen foods, IVegan is a curated, one stop shop for anyone looking for vegetarian or vegan goods in Taipei. Some of the items you could spy in your local market, Carrefour or Costco, but the selection here is varied enough that you could end up with a cartful of things even if you were just looking to buy veggies, tofu or household goods.

Opened for three years, iVegan is near the Wanlong MRT stop and not too hard to find from Roosevelt Rd., thanks to huge white and green signage pointing you to the right alley. Once at the entrance, you have to go down the stairs and down the long hallway before you reach the front of the market. There was a off putting smell for me in the hallway, either from the bathroom or durian or chemicals, not sure, but thankfully it was not evident inside the market. 

A huge array of fresh produce and veggies like you would see at most supermarkets is in the front, cheaper than the gourmet markets at Jasons or City Super.

Vegan kimchi, rice cakes, tofu, tofu products 

Fresh coconuts, pineapple and watermelons

Soy milk, sesame soy milk,  brown sugar soy yogurt 

Frozen vegan dumplings, onions rings, French fries 

Edamame, fruit popsicles, vegan ice cream

Vegan Instant noodles and packaged noodles, both chinese and Italian pastas, sauces 

Korean kitchen noodles for vegetarian 

Fruit vinegars, organic apple juice 

Frozen roti paratha, frozen vegan bacon, lots of mock meat like vegan bacon aka fakon

This fridge has some of the vegan dairy substitutes that I saw for the first time.. Vegan mayo Vegenaise, Earth Balance's olive oil "butter", Tofutti sour cream, vegan cheese  and coconut oil.  Keep in mind vegan products don't use any eggs, milk or cream.

Egg replacer 

Fresh breads and jams, peanut butter 

Vegan snacks, crackers and cookies

There seemed to be a unique selection of Indian, Thai, Vietnamese too- snacks, curry mixes, biryani mix, rice paper wrappers, satay sauce, chili sauces.  

Even spied a durian snack (shudder!!) and fresh durian. I can stand the smell of stinky tofu, but I cannot stand the smell of durian. 

Oatmeal 

Rice bran oil, olive oil sprays, grapeseed oil..

Crispy onions 

Vegetarian oyster sauce 

Quinoa 

An array of spices in large and smaller sizes - curry, fajita slice, thyme, cinnamon, chili powder - with English and chinese labels and nicely illustrated sketches 

Wasabi pepper salt anyone?

XO sauce 

Even can get bathroom, cleaning and kitchen products here. I even spied a glue gun! 

Veggie "pork floss" made from mushrooms or pumpkin 

Vegan chocolate 

Dried fruits guava, pineapple, mango and even vegan shrimp chips?? Haha 

Whew! So a little look at IVegan, Taipei's vegan supermarket.Did you see anything you have been looking for?

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 

dessert/froyo: LLAO LLAO

LLAO LLAO

at XinYi Vieshow

No. 20 SongShou Road
松壽路20號

MRT: Taipei 101

Kid friendliness: Yes kids will love to choose their own sugary toppings

Visit reviewed: 

Newly opened Llao Llao frozen yogurt at Xinyi Vieshow sits across from the newly opened Jamba Juice giving us more options for icy snacks during this very cold Taipei winter. Can Llao Llao succeed where other froyo shops in Taipei have not? 

It all looks familiar- the Pinkberry-esque glossy white and green signage, an array of fruit, candy, berries and nut toppings to choose from, as well as fruit and chocolate sauces too. But the taste of the frozen yogurt here tastes quite different than the tarter Pinkberry/Yogurtland flavor that I'm used to- maybe more milky and sweet and less tart? Can't put my finger on exactly what it is.

Because of the grand opening they are handing out bitesized samples as well as coupons with trivia questions on them to win a free topping. Multiple choice questions like how do you pronounce the companies name, Llao Llao, to help initiate customers into familiarity to the Spanish froyo chain. (The answer by the way is that it's pronounced Yao Yao with the double Ll making a Y sound)

Available are mini (NT$69), small (NT$89 +one topping), medium (NT$119 +3 toppings), large (NT$139 +3toppings) and sanum, which has fruit and topping options buried in the center kind of like McDonald's berry parfait, as well as smoothies. I had a free coupon thanks to my friend P so I decided to give it a try with some friends.

Toppings include oreo cookies, white chocolates, muesli, candied pecans, chocolate smarties, dried cranberries and chocolate covered peanuts. 

I was happy to see strawberries and blueberries included in the fruit toppings. There were also cantaloupe, kiwi, grapes, watermelon, pineapple and (ewwww) tomatoes?!!! Hopefully the berries don't disappear after a few months as I've seen that happen at other froyo places here. 

The sanum (NT$139) is the largest of the options with three fruits, two toppings and one sauce. I probably wouldn't order it again, (I'd get a small instead) but it was the only option for my free coupon. I tend to stick to berries for frozen yogurt- so it was blueberries and strawberries for us. I only had a couple bites, but my friends enjoyed it a lot. For those of us used to the tart version of frozen yogurt might have a harder time getting used to the different flavor of Llao Llao. But maybe that is preferable to locals who like their desserts sweet instead of sour. If frozen yogurt and smoothies aren't your thing, you can run across Vieshow to Krispy Kreme and Ireland Potatoes for donuts and french fries.