not taipei: HONG KONG

Notes for my next visit from the amazing meals our family friends hosted us at. I liked the ultra fresh lobster sashimi, plucked from the tanks moments before our meal, but even better are the pan fried pissing shrimps or mantis shrimps, which are like baby lobsters with juicy meat to dig out of its bug like shell. It's a dish that's hit the mark at almost every restaurant we've ordered it at.

Also, does this picture make you hungry or turn off your appetite?

For me,a  mixture of both, but carnivores that have had perfect crackling skin from a roast suckling pig at Fook Lam Moon will be thinking about it for weeks afterwards. Paired with a soft cushion of a steamed bun, I wanted more than my two piece portion of the thin squares. If the suckling pig isn't in your budget, then the crispy chicken has some delicious crunch going on too.

Advance reservations recommended at both.



FOOK LAM MOON
35/45 Johnston Road
Wanchai
+852-2866-0663

CHEUN KEE
53 Hoi Pong Street
Sai Kung Seafront
Hong Kong
+852-2791-1195

dessert/taiwanese: KLEFUN CREPE

KLEFUN CREPE
at Xinyi Vieshow, 2 FL
No. 20 Song Shou Rd

MRT: Taipei City Hall

hours: 11AM - 11PM

$

Kid friendliness: sure, why not.

Visit reviewed: 6/7/2011


If you've ever tried a crepe from a food court in Taipei, you might have been confused when you bit into a crispy paper-like texture rather than the softer, pancake kind, as I was since I was used to the latter from my crepes in the states (and Toronto!). 

Klefun Crepe at Xinyi Vieshow foodcourt is no exception to that rule.

I usually stick to the Whoppers at Burger King when I'm catching a movie, but my vegetarian friend wanted to try his luck with a vegetarian crepe. The shop's menu is only in Chinese, but there's an English plastic menu available if you ask. Most of the crepes are around NT$80, and there are also boba milk tea and other drinks available.

When I was watching the crepe maker roll out the batter with expertise, I thought it might not be so bad, until I saw the toppings. The salad vegetable crepe had three tiny strips of cheese, corn, pineapple and salad. Only in Taiwan. When I commented on how little cheese there was, she replied, you can add more for extra money.

The end result is kind of like a salad in a thin cone. Kind of a noisy snack food for a movie, but we were watching X-Men: First Class (which was really good by the way!), so we could sneak bites during the action scenes.

The dessert crepe is a bit better with a thin layer of chocolate spread all over the crepe though the banana slices fell mostly into the middle, though it definitely can't compare to the more classic crepe from Paul. I ran out of hands to take pictures and was running late to the movie, but it's hard to mess up bananas and chocolate, though note the chocolate is a generic type, not Hershey's or Nutella, and tastes like it.

One good thing about the traffic cone like structure is that it makes it quite portable and no fork is needed.

CLOSED/revisited/swedish: i still strongly recommend FLAVORS

FLAVORS
No. 13, Alley 26, Lane 300, RenAi Rd, Sec. 4
(02) 2709-6525
(Updating 2019. Flavors closed and then reopened as a meatball bistro afterwards but that closed too. i remember fondly the photos from this post because the light and the DSLR results were so beautiful)

website: flavors.com.tw

hours: Closed Mondays; Tue - Fri: 6PM - 10:30PM
Weekday lunch by advance reservation only
Sat/Sun 12PM - 2:30PM & 6PM- 10:30PM

$$-$$$

Kid friendliness: no kids allowed

Visit reviewed:
Previous visit reviewed: 5/1/2009

My friend mentioned to another friend about how she had heard about an unusual restaurant in Taipei... Swedish, was it? And of course, I had to pop in and ask, do you mean Flavors? So another lunch date was made with a group of friends to introduce a new restaurant to.

I had fond memories of my first visit and visits after that went unblogged, but since we had made advance lunch reservations, the natural lighting for the pictures made for a perfect opportunity (since Flavors typically has the romantic mood lighting at night, terrible for food photos).

The menu has slightly changed since I last reviewed it- the meatballs are no longer available as an entree (boo hoo), the lunch menu sets are the same as the dinner menu sets, priced at around NT$890 and up, but apple cake is part of the set for every meal.

Everyone enjoyed our meals, shared bites of our main entrees, raved over the swedish meatballs and bread and delighted in noisy conversation which was okay since we had the restaurant all to ourselves at lunch.

Housemade bread is on the sweet side and served with olive tapenade and a pea spread. Resist the urge to fill up on this or sneak some to take home to eat.

The soup choices that day were cauliflower which was a nice creamy puree with a chopped parsley,

or a cold tomato soup.

Amuse bouche was watermelon infused with balsamic and mint, though mine tasted just like a cube of watermelon.

I savored the meatballs & new potato with brown sauce and ligonberry (NT$220) as I really wanted the whole plate of 12 that I had the last time, but until Chef Ola brings it back as an option, it's only an appetizer.  The meatballs are fluffy and the sauces are sweet, but I like it that way.

A warm mango and mozzarella dish (NT$250)  my friend ordered.

The main dishes at Flavors include veal, lamb, beef, salmon, venison, halibut, pork chop and what I ordered, the black cod. What was neat to observe was that each of the potato sides on the entrees had a different preparation/presentation.

Organic sous vide pork chop with caraway potato and blue cheese sauce (NT$1080)

Sous vide lamb chop and Flavors potato with marinated wine sauce (NT$1280/set)

Beef fillet with hasselback potato & cafe de Paris and garlic butter (NT$1280/set) is probably my favorite out of all the entrees I've tried and what I would probably recommend one to order.

Aside from the few bones in my first two bites of fish, I liked the black cod with potato gratin and caviar sauce (NT$1280/set).

With a thin layer of caviar spread atop of the cod, as well as plenty mixed into the sweet sauce, it provided a contrast of textures to the flaky fish. My friend noted that many of Flavors' sauces do lean towards the sweet side, even for the savory entrees, so if you're not a fan of mixing the two, you might want to let the chef know.

And finally, the apple cake which is more like an apple crumble island in a sea of vanilla cream sauce.

For chocolate lovers, the hot Death by Chocolate (NT$180) is a must try.

Quite a few readers have told me about how they loved discovering Flavors after I wrote about it last time and many also about how they found Chef Ola and his wife Stephanie to be so warm and integral to the experience of dining there. You might spot him in the semi-open kitchen, or if he's not too busy, you might be able to catch a conversation with him and let him know what you thought about your meal.

bakery/cookies: I strongly recommend FLORIDA BAKERY

FLORIDA BAKERY
No. 26, Ren Ai Rd, Sec. 4
(02) 2702-1175

MRT: ZhongXiao/FuXing or ZhongXiao/DunHua

website: bread.com.tw Chinese and some English and Facebook page

hours: 6AM - 11PM

$-$$

kid friendliness: lots of fun cookies and snacks, as well as supplies for DIY projects at home

visits reviewed: 4/25/2011 & 4/28/2011

I don't know what took me so long to check out Florida Bakery. Last Christmas, when I went to a cookie decorating session at a friend's house, I commented on the bright and vibrant colors of her royal icing. She told me that she ordered them from Florida Bakery and that option stuck with me. When I finally spotted the sign on Ren Ai Road and had some time to spare, I wandered in to browse.

Besides a huge store offering the typical breads and Taiwanese pastries, there's also a whole row of handmade, frosted cookies in adorable shapes and colors like pink elephants, polka dotted hearts and rabbits making funny faces. The colorful ones are NT$130/g and the ones with just chocolate decorations are NT$90/g. While it's kind of pricey, anyone who's ever made and decorated cookies with royal icing knows that it's a lot of work, so it's worth it for a special occasion and it's one of the only places I've seen them in Taipei.

There are also bridal themed ones with heart shaped cookies decorated with black and white tuxedos and wedding cakes that would perfect as a bridal shower or wedding favor. They also do custom order cookies, like for baby showers, but there's a minimum order and advance time requirement. For the holidays, they also do various themed cookies- for Easter, there were painted easter eggs and chicks; for Christmas, there are candy canes, Christmas trees and stockings. Browse their website for more of their designs.

 

So of course I couldn't resist and had to pick up some to share with friends. The cookie is crispy rather than chewy, while the royal icing is very hard and a thick layer of sugary sweetness.

 

There are also jelly candies and other cookies like chocolate chip (on the hard rather than soft chewy side).

At the back of the bakery, you can spot the busy bakers hard at work, as well as a shelf full of familiar looking goods from the US- salad dressings, jams, mustards, sweets. If you've ever wondered where to get Spam or Jello or food coloring or tortillas in Taipei, then you have to rush to Florida Bakery.

To the right of the store is a refridgerated section where you can find tortillas, cheese and deli meats. This is a good option for tortillas if you don't want to buy the supersized bag from Costco (that I never end up finishing and sticking in the freezer). Florida Bakery also has tortilla chips by the bag, and corn tortillas with an advance order. The store is open very early to very late, making it very easy to stop by before or after work.

Now I don't have lug back so many things from the states anymore. If only a Trader Joe's would open up in Taipei, then I'd be so happy.

OTHER LOCATION:

No. 23-5, Zhongshan North Road, Section 3, #23-5, 4F
(02)2594-6923

japanese: i strongly recommend WANG WEI RAMEN

WANG WEI RAMEN
No. 40 Chang An E. Rd, Sec. 2
(02) 2571-1678

MRT: Song Jiang/ Nan Jing

website: Facebook page

hours: 11 AM - 10 PM

$$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted

Visit reviewed: 4/1/2011 &

Most of us probably have memories of buying cheap packs of instant ramen or Cup O Noodle and eating them at home, or in college or at work because all you needed was water to make a quick meal. Maybe we even fancied it up with a soft boiled egg, some veggies or meat to make it more appetizing. And there's a ton of forgettable ramen shops out in LA and even Taipei where I've paid US$7 and thought I could have totally made a better bowl at home myself.

All the ramen I've had before pales in comparison to the ramen I had at Wang Wei Ramen, which should satisfy those who haven't yet found a real bowl of ramen in Taipei.

The busy ramen shop probably seats about 40 or so, and fills up quickly during the lunch hour. With an open kitchen, the seats in the back have a good view of the chefs.

The Chinese/Japanese only menu is a bit confusing to the uninitiated- I'm still a little confused by it now even after having eaten there twice. Available from left to right are styles from three regions- Shinshu (shown with the red square) which is more thick, Kyushu (the orange square) is more sweet, and Hokkaido (the right page with the brown square) which is more intense. Then within each column there are different bowls to choose from, with bowls ranging from NT$220-290.

My first visit I chose a spicy miso ramen (to the far right of the menu) and on my second visit I got a bowl of Kyushu ramen with three pieces of cha siu. Surprisingly, I couldn't finish three slices and the bowls are huge enough to share, if you wanted to.

The broth is thick, but not too oily and thick with miso flavor, some might say umami, and the wavy ramen has the perfect QQ bite. The cha siu pork slices are the biggest I've ever had. I loved the the pork slices from the first bite- the huge pieces of cha siu are thick, juicy and hot and not too fatty. (Unlike some ramen places in Taipei where I've experienced that put in cool or cold pieces of meat into a hot broth which makes for a lukewarm cha siu and terrible experience). In addition to adding extra slices of pork to your bowl for NT$30, you can also add corn, butter, egg or vegetables.

You can get more broth to dilute your broth if you think it's too thick/salty/heavy. On my second visit, I did feel like it was too salty and you can request for it to be diluted before it comes to you the first time.

The garlic/onion ramen variation that my friend ordered is seasonal, only available from November to May. The Kyushu ramens also come with a slice of sweet potato and are made from wheat flour.

The soft boiled egg over rice with meat sauce (NT$100) is supposed to be mixed together before eating, and is a good bowl for someone who's not feeling like ramen. You can also get just cha siu over rice.

The Japanese style fried chicken (NT$180) is perfectly crispy and tasty.

Ramen aficiandos, tell me- what is the difference between the various regions of ramen and does Wang Wei Ramen get it right?