japanese: i strongly recommend A-PLUS DINING SAKE BAR

A-PLUS DINING SAKE BAR
33, Anhe Road, Sec. 1
(02) 2731-9266

website: aplusdiningbar.com.tw

lunch:12 PM - 3 PM
dinner: 6 PM- 2 AM

$- $$

Visit reviewed: 5/30/2007

Yay! Spicy tuna rolls! Yay! California rolls!

Yay for A-Plus. I can't tell you how hard it has been to find spicy tuna rolls in Taipei. They have been basically inedible or non-existent up to this point. (I even attempted to order spicy tuna roll in Beijing at the Japanese restaurant in Shangri-La hotel, but it was awful as well. Spicy tuna is not just tuna with tabasco sauce okay?)


a beautiful sight for sore eyes

But now, I have a place to go when the craving hits me in Taipei. They also had a wider selection of "rolls" (NT$100+) than most other more traditional Japanese restaurants in town, but not doused with mayonaise with paper thin unagi like practically scarring experience I had at Niko Niko.

Their unagi over rice almost blew me away. First, the portion was huge! Second, it was tender, perfectly grilled and seasoned- and didn't have the moisture grilled completely out of it.



The menu is in English and Chinese with a few pictures, though the set lunch special is only in Chinese. You can choose from a few main dishes, and comes with a ordinary salad and miso soup, as well as a coconut flan-like dessert.




It's self proclaimed "fusion"- Japanese food made with local ingredients and with South American embellishments served in a sophisticated NY inspired environment. And the environment is definitely nicer than your average Japanese restaurant, but still reasonably priced- perfect for casual business lunch, lunch with your friends or maybe evening a night out. It's also definitely less hectic than the similarly priced Watami nearby.



My friends heartily recommended the grilled Mackarel- but I was in the mood for rolls. And I polished off all of my share.





The cold udon was smaller than I expected, but it was al dente Q and the sweet sesame sauce was the perfect accompaniment.



All in all, I heartily recommend A-Plus. Supposedly, they remodeled and revamped their menu recently and has been packed ever since. I think we grabbed the last table during this lunch hour. It's down the block from Dun Hua Eslite bookstore a little past Space Yoga and open late as well for late night grazing and drinks.

where is everyone (from) ?

It's been lonely the last few days, with no feedback from anyone. I'm slowly catching up, but I have a ton of more posts and places to write up. By request, I've also added a "kid friendliness" comment section to posts, which will eventually be updated throughout the older posts to the best of my knowledge!

I'm curious about you guys though- it's so interesting to be getting hits from all over the world. I'd love to throw out a few questions to you guys, answer the ones you want.

(1) where are you from?
(2) how'd you find me?
(3) because of the pictures or the restaurant info?
(4) if you could only eat at one restaurant in your city for the rest of your life one week, what would it be?
(5) what restaurant should we stay away from with a ten foot pole and all our relatives if we're ever in your area?
(6) must eat food and restaurant when you are in Taipei? and if you've never been, which restaurant looks most tempting to you that you've read about?
(7) if you are in taipei, what do you most miss when you are here?
(8) team stinky tofu or team oyster egg omelette?
(9) where can I find good enchiladas in Taipei??????
*new (10) upload sooner more often with just pictures or wait until I write everything up?

let the jeopardy music begin. Can't wait to hear from y'all!

PS- Saw OCEAN's THIRTEEN over the weekend. I thought it was a really fun, stylish ride- much better than 12. But I have to say, I probably was the only person laughing out loud at the Oprah scene... me and some other random girl a few rows behind me. Sometimes I miss watching films in LA!

buffet/indian: i do not recommend AALEJA weekend buffet

the buffet trays were practically this empty

AALEJA
6, Alley 5, Lane 70, Yanji St.
(02) 2773-3227

hours: weekend lunch buffet: 12 PM - 2:30 PM

NT$399

Revisit reviewed: 6/10/2007

It's 1:20PM and the natives are getting restless. For at least 30 minutes, more than 80% of the trays have been table scraps- bits of meat in curry or last few bites of oily veggies in curry or the bed of onions that usually houses the tandoori chicken.

Well, there's rice. And it's good rice because I'm starving.

The restaurant is half full and quickly fills up with new tables of customers- each one eyed like competition for the new food when it comes out.

If it ever comes out.

Everytime the kitchen bell *dings*, all eyes dart towards the kitchen to see what's coming out. Scenario from a game show? No, Sunday afternoon lunch buffet at Aaleja. My first time at the weekend buffet and most definitely my last time- I'm too disappointed to be angry really. From the bits and pieces of meat and curry I've gathered with my rice, the flavors are quite distinct and hearty, (if not a bit oily). The eggplant, the lamb, the beef, the vegetable curries all mildly spiced for a wider range of tastebuds.

Some garlic and plain naan makes it way to our table to fill us up, but it's heavy as a pizza without any toppings. It's not fluffy and magical like I'm used to.

was the naan always this dense?

The waitress half heartedly apologizes to us in Chinese saying that "everything is made fresh to order" when we complain that there's nothing to eat. I hear her echo that to at least four other tables in the room. Sure I can sort of understand if you are packed busy and my food is going to take some time to get to me. But it's a weekend buffet! Aren't you supposed to be prepared with trays and trays of food- it's not time to be "making things to order"? Refill it before it even gets close to running out, not to mention making customers wait for an hour with no results.

I've filled up on juice, rice and curry and managed to snag a few pieces of tandoori chicken that must have been on a diet, and my friend managed to get two samosas. There's no hope left for us getting anything else coming out of the kitchen in our lifetime, especially with a full house now of at least 40 customers and the hungry newbies milling about the still empty trays. It's like that episode of Survivor where all the contestants are drooling at the mere promise of food and we'd pay NT$399 even though we don't know what we're getting- in this case, not our money's worth.

maybe standing in front of the food will make it appear faster

Couldn't have been that bad? I can't believe it still and I was there. Honestly, it was the first time I wanted to walk out of a restaurant and refuse to pay. We should have, maybe it would have made them get their act together. Hello, Aaleja management- it's a weekend brunch BUFFET, please hire more chefs and don't run out of food in the first hour of your buffet! Is there any decent weekend Indian buffet in Taipei?

what about the last time I ate at Aaleja?

CLOSED! french: i recommend MAMM GOZ

MAMM GOZ
12, Lane 112, AnHe Rd, Sec 1
(02) 2709-6636

Hours: 11:30 am - 10 pm Tue-Sun
brunch on weekends til 430pm or so
(closed Monday)

$$

Visit reviewed: 4/25/2007

A menu of unique and tasty offerings as if you were in a charming sidewalk French cafe, especially unique for Taipei, though pricey for the novelty and portions. Go for the dessert crepes with a date or friends.

It always surprises me how many expat-run eateries there are here in Taipei. I always wonder- how did they end up here? Why Taipei? Just like the test of a good Chinese restaurant in the states is that it is filled with Chinese American customers, Mamm Goz quickly filled with expats, even on a quiet Tuesday night.

When we first arrived, we had our pick of a table of a near empty restaurant - we chose to sit on the patio in the open-area cafe, good choice, since the cafe quickly filled up about while we were eating. The server (owner?) was especially friendly, wanting to walk us through the menu and explain everything since it was all our first time there. The menu is quite self explanatory- in English and Chinese- with one page of Galettes and one page of dessert Crepes, with a few salads and ciders on the side.

Our party of three decided to share a salad (NT$150-270), three main dish Galettes (NT$300-450) and a two dessert Crepes(NT$80-260). You can also have a set dinner menu for NT$600, but limits your selection of galette and crepe.

The Cobb-like salad came with diced ham, egg, croutons, cheese and tomatoes- the dressing was a tad too tart for me.

My favorite of the night was the La Queen Anne galette (NT$420) with goat cheese, honey and nuts- though more of a appetizer or dessert than a main dish. The creamy sweetness with the soft skin of the crepe was very addictive. It made me want to order another, or go and buy some goat cheese and make some toasted honey goat cheese nut sandwiches at home. It was probably also the most traditional in my understand of crepes, where the 'stuff' is inside the crepe, rather than on top as the others were- but maybe why these were 'galettes.' The La Mamm Goz crepe with ham and mushrooms was also smaller than I expected and a bit salty.

The La Celtica chicken galette was like looking at and eating a chicken mushroom cream sauce penne without the pasta- the sauce was very rich and too heavy to be a good match for the thin crepe underneath. While I'm not complaining about the taste of the topping, I felt like it belonged on some penne.

On the other hand, the dessert crepes were right on target. Big scoop of vanilla ice cream, soft pillowy apple slices resting on a crepe bed with caramel sauce sheets- it was almost embarassing how many times my spoon went to the Treann (NT$230) dish though I was sharing with two other people. Take my advice, order your own dessert crepe- you will probably finish it and want another to go.

The banana, chocolate and coconut King Arthur crepe (NT$260) was flambed- a quick douse of rum and lit on fire. It tasted more like rum than chocolate, and I think the table preferrred the caramel apple flavor better. If you want a lighter fare- they also have plain, butter, sugar, nutella, honey and various other crepes (NT$80 +)

You can even spy the chef hard at work making each dish in the kitchen in the back of the house. You will definitely need to order more than one thing to feel full, so expect to spend at least NT$500-800 at dinner time. Definitely a charming space to feel like you're not in Taipei anymore and have conversation and Breton cider or beers for a few hours with unique handmade touches, such as these painted stones to set your forks upon.

afternoon tea/dessert: PASTA FROLLA

PASTA FROLLA
No. 12, Lane 236, Tunhua South Road
(in the lane right behind Tunhua Sogo)
(02) 2773-3736

website: pasta-frolla.com Japanese site
orangecobo.com.tw Taiwan site

11:30 AM- 10 PM

$

Visit reviewed: 2/15/2007

My friend was giddy with excitement that she had someone to accompany her to eat "all you can eat cakes" for afternoon tea. Not a bad deal considering that NT$199 (US $6) you could eat until you couldn't eat another mouthful of frosting. But you could also buy cakes ala carte for about NT$50 each, so you would have to each eat 4 cakes to make it your money's worth, which if you think about it is a lot of cake. But if you've ever had a fantasy of eating whatever cake you wanted out of a bakery, here is your chance- mousses, cake, cheesecake, creme brulee, pie, even green tea jelly. You can also go for the full buffet- one entree and the all you can eat dessert and salad bars for NT$269.

My favorite out of the bunch was probably the creme brulee. Crackilicious sugary roof over a creamy sweet pool of creme brulee. But it was probably among the most rich creme brulee I've ever had- it was very very sweet and sugary.

We had a seat in the back during the crowded afternoon hour. It was fun watching the chefs make cake and artfully arrange the fruit on the cake, ladle sugar over it and put it in the fridge.

You get one plate and then take that plate to the counter where you point to the slice of cake you want. It's to prevent you from eating one bite from many cakes for sampling. Their cake slices are pretty big to finish, so it's best if you go with more people to sample and share. There are no signs for the cakes in English, so you have to ask or go by sight. The pinkish cake above we thought was strawberry cake, but was actually cherry. The frosting was light and whipped.

We eventually got a slice of the fruit cake we were admiring them make. It was like a hybrid of a cheesecake-mousse cake with lighter chocolate cake underneath with a flaky crust.

If you get the afternoon tea buffet, you also get to wait in line for their hot foods, such as this au gratin potato dish, which appear every half an hour. Once the server comes out, there is a mad dash and a long line. The cakes and decor is more Japanese western style than American western style which I would guess their pasta dishes taste too, but I didn't get to try the pasta. Overall, the cakes are decent- not the best desserts I've had in Taipei and definitely nothing that made me gasp "ohmygod" and want to camp out in front, but pretty affordable price for all you can eat and large variety to choose from. The setting is more plain jane cafe and crowded with students than a luxe white linen setting like Joyce East or Sabatini in the new green Sogo, but hey, their afternoon tea sets are at least two to three times as expensive.

Couldn't find anything online about Pasta Frolla except food porn pictures from blogs in Chinese. It seems to be a Japanese chain brought over here, based on their Japanese website. There also seem to be some sister cafes that are very similiar- Berry Berry 62, Orange Cobo and Apple Cobo. It gets very busy in the afternoon, so head over a little earlier to beat the crowd and bring an empty stomach and your sweet tooth if you decide to go.

Other location:

PASTA FROLLA
No. 38, Lane 187, Tun Hwa South Road
(02) 2731-4980

chinese: DINING ROOM

DINING ROOM
in Neo 19
No. 22, Song Shou Rd
(02) 2725-3932

website: inhouse19.com Chinese only

hours: 11 AM - 10 PM

$$

Visit reviewed: 4/28/2007



Trendy lounge atmosphere to eat your Shanghainese food which had surprisingly better flavors than I expected. Filled with thirty something business types or couples at tables with moody lighting, there are no baby seats and no room for loud kids, especially at dinner hour. The menu is mostly in Chinese, though there are a few pages of English with pictures of their most popular dishes.

More detailed review coming soon...

my kitchen: vietnamese spring rolls and chicken tikka masala

Courtesy of Carrefour supermarket and a little elbow grease in the kitchen- my first time making Vietnamese OR Indian food. It's been hard to find Vietnamese spring rolls like this in Taipei since the place I went to seems to have gone out of business. I found it very tricky to soak the rice paper just right.. I think the water was too hot and this particular rice paper had a grid on it, which made it tear easily. But we managed to salvage a few. This package of rice paper includes the noodles too, but I probably wouldn't buy it again! I made these before I read these tips on oishiieats, but I did manage to wrap it with the shrimp facing out. I will have to try grilling the shrimp because I can practically smell the flavor from her pictures. Also, I bought some new rice paper with the rose on it the other day to try out along with the special dipping sauce. We'll see how that goes!

lunch:



dinner:

As for curry out of a can, you definitely have to add water and the tip on the can to add plain yogurt- I thought gave it that extra creaminess and slight sweetness that took it from average to above average, since the curry already has a slightly tangy lemon flavor already in the Tikka Masala. I stirfried the onions first a little bit and then cooked the chicken, before I added the curry and simmered it for a bit. I wish I had had bought some basmati rice or naan to go with it. I would definitely try the other varieties from Patak's Original brand if I see it again at the supermarket. I'm all about the shortcuts.

CLOSED/dessert: i recommend GINJER CAKES AND MORE

GINJER CAKES AND MORE
20, Lane 233, Tun Hwa S. Rd, Sec 1
(right around the corner from Eslite Bookstore on Tun Hwa S Road)
(02) 8773-3061
(CLOSED, not sure if they still offer catering. updating in 2019. notice the pinyin changes!)

website: ginjer.com English and Chinese

hours: 12 PM - 8 PM

$$

Visit reviewed: 5/11/2007

The first time I passed by Sprinkles in Beverly Hills, I saw a line out of the door and people leaving with brown boxes and brown cupcake stickers. Out of curiosity, I had to get in line. I had to see what the big deal was for myself. Even the guy in front of me volunteered how much the line was worth it and he was getting a box of cupcakes for his boss as a birthday gift. The cupcakes were huge and beautifully decorated with frosting perfectly spread and colorful button like candy wafers stuck in the middle of each one. But personally, I didn't like the taste in comparison to my cupcake favorite Auntie Em's in Eagle Rock. Whoever made your personal favorite- cupcakes were a childhood flashback food trend taking over the city. But outside LA and NY, not so much it seems.

You would think that a city like Taipei full of sweet tooths and most often willing to wait in long lines- for shaved ice, for red bean filled pastries and rice balls, for cream puffs, for ice cream covered waffles, for chewy rings of donuts, for slices of cheesecake and any other cake imaginable, that there would be cupcakes all over town- but cupcakes are not easy to find. Maybe it's too American of a tradition. Maybe the Taiwan palate is used to the less sweet frosting and cakes of the Japanese style cakes. Either way, if you're looking for cupcakes in Taipei, Ginjer is your one stop shop for now.



You can buy cupcakes individually from the counter or order them in bulk for a special event. They also have regular cakes, with a homestyle feeling of decoration. I've had mixed experiences with their cakes- the first time I had it, I thought the decoration was more appropriate for a child's party than adult's and the chocolate cake was dense without being moist enough and the frosting was not lick your fingers clean worthy. The second time I heard about their cake, I heard many people complain it was too salty- though I wasn't there to try it- perhaps there was a mix up in the kitchen that day? I've also heard good things from others about it- that it was just the way they liked their cakes and hard to find elsewhere in Taipei.

So I'd recommend that you try it out for yourself if you are tired of the lighter fare of cakes in Taipei and aren't up for baking something at home yourself. Hidden a lane away from Eslite on Dun Hua South Road, it's not hard to find once you are in that area. Once you are in the store, they will usually offer a few samples of their more popular or new flavors. Look for the hanging Ginjer sign and past the outdoor patio that is great for their afternoon tea time (one free drink w/ purchase of a cupcake from 12pm - 2 pm). They also offer cupcake decorating for kids everyday at 4 pm.



They have numerous flavors offered on their website, from chocolate, lemon, banana, taro, orange, pumpkin, cream cheese, coconut, and their original Cloud Nine and Ginjer special. They also offer red velvet seasonally and more unusual fare like Waldorf Salad and Apple Pie- though not every single one is offered everyday (but more than I thought in person- probably about 10 flavors). You can browse their decorations in their gallery which are cute and more home-grown than professional(NT$60-150 each for special orders). I tried the carrot cake cupcake (NT$50) on this day which I quite enjoyed- it was average sized (same as if you baked it in muffin tins yourself ) but also dense, fluffy, sweet with tiny slivers of carrots and a sprinkle of nuts (and no raisins thankfully which some carrot cakes do have) and topped with cream cheese frosting, which I love, and a cute little frosting carrot. It could have used a little bit more frosting if you ask me, but I am used to the piles of frosting that come with the big enough to share cupcakes in LA. You might have heard about it several times before from other people like I have, it's worth a try- you might surprise your sweet tooth.