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.

japanese/fusion: i recommend DONMONO

DONMONO 鮮五丼
No. 115, Nanjing E. Rd, Sec. 3 台北市南京東路三段115號（南京龍江路口）
(02) 2508-0461

MRT: Nanjing East Road Station or Songjian/Nanjing Station

Hours: 11AM - 9PM

website: Don Mono's FB page

$

Kid friendliness: fast casual seating, no high chairs spotted

Visit reviewed: 12/7/2011

Yoshinoya is one of my dad's favorite cheap eats- a big bowl of rice topped with teriyaki beef, relatively quick and made to order. While I've also spotted Yoshinoya in Taipei, I've been too busy eating other things to try it. So when my friend invited me to try DonMono, I didn't expect too much, but I was surprised by the modern fast casual atmosphere and hearty portions.

A fast, casual restaurant offering lunch for NT$99 with options like beef bowl, mapo tofu, fried pork tonkatsu or teriyaki chicken. Order and pay at the front and find a seat upstairs.

Chopsticks and spoons are tucked into black utensil holders on each table, as well as chili oil, pickled ginger and soy sauce.

I liked the squishy tofu (NT$20) and sweet seaweed that are side orders.

I ordered the kimchi beef bowl and while the bowl is quite sizeable, it's mostly a thin layer of meat atop a huge bowl of rice. The flavor of the sliced beef is good, but too much rice for me to finish. Thankfully there isn't that goopy layer of teriyaki sauce all over the meats here.

I finished most of the meat and kimchi and I was eyeing my friends' orders. Next time I'd get the chicken bowl, with plenty of chopped chicken thigh dotted with sesame seeds...

or the spicy mapo tofu with pork cutlet instead, both which looked quite filling and hearty.

OTHER LOCATION

No. 18, Lane 137, Yanji St.
(02) 2711-2142

food court: i strongly recommend Q SQUARE

QSQUARE 京站時尚廣場
1 Chengde Road, Section 1, B3 中正區承德路一段1號

MRT: Taipei Main Station

website: qsquare.com.tw

hours:

$-$$

Kid friendliness: mall food court with lots of options

Visit reviewed: 11/13/2010

There's no shortage of malls in Taipei to window shop in and same goes for the food courts, since most malls have a food court somewhere in their basement. Q Square is a newer mall that some might not have discovered yet, but definitely worth checking out. Easily accessible by MRT, it is even connected underground through the walkways at the Taipei Main Station stop.

The snapshots of the QSqaure food court are from a few years ago and I know since I've been there recently that it's gone through some changes since then. There's two sides to the basement floor- one side with the traditional square of food court fast food eats, plastic bento displays and plenty of seating and then the other side with mini stations of bakeries and cafes like Richard Blanc, Cloudy Cupcakes, Ariel Le Cafe and Movenpick.




There's also plenty of sit down restaurants if you don't want to bother with the food court, but during peak dining hours there's often a wait- ramen, curry, tempura udon sets.



Japanese bakeries like Yamazaki to stock up on some freshly baked sweet bread.


Jasons Supermarket if you need to pick up some fresh fruit or gourmet items as a local or tourist.

Food courts in Taipei are actually an affordable and tasty way to spend a meal. I enjoyed my bimbimbap (NT$160) with crispy rice from the stone pot....

Perfectly crispy underneath!

My friend didn't have as good luck with the Hainan Chicken rice which was lacking in chicken, instead fluffed up with shredded cabbage.

This cold soba/udon tempura combo was also a surprise in value and size, but sadly I think the Japanese shop was changed into a different store and menu on my most recent visit.


Or stick to Taiwanese eats with sticky rice ba zhang and wonton soup.



One souvenir that I've turned friends onto is the kimchi flavored popcorn from Planet Popcorn. Ask for samples if you spot this stand- it's kind of addictive with a spicy, sweet and slightly sour kick. My friends usually take home a bucket or two. There are plenty of other flavors- classic kettle corn, chocolate, cheese, caramel or wasabi.


Skip these cream puffs- I bought a box as a gift and disliked their frosting like filling and soft puff.

Lots to explore at Q Square- there's also restaurants like NY Bagel and Alleycats on the 1st floor; Ariel Le Cafe on the 2nd floor, and a whole floor of restaurants on the 4th floor including Crystal Spoon, Momo Paradise, Eat Together buffet and Vieshow theaters for movie watchers.

Oh yeah, there's shopping too!