new in town/exploreTaipei: i recommend ATT4FUN 4TH FLOOR CAFES

ATT4FUN 4TH FLOOR
12 Song Shou Rd
XinYi District, Taipei

MRT: Taipei 101 or Taipei City Hall

website: ATT4Fun's FB page

hours: 11AM - 10PM

$$

Kid friendliness: lots to eat and see, surprisingly roomy walkways for strollers and families

Visit reviewed:

It's exciting to that a retail space in Taipei can redesign and innovate its space into an entire floor of eateries and Instagram worthy corners. Note to other malls- Why not have a little fun with it? Instead of just plopping a bunch of restaurants on one floor, they created a whimsical walk into a wonderland full of cafes and dessert shops.

I've seen hints of the Alice In Wonderland theme before, at Love Lovely, but here it's in full scale with rabbits guarding entrances marked Midnight and Afternoon, white Roman numerals marching along the tops of the hallways near the ceiling and even a projection of a blond haired, blue dress wearing Alice upon a misty steam, creating a hologram effect usually seen after hours at Disneyland.

This is the entrance to Midnight-

After each entrance with a black or white rabbit, there's a centerpiece display. On the Midnight section, it's a cascade of champagne glasses under a ceiling full of bubble glass lights, with a slightly creepy dressed in black mannequin in a canoe that you might see at Venetian or some new hotel in Las Vegas. The first time I walked through the fourth floor, I just looked and looked, in awe of all the details and so many things to take photos of.

New cafes and restaurants in the midnight section include- Opa! Greek Cafe, Movenpick, Cupid On, Carousel, La Mere Poulad . In the afternoon section, NOLA Kitchen, Cutty Sark, Love One and more... Here's a little peek.

Tommy's waffles

OPA Greek Tavern 

Carousel Cafe 

La Mere Poulard

Movenpick Cafe

Afternoon entrance with the white rabbit

NOLA Kitchen

Cutty Sark

Love One

Cool little layout map I spotted on a different floor.

With so many cafes and restaurants on one floor, it's a good destination for when you can't decide on what to eat, so if one places is crowded, you just wander to the next one until you find one that looks good or has seats, if you are in a hurry.

On the 6th floor, Belgian Beer Cafe closed before I had a chance to write it up (some good dishes, but uneven service and expensive for the portions, especially the ridiculously small appetizers), and was replaced by Fat Angelos (which moved over from Bellavita and looks like Belgian Beer Cafe except with a new sign and red checkered table cloths).

The 5F also went through a revamp, with the closure of BANNCHAN and San Yuan (so sad. no more chocolate xiao long boas with the 101 view) to make room for a Mr. Onion, Dubu House and Bite 2 Eat. A lot to shop and eat at ATT4Fun, with Gap and Zara Home to browse downstairs and the new Quiznos and Pizza Denise to grab a quick bite.

CLOSED/korean: ARI TOFU HOUSE

ARI TOFU HOUSE
No. 31, Lane 280, GuangFu S. Rd,
台北市光復南路280巷31號
(02) 2721-3033

CLOSED a/o 2014

MRT: SYS Memorial Hall

website: Ari Tofu House's FB page

Visit reviewed: 4/13/2013

I have gotten so behind on food blogging that sometimes restaurants close down before I have a chance to write about them. I'm going to post about some that I wish were still around, partially to document the constantly changing Taipei food scene. Very sad to see Ari Tofu House had closed. It was usually busy, but not too crowded to take us when we dropped by last minute when I was feeling like some spicy Korean tofu stew and some kalbi. In the same alley as Osteria by Angie, Amigos and Fifteen Pizza, this area near Sun Yat Sen has fierce food competition. If only someone would open a good all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ in Taipei. 

RIP Ari Tofu House.

snapshot/dessert: I strongly recommend ICE CREAM PEANUT CANDY SPRING ROLL at SHENKENG OLD STREET

This past week has been full of firsts for me, in a big way, as well as the first time exploring some of the mountain sides and ocean cities on the edges of Taipei.  It was also my first time to Shenkeng Old Street or Shenkeng Lao Jie, which is famous for having a row of restaurants and stands serving up stinky tofu, spicy tofu, fried tofu, bbq tofu, duo hua dessert tofu, almond tofu and tofu ice cream! Shenkeng is about a half hour drive outside of Taipei, on the southeast past the Taipei Zoo and Muzha, so you could combine the two for a day trip.

Before entering tofu street, I spotted this ice cream peanut wrap vendor with the bright green sign and block of peanut candy across from the entrance of the Old Street, and you know me, I had to stop to get one. 

One wrap is NT$40 with a choice of pineapple, taro, plum or vanilla for your three scoops, or there's a rainbow sherbet type swirl action going on if you don't specify a preference. Just to be clear the ice cream here is NOT made with tofu, since it sits outside the tofu street zone. Haha.

A layer of freshly shaven peanut candy, a layer of ice cream, another douse of peanut candy bits and a  sprinkle of cilantro and then the thin wrap is folded in and rolled. ICE CREAM BURRITO for a little over a dollar!! One of my favorite Taiwan street snacks!! Peanut ice cream wrap, spring roll, popiah, burrito, run bing- call it whatever you want because it's essentially the same thing, just with ice cream inside it!

At first bite, I noticed that there seemed to be a hit of salt in the peanuts' sweetness, and the owner confirmed that they do make their peanut candy differently with the addition of salt. It totally accentuates the flavors the same way that we love anything salted carmel. The ice cream is the perfect temperature- creamy and melt in your mouth and you get the crunch from the peanut candy. Hit up one of the restaurants for stinky tofu and then come here for a palate cleanser! 

SHENKENG LAO JIE 深坑老街