snapshot/instagram: PICO PICO, SQUARE PIZZA, BURGER AND CO., LALOS & CYCLO

This past week on instagram,  I revisited some old favorites, tried new Peruvian and pizza by the slice restaurants and made Hello Kitty rice krispies! And as you should when are you in Taipei,  scarf down a bamboo steamer full of dumplings for breakfast for only NT$45. Thought I would try something new on the blog- to post some instagram highlights every so often to share new restaurants and finds and capture my thoughts before a full blog post. Enjoy!

PICO PICO 

Finally tried Pico Pico, a Peruvian restaurant that my friend C had been telling me about for awhile. Among our favorites were the chicken paella, or arroz con pollo, which had a curry flavor and juicy chicken thigh atop, the charred octopus and the beef heart skewers. Lunch and brunch menus also available.

PICO PICO, No. 28, Lane 102, Anhe Rd, Sec. 1, 安和路一段102巷28號, (02) 2755-1161

SQUARE PIZZA AL TAGLIO

Stopped by newly opened Square Pizza al Taglio for a quick bite. Rectangular pizzas by the slice with toppings like house made porchetta and eggplants with sundried tomatoes. Reminded me of my trip to Italy and the delicious pizzas at Bonci Pizzarium in Rome! 

SQUARE PIZZA AL TAGLIO, No. 39, Lane 160, Dunhua S. Rd, Sec. 1, 

敦化南路一段160巷39號, (02) 2751-7998

BURGER AND CO 

Listened to old school jams and ate burgers with mustaches at Burger and Co.

BURGER AND CO.,  No. 49 TongAn St., 通安街49號, (02) 2784-0182

LALOS BAKERY 

Liked the perfectly tangy lemon tart with meringue at Lalos Bakery on Renai Street. I also love their honey citron bread and chouquettes. 

LALOS BAKERY, No. 91, Anhe Road, Sec. 1, 安和路一段91號 

CYCLO 洛城牛肉粉

Visited the new location of Cyclo for the first time near Sogo/DaAn Road. The original location serving up LA style pho near Renai closed last year. Get the pho with brisket, meatballs and tendon. 

CYCLO 洛城牛肉粉, No. 9, Lane 75, DaAn Road, Sec. 1 大安路1段75巷9號 , (02) 2752-8666

my kitchen: happy dragon boat festival!

Happy dragon boat festival weekend. Tried my hand at helping wrap the sticky rice dumplings/ zong zi this year. Some tricks are to try to pick evenly sized leaves for wrapping, bend the leaves in half then pick a point three quarters of the way to twist into a cone like pocket for putting the rice, and pinching in the sides with your left hand before folding over the top flap to make a nice pointy pyramid shape. 

Practice makes perfect! 

snapshots/western: i still recommend IKEA

Something about the meatballs at IKEA that makes me stop at their food court every so often. Seems like everyone else had the same idea since the tables were all occupied and it took awhile to snag one. I also realized that I'd never seen pork knuckle on the menu at IKEA in LA. It wasn't bad for NT$200-- huge portion and slightly crisped skin, tender meat underneath. Perfect for the land of pigs feet lovers. 

One of these days I'll get the mega huge IKEA in Hsinchuang. Heard it's US sized and even has a US sized parking lot. 

IKEA TAIPEI

No. 100 Dunhua S. Road

台北市敦化北路100號

(02)2716-8900 

OTHER LOCATIONS

Kaohsiung, Taoyuan and Taichung

snapshot/taipei: 7-ELEVEN X MISTER DONUT

7-Eleven X Mister Donut 

Spotted at 7-Eleven in Taipei 101 today. I wonder if it's just at a few locations, or there will be Taiwan-wide displays to tempt you while you wait in line at the front check out. 

It's a smart move by Mister Donut considering they shut down most of their stores a few years ago. Even the one I went to most often at Xinyi Mitsukoshi closed. Now I can only think of the one at  Hankyu.  

Will Krispy Kreme vie to be next to pop up?

revisited/western: i still recommend NONZERO

NONZERO
& MONOCLE SHOP TAIPEI
No. 5, Alley 4, Lane 27, Ren Ai Rd, Sec. 4
(02) 2772-1630

MRT: Zhongxiao/Fuxing

website: nonzero.com.tw

hours: 11:30AM - 8PM

$$

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted. smaller seating area and limited menu

Visit reviewed: 5/11/2015
Previous review: 12/2007



It's been a long time since I have been to Nonzero (over seven years), so when a friend who was "eating clean" asked to meet there, it was a good opportunity to try out their current menu. I had also heard about its recent revamp turning half of its dining space into a Monocle Shop. Where there used to be a huge table for shared seating and a section for take home veggies, is now an assortment of colorful home goods, notebooks and accessories for "high end global lifestyle."

Nonzero's menu is also notedly different than its previous typical Taipei set menu where soup and desserts are included. Nonzero now serves "comfort food from around the world" that's "healthy and delicious" as well as friendly to solo diners. With less than 10 menu items to choose from, like masala vegetable stew, lemon thyme fish with roasted potato and beef bourguignon, there's a flavor profile here that's rare in Taipei.

 

Nonzero lunch set NT$500 meal of the day, quinoa rice or bread, salad and americano or Aveda tea. The meal of the day was stewed lamb. The lamb was tender and I like this better than the off the menu Malaysian curry chicken which had a strong spice that I didn't love.

The rice was a quinoa rice blend, so it wasn't completely quinoa, but maybe more palatable to those unfamiliar to quinoa.

Off the menu special- Malaysian chicken curry (NT$350) which was slightly spicy and had large chunks of potato.

Lemon thyme fish with roasted potato (NT$550) was very light, but healthy with thin strips of zucchini wrapped around the fish. I liked the roasted baby potatoes that came with the fish too. Fish was fork tender and fresh. 

Nonzero's menu might not be for everyone, but those looking for distinct flavors can probably tell from the menu and photos if it's for you. At the very least, Monocle fans can browse the shop. Next time I go, I want to try the desserts- the cherry clafoutis, lemon cake and the strawberries with balsamic strawberry compote.

revisited/middle eastern: I still strongly recommend SABABA PITA BAR

SABABA PITA BAR 
No. 17, Lane 283, Section 3, Roosevelt Rd
台北市大安區羅斯福路三段283巷17號
(02) 2363-8009

MRT: Taipower Building or Gongguan

website: sababapita.com 

hours: 11:30 AM to 9:30PM

$-$$

CASH ONLY

Kid friendliness: kids might like chicken pita and french fries or meatballs

Visit reviewed: 5/21/2015

Previous visit reviewed: 6/6/2007

When craving hummus, baklava or pita sandwiches in Taipei, I've always headed to Sababa, tucked behind one of my favorite Taiwanese shaved ice spots Tai Yi Milk King. Everytime I'm in that area, I notice a bunch of cafes and restaurants I want to try. What's great is that since Taida University is across the street, most of the eateries in the neighborhood are priced to be student friendly, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Sababa had kept its portions generous while having very budget friendly prices.

Sababa's menu had expanded a lot more than I had remembered, but it had also been years since I had last eaten there. Besides the popular falafel pita and soulvaki pita sandwiches, egyptian cigars and salads, there were also now Mama's meatballs, roasted Iranian chicken plates and crispy fish fillets (which are only at this branch).

Sababa's space is casual, cozy and can get crowded, but service and food can be fairly quick.

Sababa Pita Bar's menu has starters, salads, plates, pitzas and 11 types of pita sandwiches, with plenty of lamb, chicken, beef, fish and vegetarian options from NT$160-410. Combination plates are a good way to go to try different flavors. 

I strongly recommend getting the Plata Sababa  (NT$260) which has hummus, baba ganoush (mashed roasted eggplant), falafels and hard boiled egg, as well as plenty of pita slices to dip and devour. I ended up also getting the Meatballs pita (NT$220) which turned out to be two half pita sandwiches so you could actually share it, if you wanted to try different things. The meatballs were huge and perfectly sauced with a Arabian spiced tomato sauce, but a tad softer than I would have liked, but still very delicious. (Probably better that they were slightly soft than too hard and overdone). The pita didn't fall apart despite holding the juicy contents, and was perfect with a bit of hummus and cheese. I was definitely ambitious when I ordered this for myself, and packed the leftovers to eat for dinner.

Sababa used to have more locations, but the ones at Taipei Main Station and Yong Kang Street closed down and this location in Gongguan has the largest menu. Sababa Bakery Kitchen branch at Heping has a slightly more limited menu than here, but offers half pitas at NT$75-100 and salads, stuffed pitas, platas, shashuskas and baked pitzas NT$100-210 (link to menu here). Or you can look for their stand at the Gongguan night market with 5 pita sandwiches to choose from for NT$75-95 (although if you want meatballs, you'll have to come to this location). It's definitely worth trying and great to know they've maintained the quality over the years, since it's nearly impossible to find delicious Mediterranean eats in Taipei. I'm getting hungry just looking at the photos and it definitely won't be as long until my next visit. 

OTHER LOCATIONS

Sababa Pita Bakery

No. 9, Alley 54, Lane 118, Heping E. Road, Sec. 2

台北市大安區和平東路二段118巷54弄8號

Gongguan Night Market stand
No. 18, Alley 286, Roosevelt Road, Sec. 3
台北市大安區羅斯福路三段286巷18號