CLOSED/bakeries: i recommend BREADTALK

CLOSED! a/o 2008

BREADTALK
218-2, Lequn 3rd Rd
(台北市樂群三路218-2號)
Carrefour, 1st FL
Dazhi district of Taipei

(02) 8502 0177
www.breadtalk.com

$

date visited: 8/5/2006



After running some errands at Carrefour (which by the way is pretty cool), I passed by Breadtalk on the 1st floor of the supermarket's building. The buttery smell of freshly baked bread caught my attention and I wandered in. There are a lot of bakeries all over Taipei, but BreadTalk stands out for a couple of reasons.

The signs detailing most of the breads had both English and Chinese, which made it easier to tell what it was. Also, there is a large glass window into the kitchen, where you can watch the chefs make lots and lots of bread.


Also their selection is a little more unique than the average Taiwanese bakery's. I think they change their selections everyday (since the counter had a stack of signs that were not in use) and today BreadTalk actually had three types of Naan- cheese, curry and yogurt flavors. There were huge loaves of bread, mini- loaves, the pigs in a blankets, puff pastries and sweets. By the counter, they even had a presentation of their new feature: a huge loaf of white bread, with 2 chicken legs in curry, wrapped in aluminum foil in the middle. When you unpacked the curry, you could dip your bread in it. It was unique and the first time I ever saw anything like that anywhere. At breadtalk.com, the Singapore based chain calls themself a "revolutionary boutique bakery" and a Taipei Times article declares them "bread designers." After seeing that, I would have to agree.

I ended up getting 2 naans, 1 loaf of white bread with garlic butter, 1 small loaf of sesame bread with cheese inside, and 1 butter sugar bread (all NT$30-$35) Waiting in line, I was tempted to get a few slices of garlic bread and something with hot dog in it, but I didn't- the line was getting long. The butter sugar bread was soft, and the sugar inside was like a hard brown sugar. The curry naan was spicier than I expected, though it probably would have tasted better heated. The cheese naan was a tad bland- soft and chewy- rather than crispy on the outside like you would get at an Indian restaurant. I'm saving the other ones for tomorrow, but I think they will not disappoint. If they taste as good as BreadTalk smelled, I might have to go back for the garlic bread.

chinese: i recommend CHUN SHUI TANG

CHUN SHUI TANG
(SPRING WATER HOUSE)
A9 MItsukoshi Mall, B2
No.9, Songshou Rd
Taipei 110 (XinYi district)

(02) 27239913
www.icetea.com.tw
Weekdays 11：00 ~ PM 22：00
Weekends 10：30 ~ PM 22：30

$$

date visited: 7/26/06



Boba milk tea, or pearl milk tea, is everywhere in Taipei, or at least it used to be. I remember when you could buy it for NT$10 a few years ago from street vendors. But not everyone makes it the same. Sometimes it's sickly sweet or too watery. Sometimes the boba is too mushy or too hard. But I think Chun Shui Tang makes it just right- it's sweet, but not too much so, and you can taste the tea flavor. The smaller than average boba are also the right amount of chewiness and softness. Plus if you don't want boba milk tea, there are a lot of hot and cold drinks and teas to choose from. The drinks are not cheap, but will cost you around the same as something from Starbucks. (Medium NT$70, Large NT$140)

The shop I first ate at was the one next to United Hotel- a cute, traditional looking tea house, serving a large assortment of teas and drinks, as well as dim sum and snacks. The branch at the A9 Mitsukoshi mall is very similar, even to its atmosphere of wooden colums, seats and decor.



You must pay and order first at the cashier, ticking off what you want on their cream and green paper menu. The Kwang-Fu location has an English menu, but the A9 location doesn't. Fortunately, you can either point and choose at the samples in the front or at the tables around you and ask. Then you tape your receipt to the edge of your table, so the waiters can deliver the items to you.


I think this is a good choice for afternoon tea, though towards the evening rush hour, their service became incredibly S-L-O-W. I can see it being popular lunch/brunch destination as well. Even with indoor and outdoor tables, it gets quite crowded. You can also get your drinks and snacks to go.

We ordered a plate of pan-fried radish cakes, stir fried mushrooms, shrimp sau mai and a pair of drinks. Later on, we ordered more, but ended up taking it to go since we had to go. I ordered a dim sum assortment, fried squid balls, spicy tofu skin with straw mushrooms and tofu-gan (or dried bean curd). The radish cakes are fried to have a crispy skin and cut into bite size pieces. The mushrooms were juicy and spicy. I liked the spicy tofu skin, but didn't really care for the tofu-gan.




On previous occassions, at the shop branch, I've had really good deep fried sweet rice cake (like egg rolls with sticky rice cake filling), but I think it's seasonal. The menu selections are bit pricier than local food, but you are paying for atmosphere as well as the brand quality. Everyone we've taken there admires the huge glasses of boba milk tea (or passionfruit lemon jelly tea (another favorite of mine)) after their order comes. And it's nice place to get together with friends or take an afternoon for yourself- I often see lots of moms with strollers. Most of the time, I will get a drink to go when I am craving some boba milk tea.

OTHER LOCATIONS a/o April 2008 (with the help of Google translator & googling, so please let me know if any of them need editing!)

No. 4, Lane 180, Kuangfu South Road
(near SYS Memorial Hall)
(02) 8773-4501

No. 29, Nanjing East Road, Sec. 1
(02) 2521-3359

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial
No. 21-1, Chungshan South Road
(02) 3393-9529

Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, B1
No. 12, Nanjing West Road
(02) 2100-1848

Global Mall location
No. 122, Zhongshan Rd
Zhonghe
(02) 2223-7071

Geant (Ai Mai) in DaZhi
No.123, Jingye 3rd Rd.
Jhongshan
(02) 8502-0880

Dmart, 8FL
No. 180, Chenggong Road, Sec. 4
Neihu
(02) 2793-4349

Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, Tien Mu, B3
No. 200, Zhong Cheng Road, Sec 2
Shih Lin
(02) 2874-5484

my kitchen: banana pancakes breakfast

A few weeks ago, I was craving french toast and tried a couple times to get it at NY Bagel. The first time, we went at noon, but it turned out they stopped serving breakfast on weekdays at 11;30am. Seeing all the people around me enjoying their brunches just made it worse, so I left and had cereal at home.

A few days later, I dropped by on Sunday. It was packed and I didn't want to wait 20-30 minutes, so I wanted to do take-out. Except I discovered that their take-out doesn't include breakfast. After debating with the cashier for awhile,

THEM: it's a lot of food. We don't have the right to-go containers. We have to maintain our brand-level freshness. Your eggs might break on way home. blah blah blah BLAH.

I even talked to the manager.

ME: I just want some french toast. I'll go home and make my own eggs. I promise it will be fresh when I eat it. You can put it in the container that I know you have for the steak sandwich.

MANAGER: If we make an exception for you, then other customers will complain.

ME: If it's in a box and then in a bag, who is going to know? I live right next door. It will be eaten right away!

She disappeared for awhile and then came back saying no. UGH! It was very very annoying. After being too lazy to make my own french toast, it turned out that it would have been less of a hassle to do so.

Annoyed enough that since then, I have held an unofficial ban on NY Bagel, making my own pancakes and waffles at home. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day to make- mushroom omelettes, banana pancakes or crispy waffles with sausages on the side. It's probably a good skill to have since finding quick and good American style breakfast is tough in Taiwan.



On this day, I made a small stack of banana pancakes (from Betty Crocker Buttermilk mix and fresh bananas- not gourmet- I know, but quite quick, easy and tasty), with an egg over easy and some canadian bacon lightly grilled. Mmmm.

my kitchen: cupcakes

Cupcakes are a trendy thing in the US right now.. but pretty much non-existent in Taipei. Even though there are tons of bakeries that have mini-cakes, tarts, breads and even Hello Kitty pastries, you just don't see cupcakes. So if you are craving one, it's much easier to make your own, although I'll admit that I brought the mix and frosting back from LA. Today I made chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Not everyone likes frosting, so I only frosted some of them.



I know there is one bakery that does sell cupcakes- Ginjer- but I haven't been there yet. I've heard their selection is slim, but good. I guess demonstrating the lack of popularity for cupcakes from the Taiwanese palate. Or maybe they just haven't discovered them yet.

Happy Chinese Valentine's day!

dessert: YANG JI PEANUT CORN ICE

YANG JI PEANUT CORN ICE
38/40, HanKou Rd, Sec 2
Hsi Men Ding
(02) 2375-2223

Hours: 11 am-10:30 pm

$



visit reviewed: 7/2/2006

I think the picture says it all. Creamed corn shaved ice. It is supposedly THE topping to get at this Hsi-Men Ding shaved ice shop. I knew that people in Taiwan LOVE corn, but this was a first for me. I was speechless. The friend who had taken us there proclaimed that he didn't get it at first either, but after he tried it, he was hooked. He insisted that I have a bite. Against my better judgement, I had a bite and... I still did not get it. It tasted like canned creamed corn, cold, on top of shaved ice, with some evaporated milk on top. UGH! *shiver shiver*

Unfortunately, the topping I got, red bean with mochi balls and evaporated milk was not that satisfying either. I think it was because they dumped the milk on top of the toppings instead of on top of the ice, which I prefer. It was too dense and mushy for me to be satisfying. And it wasn't cheap, as shaved ice goes. It ran about NT$50-80 a dish, since they add charges for additional toppings and milk. I actually prefer the more basic shaved ice in the shaved ice alley in Hsi Ming Ding.

Sorry I don't know the street other than it's off of Hsi Men Ding. I tried googling it to try and find more info, but all I found was that they also put creamed corn on top of shaved ice in Malaysia and Singapore. I suppose if you really want to try it, you can ask around that area for "Yang Ji Bing," as "bing" is chinese for ice.


The shop was very busy even with a lot of seating, and there is usually a short line. The signage says they have been around over 40 years, so local neighbors should be able to point you in the right direction. Everything is chinese, but you can point at the toppings. I would recommend it if the toppings pique your curiousity, otherwise, I would stick your favorite shaved ice locale.

revisited/afternoon tea: CHA LOUNGE

CHA LOUNGE
Grand Hyatt Hotel
No.2, Sung Shou Road
Taipei
(02) 2720-1234

Hours: 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm (Monday - Friday)
1:00 pm - 6:00 pm (Saturday, Sunday and Holidays)
Evening dessert buffet: 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

$$$

date reviewed: 4/27/2006



I suppose the key to ANY buffet style venue is to go early. Everything will look beautiful, you will get to have the first pick of array, and everything will be freshly made. You will get to have the first slice of desserts, or the first scoop of fruits, rather than having to settle for other people's leftovers.

My second experience to Cha Lounge was very different from my first one. This time, the cakes stood up straight, there weren't missing elements in the buffet, and we didn't feel rushed.

While I still think it's quite expensive for afternoon tea at NT$600 or US$18 (I have since discovered a lot of coffee shops and different places offer afternoon tea to drum up business during sleepy hours), it's a place you could go with a bunch of girlfriends to treat yourselves, or to have a business meeting where you could charge it to the company. The lounge is quite stylish and the Hyatt is very easy to find.



Their assortment of desserts varied from cakes to ice cream to fruit tarts, as well as the chef station, which apparently they change up every so often. Nothing too special, but a lot of variety. Last time, it was sauteed strawberries.


This time it was some mysterious funnel-cake like pastry, though it was not crispy or sweet like funnel cake. Unforunately, it looks better than it tasted.



So though this post is to soften my previous "do not recommend" to a try it if you want to try it. I ended up here since my friend wanted afternoon tea and Joyce East closes theirs at 4:30pm. Just be sure not to go the last half hour or so. There's not much left and they promptly remove everything on the dot of their closing time.

chinese: YI-YUAN PEKINGNESE RESTAURANT

YI-YUAN PEKINGNESE RESTAURANT
Westin Hotel Taipei
133 Nanking East Road, Section 3
(02) 8770-6556

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
6:00 PM - 9:30 PM

date reviewed: 6/25/2006



The peking duck was awesome. I love the touristy experience of the chef carving the whole duck in front of you into bite size slivers. The plate of duck was beautifully presented, and definitely fulfilled my craving. The paper thin pancake, the hoisin sauce, the green onion, and the duck with crispy skin all made a perfect little peking duck dance in my mouth.

Unfortunately, the rest of the food we ordered was surprising disappointing. The dumplings were subpar and sat on the table uneaten. I can't even remember what else was ordered. Ja jiang noodles. Unfulfilling. An egg omelet thingy. The service was unnecessarily fussy (wanting to split the dishes onto little plates and serve them, rather than us serving ourselves).

At hotel restaurant prices, you should book your peking duck (NT$1500) in advance during your reservation, take the leftovers home to eat and don't order anything else!

dessert: BERRY AND MILK

BERRY & MILK
Breeze Mall (and other chain locations)

$$

review date: 4/25/2006

Enticed by the combination of strawberries and chocolate cake, I got an assortment of cakes to share (NT$50+ each). However, like many Taiwan cakeries/bakeries, the cakes were tweaked for the Taiwanese palate. Rather than being fulfillingly chocolately, the cakes were light and sponge-cake like and not chocolately at all to my disappointment. The frosting was too sugary and one of the cakes had cherries instead of strawberries (to my mistake) which I don't like. So if you prefer your cakes on the lighter side, you can try Berry and Milk. If you are looking for a chocolate cake fix however, don't get your cake here. Personally, I was underwhelmed.

They also have a range of assorted tarts and pastries with strawberries that looked appetizing- you might try to find this chain if you love strawberries.

to revamp or not to revamp?

I started this blog originally with the idea of posting some pics, thoughts and phone numbers to make future reservations... as I got more into it, each post took more time.. I wanted to get the reviews just right and capture my experience. I started having a backlog of drafts of posts that I was juggling, and the memory of my experience of eating it would get further away from the time I had time to post.

So now, I'm going to try and post closer to when I'm actually eating what I'm eating.. to document.. even if I only have time to put down a few thoughts instead of a full review..

I wanted this to be a resource for other people like me living in Taipei and unsure where to eat, but I haven't gotten much feedback, so I will try out this new mode since it is my blog. haha!

So look for a flurry of activity in the coming week, as there have been a lot of places I've been wanting to blog about, good and bad!

CLOSED/japanese: i don't recommend NIKO NIKO ROLL AND SUSHI

CLOSED a/o 2007

NIKO NIKO ROLL and SUSHI
19, SongGao Road, 6F
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi A4
02) 8788-1155

11am-10pm

www.nikoniko.com.tw

date reviewed: 5/16/2006

Sushi. To some people it means raw fish, or sashimi. I personally was not a big fan of sashimi until I was introduced to some of the freshest sashimi I've ever had about 7 years ago. So before I dared to eat sashimi, my definition of sushi were sushi rolls, like California rolls. Are rolls typically an American phenomenon? They definitely seem harder to find here than in LA, where I have become accustomed to the crazy diversity of "make-up-your-own-combination" of ingredient rolls if you don't find what you want here. Rainbow rolls, spider rolls, catepillar rolls. Or the more random "da bomb," "woody," "hole in one," "sunnyscape," or "cesar" rolls from California Roll Factory in West LA.

So I was very excited to hear about and try Niko Niko Roll and Sushi which was supposed to feature over 30 types of rolls. Their diner-like atmosphere is a bit of strange setting for Japanese food, but a sign of the "fast food" sushi that was to come. Actually, the almost empty room should have been a bigger sign, but I thought it was the random location on the 6th floor of a mall.




The menu has lots of pictures, and sorts the rolls into categories like Pretty rolls, Seafood rolls, Warm rolls, Spicy rolls, Vege and Crunch rolls. They have English names for the various rolls like Grand Canyon or BLT roll, but no English descriptions of what are inside each roll. The waiter is not a lot of help, so unless you have someone in the party to read the Chinese descriptions, you kind of have to just go by the pictures. We got one from each category.

The rolls reminded me of rolls I had from the chain Sushi Mac. If you've ever eaten there, they sell rolls for US$2 each. However, it kind of tastes like what you are paying for. And though the prices at Niko Niko are not that cheap, they seem to have skimped on the things that might notice. The eels were thin. The shrimps were small. The crab was more fake than fake. The avocado constantly fell off the catepillar roll. The rice and rolls were mushy. In our rolls that contained eel, the eel was sliced so thin, I felt like they had taken a normal piece and sliced it into 4 or 5 slivers to hide in the roll. Instead of appreciating the tastes of each roll, unfortunately each roll tasted the same as the next.






For some reason, I haven't had any good spicy tuna in Taipei. The spicy tuna we had here was just hot and I think there were onions in the roll? The warm roll we ordered was baked and strangely appetizing, but you could not tell what was in it at all! The rolls here made me miss the roll with the jumbo clam in it from Hide and the spicy tuna rolls from Nijiya.

They also have combos and teriyaki, tempura, sukiyaki type meals that actually looked pretty good. The table across from us had opted for the recommend combo which delivered both sushi rolls and tempura, sukiyaki meals to share. We hadn't ordered any of that because we wanted to save room for the rolls. Oh well. Maybe next time, if there is a next time.

italian: i recommend COSI O COSI

COSI O COSI
No. 155, DunHua S. Rd., Sec 1
(02) 2771-5883

Lunch 12 pm-2:30 pm,
Dinner/ 6:30-11 pm ( last orders 10:30 pm)

kid friendliness: high chairs available, pretty friendly service

date reviewed: 5/18/2006 and 3/27/2005

I was introduced to Cosi O Cosi a few years ago by my cousin who had lived in Taipei for awhile before I had, and we shared the common dilemma of finding good places to eat. She knew I liked Italian and thought that I would enjoy the food at Cosi O Cosi, citing it as a popular place and I've been there quite a few times since. For awhile, it was the go-to Italian food craving destination for me, before I had discovered other places and the more convienent Macaroni Grill was opened.

Cosi O Cosi is one of those places you might pass by many times and wonder if you should stop by to try it out. You should. It's not fancy or overly trendy-looking from the outside with an simple awning and chalkboard menu and fairly casual on the inside- a small room with part of a kitchen and brick oven in the corner. But it's clean and friendly with lots of sunlight- and the ambience kind of reflects the food and service- which is quite clean and sunny and friendly, if you could use those words about food.

The menu has both English and Chinese, featuring limited appetizers/salads, and many pizzas and pastas, but no pictures. The prices are pretty reasonable at $260-$420 NT for pastas and pizzas.

The tomato and mozzarella caprese features huge slices of mozz- and it tastes fresh and delicious. The order is generous for two people, and large enough to share with a group. The crostini which features toasted slices of bread with bruschetta and pesto is also tasty.


The fried mushrooms also piques my interest, however, picturing deep fried mushrooms in my mind, instead we get pan fried sauteed mushrooms. While I love mushrooms and I enjoy the different myriad of mushrooms featured, the gravy like sauce is not quite I was craving and a tad salty for me as well.



The clam linguine is very simple, but very flavorful with garlic, white wine and olive oil flavors melding together with the slippery linguine and clams. Cosi O Cosi's portions are just right for one, but not enough to share with a group like Macaroni Grill's huge portions.


However, you could order an assortment of pastas and pizzas to share if everyone just wanted to have a taste. We have done that in the past quite successfully. Cosi O Cosi's shrimp angel hair is quite delicious as well. The one off dish that I can recall is that their tagletelle had a cream sauce that was too heavy and not enough mushrooms to balance out the dish.

Though we didn't order pizza today, I've had it a number of times. The last time I had it was over a year ago, and I was with a vegetarian, so we ordered the mushroom pizza. My notes from that day say, "good. seems like canned mushrooms. crust crispy perfect." I really don't care for canned mushrooms on pizza, or in pasta for that matter. So I will have to try the pizza again sometime soon to refresh my memory and try different toppings. And have more caprese and crostinis.

thai: I strongly recommend MEI-KUNG

MEI-KUNG THAI AND VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT
157-3 Yanji St
(02) 2752 3051

11:30am - 2pm; 5:30pm to 12:30am

$$

kid friendliness: high chairs available, very friendly service

visit reviewed: 5/13/2006

One of the luxuries of living in LA that I miss having in Taipei is delivery and take out. The stereotypical delivery is Chinese food. But the favorite at our house is Thai food. Mmm, satay, pad thai, pad see yew and pineapple fried rice coming to your door while you just tip the driver while wearing sweats that you were too lazy to change so you couldn't leave your house, but you could still order Thai food. If there were a place in Taipei that I wish had delivery service, it would be Mei-Kung.

Strangely enough, the signage in English for this restaurant is Mei-Kung, but everyone refers to it as "Mei-Huuh" in Chinese. Either way, it translates to "good Thai food," in my opinion (not literally!). It can be tough to get a table during prime dining hours, despite their two floors of tables, so be sure to make a reservation in advance if you can and don't want to wait long. It is a great place to go with large groups so that you can order more variety of foods to sample. They have smaller tables and larger tables, and their larger round tables can comfortably seat 8-12 people. They even have a set "group" course menu (but I am not sure if this particular set menu is in English) while their regular menu is in both English and Chinese and has lots of tantalizing pictures.

On this occasion, we had the set menu for 8 people, with a few alterations and additions. I believe we added or swapped out the satay. This set menu included squid seafood salad, shrimp cakes, fried chicken, crab curry, chicken curry, pineapple fried rice, fish, chicken feet, shrimp pot with glass noodles and dessert/fruit. Also, I usually order Thai ice tea at Thai restaurants, but I find that the Thai ice tea here is a little watered down for me.


The squid salad was very fresh and refreshing, with a lime and chili flavor to the squid and cucumbers. The round shrimp cakes were hot and crunchy, not greasy or heavy at all. I probably prefer and would recommend the triangle shrimp cakes, which feature the same shrimp filling but in a won-ton like skin deep fried and cut into triangle slices.



The satay is spectacular. They have chicken, pork or beef, or you can get a combo, which I recommend. The meat is grilled, tender and especially flavorful. You almost don't need the sweet and spicy peanut sauce to put on top. In case you needed it, they also give you soy sauces and chili sauces with fresh chilis of varying heat to accompany any of your dishes.


The fried chicken, thai style is unexpectedly delicious. Whoever is frying everything in the kitchen definitely knows what they are doing. Oftentimes, when you are eating something fried, it is either (a) oily/greasy (b) soggy (c) burnt or (d) too tough for whatever was being fried. Mei-Kung's fried offerings, especially the fried chicken is definitively none of the above. It is perfectly crispy, while the meat is tender, juicy and not greasy- it is surprisingly light for something deep fried. The batter and meat have also been seasoned so that it has an addictive slightly spicy salty sweet taste. The chicken quickly disappears from the plate.


The shrimp glass noodle pot is, for some reason, something I have been often thinking about eating again since I've eaten it. The noodles have soaked up all the soup, so they are tender rather than chewy. While I chew it, it seems to call to me to have more. The shrimp is also steamed, flavorful and tender. I actually don't know if they have pad thai or pad see yew here, but this dish make me glad that I've tried something new.


The crab curry is a little tough to eat. While it is very popular (I saw it quite a number of other tables that night), it features crab in the shell in curry. You'd have to be quite dedicated to de-shelling the crab in the first place, much less de-shelling crab covered in curry. With all the other food on the lazy susan, most of us were not in the mood to attempt it and this dish went mostly uneaten.


The chicken curry on the other hand is a more friendly curry accompany your pineapple rice. A typical yellow curry with potato, carrots and chicken, the only thing I dislike about it is that the chicken is on the bone (which seems to be the trend with most Thai restaurants here). However, the chicken is so tender it falls off the bone without much resistance and the curry is fairly thick and spicy (and can be adjusted by request).


One of the last dishes to arrive (maybe so you don't fill up on it?), the pineapple fried rice has fresh crab, cashews, pinepple and dried pork to top it off. It's dense and reliable, but you've probably too full to have much of it by now. And though we are quite full- we've of course saved room for dessert.


Mei-Kung offers a hot or cold dessert. The hot dessert is like a sesame paste soup, which is an acquired taste. The cold dessert is an assortment of tapioca and starches/jelly in a coconut milk soup with crushed ice. It's sweet and colorful and I can only take a few bites of the tapioca and ice.


The unique dessert here is also the green mochi cakes. They are chewy and sweet, but not too much so, and the perfect ending to your perfect Thai dinner. Called Khanom Chan, they multi-layers represent the many layers of happiness.

The restaurant has its share of gold statues and paintings to complete your Thai experience and it's ambience is quite talky with many parties of groups and families. The service is relatively fast and they are fairly personable. A visit after this one, we had a baby that was almost asleep, and one server gave us two chairs for him to sleep and a tablecloth to use as a blanket, without us even asking for anything. I was very very touched and impressed with his thoughtfulness, and we've had a good experience with Mei Kung's waitstaff overall being relatively more helpful (or perhaps better trained and managed) than many Asian restaurants in Taipei.

I can still hope and dream that they might someday offer a delivery service, but in the meanwhile, I will have to get out of my sweats, make my reservation and head over the the restaurant to eat my favorites.

CLOSED! dessert: HELLO KITTY PATESSERIE

HELLO KITTY PATISTORY
Eslite Mall (XinYi)
11, SongGao Road, B2
Taipei 110

$$

visit reviewed: 4-23-2006

ED 11/9/2006: Sorry Hello Kitty Fans! It seems like the Hello Kitty Patistory is no longer there. I went by last week while in the Eslite Mall foodcourt, and to my surprise the space was now occupied by a store selling furniture. Boo hoo!! Even though I can understand why- people liked to look, but probably not enough people bought stuff to keep it in business. Although I never really bought anything after my initial review because it didn't taste as good as it looked, I was sad I wouldn't ever get the chance to ever again, even if I wanted to. :( .. So if you are looking for Hello Kitty decorated cakes, I think there is a place in one of the other food courts in Mitsukoshi malls, but it's not as charmingly pink and packaged like this Patistory was.

(ED note 7-3-06: While I spelled "patisserie" wrong in the original review- OOPS- I will leave it in the title for those that are linking to it, however, upon double checking, the name of the shop is actually spelled "patistory".. so either someone else can't spell or it's a play on the words "pastisserie" and "story.")

Wandering around the food courts in Taipei is such an adventure- there is such a wide assortment of foods on just one floor- noodles, curry, steak on hot plates, desserts, drinks, bakeries. So was I surprised to see a bakery full of Hello Kitty decorated pastries and breads and cakes? The adult in me marveled at the marketing/retail genius who decided to extend the brand into food products, but little girl inside me shouted "must try some."

I think every little girl must have some memory of wandering through a Sanrio store and picking out a notebook, pencil, stationary or stickers to take home. The same little girls were wandering through this bakery, as well as the ones like me who used to do so, and now had the pocket money and sweet tooth to buy our own stuff. And the box.. the Hello Kitty box you got to take the pastries home in. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a sucker for packaging.


I'll have to take a picture next time of the brightly lit, pink and glossy area. The refridgerator section that held the rows of tiramisu, fruit tarts and white chocolate Hello Kitty toppings, as well as the area with the varied baked breads and cakes with Hello Kitty image burned into them.


The strawberry tart (NT$99) is like any other strawberrry tart- sweet little strawberries drenched in jelly sugar, with a crust that is too dense and stiff to eat.


The signs in the bakery unfortunately are in Chinese, so I had to ask them what was inside these breads. This one had red bean (NT$40). Though the dough is soft, it wasn't really sweet or particularly tasty. The filling inside was a glob of read bean. I didn't finish it and wouldn't try it again.


The tiramisu (NT$108) was more cream than cake and the Hello Kitty chocolate on top had no flavor at all. I expected it to be a tasty reward at the end, a sweet piece of white chocolate to savor, but instead it was just pretty display. Maybe for the mold and decoration, they couldn't use chocolate that tasted good? I don't know! But I was extremely disappointed. At least I get to keep the glass container that came with it.


This one (NT$108) I gave away, as I thought it was so cute. I'm not sure how it tasted.

Was I suckered into it? After all, picking out the pastries and bringing them home in the giant Hello Kitty box made me really happy, and the desserts cost no more than the desserts I would try at the other bakeries. I sampled the chocolate and cheesecakes that they had available, which were actually pretty tasty. So I would give it another chance. I think they would probably make really cute gifts or party favors, for die-hard Hello Kitty fans, as the presentation is really great.

pizza/Italian: i recommend ALLEYCATS

ALLEYCATS
B1, No. 6, Li Shui Street
(02) 2321-8948
Sunday-Thur: 5pm-11pm
Fri-Sat: 5pm to 2am

www.alleycatstaipei.com
moved to www.alleycatspizza.com


kid friendliness: more older kids friendly than baby friendly at night, check for smoke free nights

$$

visit reviewed: 5/3/2006

Ever since I found out about Alleycats after hearing many people rave about it being the best pizza in Taipei on a forum talking about food in Taipei, we decided that we had to try it out. So one weekend evening, we called them to see if we had to make reservations or not and they said they probably wouldn't have any tables open until 2 hours later, especially since they didn't want to rush their customers. That was too late for us, but we successfully tried again on the following Wednesday night. I mention the details of this because (1) once we got there, it was pretty packed, even for a mid-week evening and (2) the whole restaurant is basically one room with about 8-10 tables so I'm pretty sure it fills up fast, so (3) make reservations in advance if you want to eat there on the weekend as the website suggests!

It really is in an alley, as a lot of these restaurants in Taipei are, so the name is fitting. We called ahead for directions, but be warned even if you do so, they were a little bit backwards for us, but we eventually found it. Once you get to that area, you'll easily spot it from the bright red neon light outside.


You'll head down the steps into the basement, spotting the daily specials on the chalkboard. A small bar lines the wall and the hostess is also the cashier. Don't forget to come with cash, as I found out after we got the bill that it's CASH ONLY here. It's dark and a bit smoky (though their website says Mondays are no smoking days), probably 60 percent foreigners, 40 percent locals and mostly adults.

Pizza is the specialty here, but they also have calzones, a smaller selection of appetizers, salads, croccante (garlic bread/pizza crusts) and dessert. At their Neihu location, they have pasta as well. While they have a selection of pizzas with chosen toppings, they have a pretty wide list of toppings that you can build your own pizzas, including artichoke hearts, basil, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, spinach, pineapple, chicken, asaparagus, calamari, chorizo, feta, italian sausage, proscuitto, pepperoni, shrimp and sundried tomatoes. This is more variety than the toppings you'd find at Macaroni Grill, and thankfully no toppings like corn (which is popular in Taiwan).

We ordered both the Tomato and Basil bruschetta (NT$100) and the Caprese (NT$340). Alleycat's caprese comes with two slices of baguette topped with tomato, basil and buffalo mozzarella, so I actually would probably just order the caprese next time and not the bruschetta unless I had a larger group that needed finger foods. The thick baguette slices were oven-toasted and buttery, which gave a satisfying crunch to accompany the sweetness of the tomatoes and cheese.



We decided to get the 12 inch/Large pizza of day which was chicken, spinach and brie (NT$400). I asked them to add mushrooms as well. We also got a Capriccioca calzone (NT$420) that had sausages and vegetables in it.

Alleycat's pizza is probably the first one Taipei that I've eaten where the pizza was so hot, that the mozzarella cheese did that stringy bubblegum-like stretching, as we pulled the slices from the plate. The toppings circled the center and spiraled outward and stopped about three quarters of the way out where there was just sauce and crust. The marinara sauce was a light foundation, and the thin crust was crispy, just like the kind of pizza you might get in a neighborhood pizza hangout back in the states. The part of the pizza where it's just sauce and crust tended to bit a bit drier and not as flavorful. Their coke (NT$50) also comes in the classic coca-cola glass bottle, which is a nice touch.

A couple bites in, I realized my mushrooms were missing. I also didn't really taste any Brie. While I did get the mushrooms taken off the bill (after asking twice), I don't know why I didn't also ask about the Brie. I guess I figured the Brie melted into the cheese, though Brie usually has a pretty distinctive taste. I bet it would be great to get a big group together and order a bunch of different pizzas with different toppings to share.


The calzone was huge- definitely big enough to share. The crust is softer and chewier than that of the pizzas, but still has the crispy oven baked quality. The dense fillings inside spilled out as we cut it. The cheese was not as hot or melted as the cheese on the pizza. The calzone also comes with a little side of caesar and marinara sauce.


Once your food comes, they pretty much leave you alone, although the place is small enough to wave down someone if you need more water or something. The service is friendly, but not overly attentive. On their website, they say they have live music on occasion too. It's open quite late on the weekends, so it's probably a fun place to go for a late snack. Their Li Shui location is only open for dinner but their Neihu location is open for lunch and dinner.

The important test was that the leftover pizza still tasted great the next day- even cold out of the fridge. The prices are very reasonable for the quality and portions you are getting, especially being a "specialty" food in Taipei. I've also heard that the owner of Alleycats opening another Italian restaurant right next door, called The Italian Job. So I'm looking forward to trying that out, as well as going back to Alleycats.

Other locations (added a/o march 2008)

SONGREN - NEW!
#285 SONGREN RD
02.8780.5421
Mon- Thu 5 pm- 11 PM
Fri/Sat 12 pm- Late
Sun 12 pm - 11 PM

TIANMU
#31, Lane 35, Zhongshan N. Rd Sec. 6
(02) 2835-6491
near ZhiShan MRT Station
Mo ~ Fr 5pm- 11pm
Sa/Su 12noon ~ late

ZHONGXIAO
2, Lane 248, Zhong Xiao E Road, Sec 4
02.2731.5225
Every Day 12noon ~ 10pm

NEIHU/DONGHU
67-1 Cheng Gong Road, Section, 5
(02)2630-6278
Mon-Fri: 12pm - 2pm, 5pm - 11pm
Weekends: 12pm - 11p