CLOSED/chinese: JIU RU 101

JIU RU
at 101 Mall, 4 FL
No.45, Shih Fu Rd.,
(02) 8101-8598
CLOSED

date visited: 9/25/2006

$$-$$$






If you're sightseeing in the Xin Yi district or shopping in the 101 mall and need an easy place to eat Chinese food with your family, but don't want to eat food court food, a good bet is Jiu Ru. Featuring a varied menu of Shanghainese food, my favorites from my dinner with my friend's family were the braised pork, steamed dumplings (xiao long bao), vegetable dumplings and zhong zi (rice dumpling). It's definitely pricier than you would pay at a local restaurant for the same dishes, maybe double the price for a basket of xiao long bao, but you are paying for the comfort of dining in the real estate of 101 and the prices are about the same as the other restaurants on the same floor (and the food a lot better, at least better than neighbor Diamond Tony's). We had quite a large group and was easily accomodated in their large space and didn't feel crowded or rushed. I think their dumplings were not as juicy as the xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung, but to the average diner, it will do just fine. Very clean and modern setting, with tourist friendly menu and location.

OTHER LOCATIONS

Breeze Center
(02) 6606-6859

No. 69, Ren Ai Road, Sec 4
(02) 2751-7666

bakery/breakfast: MISTER DONUT

MISTER DONUT
-Breeze Center
-NYNY Mall in Xin Yi district
-across from the Takashimaya Mall: 39, Fusing S Rd., Sec. 1, (02) 8772-5990
-Taipei Main Station underground
-and other locations

www.mrdonut.com.tw (in Chinese only)

$

visit reviewed: 10/12/2006

For those of you who have yet to hear of Mister Donut, it's a chain donut store from Japan (though I heard somewhere it actually originated in the US), which had a crazy debut in Taiwan, where the lines to get a box of donuts would take up to four hours. Yup, you heard that right- people waited up to FOUR HOURS for ONE BOX of donuts.


Crazy right? It even sprouted up a business where students would sell their "waiting services"- you ordered your donuts online through them and they added a fee of NT$10 or US30cents or so per donut and they studied or text messaged or whatever while they waited in line for you. Each donut is about NT$30 or so, so it was a hefty 30 cents or 30 percent fee per donut.


But now, since they've expanded, you can usually get your donuts within 5 minutes, though sometimes I see mini-lines sprout up.

Is it worth the wait?

Well, first off, the donuts aren't like your typical American donuts, at least to my tastebuds.



The most popular "pon de ring" donut is made from a gluten-based flour which gives the donut a slightly chewy texture, kind of like if you combined mochi and a donut together. It's not very sweet and quite dense. Sort of the opposite of Krispy Kremes I suppose- which are very sweet and light- which I end up craving whenever I see a Mr. Donut.

While Mister Donut has other less chewy donuts, overall, I think their donuts are so-so. They also have old fashioned, cruellers, cake, sugar, jelly and eclair donuts, but I find them either too dense or bland or too sweet, depending on the type of donut and frosting. While it's good for a quick snack, it's pricey for a donut- US$1, with no discount if you buy a full dozen.


I wasn't sure how to classify Mr. Donut- is it a dessert? Is it breakfast? Is it a bakery? Most people don't really eat donuts for breakfast here, like you would Dunkin Donuts, so I just put it under bakery. The pristine counters and rows of donuts behind the glass makes it fun as you point and pick out your donuts and you watch them carefully pack them into the box. But if you click around the website, you can watch videos or download desktop images of the pon de ring lion. I guess the disappointing thing, is that they don't taste as good as they look.


This month, they gave away little stickers with purchase, so if you matched two of the same prize, you could win either a free donut, cup of coffee or Mister Donut lion pen. While the mascot is super cute, it seems to be used pretty sparingly in the decor of the store.


More recently, they started having donut holes, which I was very excited about. But I found them to be dry and dense. I miss those melt-in-your-mouth donut holes from Dunkin Donuts (which strangely enough, is all over Korea)!

The Mister Donuts are pretty much the only donut chain in Taipei, until someone decides to make lots of money by bringing Krispy Kremes here. That would be so awesome! So if you are craving donuts, try the pon de ring donut, but be prepared for the chewiness! If you are craving Krispy Kremes, well, ask someone to bring some back for you.

revisited/japanese: i strongly recommend SUMIE

SUMIE NOUEVELLE CUISINE JAPANESE
4th Floor, 172 Chung Hsiao East Road, Sec 4
(In San Want Hotel)
(02) 2781-6909

$$$

date revisited: 10/11/2006

I felt bad that my pictures from my initial review of Sumie doesn't do their food justice, so I tried taking some better ones from my last visit there. But unfortunately, I deleted a lot of them because I thought I had downloaded them to my computer already and I didn't. Boo hoo. So here are the few and I promise to bring you more. I usually always get the set menu (unless I'm not hungry and then you should try and split the set menu with someone else)- which is constantly changing, but usually includes (and not in this order) the steak or lamb chops, sashimi, an appetizer, a salad, a seafood dish (for which I like to request the strange sounding but delicious tasting fish jaw), a soup, sushi and dessert.


This crab and edamame over fig was almost like a mini-sculpture plated on top of a giant leaf. I've never had fig before, but I'm glad I tried it- it was sweet and soft, and almost sexy.




I cannot tell you how much I LOVE the lamb chops at Sumie. They are tender, juicy, perfectly flavored and is a must for anyone who has yet to eat lamb or likes lamb chops, although once you've had their lamb chops I don't know how you could eat it anywhere else. It's so satisfying to gnaw on, in the most ladylike way I can, thoughtfully wrapped with aluminum foil to keep the messy to a minimum.

Next time, pics of the sashimi and other artfully arranged dishes.. I promise I won't delete them from my camera until I post them! I still look forward to going to Sumie everytime we feel like nice, sit-down Japanese food, especially in comparison to the food from other nice, sit-down (translation: pricier) Japanese restaurants I've tried since.

Read my previous review from August 14th, 2005.

korean/bbq grill: FIRE TREE SILVER FLOWER KOREAN BBQ

FIRE TREE SILVER FLOWER- KOREAN ALL YOU CAN EAT BBQ (as translated by my friend)
(in chinese: HUO SU ING HWA 火樹銀花-韓式燒烤)
No.3-10, Jinan Rd., Sec. 2,
Jhongjheng District
(02) 2321-2729

Lunch: 11:30AM-2PM
Dinner: 5PM-9PM

$

date visited: 9/28/2006



I was going to wait until I found out/translated the address until I posted this, but I will go ahead and do a preliminary post in honor of my first trip to Korea today! I am headed to Pusan/Busan for a week and will hopefully be eating a lot of GOOD Korean food. I haven't decided if I will feature any of the food there, since it is sort of off topic (not in Taipei!)- but we'll see!

I was invited by some friends to go eat Korean BBQ- I was quite excited since I really like the sweet and spicy marinade of bulgogi, kalbi and the like. This place is a little different than I expected, since it is more like a traditional Taiwan bbq with a Korean twist. It's all you can eat for a set price (NT$285/person at lunch, NT$329/person at dinner), with an area where you can grab your own meats and vegetables to grill/put in a soup at your table, and a panchan cold dishes bar to also plate up. The dishes are a refreshing partner to the taste of the grill.

my selection of panchan: edamame, spicy fishcake, seaweed,
soybean sprouts, tofu

What's different here is that every so often, the kitchen will bring out a few dishes of something- in our case, it was sweet fried chicken, seafood pancake or ha mul pajeon , and candied fried sweet potato dessert. The sesame fried chicken was slightly sweet and breaded, kind of like orange chicken. I like orange chicken, so I liked it.

While the waitress brought the pancake from table to table to ensure everyone got a piece, they placed the sweet potato down- which made for a mad frenzy of each table sending a representative to go grab enough for their table. The seafood pancake was light and slightly crispy, and so good that we asked the waitress if they were having another round later. At first she said no, but towards the end of the night, we got a pleasant surprise by getting a plate all to ourselves.

the seafood pancake or ha mul pajeon

The candied sweet potato had a hard crunchy shell, I think from dipping the sugar coated fried sweet potato into cold water, and was sticky and sweet and goooood.

the candied sweet potato

I kind of wished that you could order a Dol sot bibim bap or a stone rice dish with vegetables and meat, like they had at Bullfight Yakiniku, but it's available during lunch for a very affordable NT$100. I am not sure if that's something you can order ala carte, or an extra fee you have to pay with your all you can eat fee. They also didn't offer any jap chae, a stir fried vermicelli dish.

Some of the meats were REALLY spicy, and when grilled and stirfried together with the less spicy meats and the vegetables, I found the overall taste of the meats to be more spicy than anything else. I guess you could prevent this by not having any of the spicy chicken on the grill in the first place and sit with people who don't want spicy foods either. It's not that I don't like spicy foods, I do, it's just that the heat overcame any of the other flavor that I could enjoy.

the meats and vegetables on the grill

time for the next round!

Lots of people finish off their meal with the soup in which you can put vegetables, seafood and meat.

While I found their meat selection to be less varied and not marinated like I expected with only 1 selection each of chicken (very spicy), beef, lamb and pork, the Korean appetizers that came out made up for it. It's a good option if you like your flavors spicy or you are bored of the regular bbq/hotpot experience, but if you really want higher quality meat and seafood, you should probably go to Momo Paradise or Bullfight Yakiniku, . You also have to kind of guess/eyeball what you are getting since nothing is really labeled in the areas where you grab the meats, vegetables, cold dishes. Their dessert selection is slim- limited to a few fruits, but they send out the candied sweet potatoes as their grand finale.

It's not a huge space with about 15 tables crowded together, so you might check for reservation earlier in the evening if you want to go. I wouldn't say it's very baby friendly as the tables are quite close together and the restroom is a squat toliet- although they do open early at 5pm so you could go for an early dinner. But the servers are very friendly and helpful as its seems like a Korean family/friend run business, compared to some of the nonchalant attitudes you might get from the young local waiters who work at the various hot pot/bbq places. I wouldn't rule out going again, but it's probably more fun with a group of friends rather than a couple or a business lunch. In the back of my mind, I compare this place to a place my friend took me in Orange County, near UC Irvine that had some of the best Kalbi I have had in awhile- and this place didn't quite compare. I have heard about other good Korean restaurants here so I will probably try them out first. And we'll see what the food is like in Korea!

bakeries: YAMAZAKI

YAMAZAKI
at Geant
at 101
and many other locations!

$

visit reviewed: 10/7/2006



A chain with LOTS of locations. This day I tried some a "cup cheesecake," chocolate muffin and walnut bread. While I liked the walnut bread with its nutty texture and taste, I was pretty disappointed with the muffin and cheesecake cupcake- both were pretty dense and bland, similar to the lighter flavors of cakes that I think accomodates to local tastes, but not light and fluffy in texture.

If you want a chocolate fix, go for their cookies instead- I had one once and it was surprisingly rich and soft- definitely freshly baked. It's not easy to find, if they sell out, you won't find it. The cheesecake tasted more like a dense plain muffin, not creamy or light like a cheesecake cupcake would. I've also had their waffles which they sell premade like a snack, and while it looked appetizing, it tasted like a cold waffle, which in general is not so great.

Wide selection, usually with signs both in English and Chinese and with lots of locations, it's worth trying out to see which breads or sweets fit your own tastebuds. Breads with ham and cheese baked into them, sandwiches with tuna or hotdogs, garlic bread, doughnuts, you can pick up a plain loaf of bread to something more local.


The cupcake and muffins area

the bread area

grab and go pre-wrapped bread loaves

bakeries: i recommend DONQ

DONQ
at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Mall, A4
19, SongGao Road

www.donq.co.jp

$

visit reviewed: 10/4/2006




I first discovered Donq when they used to be in A11 wayyy back when. I even took them for granted that they were always going to be there, in the basement next to the supermarket. In addition to the typical baked breads and pastries, Donq had freshly baked mini croissants, in both original flavor and chocolate. CHOCOLATE MINI CROISSANTS! Doesn't that sounds delicious? They even had a taste of the tiniest melted chocolate in the center. Often, you'd even find people milling around and waiting in line for the freshly baked ones, right out of the oven. In the times I waited in line, I found myself cursing the people in front of me, for buying bags and bags of mini-croissants, and hoping that they wouldn't sell out of the chocolate before it was my turn. They were the best.

Why am I saying "were?"

Because one day, I was desparately craving those chocolate croissants, made the trip, prepared to wait in line.. and then I found that Donq was replaced by a new bakery Johan! WHAT???? ANd this discovery wasn't affirmed until I bought a bag of the Johan mini-croissants and found how hopelessly un-Donq they were!

Then recently, I rediscovered them in another building of the sprawling Mitsukoshi malls- apparently they have relocated to the new A4. BUT apparently they mislocated their croissant ovens! They don't make the mini-croissants at this location.. only at some other location that I have no idea where it is.

BIG SIGH.

I suppose I have to work harder at interrogating their employees to find out where this new location is. Their website is only in Japanese and makes no mention of the Taipei stores. Although, they do mention and have a picture of the mini-croissants calling them "mini-one" on the website!


And their breads are good... they just don't have freshly baked chocolate centers and flaky chocolate layers of buttery croissants.

Anyways! I wanted to offer a little advice to anyone who has yet to peruse a bakery in Taiwan- you want to first look for the tongs/trays area and get your own set.. then you can pick and choose to your carb-ilicious delight. Take your filled tray to the counter where they will bag each one individually. Pay. Enjoy!


Donq unfortunately has signs only in Chinese, so you will have to either pick based on if it looks good to you, or ask the employees if you want to know what fillings are in certain breads. They have this one fried bread with a curry filling that is quite tasty.. kind of like deep fried doughnut. You might be able to catch them when they have freshly baked breads, such as ones with red bean filling or big sourdough loaves. Just not the mini-croissants, at this location anyways.

CLOSED! vietnamese: i strongly recommend DELICACIES OF VIETNAM

DELICACIES OF VIETNAM
(as translated by me- look for a red and white sign in Chinese!)
12, Lane 141, Hu Lin Street
(02) 8789-4456

date visited: 9/27/2006 & 10/3/2006

$

I didn't know what to expect when I walked in. It looked like many local alley restaurants- with a noodle cooking area outside, and inside a small space with sparse white walls and clean wooden stools and tables. The menu was one of those check-off what you want to order in Chinese pieces of paper- with nothing over NT$100 and nothing in English. Luckily, I was there with a group of friends who could translate for me and place our order with the owner.

Besides our party of 8, there were 1-2 other customers who dropped by while we were eating. Since it seemed that the family owned operation had only 3 people cooking and serving, they were busy getting the food ready, but it didn't seem noticeably slow. I will mention though, that they actually had their baby girl in a crib behind the counter. Since everyone was busy getting our order ready, the baby would cry. We went over to play and cheer up the baby and she was fine again.

Someone started off with a shrimp and green papaya appetizer with shrimp chips. I only tried the shrimp chip since I don't care for papayas, but it looked very fresh and appetizing.


The rice paper spring rolls (NT$60) I had been trying to find for awhile in Taipei, and these hit the spot. While they weren't the most amazing spring rolls I've ever had, they were decent. They didn't skimp on the shrimp and they served each person a little pink plastic plate of hoisin sauce. I must admit, I could have probably eaten a whole dish by myself, since each plate came with 2 rolls, each cut in half. (If you order this, ask for the "raw veggie spring roll" rather than the "cold shrimp roll" like I did- otherwise you'll end up with 2 orders of imperial rolls (NT$50 each) (which I didn't really care for), since cold sounds like 2 in chinese!)


Someone recommended that I get the bbq pork vermicelli salad (NT$80), which came with peanuts, sprouts, cucumber and grated carrots, and predrenched with the sweet and spicy fish sauce. The combination of the slippery pho with the crunchy veggies feels so weird in my mouth, but in a really good way. But what is totally worth mentioning is the bbq pork. It was AMAZING. Perfectly grilled, the marinade had a sweet flavor with a kick of spice that complimented the tenderness of the pork. Better than bbq pork vermicelli I'd had in LA! I even ordered another side order of just the pork to share.



YAY! Pho!! The pho with beef (NT$80) was good- it was a big bowl filled with noodles, soup and beef. A hundred times better than the faux pho I had at Eslite's food court's Pho . And here it's actually pho and not fat rice noodles. The broth was had enough salt, fresh basil, cilantro and onions, beef, lime and other mysterious flavors that make pho broth what it is. The pho was chewy and not soggy, and I was so happy that I had finally found a place to decent pho in Taipei.


Interestingly enough, most of the locals we ate with ordered noodles instead of pho. Coming with the same beef broth, but instead of rice noodles it comes with egg noodles. I didn't have a taste, but I thought it was kind of strange to eat pho without the pho. Maybe next time I will ask if that's a local accomodation or if that's truly a Vietnamese dish.



Pho usually doesn't photograph well with its murky beef broth based soup, but definitely don't let that discourage you from trying it if you've never had it before. With both the pho and the noodle, you can get beef, rare beef, beef ball, chicken, pork or combo. You can also get just meat and soup, without noodles.

If you have been searching for Vietnamese food in Taipei like I have, you should find a friend who speaks Chinese to come find this place with you. You can even treat them for helping you order- as it's such a bargain. Lunch for the 8 of us totalled NT$1050 or about US $31 which included 8 bowls of noodles, 4 orders of spring rolls, 1 side of bbq pork, 1 green papaya and shrimp appetizer, which was about NT$131 or about US$4 a person. Being used to pho being almost US$6-7 a person now, I was pleasantly surprised that we could find such a bargain that tasted good here and I think the owners are actually Vietnamese! Until I hear about or find another Vietnamese place that is better, I will definitely be going back.

vietnamese: i don't recommend PHO

PHO
at Eslite XinYi Mall foodcourt, B2
11, SongGao Road

10 am-10 pm (B2/ B1/ 1F/ 5F/ 6F)

visit reviewed: 5/31/2006

It was Chinese rice noodle masquering as pho- perhaps they think that the Taiwanese palate won't know the difference? Soggy and bland- I was extremely disappointed after thinking that this location would offer a new Vietnamese go to spot in Taipei. The soup didn't even taste anywhere close to the depth and flavor of the pho broth I've come to love. We ordered a family special to go- which include 2 appetizers, 2 main dishes, desserts and drinks. Even the non-pho options were sorely lacking, the chicken over rice was utterly forgettable and the fried spring rolls were greasy and bit stale. They didn't even have the rice paper spring rolls that I had been craving and searching for.

You might spot the bright green PHO sign along the wall of the basement of the Eslite Xin Yi food court and think that it's worth a try. Unless it's vastly changed since I've had it five months ago, it's not.

bakeries: i recommend POZZO

POZZO BAKERY
at San Want Hotel
172 Chung Hsiao E Rd, Sec 4
(02) 2772-2121 ext. 2126

open daily: 7AM- 10PM

$

visit reviewed: 9/28/2006



Pozzo is a bakery located next to the entrance of San Want hotel on the busy Chung Hsiao East Road shopping street. It's a great place to stop by for a snack or to pick up some bread for the next day. With a varying assortment of breads and pastries, today I chose to get (from left to right) squid ink garlic loaf, custard filled tart, coconut raisin bread, and a doughnut for under NT$150. Hey, I haven't had a doughnut in awhile!


I wish I could have had hands free to take more pictures inside the shop (maybe next time!), but it was brightly lit with wall to wall baked goods as well as customers. The front of the store near the window had the desserts with cakes, custards and tarts.

The custard tart was huge and the milky filling reminded me of a softer egg tart filling. The garlic squid ink bread had little bit of garlic butter spread in top of the center and a pleasant garlic taste after you had finished eating the bread- though it's not garlic bread, but rather the flavor of garlic infused in the bread. I shared some with a friend, and he wanted to eat more. The doughnut was good- nothing out of the ordinary and nothing bad to say. I didn't eat the coconut raisin bread, but it disappeared quickly as well.

The hours are pretty good for early and late birds, and the signs are all English and Chinese friendly. I would definitely go there again and try out some of the other offerings, and pick up some more garlic squid ink bread.

italian/revisited: BELLINI PASTA PASTA

BELLINI PASTA PASTA
No. 16, Sung Shou Road, 2F
inside Warner Village Theaters
(02) 2758-6096

bellinipasta.com.tw
hours: 11:30AM- 11 PM

$-$$

date reviewed: 9/11/2006

There's so much pasta, BELLINI PASTA PASTA has it twice in their name. With four locations in Taipei, Bellini Pasta Pasta features family style portions of salads, appetizers, pasta and desserts with friendly service and casual atmosphere.

On this day, I felt like eating some bolognese spaghetti and was near the Warner Village. I placed an order to go and was offered a place to sit and some ice water as well. The server asks me if I want my pasta soft, and I say al dente. The inside of the Warner location features long wooden tables and benches, and view of the chefs cooking. It's smaller than I expected, so I can see why there would be a wait for a table on a busy Friday night. Luckily, it's before dinner time and a weeknight, so my pasta is made pretty quickly.


The Bolognese spaghetti ($390) here comes with two soft boiled eggs on top. I've never seen this before elsewhere-so I don't know if this is an Italian thing, a Japanese thing or a specialty of Bellini's, but it's surprising combination that works. The tomato meat sauce is flavorful and slightly sweet and the soft boiled eggs cook a little more when mixed into the pasta. There's not a lot of meat, but enough sauce to cover all the spaghetti. I also thought that the meat sauce was perfectly flavored, where often I find Macaroni Grill's pasta to be on the salty side. The portion would easily be enough for 3-5 people, so you could order a few different pastas family style if you went with a group. I ordered it to-go and could not finish it. The leftovers heated up pretty well for a few days afterwards too.


In the past, I've also enjoyed their Pesto Pasta with Shrimp and their Clam Linguine looks quite good. I'm not sure about their other locations, but the Warner location has a "show window" by their entrance, of their pastas captured in plastic model form to catch your eye. Their menu is in English and Chinese and features a lot of the pasta names in Italian. Their business card has "Bellini Tokyo" on it, so I know they have locations in Japan, but I'm not sure if that is where the chain originates. EIther way, I'm glad to have it here in Taipei as an option for easy, friendly, tasty and quick Italian food.

new visit reviewed: 9/27/2006


Last night, I had a chance to try out to-go Bellini Pasta again. Even though I wanted to order the Bolognese meat sauce again, I decided to try out new things. I ordered a vegetarian cream pasta and Pizzetta Half & Half pizza (NT$230) (which includes 1/2 pesto with shrimp and mushroom, and 1/2 red sauce with eggplant and cheese) as well as the Spaghetti with shrimp and mushrooms in basil pesto sauce (NT$460).

This was the first time I got a chance to look at the to-go menu which includes antipasto, a couple gratins and risottos and a lot of spaghetti and pizzettas. While Bellini does have one Lasagna dish, all the other pasta dishes are spaghetti- no penne, linguine or fettucine in sight. Because their portions are "family size," they also feature "Pasta Half & Half" - 2 types of pastas and sauces for the equivalent of a 1 dish size/price at NT$480 such as the spaghetti in tomato sauce w/ pork cutlet & spaghetti with yuzu mentaiko, calamari and snow peas. Sounds interesting right?

Unfortunately, tonight I found my pastas to be rather bland. The cream sauce was barely there and the sparse combination of mushrooms, bell peppers and romaine lettuce was not really drool-worthy.


The pesto pasta that I had been looking forward to was also in need of some salt or garlic or ground pine nuts or fresh olive oil. Something to make it more aromatic than the slightly creamy, heavy looking and tasting pesto spaghetti we got. It had me missing the pesto pasta I had awhile back at Guy's Cafe or the bolgonese pasta I had a few weeks ago.


The pizzette fared a little better, although the red sauce again was stronger in flavor than the pesto slices. The pizzette was smaller than I expected and being cold when I got home to eat it probably didn't help it either.



While I think I would still go back to Bellini Pasta Pasta for the unique Spaghetti in meat sauce and soft-boiled eggs, I don't think I will get anything else but the red sauce based spaghettis if I decided to try the Milanese style chicken or the pork cutlet. They are still friendly and quick, but for more flavor, you'd probably have better options with the similarly priced Macaroni Grill nearby or Cosi O Cosi which also features pasta on the lighter side, but with a fresher, home-style spin.


OTHER LOCATIONS in TAIPEI:

NO. 218 Chung Hsiao E RD, Sec 4
ATT mall/building, 2nd FL
(02) 8771-3099

No. 39, Fushing S RD, Sec 1
(02) 6606-0688

No. 12, Kuan Chien RD
(02) 2388-8558