Wednesday, July 11, 2012

snapshot/costco: i recommend MANGO SHAVED ICE at COSTCO



It's hard to tell from this photo how monstrous this mango ice is. A mountain of frozen chunky shaved ice, cascading frozen mango cubes, two scoops of vanilla ice cream and a generous pour of condensed milk. We had three people share this and there was still leftovers. Not as good as Ice Monster or Mango Cha Cha since it was basically a mango flavored slushy once all the semi-frozen mango was gone, but at NT$79 it's about half the price of the other places in town.

Monday, July 09, 2012

vietnamese/pho: i strongly recommend CYCLO



CYCLO 洛城牛肉粉

No. 377, RenAi Rd, Sec. 4 
仁愛路四段377號1樓  (this location closed, but new location near Zhongxiao/Daan)
(02)2752-8666 

MRT: Zhongxiao/Dunhua 

website: Cyclo's FB page 

hours: 12PM - 2PM; 6PM - 9PM

$-$$ (NT$200-300/person) cash only

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted. semi-tight seating except for one table in the front

Visit reviewed: 4/23/2012


Cyclo is a newly opened LA style Vietnamese pho and rice restaurant, seating about 25 people in a bright, new space with a row of tables leading up to a semi-open kitchen. Bubbles of thoughts appear on one decorated wall like a stream of consciousness mission statement- "Pho!!! Fresh, casual, healthy... Create your own! Fast, delicious!"



Bottles of Sriracha and hoisin sauce sit on each table, waiting to be squirted into diners' bowls. Seats fill up fast, so show up a little early if you want to make sure you get a table. 


If you don't get handed a menu, grab one from the pile next to the door and a pen. It's one menu per person and mark your initials in the top box so you know who's order is whose. Cyclo's menu reminds me a bit of the Counter, but instead of building your burger, you're building your bowl of pho. I love that there's English and that there's even a sense of humor- "For People who Don't Eat Beef" and "For People who Don't Eat Noodle." You can choose your type of noodle, 3 items for NT$190 or 4 items for NT$230, yes or no for richness in the broth and your choice of herbs. Appetizers and rice plates are listed at the bottom in Chinese only, but our server that first day helped us out with swift and patient English translations. 



Vietnamese cha gio egg roll (NT$45) comes stuffed with vermicelli and ground pork. Nice and crispy.


Vietnamese spring rolls with spam. (NT$55) Yup, spotted cans of spam in the back on the shelf. Spring rolls are also available with fried shrimp. I preferred the fried ones, over the summer rolls at this shop.


Lemon ice tea (NT$70) was nice and refreshing, with sugar to adjust your own sweetness. My friend said it was like lemon ice teas she's had in Hong Kong. It is also the only drink to come with free refills, so a better deal than the honey lemon and the lemon sugar cane drinks.


One of my lunch dates ordered one of the rice plates, I think this was pork (NT$230). Or was it chicken? Haha, I didn't try it, but it looked delish and filling. 


Not too long after we ordered, our bowls of pho came out. If you write your name on your menu, then it would be easier for them to ask which bowl goes where. The waiter waved the menu at me and I didn't know what she wanted until I realized she wanted to know who had ordered on the menu she was holding.


My rare beef, brisket point and tendon pho with rice starch noodle (NT$190) was pretty awesome. The brisket point was so tender and I kept savoring it as I chewed. The rare beef was pink and cooked a little more as I swirled it in the golden broth. The slippery noodles were the perfect texture. And like in LA, you get a small plate of basil, sliced jalapenos, bean sprouts and here a slice of lemon to add to your pho. I tried the "rich" version of the broth on my second visit, but while it wasn't salty while I was drinking it up, I was a bit thirsty later that day.


Cyclo will be sure to have strong word of mouth. The day my friends told me about it, they had gone for both lunch and dinner. The last time I went, I ran into three separate groups of friends, without knowing that they were going to eat there too, which was pretty funny. I even wasn't sure if I wanted to blog about it yet, but I figure it can't be more crowded than it already is. Some of the days I went, the waitress was even turning away people from empty seats because the kitchen was slammed with an entire restaurant's orders at once. Personally, I would have let the poor hungry people just sit, mull over the menu and wait for their food... after all, some people in Taipei wait in insane lines for a bowl of noodles (at the newly opened Ippudo and Santouka), so why not for pho.





Wednesday, July 04, 2012

snapshot: MCDONALDs at TAIPEI ZOO

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McD's has summer drink menu featuring fruit flavored soda floats, including grape, strawberry and mango and costs only a little more to add to your meal. So today at the Taipei Zoo, given the insane blazing heat, I was brainwashed into trying the peach soda float and eating a quarter pounder without cheese which I haven't had in years. Between McD's and Burger King, I personally prefer the Whopper since you get a tomato, onions and bigger pickles, as well as more sauce. As for the soda float, it was like what you'd expect, a sweet, cold, fizzy drink that turned creamy when the ice cream got mixed in. Creamsicle soda.

Speaking of McDonalds, there'a an interesting video that answers the question of "why doesn't my McD's burger look like the one on the ad?" The video gives a peek behind the scenes at food styling for advertisements. I admit, for a split second, I was surprised that there were no tomatoes in my burger, but another glance on the box revealed the red was just ketchup. Tricky.

McD's also has the Monopoly game thing going on, but you only get stickers when you buy a combo meal.


It was so hot I had to get another drink at the snack shacks- in this case a honey lemonade with boba. They have a more limited selection than most 50 Lan, but I guess it's better than nothing!

Monday, July 02, 2012

vegetarian/western: i recommend CAFE SHOWROOM



CAFE SHOWROOM
No. 462 FuJin St. 台北市富錦街462號
(02) 2760-1155

MRT: SongShan Airport


hours: 11AM- 9PM; 11AM - 11PM on Friday, Saturday

$$ 

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted

Visit reviewed: 3/14/2012




Those of you that follow me on Facebook know that sometimes I post photos of things I'm eating in "real time" or before I have time to organize the pics and write up the post. One photo that caught the eye of many readers was of the quiche from Cafe Showroom, an interesting cafe & art gallery space in the Song Shan district near the airport. The whole street was lined with interesting shops and cafes to revisit someday, and Cafe Showroom was the perfect place to start. My friend said it reminded her of Brooklyn somehow, or maybe the Larchmont Village for those of you in LA, a neighborhood to walk around and shop.


The front has about 3-4 seating areas for groups with spartan white walls and a few pieces of curated art dotting the walls.

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Tucked in the back is the art gallery space, or the Showroom, where there are new exhibits every few months.



After glancing at the restrained menu, I realized everything was vegetarian, which sounds limiting, but once the food arrived, the simple yet fresh fare fit the atmosphere quite well. There's only four main dishes available, but on weekends, brunch sets are offered. The cafe's coffee offerings include Chai Tea Lattes and various teas like sweet ginger peach tea and high mountain Oolong tea.



Farmer's salad (NT$200) was quite bright, and the only salad on the menu.


The crowd pleaser was the feta quiche (NT$160) which had soft broccoli, tomato, peppers and olives in it as well. The thin flaky crust was a nice contrast to the creamy egg. We ordered to share that day, but usually each order comes with a small side salad.




I was also pleasantly surprised by the mushroom spinach panini (NT$180) since it didn't sound that exciting, but the bread was so good and the touch of balsamic vinegar gave the sandwich an extra boost of flavor.



The burrito (NT$180) on the other had fell a little flat- it was more like a veggie wrap or pressed soft taco and not as fulfilling as the panini and quiche. 


The yogurt with fruits (NT$120) was served with the sweetest fresh peaches and blueberries and served in a cute glass jar.



We split the desserts, so I didn't get a shot of the originals, but cheesecake and waffles are also available.



One of my friends said that this Astoria coffee machine was the Porsche of coffee machines... it was very sleek and shiny.



But save room for the nutella banana panini (NT$120) which you could totally make at home with a jar of nutella smothered atop some good french bread, but if you don't want to keep a jar around, this is the place to try it.


So another neat little space in Taipei, probably the perfect place to bring a notebook on a rainy day, drink some coffee and detox from last night's mala with a light lunch.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

revisited/hotpot: SHABURI at ATT4FUN


THIS location closed, but other Shaburi locations around Taipei.

SHABURI 紗舞縭極品集
No. 12, Song Shou Rd. 台北市信義區松壽路12號1
(02) 2723-7350

MRT: Taipei City Hall


Website: http://www.shaburi.com.tw" target="blank">www.shaburi.com.tw mostly in Chinese, menu has English

Hours:  11AM- 10:30PM, Friday/Sat until 12AM

kid friendliness: high chairs available

visit reviewed: 4/29/2012
last visited at different location: 6/2007


Decent choice for hotpot in the Xinyi area, but the service can be a little weird, as it can be at some Taipei restaurants. I called to find out if I could reserve a table for a group of 14 on a Sunday night and they insisted that they did not take reservations, but I had to come in person (typical Taiwanese response). When I asked if I came right away if there would be able to seat us right away or if I had to wait, the vague response on the phone was that, they couldn't say, it just depended on customers flow. When we decided to give it a try, it turned out the place was nearly empty for an early dinner at 6PM (and stayed that way even after we were done with dinner), and we could easily grab a few tables. I was slightly annoyed that the response wasn't more encouraging- did they not want the business? They had made it sound like they were full on the phone, and we had almost not given it a try. Throughout the dinner, service was still questionable, with us having to debate with them about how we wanted to sit and constantly waving them down for things like extra bowls and napkins.

Shaburi's menu has various types of pork, lamb and beef cuts for shabu shabu (NT$450-1200), as well as some seafood (NT$590-2400) and higher end options and sets. There's also sushi and sashimi (rolls range from NT$300-500, donburi from NT$600-800) and cooked items available like Tempura udon.

I got the Taiwan Pork Belly set (NT$450) which included a choice of salad, hotpot with vegetables, starch and dessert. The pork belly was reasonably tender, swirled with fat. I wanted to order some rolls, but found them expensive and stuck to the shabu shabu.


We ordered a skewer of fishcake and squid balls comes with the vegetables and added egg dumplings (NT$60) stuff to throw into the pot and hand shredded the cabbage once the water was boiling. Ponzu and sesame peanut sauces are used to dip the meats and vegetables for extra sweetness and saltiness.


Dessert was a mini soft serve ice cream (vanilla or sesame) and no freebies were granted to people or kids who didn't order a set.


Shaburi's entrance is on the outside of ATT4Fun, near the Diner, but has an entrance into the mall for those needing to find the restroom. It's not as crowded as the popular Momo Paradise and there's seafood options and non shabu shabu options. There are some high end items on the menu that can get pricey (like NT$2000/person), but maybe the service is better at other locations to match the price you'd be spending on the meal.

OTHER LOCATIONS 
No. 21, Lane 270, Dunhua South Rd, Sec. 1
台北市敦化南路一段270巷21號
(02) 8771-5548

No. 81 DaAn Rd, Sec. 1
台北市大安路一段81號
(02) 2773-1386

:)