american/market: i strongly recommend WELLMAN'S MARKET

WELLMAN'S MARKET
No. 472 Zhongshan N. Road,  Sec. 6, Tianmu

台北市士林區中山北路6段472號

(02) 2871-4454

Sadly, Wellman's closed in 2019

MRT: Shipai

Hours:

Visit reviewed: 9/24/2015

Have you ever looked for Pop Tarts, Rice Krispies cereal, hot dog buns, Spam, enchilada sauce, food coloring or corn meal in Taipei? I know you have since I've gotten your emails over the years about "where to find..." and I've been looking too. 

Now you'll have at least one place in Tianmu to go to- Wellman's Market. I'd heard of it for years, but never made the trek out to investigate, but I'm telling you if you're a long time resident of Asia and willing to pay a little extra instead of loading your luggage with groceries from the states, then it's worth the trip. Instead of doing a scavengers hunt around Jason's/City Super, Carrefour, Wellcome and your local market's "import aisles", the entirety of Wellman's will look familiar to those of us from the states. It's probably how our parents felt discovering the local Ranch 99/Nijiya/Korean market rather than shopping the sad instant noodle aisle at Ralphs. Lol! There is even a  small selection of personal care goods like Irish Spring soap and various shampoos and deodorants.

Let's just walk through the aisles- there's only three since the market isn't huge, but it's packed from top to bottom.

Duncan Hines cake mixes- chocolate Devil's food, fudge marble and Betty Crocker fudge brownies sit in rows below Old El Paso, Snyders and sour cream, garlic dips.

Lots of salsas, nacho cheese, canned beans, taco shells and sauces for Mexican food DIY. Even corn meal to make your own tortillas! It's actually really hard to find corn meal in Taipei.

Tomato pasta sauces and jams and jellies like apricot, green fig, lemon curd and raspberry. I also spotted cherry, blueberry and apple pie canned fillings- I remember my mom used to use the cherry filling to top homemade mini cheesecakes.

The cereals! Rice Krispies, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Honey Smacks, Frosted Flakes and more. Note a box of Rice Krispies is almost NT$300 so you will have to really love it to buy it. Imagine the rice krispy treats you can make!!!

Small packs of hotdog and hamburger buns so you don't have to buy the megabucks from Costco.

Candies like twizzlers and Oreo Hersheys.

Poptarts and lots of them. I remember going through a pop tart phase in college but haven't really touched them in the past 10 years. Who's been looking for pop tarts in Taipei? There's also spice mixes and seasonings, and funnily enough, brown paper lunch bags and Reynold's aluminum foil, supplies we take for granted in the states.

Here we have the dressings, mayonnaise, mustard, honey, Hershey's chocolate syrup. Sriracha.

Spam and turkey spam to make your spam musubis.

Baking supplies like food coloring, active yeast, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla extract, strawberry extract. I know you can find these things here at the DIY shops too, but some of the comfort is being able to recognize brands you like and read the English instructions that aren't covered up in a Taiwanese sticker for translation.

Different types of Swiss Miss hot chocolates, even with mini marshmallows since that's the best part of hot chocolate right?

Wellman's has a small refrigerated goods section, with small tubs of sour cream, heavy cream, whip cream, and some deli cheeses, chorizo, salami. The chorizo iberico is actually quite addicting.  Next to the front are also some root beer and other beverages.

So good luck finding what you've been looking for at Wellman's. Doesn't hurt to ask them if you don't see what you are looking for. I asked them about Jello, but they said that Taiwan doesn't import Jello anymore. For those of us who've been living in Taiwan a long time, you might find yourself oohing and aahing at something you forgot that you wanted/needed on the aisles at Wellman's. 

What have you been looking for in Taiwan/Asia that you couldn't find? Comment below and maybe we'll find it!

Snapshot: HELLO KITTY x MCD's fried pineapple pie

If you're a fan of McD's fried apple pie, like I am, then you might find yourself trying the fried PINEapple pie in Taiwan. When I ordered it, I didn't even realize it was going to come in Hello Kitty-fied cuteness. Then I realized that I missed the whole Hello Kitty x McDonalds Taiwan menu (basically sticking HK's face on the packaging) they were doing the past month and the launch of the Hello Kitty toys. 

As for the taste? The crust is essentially the same crispy flaky goodness as the fried apple pie. The inside is a thick pineapple gel filling that is overly sweet and sugary, similar to the filling of those old Hostess pies. The pie is served hot, so be careful when digging in. Let's be honest- most of you will try this just because of the hello kitty cuteness, not the taste. 

Cuteeeeeee Hello Kitty x McDonalds toys- hello kitty ladybug, pineapple, strawberry and watermelon !! 

They should just stick Hello Kitty on everything for a few months and see what happens! Haha. 

korean: AJEOSSI

AJEOSSI CAFE

No. 23-1, Minquan E Rd, Sec. 6, Neihu District
台北市內湖區民權東路六段217號 
(02) 2796-3616

MRT: Huzhou (Brown Line)

hours: 11:30AM - 9PM, Closed Mondays

website: Ajeossi Cafe's FB page

kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted, but room for strollers. non spicy dishes available 

visit reviewed:  9/10/2015

Ajeossi is a casual homestyle Korean cafe in Neihu, opened by Koreans owners in February 2015. Next door there was a ramen shop that had a line of 20 or so people waiting. At first, we thought the line was for Ajeossi, but alas it was not. Can different kinds of Korean food work in Taipei (besides the popular soondubu, kbbq and spicy rice cake hotpot)?

The atmosphere is like a coffee shop with warm wood walls and tables, with a projection screen playing Korean soaps over the bar/counter. A huge teddy bear keeps watch from the corner and two clocks hang on the wall, one with Taipei time and the other for Korea. 

Hello, Cheon Song Yi!

The menu has only ten or so dishes, with the focus being on drinks- O'Sulloc Korean tea, milk teas, coffee, tea, vinegar soda and a few cocktails. They also had desserts on their menu, but 2 out of 3 were crossed out. I could make out most of the dishes in Chinese, but luckily my friends read Korean, so they picked what to order. The first few are mostly rice and pork dishes (Soy sauce rice,  kimchi pork belly or spicy pork belly or kimchi fried rice with optional cheese),  the next three are Korean rice cake and the last is the cold noodles.   

We decided to get the Korean style soy sauce rice (NT$200),  kimchi pork belly with white rice (NT$200), cold ramen noodles with chogochujang (NT$180), and Korean rice cakes dubokki w spicy zhajiang sauce (NT$240). There's no English on the menus, so these are my translations! You can see the banchan is very simple- kimchi, seaweed and some pickles/cucumbers.

The first dish is something you could make at home, and something owners said that it's the kind of dish they make when there's nothing to eat at home. The Korean style soy sauce rice (NT$200) is rice mixed with soy sauce, fried egg and bacon and a pile of seaweed strips atop. There's no bimbimbap here, at least not the kind with all the julienned veggies that need a lot of prepping. I liked this, but if I made it myself I wouldn't mix soy sauce into the rice. 

The cold noodles (NT$180) was probably my favorite dish, though it wasn't the usual soupy naengmyeon. After quizzing my friend, she guessed that they used cho-gojuchang for the noodles. I knew about gochujang, Korean red pepper chili paste aka Korean sriracha, but I hadn't heard of chogojuchang which was more vinegary and spicy. Will have to find some #chogochujang sauce so I can try making this at home and experiment with both!! 

Again this is something you could probably make at home with the right condiment, since the cucumber, tomato and half boiled egg were more homestyle than precise. 

Korean rice cakes dubokki w spicy zhajiang sauce (NT$240) Korean zhajiang sauce is thicker and sweeter than Chinese zhajiang mian sauce and this dish also had a spicy kick. I liked this and it's very different than what you'd usually find around town. If we didn't get this, then I would have tried the ramen cheese spicy rice cake.

Kimchi pork belly with mini lettuce and white rice (NT$300)- Pork was a tad dry, but I still thought it was decent. It was better than a lot of the dishes that I've tried around town (I had some of the worst stringy bulgogi at usually good Dubu House last year)

Ajeossi's random location makes it so that you really have to seek it out if you didn't live in the neighborhood. It seems like a mostly residential neighborhood, so not an area I'd normally pass by. But I'm glad I got to try it and that it's offering a different type of Korean fare in Taipei. At the very least, if you're having Korean soap withdrawals, you know now where to go.

snapshot/taiwanese: OREO MILK TEA at PRINCE DRINKS

PRINCE DRINKS
No. 2, Lane 8, ChiFeng St.
台北市大同區赤峰街8巷2號
(02) 2550-0376

MRT: Zhongshan

hours: 11:30AM- 7:30PM

website: Prince Drinks' FB page

$ (cash only. I think they deliver if you order over 6 cups)

Kid friendliness: you can probably ask for a version with just fresh milk and oreos, but why not just make it yourself at home

Visit reviewed: 9/4/2015

After devouring award winning pizza next door (review coming!),  a picture of milk tea topped with crumbled Oreos caught my eye. I usually don't succumb to such temptations easily, but it has been HOT lately and I hadn't had a milk tea in so long, so I gave in. Let's say for "research purposes" for the blog.

I forked over NT$65 for an Oreo milk tea and answered the usual "how sweet, how icy?" questions. I made it half sweet (since there was going to be sugar from the Oreos) and less icy, but they suggested that we have it with no ice. The cup was huge, similar to a Large or Extra large at most boba shops and it was mostly tea with one third fresh milk. It was interesting drinking the crushed Oreos as they were absorbing the liquid and becoming mushy- as all kids know, similar to eating dunked Oreos, but this way it was much faster. I didn't finish the drink and I still prefer an Oreo shake, but I'm sure we'll keep an eye out now for Oreo milk tea drinks wherever we go now.

news: TAIPEI NEW RESTAURANTS ROUND UP SPRING/SUMMER 2015

Kiko's Diner closed, making room for Caliburger's opening in spring 2015

New restaurants in Taipei to mention since my last round up. It astounds me the rate of new restaurants opening up every few months in Taipei. This great feature on nbcnews.com features two places opened recently by Asian American expats bringing "unapologetic American food" here, Spot Taipei and Little NY Pizzeria. And they aren't alone- Bing Burger is opened by Chef Leon, who is a SF native trained at Cordon Bleu, Brookhurst Seafood Bar features Boiling Crab inspired cajun seafood and Drip Cafe's owner/chefs bring their experiences from Southern Cali and Las Vegas.

New Taipei Restaurants 2015 spring/summer

• Achoi at amba zhongshan (Chef Kin Ming Lam was previously from Michelin starred Jean Georges in Shanghai)
• Lee's Sandwiches 
• Thai and Thai at Mandarin Oriental
• Square Pizza al Taglio
• Tigertopoki at Hankyu
• Wunique Patisserie
• Brass Monkey (at XinYi Vieshow)
• Yun Jin at Grand Hyatt Taipei
• Rest and Run 
• Spot Taipei
• Burger Fix
• Solo Pizza
• Brooklyn at ATT4Fun (taking over Fat Angelo/Belgian Beer Cafe's spot)
• Yellow Lemon at Xinyi Mitsukoshi A4 (they revamped the whole floor so it's more of a food hall than food court now)
• iPasta and Samba Pizza also at Mitsukoshi A4
• Top Cap (opened by same Chef as Danny and Company and ACut)
• Ye Shanghai
• Caliburger
• Voodoo Doughnuts (yup the one from Portland!)
• Herban Kitchen and Bar
• Roots Creative
• Ya Ge at Mandarin Oriental
• Ephernite
• Danny What's Nabe
• Mini K at Neo 19 (sister restaurant of Korean restaurant Major K)
• Brookhurst Seafood Bar
• Naked Food
• Pizza Denise in Tianmu 
• O Rose ice cream (French ice cream)
• RexMex 
• Mayur Indian Kitchen 4Ever (first (and only?) Indian buffet restaurant in Taipei, opened by MIK)
• Corner Office
• Suann's Fish and Chips (Danshui)

CLOSED (I know there must be more. Please help me fill in the blanks in the comments!)

• Kiko's Diner (Sanrio Cafe.. dang it never got to post this! The loco moco wasn't half bad either)
• Fat Angelo's at ATT4Fun (that was fast :/)
• Capone's 
• Piazza (damn, never got to blog about this one either)
• Snow King Ice Cream (closed its 60+ year old location in Ximen, will reopen this fall)
• Macaroni Grill (only been there once since they moved to Minsheng E Road. there have also been a ton of new great Italian restaurants opened since then. but thank you Macaroni Grill for filling a hole for American Italian food in Taipei when you opened)

brunch/new american: i recommend SPOT TAIPEI

SPOT TAIPEI

No. 58, Lane 233,  Dunhua S. Rd., Sec. 1
台北市大安區敦化南路一段233巷58號 

(02) 2775-4117

MRT: SYS Memorial Hall

Hours: 11AM - 10:30PM

website: Spot Taipei's FB page

visits reviewed:  5/18/2015 & 9/7/2015

Yesterday at lunch, my friend nudged me to put up some posts of newer places sooner. "You eat at all the new places first, so you should be the first to post about it." I responded by saying, that I do post quickly, but mainly on instagram and she gave me a mental kick in the butt to do it for the blog too. So I'm gonna try to do a blitz of posts of new places and menus for y'all... every time I scroll through my Instagram, I do feel a tinge of regret that I don't have the time to do full posts at the same time, but usually when I'm blogging, that usually means I'm not sleeping. Like right now.

Opened four months ago, Spot Taipei is a great new addition to the New American and brunch scene in Taipei, featuring affordable prices, generous portions and most importantly some hearty, tasty American dishes not yet found in Taipei. Not be confused with the also lovely Spot Theater, the independent movie house founded by Hou Hsiou-Hsien, Spot Taipei is a restaurant tucked in an alley behind Ming Yao Shopping Center (i.e. the mall with the huge Uniqlo, now next to the huge Forever 21) on ZhongXiao East Road near SYS Memorial Hall. 

I recommend going with a group if you can, to be able to share and sample more plates, and order some of my favorite dishes. I've been twice since its opening, once during its soft opening and my second visit was yesterday, so the menu has changed slightly since my last visit. 

The most popular dishes are from Spot Taipei's all day brunch menu, such as the chicken waffle sandwich, the corned beef hash, the french toast and eggs benedicts. Most restaurants in Taipei have a signature dish-- the thing you see on social media that makes you want to eat your next meal there. For Bing Burger, it's their bone marrow burger. For Belle Epoque, their boba milk pancakes. For Drip Cafe, their cronuts. For Pig and Pepper, it's their funnel cake. For Spot Taipei, it's their Ferrero Rocher French Toast and chicken and waffles sandwich, something that's big back in the US that's yet to trend in Taipei. (You can also find fried chicken and waffles at NOLA and previously at Bakery 49, but that's all that comes to mind.)

Let's start off with some of my favorites from today. Favorite things today at @spottpe were the spicy chicken wings, scallop crudo, ribeye steak and roast chicken with creamy mashed potatoes. Skip the green salad (too salty and plain), the miso pork belly (too dry). Otherwise the service was good- they were accommodating and friendly. Still have yet to try the pancakes here!! 

Scallops crudo- Hokkaido scallops with candied chorizo and homemade rice crackers (NT$290). Scallop lovers could easily eat 3-4 pieces, which if my eyeballing estimate is correct is about one scallop. Not looking at the menu, I thought the toppings were sundried tomatoes.

Chicken wings - dry rubbed and fried, pickled celery, dijon sriracha with blue cheese sauce (NT$180 for 4) 

THESE CHICKEN WINGS were some of my favorite things of the meal. If you are a chicken wing lover, you gotta order this. I had two of them, but could have easily eaten more. The skin was crispy and coated with spicy sweet sriracha. I didn't taste the blue cheese at all, but I didn't miss it. Fun twist on traditional buffalo wings.

Pan roasted chicken - half chicken deboned, wilted chinese kale, potato puree, chicken jus, chives and chervil (NT$460)

The pan roasted chicken is a table favorite every time I've been here. The potato puree is buttery and creamy (rivals the mashed at Robuchon) and the whole dish just works.

Fried chicken waffle sandwich- batter fried chicken, asian ranch, gruyere cheese, pickled onions (NT$400)

I enjoy the chicken waffle sandwich- the waffle isn't too heavy, the chicken is tender, the portion is hearty, so it can be a filling meal for one, or shared between two or four people. Each time I've eaten it, I wished both the waffle and chicken are crispier. If they could offer a version of this sandwich with the same level of crunchiness and flavor as the wings (with a little cabbage slaw) that would be AAAAAmazing. Right? Fried sriracha chicken waffle sandwich!! It sells itself.

Ribeye for 2- 22 oz USDA Prime ribeye, sous vide, chimichurri sauce, confit garlic, arugula (NT$1800)

At my first bite, I wished I wasn't so full so I could eat more. The ribeye was perfectly cooked to a nice medium rare, but still had a nice charred crust while being juicy on the inside. The confit garlic were creamy and melt in your mouth and I really liked the chimichurri sauce, which was slightly creamier than other places that I've had it. I ended up enjoying the leftovers at home later.

Duck confit croquette benedict- sous vide duck confit croquette with lemon hollandaise (NT$280) 

This came at the end of our meal, so I took a quick bite. The poached eggs were perfectly runny, the hollandaise had the right consistency and flavor and the lemon give the heavy dish a lighter accent. The shredded duck confit is mixed with sweet potato then fried into a croquette. Would be nice to see if Spot Taipei could do a great crabcake eggs benedict. Swoon.

Roasted Heritage Cauliflower - mix of griddled heritage cauliflower topped with almonds, raisins and lemon juice (NT$220) 

I liked the purple cauliflower the best, most of the broccoli and cauliflower were still quite crisp. I would have preferred them a bit more tender. But I love how Spot Taipei doesn't forget to include veggies on the menu and goes beyond salads. 

Mixed mushrooms- king oyster, oyster, maitake and enoki mushrooms (NT$180)

 

SPOT Burger - gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, chinese lettuce with fries and house pickles (NT$380) 

Miso pork belly - miso brined pork belly, 8 hours sous vide with mini salad and English muffin (NT$260) 

Today's pork belly was overcooked or too lean- it was quite dry and the salad was overly salty so we left this unfinished. The buttered English muffins were good though, so one could put this together to be a mini sandwich bite. 

Green salad- seasonal greens, fried shiitake mushroom crisps, sesame cookies and soy lime vinaigrette (NT$180) 

I wouldn't order this again. The first time, the vinaigrette was so salty, I had to reject it from my mouth. They replaced it for us without a problem, but the fried shiitake wasn't very crispy and the salad was quite plain. 

As you can see, the menu is mostly the same from the soft opening back in May 2015, with a few seasonal changes. 

Not currently on the fall menu - salmon carpaccio. I really liked the charred broccolini (NT$150) and corn mezzi rigatoni (NT$300) on the previous menu. Great dishes for vegetarians and I never thought about pureeing corn to make a creamless pasta. Will totally have to try that at home someday.

The coffee beef shortribs- with peppers, potato and egg on top (NT$280) was one of my favorite dishes of my first visit. Feels a tad healthier than corned beef and something I would totally order again.

Pan roasted chicken from first visit

Last but not least, the Ferrero Rocher cornflake crusted frenchtoast with nutella dipping sauce. (NT$300) Not too dense and almost tasted like a cinnamon bun stuffed with sliced bananas. The chocolate flavor doesn't really come out in the french toast, you need to dip it in the Nutella for the chocolovers. The whole thing is deep fried, so it is an indulgence. This dish takes #spottaipei a little longer to prep, and just as well, since it was like a dessert. Recommend for sharing, comes with 4 big pieces- it would be too much for one person as a meal.

Spot Taipei has been fairly popular since opening, especially on weekends, so reservations recommended. They have two floors of seating, great for larger groups, though the upstairs loft seating is a bit dark with low ceilings. Look forward to seeing new additions to their menu from their kitchen. Owner Eric Wang is from LA, Taiwanese American Chef Austin Hu opened New American restaurant Madison in Shanghai before joining Spot Taipei. (Email me when you get the crispy sriracha chicken waffle sandwich going!! Haha)