Singapore & Taiwan Trip (Day 14)

January 18, 2016January 17, 20161 Comment

The next morning, we decided to head out Ximending to look for food for brunch. This place is always bustling with people!

Luckily, many of the street vendors had already opened up. First up was this Green Onion Pancake stall. You can add different flavours or even add cheese or pork fluff to name a few.

We decided to get the original and it cost only NT$25. I wasn’t expecting much from this, but this was probably the best Green Onion Pancake I’ve had! It had such a nice char and they brush on this sweet soy sauce. Delicious!

Continuing on, we tried this Grilled Tempura. Lightly brushed with a sweet savoury sauce, this is fun to snack on. The pieces are quite big though, so i got a bit sick of it after one. Good for sharing. NT$30 for a skewer.

I also decided to get some Hong Kong Style Curry Fishballs. What was I thinking getting fishballs in Taiwan? Yea…these were not good. The curry was not apparent. Perhaps I should’ve gotten the flaming spicy flavour. NT$30 for 4 fishballs.

Getting thirsty, we headed to a 7-11 to look for some drinks. I got the Apple Milk while S got the Papaya Milk. I love how convenient these 7-11s are and how cheap the prices are. The papaya milk was really good while the apple milk was alright. I found it to be slightly tart so it tasted odd.

What to do in Ximending after you’ve visited almost every shop? Go to Tom’s World again and shoot some hoops. S loved this arcade so we ended up doing some exercise and shooting hoops again…

I finally convinced S that we should leave Tom’s World and go do some exploring since we traveled all the way here. Well, we ended up checking some items off my to-do list and that included buying souvenirs. ChiaTe Bakery 佳德糕餅 is known to make some of the best pineapple cakes (鳳梨酥) and it’s a must buy when visiting Taipei! I believe they only have one bakery in Taipei and you can get here by taking the MRT to Nanjing Sammin station and walking straight ahead after you take Exit 2.

When we entered, it was quite a mayhem inside with all the tourists grabbing the pineapple cakes off the shelves. The pineapple cakes are not cheap as they around CAD$2 for one. They have different fillings as well, but after trying many, I still think the original pineapple filling is the best. The filling is not overly sweet and doesn’t stick to your teeth. The outside cake is buttery and flaky. Highly recommend! They also sell other products like wife cakes (老婆鉼).

After doing some pineapple cake shopping, I suggested we visit the Wu Fen Pu Garment Wholesale Area (五分埔). You can get here by taking the MRT to Songshan Station. It is an area known for the largest wholesale garment market in Taipei.

The area is a huge maze with many shops selling mostly women’s clothing and accessories. I did find that the styles were not as trendy as the ones in Shida and Ximending though. Still, not bad and I picked up some cheap scarves. Because S was super bored shopping with me, he suggested we go play bowling at E7 Play (AGAIN). Well, unfortunately, since it was a weekend, the place was super busy and we wouldn’t get a spot until late.

So instead, I suggested we do more touristy things! We took the MRT to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall station and visited the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. This is a memorial to the Republic of China’s National Father, Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

Dr. Sun is known for his Three Principles of People: nationalism, democracy, and the people’s livelihood.

Inside the main entrance, you will find a statue of Sun Yat-sen. There is a changing of the guards every hour but we had missed the last one. The building also displays Sun’s life and the revolution he held.

There are also gardens around the memorial hall and you will find many young dancers practicing here. It’s also a perfect spot to see the full Taipei 101.

After, I suggested we visit Ice Monster since it would be a short walk from the the memorial hall. They are famous for their shaved ice.

You can either order take-out or sit in. It was rather chilly that day so we chose to sit-in. The cafe is brightly lit with wooden decor. You order and pay at the entrance and they will bring you your dessert to your table.

We chose the Fresh Mango Shaved Ice because that’s pretty much their signature item. The ice is super light and comes with a scoop of mango ice cream and tofu pudding on the side. At first, we thought there was very little mango but it was actually all on the bottom of the bowl. There were tons! It’s around NT$250 and great for sharing between friends.

After dessert, we took the MRT back to Ximending 西門町and wandered the streets again. You can never get sick of this place! Love the lively crowds and at night you will see many street performers.

S couldn’t resist and had to try the Hot Star Large Fried Chicken 豪大大雞排 at the Ximending location. This location is extremely busy as well.

At this location, they also have a variety of other snacks and also drinks. The wait here was much longer because they have so many other menu items. There is really only one guy who makes the fried chicken so the wait was super long.

At last, we got the Large Fried Chicken again. S and I both agreed that the one from the Shilin location tastes better for some reason…

We also got the Fried Scallop and Squid Balls. These were seasoned with basil leaves so quite tasty. I didn’t really taste any scallop in it though.

I was also on the hunt of Stewed Pork Rice 魯肉飯 so we got take-out at Tian Tian Li 天天利美食坊. They also have sit-in.

It looked pretty underwhelming but it actually tasted okay. Just hard to eat while standing. I didn’t think it was very special but it’s quite the comfort food for locals. Plus it’s only NT$25!

Thirsty, we found a corner shop further away from the busy shops called Mei Tea 梅子兔. Look for the bunny rabbit and the long line ups.

We got a classic pearl milk tea to finish our night off. It was a long wait but this was very smooth and satisfying! Headed back to the hotel and did some packing as we would be leaving tomorrow night.

Details:

Tom’s World: 5th floor of Wannian Plaza: 70 Xining South Road, Ximending, Taipei

ChiaTe Bakery: No. 88, Section 5, Nanjing E Rd, Songshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 105

Wu Fen Pu: Yongji Street, Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall: 505, Section 4, Ren’ai Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110

Ice Monster: No. 297, Section 4, Zhongxiao E Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106

Hot Star Fried Chicken (Ximending location): No. 36, Hànzhōng St, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108

Tian Tian Li: No.1, Lane 32, Han Zhong St., Wan-Hua District, Taipei City

Mei-Tea: No. 7, Lane 50, Xining S Rd, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108

Happy Date

February 15, 2015February 15, 2015Leave a comment

Happy Date has been around for a long time, and they are famous for their pineapple buns and HK style food. Not the best looking on the outside and inside, but they are known for great food. My mom told me that they now serve Chinese dishes for dinner time, rather than just the HK style food during lunch, so we decided to go give it a try. The restaurant is packed inside and surprisingly, it has been renovated and is decent looking. Nothing special, but it was clean.

They have a few set menus for dinner, including lobster or pigeons. We went for the Pigeon Special Set Menu, which came with two crispy pigeons and your choice of 3 dinner dishes served with soup, rice and dessert for $69.88. First up was the soup, which had meat and vegetables. Your typical home-made soup which had been boiled for many hours.

Crispy Pigeons

Then came the feature of the set menu. You can choose more or less pigeons depending on how large your group of diners are. The choice of dishes increase when you add more pigeons as well. We went for two pigeons, which was more than enough. Everyone had around 2 pieces to eat. We found that the skin could have been more crispy though. Flavourwise, I liked how it wasn’t overly salty.

Pork Chop with Honey and Peach Glaze

With our set menu, you can then choose three dishes from a long list of choices. We chose the Pork Chop with Honey and Peach Glaze, which ended up being a huge dish! It was definitely glazed with lots of sugar, since the honey was very apparent. The pork chop was deep fried, but we all found it to be just average. The batter was sort of too thick and I found it to be too sweet.

Vegetable and Bean Curd with Lettuce

The second dish was the Vegetable and Bean Curd with Lettuce. This came in a fish broth, which I found to be too milky for my liking. The veggies were fresh, but other than that, nothing too special. Your typical veggie dish.

Deep Fried Chicken with Fish Sauce

Lastly, was the Deep Fried Chicken with Fish Sauce. The skin was crispy, but didn’t seem to attach to the chicken itself. The chicken was moist and seasoned well, and I liked the fish sauce that came with it. Not bad.

Dessert was red bean soup, but I guess it’s whatever they decide to make that night. Not a fan of red bean soup, so I didn’t have any to comment on.

Overall, Happy Date was pretty average to me. Good prices and large portions, but I wouldn’t say the food is too memorable or above average. Service was also very friendly, and it’s honestly pretty clean although you shouldn’t expect much ambiance here. It’s super basic and simple, but somehow still attracts all these diners!

Pros:
– Reasonable prices
– Large portions

Cons:
– Average eats
– Ambiance isn’t the best

Price Range: $15-20

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 3
Service: 4
Ambiance: 2
Parking:2
Overall: 3

Ganache Patisserie

November 29, 2014November 29, 2014Leave a comment

Cassis et Matcha – cassis mascarpone cream, cassis gelee, milk chocolate parfait, matcha biscuit charlotte, blackberries

I’ve always heard great things about Ganache Patisserie, and finally I got to try them. Both desserts were matcha base desserts. The first was the Cassis et Matcha. Cassis is sort of like blackcurrant, so there was a sweet and sour taste to it.

I love how the inside is all leveled with the layers. I really enjoyed the cassis flavoured mascarpone cheese. Very smooth. There wasn’t a lot of matcha flavour though.

Matcha-Exotique – green tea mousse, mango-passionfruit gelee, lychees, black sesame biscuit joconde

The second was the Matcha-Exotique, which is a green tea mousse.

In the middle, there is a mango-passionfruit gelee, which was my favourite part. The cake itself is a mix of black sesame biscuit cake and the green tea mousse. There are lots of textures going on, but it all works. I preferred this one over the first.

Overall, Ganache Patisserie makes quite unique cakes. Not your typical flavours and they definitely aren’t simple. Looking forward to trying their other cakes.

Blue Star Donuts – Portland

October 19, 2014Leave a comment

Voodoo Doughnuts is always raved about when speaking of Portland, but K mentioned that Blue Star Donuts is the best new donut shop in town. Plus, walking by Voodoo and seeing that massive line up made me not want to give it a try. So instead, we walked by Blue Star, which had no line up but a steady customer base. We arrived quite late as well, so probably why there was no line up. They close when their donuts run out, so we were lucky to still get some!

I love how the store uses natural sunlight through the glass windows. It feels clean and modern inside. There’s also complimentary water here.

They don’t have as many varieties as Voodoo, but I find that shops with a limited menu usually have better quality food. They have a display case with their donuts and the flavours change daily. The dough is made from scratch every day and their ingredients are all sustainable or organic. The donuts are also cooked with rice oil and are glazed to order.

Real Maple & Bacon

Their donuts follow a Brioche recipe, so I found that the dough was very light and not dense like cheaper donuts. J went for the Real Maple & Bacon, which is a quite common flavour for donuts these days. The sweet and salty seem to always work and who can say no to desserts with bacon on it?

Passion Fruit Cocoa Nib

K and I shared the Passion Fruit Cocoa Nib, which was super unique! The passion fruit brought the sourness, but it was well balanced with the cocoa nibs which were sweet. Who knew that the two would work so well on a donut.

Overall, from the donuts we tried, we were all very satisfied. They definitely have interesting donut flavours and reminds me of Cartems Donuterie in Vancouver. The donuts run at around $2.75, but are well worth it. If you’re looking for unique flavours and quality, then Blue Star Donuts does just that. It seems that Voodoo would be more for unique visual presentation.

Heart Coffee Roasters – Portland

October 16, 2014October 14, 2014Leave a comment

The next morning, we wanted to go grab breakfast at Screen Door, since we heard it’s really popular. And of course, there was a huge wait again. We waited a while, but we realized it would be another 2 hour wait. Annoyed by all this waiting time we’ve been having in Portland, we decided to skip it. We were pretty fed up especially since we drove all the way to the East side. Nearby, Heart Coffee Roaster looked hip and cool, so we decided to grab a quick snack before we headed off to look for more food.

Coffee and Cheese Croissant

J got a Coffee with a Cheese Croissant. The Cheese Croissant was pretty good since it was flaky. J said the coffee was pretty good too. Their coffees are mainly from Central America, South America, and Africa.

Chocolate Cookie

For myself, I went for the Chocolate, which was a huge disappointment. It was chewy, but hard at the same time. Way too chewy perhaps. It also had an odd flavour to it and didn’t taste like regular chocolate cookies.

Overall, Hearts seems to be a great place for coffee, but their other items might be a miss. They also don’t offer wi-fi on the weekends which is odd. The place is great to study and hang out though.

Salt & Straw – Portland

October 14, 2014October 13, 2014Leave a comment

After 5 hours of driving, we finally arrived in Portland and settled into our hotel at Park Lane Suites. It’s a pretty nice hotel for the price and was located quite near downtown city centre. After dropping our stuff off, we decided to take a walk in the neighborhood and try Salt & Straw, which is a famous ice cream shop.

The inside is hip with cool music blasting and friendly servers. It reminds me of Earnest Ice Cream, with unique flavours. The inside smells like freshly made waffle cones too!

There’s a line up, but it’s really not that bad. The servers will come up to you and ask if you would like to sample some flavour. They then bring you spoons with the samples to try before you even get to the ordering area. That way, it speeds things up.

They have their classic menu, but also a seasonal menu. They were featuring a summer harvest series, which included sweet corn, apricots, peaches, and plums. A favourite classic that many talk about is the Pear and Blue Cheese, which I actually sampled and surprisingly thought was really good! A odd combo and for someone whose not a blue cheese fan, I actually still liked it! They also have sundaes, ice cream floats, milkshakes, and draft beverages.

Honey Lavender

For myself, I ended up with the Honey Lavender. I’m a sucker for floral flavored food, or food items that use flower petals.

The Honey Lavender uses Oregon-grown lavender petals which are steeped in honey to extract the floral flavor. The honey used is from Bee Local which is harvested from urban hives all around Portland. I loved the hint of floral but sweetness from the honey. It was smooth and creamy! A huge scoop in a huge waffle cone as well. I believe it only came to $5.

Oregon Peaches with Toasted Walnuts

K went for the seasonal flavour of Oregon Peaches with Toasted Walnuts. It’s made with freshly pureed peaches and mixed with toasted walnuts. Super refreshing.

Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons

J got the Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons. It uses Fleur de Sel and is topped off by ribboning in hand-burned caramel that is made in house. I loved the salty and sweet flavour!

Overall, Salt & Straw did not disappoint! If you’re an ice cream lover, you won’t be disappointed with all the unique flavours! I’d definitely revisit this ice cream shop again!

Beta5 Chocolates

September 30, 2014September 28, 2014Leave a comment

Milk Chocolate Praline, Blueberry Yuzu, Cherry Cola, 85% Dark Chocolate and Caramel

Cream puffs are one of my guilty pleasures. I’m not always craving for them, but they always make my day when I have one once in a while. There’s the go to place, like Beard Papa, but Beta5 Chocolates is the place to get unique cream puffs! I’ve had one before, and finally, K came home with a box of 4 to share. How could I say no? A box of 4 will come to a price of $16. It’s quite pricey, but they’re also quite large and well worth the splurge! They recently launched the Cherry Cola, which is the one with a red piece of chocolate. I loved the hint of cherry flavour, but it was mostly a cola flavour. Felt a little fizzy actually. The Milk Chocolate Praline, which was dusted with icing sugar, was also quite good, with the milk chocolate being very creamy and smooth. I liked how it wasn’t too sweet.

Blueberry Yuzu

The Blueberry Yuzu had a yellow piece of chocolate on top. Beta5 is very famous for their chocolates, so of course even the piece of chocolate was smooth. The cream puff shell’s texture is a bit different from typical cream puffs. It’s a bit harder, so even when you cut into it, the shape stays.

The Blueberry Yuzu was very refreshing. It was filled mostly with vanilla cream, but you could taste the slightly sour taste of the yuzu. The blueberry jam was great to bring sweetness to the puff.

85% Dark Chocolate and Caramel

The 85% Dark Chocolate and Caramel of course came with a piece of dark chocolate with a speck of gold. The puff itself was chocolate flavoured and filled with dark chocolate cream and caramel, which made it extra smooth and creamy. One of my favourites out of the four I tried!

Overall, Beta5 is a great change to your typical Beard Papa or store bought cream puffs. They are slightly pricey, but a great treat once in a while. I just wish their location wasn’t so far off. Their hours also close when most people get off work…so it’s always hard for me to get more!

Forty Ninth Parallel Café & Lucky’s Doughnuts (Main St.)

September 28, 2014September 28, 2014Leave a comment

Since Shishinori closed pretty early, and we wanted to get some sort of desserts so we could continue our conversations, we ended up driving a few blocks down to 49th Parallel Cafe & Lucky’s Doughnuts on Main St. I believe they have a second location, but this one opens later. Free parking down in the residential areas so that’s always a plus!

The cafe is actually quite big, and there are tons of people studying or on their laptops here. There is also a patio outside, which is great for the summer. Good choice of seating as well, from communal tables to two seaters.

The cafe is famous for their coffee, but they also launched Lucky’s Doughnuts, because I mean, coffee and doughnuts do sound like a good pairing right? Since we came pretty late, we were disappointed to see that most of the unique doughnuts were all sold out. The lady said they wouldn’t be baking any new ones soon, so we had to just settle with what there was. The doughnuts are supposed to be made fresh everyday throughout the day. S said that if you come here in the morning, you can get the freshest and best choice of doughnuts!

Coconut Bismark

The only more unique doughnut left was the Coconut Bismark, which had a coconut cream filled inside and vanilla glaze on top. It was then topped off with a Swiss meringue and some toasted coconut flakes. It was very creamy and sweet. Very strong in coconut flavour for sure.

Sugar and Spice

Sugar and Spice was more like a cake-based doughnut. It was dusted with sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom, so it tasted quite like your typical mini doughnuts at the fair but not as soft.

Since I’m not a coffee drinker, I went for the teas instead. I chose the Organic Fujian Bohea Black Tea, which had a fruity and honey aroma. I love how you get your own teacup and their signature mug.

Overall, Forty Ninth Parallel Café & Lucky’s Doughnuts is a great place to have late night conversations, or to even study. I wish there was a closer one to Richmond, so we have more choices other than the typical chain stores.