GaKuDen is a chain of European-style bakeries found all over in Taipei. Some of the locations also doubles as coffee shops. Here’s my experience.
The visit
Inside they have a variety of baked goods and the style is self-service.
In this particular shop near Chiang Kai-shek Memorial they had a room upstairs where to take a seat.
This was my snack:
I chose a juice, a brownie and a chocolate pastry made with Valrhona chocolate. They seem to do a decent job in supplying Taipei with European bread and cakes.
The check
In total I spent 189 NTD or 6.10 USD. Not bad for spending some time of relax in a clean and comfortable place. The pastries were good.
Where in Taipei No. 316, Songjiang Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei (for the shop of my visit, but other locations are all over Taipei).
A review of Taiwanese desserts would not be complete without mentioning starch balls and ice. Eastern Ice Store is a Taipei’s favorite for this dessert.
The visit
The first step is to queue. They are pretty fast though.
Then you can choose four toppings that will be added to a paper bowl full of ice. The balls are made with tapioca and there are classic sweet bean sauces. Unfortunately all the names are in Chinese.
This is what I got in a pretty random fashion.
Adjacent to the main shop there is a room where you can consume your dessert seated.
I did not like it much. I guess it requires a local taste.
The check
This treat is very economical at 60 NTD (or a few cents shy of 2 USD).
Where in Taipei: No. 38, Lane 216, Sec. 4, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Da’an Dist., Taipei City
Breakfast in Taiwan is an unmissable food experience. Taiwanese cities are dotted by restaurants specializing in traditional breakfast dishes, sometimes opening as early as 3am in the morning (and a few even open 24h). I had my breakfast experience on a Sunday morning in a popular restaurant in Daan district near Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall.
The visit
I found a Taiwanese diner serving breakfast dishes near the exit of Sun Yat-Sen Memorial station (2 and 3). It is indicated in English as Jiang Yellow Beef Noodle Shop but the signs are in Chinese. It is correctly indicated on Google Maps.
As the name suggests, it is a noodle shop, but until 11am they have a breakfast menu. They have a menu with English translations, so ordering was pretty easy.
The kitchen was pretty busy as they were about to start to serve noodles.
My first dish was the warm soybean milk. It was better than I thought.
Then I had one of the shop’s specialties: a sesame cake rolled around fried bread and a scallion egg omelette. I am a big fan of the fried bread (someone calls it Chinese donuts). All together it was a monster dish, very filling as you can imagine.
At this point my breakfast could have already come to an end, but I also tried their rice roll. This was the version with pork floss and sweet sauce. They had on the menu also a vegetarian version that may be better.
As a side dish I had their radish cake, which was ok.
The check
I ended up paying 194 NTD (or 6.30 USD). By the way, by mistake I ordered two radish cakes (one was more than enough), so the total could have been even lower (one cake was 38 NTD).
I did not like all the food equally (the three-in-one was my favorite dish), but it was a super-filling breakfast. I could not have lunch later on (a pity, as there was a Saboten branch just around the corner).
I cannot judge whether this was a good or a just average Taiwanese breakfast, but I liked the fact that they had an English menu and the ordering process was painless.
Where in Taipei: No. 1, Lane 240, Guangfu South Road, Da’an District. In Chinese: 106台北市大安區光復南路240巷1號.
One day I will write a list of the top gastronomic experiences in Asia and one of spot will be rightfully occupied by tea houses in Taiwan. They are warmer than in Japan, more hipster than in Mainland China, and Taiwanese tea is usually flavorful.
Stop By Tea House has checks all of these boxes and is easily my favorite tea house in Taipei. I especially like their blending of traditional and modern.
The visit
The tea house is located in an alley just a stone-throw away from the all popular Yongkang street.
The interior is modern, with various sitting arrangements. On a weekend afternoon it may be difficult to find a seat.
They also sell tea and tea ware.
In my first visit I tried one of their aged Taiwanese teas. They gave me instructions on the optimal time to wait after adding the boiling water. Then I would pour the tea from the tea pot to an intermediate bowl.
On the side of the table I had a kettle with boiling water to add at my leisure.
I also had some of their traditional pastries, these with ginger.
In my second visit I was with two friends and I had their cold brew sampler. This included three different teas: Jinxuan, Dong Ding Oolong, Oriental Beauty (all three from Taiwan). Not that it is central, but the teas were marvelously presented in lab-style long vials; it was a very instagrammable set up that shows the ability of the tea house to blend tradition and modern taste.
In this second visit we tried several of their pastries and my favorite was a purple pastry with a full grape inside.
During my first visit, I was invited along with other customers to have a look at their amazing basement that they use for demonstrations and classes. There was a “river” going along the room that is used to circulate tea among the attendees. It was a magical place.
The check
In my solo visit I spent 396 NTD (there is a 10% service charge) or around 13 USD for a tea pot and a serving of pastries. Fantastic value for money for the quality of the offering.
Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my visits and I try to go back every time I am in Taipei.
Dadaocheng is an historic district in Taipei that used to be the main commercial port. In recent years, Dihua street in Dadaocheng has undergone a process of gentrification (a good one) and has become a vibrant artery combining traditional shops selling spices and teas with contemporary eateries, tea houses, and design outlets. Walking along Dihua street to get to Peacock Bistro was really a pleasure. Among other things, there was a museum dedicated to the topic of comfort women in the Second World War, a day time food market, and a temple known to people looking for their soulmate.
The visit
I had a reservation easily made through innline.app for a Saturday brunch.
The actual entrance was through a coffee shop. Many buildings on this street have this kind of false bottom. Beyond the coffee shop there was a lovely court and then the entrance to the bistro.
The dining room had a designer feeling, yet it felt warm and comfortable.
I ordered from their regular menu (no special menu for brunch) and my first dish was a delicious cauliflower soup with yam and tempura crumbs called U Ka Bu Yume. Most of the dishes had Japanese influences.
The meal continued with some fried chicken (Chicken Karaage on the menu). The chicken wings were pitch black as the butter was mixed with squid ink. It was quite good, but I would have preferred a crispier skin. Inside the chicken was very juicy. It came with two dipping sauces, one made with sesame and another with cucumber yogurt. The dish was listed as an appetizer but it could have easily been shared between two people.
Finally I had a risotto called “Three Tresures”. It was made with kale, fermented tofu and included a generous portion of tenderized beef strips (indicated as shacha beef fillet on the menu).
The risotto was pleasantly spicy and all was well amalgamated together. The meat was very fresh and tender. It was a nice fusion risotto combining Chinese and Italian cuisine.
Shaved ice desserts have been popular for decades in Taiwan. They are called bào bīng (剉冰) and helped scores of Taiwanese to survive the heat of the summer. It took a man to revolutionize this traditional industry with Ice Monster.
The first Ice Monster shop was set up in the popular Yongkang street in Taipei. It was 1997. At the beginning, as told by the founder in an interview, people could not care less about his new dessert, an ice shaved mango “avalanche” (mangoes are grown in Taiwan). They wanted the traditional flavors like red beans and brown sugar. Initially he had to give away the mango desserts for free. And then the lines started to form. Soon it became a sensation.
There was a hiccup in 2010 when the flagship store had to close during a divorce dispute, but in 2012 it reopened in a new part of town: this was the store that I visited in April 2019. (In Yongkang street at the number 15 now there is a Smoothie House that is not connected with Ice Monster, but selling similar desserts.) Since its re-birth, Ice Monster has expanded in the US, Japan, and mainland China. In 2013 it was featured by CNN as one of the world’s best desserts. Lines continue to form.
The visit
The store is now located on Zhongxiao East Road in a busy shopping and entertainment district (Zara and Uniqlo have stores a couple of blocks away).
I had to endure some queue, but it moved quickly.
The store is large, but not enormous. It was pretty packed on an early Saturday afternoon.
Behind the counter, staff is constantly busy in “shaving ice” using the machines that were perfected by the founder working with a Taiwanese supplier. It took 15 minutes before I got my order (that was prepaid and placed when I stepped in the store before going to a table).
Since it was strawberry season, I had their “Strawberry Sensation” that technically is not really shaved ice, but more similar to Taiwanese snow ice, that is a variation were the base, using condensed milk, is infused in the ice (xue hua bing 雪花冰) . For the classic shaved ice you have to check the “Avalanche” items.
It came with a ball of strawberry sorbet (also available individually), a generous amount of panna cotta, strawberry pudding (including an extra glass). It was an immensely rich dessert that could satisfy two people.
The ice is incredibly soft and fluffy, with a very nice texture. It was better than the bingsu I had in Seoul, but the two are not directly comparable.
The check
This huge dessert was 260 NTD (8.5 USD). Considering that you can easily share it, it is still a steal (the price had been going up constantly though). As a comparison, in the Hawaii stores, the same dessert costs 15 USD.
House rule: minimum 100 NTD charge per person and maximum 1 hour stay. This means that most desserts, which cost more than 200 NTD, can be shared between two people, but if you have a third person in the party, you will need to order something else. Fair and square.
Where in Taipei: No.297, Sec. 4, Zhongxiao E. Rd. Taipei, Taiwan In Chinese: 台北市忠孝東路四段297號 Tip: Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Exit 1. UPDATE: this shop ended operations on September 15, 2019. List of other stores in Taiwan, China, Japan, and Hawaii: https://www.ice-monster.com/store-
Yu Chocolatier is not another chain or random French brand mechanically replicated abroad. It is the result of the tenacity and passion of a Taiwanese young man, chef Yu, that embarked on a journey to become a chocolatier. For 18 months, he studied in France and then he went back to Taipei where in 2015 opened a shop. In my experience this kind of stories breed the best food experiences.
The visit
The shop is located on a quiet side street in Daan district in Taipei. It took me a while to find it as the store front disguises the little beautiful boutique inside.
The small counter displayed a bounty of different creations.
In my first visit, I sat down in one of the few tables available in the back of the store. They take reservations and I was lucky enough that a table was available for just the right time.
I had a hot chocolate (their original blend) that was excellent (I appreciated that it was not served deadly hot) and one of their best-sellers, a chocolate tart. I must confess that I did not like the tart so much because it was too sweet.
However I went back and I bought a few pastries to share with friends. The packaging was impressive, but the content even more.
I and my friends thoroughly enjoyed every single cake. The first one (top right) was a chocolate pastry with a mango slice. The flavors were perfectly fused together. The round pastry (top left) was a seasonal creation with orange and jasmine flavors. The two pastries pictured on the bottom were an exquisite Montblanc and a version of an Opera cake. All of them were extremely delicate and not too sweet like the tart I initially had.
I must say that this sample does not do complete justice to the variety and creativity of the pastries available that mix spirits, tropical fruits, and chocolate in very creative ways. Definitely a place to visit again and again.
The check
The tart and the hot chocolate cost me “only” 350 NTD (11.35 USD). If you consider that I could eat seated at a table and I even got free water, that’s really reasonable.
The four pastries I shared with friends cost me a total of 860 NTD (28 USD), or around 7 USD per pastry. Not cheap, but absolutely acceptable given the quality of the creations.
I am honestly in love with this chocolaterie and I will make it a mandatory stop in my next trips to Taipei.
If you do not like raw fish, stop reading. On a trip in Taipei (April 2019) I came across a Japanese-style izakaya in a residential area. Izakayas are quite popular in Taipei and usually are open till late. Next to the izakaya, there is a high-end Japanese restaurant that I shall try one day.
The visit
I arrived very early on a Saturday evening (before 6pm) and the place was already bustling with diners. I was accommodate at the counter.
And I was offered a free appetizer. The menu was also available in English, which is nice because it is not so common in this kind of establishment.
My main order was a bowl of sashimi. I really could not expect to be served ginormous pieces of sashimi. There was salmon, swordfish (in rolls), a cube of tuna, and yellow tail.
The pieces of sashimi were almost one centimeter thick. In some restaurants, a single slice like this would make a full dish. It was epic.
I could have avoided to order anything else, but I also had a pairs of sushi: tuna and hamachi.
I also had some potatoes with mentaiko, but the dish was too big (I guess designed to be shared) and I did not like them so much.
Before leaving I was offered free dessert: some sweat soup and apple.
The check
After 10% service charge, the check came to 1230 NTD (or 40 USD).
The sashimi bowl was alone 550 NTD (18 USD). Two people could have easily been fed by what I ordered, so I would say that this izakaya is very good value for money, especially for the fresh sashimi.
Sometimes is nice to find a no-frill place like Kingyo Izakaya where the focus is just good food. I would certainly go back to have again that bowl of sashimi. They also have a number of set menus (advertised as kaiseki meals) and some reasonably priced lunch sets. Hotpot seemed to be another favorite of the diners that I saw during my visit.
Where in Taipei: No.18, Lane 233, Yanji St, Da’an Dist, Taipei 106, Taiwan In Chinese: 台北市大安區延吉街233巷18號 Check their menu from the website (their website is in Chinese, but the menu page is also translated): http://www.kingyotaipei.com/menu.htm
It is rare that food, presentation, service and venue (not to mention the company) all line up to create the perfect dining experience. That’s what happened in this lunch at Leputing around Christmas 2018 that I had the joy to share with two friends (I was invited, I did not know about the restaurant).
The visit
The restaurant is located in a Japanese-style house that separates itself from the surroundings made of high-rise residential buildings.
This is not ordinary building. It is the result of a 18-month long restoration project to bring back to life an abandoned building from the colonial past (Japan ruled Taiwan from 1895 to 1945). This is what is explained on Leputing’s website:
Leputing used to be the Nishikicho [Japanese name of the area] Japanese-style dormitory used by officials of the Forestry Bureau, but it was later abandoned for a long time. Through collaboration with Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Lead Jade Life & Culture team was entrusted in 2013 to care for this old building of historical and cultural significance.
(Another source indicates that the building was actually a granary, maybe it was both a dormitory and a deposit.)
They did a spectacular job in restoring and preserving the building adding a zen and a rock garden. Various works of art also embellish the environment (see the picture on top of this page).
The food was not less appealing than the history of the venue. The first dish was a salad including shrimps, pickled radish, and cucumber. I was informed that all the ingredients were attentively sourced from Taiwan.
The second entree was tofu and a kind of smoked white fish. It is nice how they made the tofu and the fish look very similar… It was surmounted by soy bean crumbs and lily bulbs. The dish was nothing short of delicious and again the presentation was just beautiful.
Then we had a soup with mushrooms and foie gras. The soup was chicken stock and it was poured in the bowl at the table. Another delicious dish.
Then I can show you three mains as everyone in the party took a different one. The first was short ribs with hon-shimeji mushrooms (also known as the Japanese honey mushroom for it lobster-like taste) and sunchokes. As you can see, every component of every dish is carefully hand-picked.
The second main was a fish filet with seaweed butter sauce.
Finally, the third main was chicken roulade (“rolled”) with pea puree and mushrooms.
All the mains were phenomenal but the chicken was probably the winner. I learnt that it was free-range chicken from a farm close-by and the roulade components were perfectly amalgamated and did not distract from the chicken juicy flavor.
But we were not finished yet. We also had a rice dish (in kaiseki meals it is never missing and this set menu was reminescent of a kaiseki).
This was not just any rice. It was Chihshang rice from Chihshang Township in Taiwan. According to the distributor:
Back in the age of Japanese colonization, Chihshang rice was the tribute to offer to the Japanese Emperor, so it was called the “Tribute rice”. The world-famous “Chihshang meal box” exactly originated here. The ingredient which the meal box has advertised is exactly the Chihshang rice.
Chihshang Township is located in the purest and most natural area where rice is produced in the Hualien-Taitung Longitudinal Valley. It is also between the Central Range and Costal Range and on the valley plain of Hsinwulu River drainage basin with averagely the height of 300 meters above sea level. The soil in the paddy fields in Chihshang Township is rich with abundant organic minerals along with the rivers. There is even the only inland wetland in Taiwan, the Dapo Pool, to control the water level.
A very fitting dish for the venue. The rice was made more succulent by adding chicken fat.
The dessert had three components. First, a delicate brown sugar cookie with a scoop of apple and sea salt flavored ice cream (not the usual vanilla, thanks). Second, some Taiwanese black tea.
Third, some German fruit bread (stollen). Very fitting given the time of the year (almost Christmas day).
Overall this lunch was an impeccable dining experience, emphasizing local and Japanese ingredients for creative and unique dishes where all the components made a contribution to the final substance of the dish.
The check
I do not really have a check because I was treated to this lunch. However lunch sets range from 1.200 to 1.700 NTD (39 to 55 USD). Only set menus were available. Dinner set menus are more expensive, but mostly below the 100 USD mark. Considering the quality of the food and the overall experience, I would be happy to pay this kind of money for a similar lunch (or dinner).
Leputing is a great restaurant that I highly recommend and I will try to go back in 2019.
This was my Christmas 2018 lunch! I had found that in Taiwan there were some outposts of an upscale American steakhouse called Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse (the strange name came about because the new owner, Ruth, had to relocate the restaurant due to a fire but for some reason she could not use the old name in the new location, so she just added hers in front). This seemed like the right place where to satisfy my hunger for a steak in Kaohsiung,
The visit
I headed to the steakhouse directly from the high speed train station using the metro. It is very close to a metro exit (number 2, City Council Station), but it was not so easy to find because the restaurant was located on the 25th floor of a nondescript building; there were no signs clearly visible and at the time of my visit the ground floor was vacant, so it may be easy to miss. But eventually I made it.
The dining room was elegant, with both tables and booths. Not many people on Christmas Day.
A waitress took me to my assigned booth not without letting me know her name (a classic American touch). I was promptly served the bread, still warm, and the butter.
I started with pan-seared tuna (I would say tataki style). Quite good, but the sauce was probably too spicy.
The this monster came: a 310-gram corn-fed USDA prime filet beef. It was perfectly cooked medium rare. The steak was served sizzling on a plate 260 degree hot with a light layer of butter. When it arrived it was really sizzling and it helped keeping the steak warm.
I can only say that it was one of the best steaks had in my years in Asia. Probably the best. The filet was splendidly tender and the big chunk was perfectly cooked (it is not so easy to cook this cut of filet).
Also had mashed potatoes as a side, which I finished, even if it was a large portion.
The check
Total check was 2805 NTD (or 91 USD). The steak alone was 1947 NTD or 63 USD. As compared to Mainland China this was a bargain. And this was one of the priciest cuts in the menu. Taiwan really maintains reasonably priced restaurants.
A great meal, highly recommended. They are also in Taipei and Taichung, where I suspect you would find exactly the same service and menu.
Where in Kaohsiung: No. 211, Zhongzheng 4th Rd, Qianjin District, 25th floor. Could not find online booking options, but you can call: +886 7 241 8888.
