That Hong Kong restaurant

Today Yuki and I decided to hang out with some of our female friends and show them around the Dongqu area (東區). Unfortunately, we didn't expect to walk into a ghost town. This area is usually a very trendy and busy area for young adults. However. I guess on an early Sunday noon hour, all the shop owners are sleeping in. Thus there wasn't much to see other than window shopping (literally). Since it was too early, we decided to take an early lunch. Earlier last week, Yuki discovered a nice cafe with a large outdoor patio in the Dongqu area and wanted to try it out. I forgot the name, sorry. It has a small driveway in the front, leading to a large double door. Once inside you get a nice sensation of industrial cement, mixed with earthy wood and muted photos. Nice, but I'm not sure what it reminds me of. We ended up outside on the patio anyways. Just as we sat down, the sun started to peek through and warm us up. The weather was starting to agree with me. Slightly cool in the shade and slightly warm in the sun. We each ordered our meals. Some soup, grilled chicken pita and nachos. I didn't try out the soup, but it looked very creamy and tasty (cream of corn). My grilled chicken pita ended up being OK. The pita bread was over grilled, so it was too fragile to pick up and eat. Putting wasabi mayonnaise on it didn't help either. So I guess they expect you to fork and knife it. That ok, I can roll with that. The chicken was pretty good as it really works with that wasabi mayonnaise, but not spectacular. It could have been larger (slightly smaller than my hand) for the price of $220. The nachos was by far the worst disappointment. It's Doritos with flavorless sour cream, sweet salsa and so called "nacho cheese" orange sauce. Yuki said the tastes didn't match. According to her, the Doritos have too strong of a processed cheese flavor and it clashed with the salsa and sour cream. There's a reason why it's done with Tortilla chips. Unfortunately, we didn't get to try out any coffee. Perhaps that's where their skills are at. In my opinion, this place is like a dumb supermodel; Pretty on the outside, but damn bland and empty on the inside. If you happen to end up at this joint, please stay away from the food. The chef needs to go back to culinary school or arrested for selling overpriced Dorito chips. After our lackluster lunch, we continued our troll around the Dongqu area. Thankfully some of the shops started opening up. It was around 1:30 in the afternoon. So note to readers, don't come here before 2pm on a Sunday, it's deadsville. Luckly, along with the weather, shopping got more sunny and bright. We discovered a cute little treats and tea shop with a heavy influence of white and pink antique decor. It had a vintage (possible circa 1940's) expresso machine. The tall shiny copper ones with elaborate designs on the corners. And glass tubes of various hard candies lined up in the front, reminiscent of an victorian candy shop of yesteryear. There's also a small gift shop in the back full of unique food themed gifts. Although this is much better suited for females only, it won't look awkward as long as you have a few female companions in the vicinity. Haha. I wouldn't mind having high tea with cupcakes here. This store is called VVG Bon Bon and the cupcakes run about $80 NT each. *Photo from Google Images. After that, we hopped on to the MRT over to Ximending to look for some messenger bags. But you don't want to hear about that. Fast forward a few hours, my friends all headed home as I headed over to church.

Later on in the night, post church, Yuki and I decided to check out a new indian + pizza place at the Shida night market with some new friends that we met in church in tow. We walked through the heavy crowds to finally arrive at the end of a street in the Shida night market. Newly opened and rather busy, it's called Bollywood Pizza. Lucky we were early enough to not have to wait for a table of five. Because shortly thereafter, the restaurant started to fill up. We ordered a thai chicken pizza and a lamb curry pizza along with a pasta. The pizzas were a bit pricey at $300+ per pie. One could suffice for two people, however two small people. I'm pretty sure I can finish a whole one by myself. The pizzas ended up pretty tasty. Although, not a lot of spice as I had hoped, as it may be more catered to the Taiwanese taste buds. Oddly enough, I found the Thai chicken pizza better than the Lamb Masala pizza. However I have three big gripes with the pizza. 1. All the indian pizzas are masala curry based. No tandoori, Makhani, Vindaloo in site. Come on, lets get some variety here! 2. Pees! What the hell are peas doing on my pizza! 3. Shitty thin crumbly bread. It's more like toasted pita bread than pizza bread. I think I have to blame the Taiwanese influence here. Most "pizza" places I go to in Taiwan prefer to use this thin, flavorless toasted pita bread type crust and pass it off as pizza bread. The one at Bollywood Pizza was the worst, it couldn't hold up it own weight because it was so weak and thin. It makes it a very annoying and messy dining experience having to use a fork to eat most of my pizza that just fell onto my plate. The pasta was so-so. Not exactly sure what it was, but it tasted fine, despite being drenched in sauce. I felt like I was eating noodle soup, not pasta. To the owner, if you ever get a chance to read this, use some real pizza bread and you might have two decent pizza dishes. Otherwise, I don't see this restaurant lasting more than 3 months after the "new place" allure dies down.

Lastly, for dessert we headed to a Hong Kong style restaurant in the Shida night market. Now this deserves a new paragraph. I've eaten here before when I tried out their pineapple bun (菠蘿包, Bo Luo Bao) to-go, but never entered the restaurant. They actually call it ice-fire pineapple bun with butter (冰火菠蘿油). The name of the place is hohomei (好好味港式菠蘿包). Despite the small store front, there is usually always a huge crowd waiting outside for their order of pineapple bun (Save $10 NT if you take it to go). The small front eludes to a small dining area, but in fact it's quite large and occupies two floors. Since most of the people are outside taking it to go, it wasn't difficult to find seating for 5. Once inside, I have to say, I LOVE the interior decorations. The owner, which I am honored to have met, imported over several trinkets, stairwell railings, wallpaper, movie posters from Hong Kong to decorate the place. It really gives it the feeling of a 1970's Hong Kong diner (茶餐廳). Yes, I wrote stairwell railings. Soo distinctly Hong Kong and so cool. Moving on to the food. The pineapple bun was as excellent as ever. I don't know how they get the top so crunchy, but it adds a new depth to the texture. They also sandwich a slab of butter in the middle. Totally not healthy, but you can opt for it without butter, and it would still taste awesome. The HK milk tea was also good in it's own right. In addition to the pineapple bun, we ordered 法蘭西多士。 I'm not sure what it is, but it comes recommended by the owner. It's like a peanut butter cake with butter and pastry flake. I don't know how to better describe it. Tastes awesome, but it doesn't matter, go there, order it, put it in your mouth and enjoy. Since we already had dinner, we didn't get a chance to try out their cantonese cuisine, but my friend says it's close to authentic. So i'll take his word on it and definitely put that on my list of must try out next time I'm in the Shida night market. The prices are decent hovering below or slightly above $100 NT. The Dinxi 茶餐廳 was not satisfactory for me as a proper HK style diner (茶餐廳) and it takes advantage of the Hong Kong name by putting a premium on in it's pricing. Oh one last thing, to "Custard" girl if your reading this, 好好味港式菠蘿包 has egg custard buns (奶黃包)!

Costumice Cafe
台北市忠孝東路四段223巷71弄6號1樓
02-2711-8086
http://costumice-cafe.tumblr.com

VVG Bon Bon
台北市敦化南路1段61巷3號
02－2711－4505
http://www.VVGBBB.com.tw

Bollywood Pizza
台北市大安區泰順街38巷16號
02－2363－6685

Hohomei Shida location (好好味港式菠蘿包)
台北市泰順街26巷51號
02-2368-8898
http://hohomei.com.tw‎

Hohomei Zhongxiao DunHua location (好好味港式菠蘿包)
台北市復興南路1段07巷19號
02－2775－5508

My friend's Beef Panang curry

I'll keep this short and simple. For dinner my friend decided to try his hand at cooking Beef Panang curry. It was a package brought back from Thailand, for a roommate, but they never decided to cook with it. So since we already had all the ingredients we needed and not wanted to let it waste away, he cooked it up. It came out really good! Thick and soupy with enough oily spicy kick. Thanks, awesome cook!

Indian lamb curry stir-fry

So today I'd like to share with you one of my favorite dishes at the Taipei Main Train Station 2nd floor food court. I did a quick search on my past posts, and I didn't seem to have mentioned this. I've had it several times, but have failed to mention it until now. But I believe I have mentioned my favorite red meat...Lamb! Succulent fragrant Lamb! And in the curry section of the food court, all the way on the left, you see a fake food display of stir fried lamb rice in a skillet. Thats the dish. I think it goes for $140NT +$10 for a cup of soda. They used to have unlimited refills, but it seems to have changed to a larger cup and no refills. Anyways, back to the lamb. Although this dish may be a far fetch from any real indian food, I still love the execution. Some fusion of Chinese and Indian. They also give you some naan and extra juices from the pan when they cook the lamb. I love adding the juices, it adds more fatty savoriness to it. I don't know where to begin to describe it, It's cheap and quite savory with tender lamb pieces. So if you like lamb and happen to be in the Taipei Main train station, two thumbs up recommendation to try this place out or at least the whole curry food court section!

Donburi in a bucket, 一捕鮮

On Wednesday, Yuki and I walked past a japanese restaurant (一捕鮮) in in the area across from the Shida night market on our way to the gym. They served Donburi in a curious wooden pail. So we took the opportunity to go in and check out the food today. The host was very very kind and friendly. Although there was a waiting line to get a table, we still only had to wait 5 minutes. Although the curious bucket turned out to just be a fancy serving dish gimmick, it still got us in the restaurant. The food still turned out to be damn good. Nothing spectacular, but definitely above average. I like the "wooden bucket" gimmick. The donburi comes in chicken, beef, pork, and seafood (there may be one more i'm missing). But it comes with two side dishes and unlimited drink refills. They're peach tea is sweet, in a good way. And I think Yuki's Katsu curry included unlimited fries. The side dishes however is what made the experience sparkle. They're very fancy and unique. One of mine was the pumpkin skin with passion fruit sauce. Wow! crunchy and sweet and I also love nibbling on the passion fruit seeds. I loved it. I'll take a jar of that home please. All this, for a odd price of $138. I don't remember how much the katsu curry was, but most dishes were under the $200 mark.

No. 1號, PǔChéng Street, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106 across from the Shida Night Market. (PS google map is way off)

Murano

I went with Yuki and my language partner to a new restaurant that my language partner recommended to me. It's called Murano. It's near the DunHua station. The interior design is very beautiful. The owner must love tiffany stained glass because they decor is all stained glass and Tiffany lamps. Some I believe to be real and most probably fake. There was one lamp next to our table that had a price tag on it for $10,000 USD. And they still use it. Not often do you get have dinner lit by a $10,000 Tiffany lamp. The food was only OK. I had the curry beef over rice. But I tried some of Yuki's pasta, and it was better. So next time I should stick to their pastas. I did like my coffee though. It tasted very good and the creme/coffee mixture would cascade down the frosty glass and paint what seemed to me like NY city and the empire state building :) See the picture, i swear! The cost is relatively low, with a set menu of an appetizer, drink and dinner for $280. Individual meals run around $150-200. That night, there were very few customers, so I got to enjoy a quiet and comfortable atmosphere with elegant decor. Honestly it'd be a great place to sit down and study too. Drinks are affordable and it's quite comfortable with several couches and plush chairs. If I ever return, it'd be for the environment and decor, not the food. For you Tiffany fans, come and check out the Tiffany lamps and decor, you'll be pleased!

No. 38, Lane 51, Section 1, DàĀn Rd, Daan District
Taipei City, Taiwan

Nepal Curry...eeh ok.

In search for something good and affordable to eat, Yuki and I found a Nepal curry restaurant in GongGuan. The food was ok, but the salt and pepper shakers were cute. They look like these two little ghosts hugging each other. Dessert was a pain in the ass to eat though. It was a hard gelatin "Jello" substance. So together with a small tiny spoon, it kept slipping off the spoon. So annoying! But to save the meal, the Chai Nepal milk tea was spectacular! The environment was somewhat comfortable and quiet because it wasn't that busy for that evening. The restaurant is located on the second floor with absolutely no view. The menu wasn't that large and the prices range from $200-300 NT.

Curry hot pot (咖哩香香火鍋)

Nothing out of the ordinary today. Chinese class at the MTC as usual. I also paid the remainder of my tuition so I can continue with my current semester's intensive class. Wouldn't want to be kicked out for a mere 7,000 NTD ($210USD). After class, I headed over to the Shipai night market and found a new personal hot pot place (小火鍋). They have curry flavor hot pot (咖哩香香火鍋). I love hot pot and I love curry. So Curry flavored hot pot, you can't go wrong! soo good!

Taiwanese crepe thing

Just picked this up from the ShihLin night market. There was a long line of people waiting for it, so i figured it's gotta be good. Turn out to be a deep fried cake, crushed and rolled up in a thin flour crepe. They come in several flavors. I chose curry. When they make it, they roll it up, then whack it a few times with a mallet. Tastes awesome! Does anyone know what this is?

Edit: My cousin says it's 大饼包小饼