Danshui Fisherman's Wharf

Despite the dreary, rainy and grey day it was, my Aunt was intent on showing me the Danshui Fisherman's Wharf (淡水漁人碼頭). So far I've only been to the Danshui old streets and haven't ventured out to the Fisherman's Wharf. Probably due to laziness as usual. So I have to thank her for dragging me over. I appreciate it. You can get there via MRT+Bus. After taking the MRT all the way to the most northern station of Danshui (now called Tamsui), we exited and waited around for my Aunt's friend to show up. During our wait I discovered a small food stall selling Taiyaki. I go all crazy over Taiyaki. Not only are they small fish shaped cakes but it's filled with delicious custard or red bean. I've found them filled with other fillings before, but this place only offers the two. It reminds me of my favorite Taiyaki shop back in California called Sweet Breams. I miss the weekly off-the-wall flavor specials. The Danshui station shop does have a particularly unique fish mold. The fish come out even smaller, in these perfect bite-sized and slightly pudgy fishies. Cute enough I almost couldn't eat them...almost. It costs $100 for a school of 10. Afterwards we headed on the bus to the Fisherman's Wharf. Bus R23, R26, 836 all take you there. Upon arrival we went straight to the dim sum restaurant on the first floor of a large luxury hotel that when viewed upon from afar, looks like a cruise ship. Unfortunately we arrived a bit too late in the afternoon and they were closing up. It's one of my aunt's favorite dim sum places in Taipei. So moving on, we walked down to the boardwalk scenery area along the shore. The boardwalk which sits right above all the restaurants offer some great views. The boardwalk will take you to the end of the pier and to the famous Lover's bridge. In addition, the restaurants/cafes below offer the same great view but under shelter on a inhospitable weathered day like today. Most of them have a panoramic window on the back wall facing the water. During the evenings, they have live bands and much more of a festive atmosphere for young couples. NOt so much of that activity during a dreary weekday afternoon though. My Aunt recommend coming on a weekend day before sunset between 4-5pm, so you can watch the sunset and the lights of Bali (neighboring seaside town) light up across Tamsui river.

Tokiya 陶板屋

Tonight I was in for a pleasant surprise. I was recommended to a nice restaurant called Tokiya 陶板屋. They have several locations across Taipei, including Ximending area, Zhongshan MRT area, Dongqu area, Songjian Nanjing MRT station area and many more. During the booking process for a Sunday evening, we discovered that it was a very popular restaurant even for a Sunday evening. We booked at 4pm for a 7pm reservations. Most locations were booked full for the evening except for one at 8:30. That was the Songjian Nanjing one. Once I arrived, although very late due to being horrible lost, I found the place to have a very nice interior design. It had a simple post modern design with blacks and white and some wood in places. With the addition of the mirrors, the black shelves and see through boxy art railings, it was hard to determine where the walls are. Or where one room started or ended. So despite the restaurant having a small dining area, they designed it to be a nicely put together optical illusion. I find that common with restaurants in Taipei though, as real estate here is expensive. Tokiya however pulled it off nicer than I've seen at other places. Moving on to the cuisine. It's a set menu restaurant. Which means there are no individual plate orders. I like that. It gives variety in small portions to keep your tastes buds guessing. You get to exercise every part of your palate if the set menu is chosen correctly. Looking over the menu, the cuisine seems to be a fusion of Japanese, Chinese and Western. It's a six course set menu with a salad, antipasto, soup, rice roll, main course and dessert. But there is also an unlimited refill mulberry vinegar juice and a final after meal drink. All this for a minor hit to your wallet at $500+10% service charge. The meal turned out gastronomically sublime! The garlic seafood consomme soup was full bodied with flavor. The beef steak with fried garlic and plum was cooked perfectly medium rare and perfectly tender. Supplementing the steak was a red wine sauce and it was beautiful. The hint of bordeaux danced on my taste buds. The final note in this symphony though, was the mulberry vinegar juice. It was considerable sour, but that was a good thing as it was a stark contrast to the rest of the meal. It offers a tasteful reset button to my palette, getting it ready for that next performance. All in all, as you can tell, I was very satisfied with this meal. I know I knock a lot of restaurants for their lack luster attempt at american cuisine. But I believe this restaurant is different. It doesn't try to be something it isn't. This was a nice fusion of multicultural cuisine, taking the best of each and representing it individual unique characteristics. The master chef at some point must have went abroad to study Chinese, Japanese or Western cuisine or all three to really understand it. I hope some of you get a chance to try this place out. At least in my book, it scores with high marks with out having too high of a price tag. Here's some of the other menu items that I had and some that I didn't get to try. If you go, let me know what you had and your opinion. Thank you!
*Images taken from Tokiya's facebook page

Celery and Smoked Chicken Roll

Tokiya Set: Steak and Fish

Caramel-Nut Cheesecake

Osmanthus and Dark Plum Tea (Excellent!)

Tiramisu Iced Coffee, Apple and Apricot Macchiatto, Grapefruit and Basil Seed Juice


Tokiya 陶板屋
台北市敦化南路二段164號2樓
02-2732-5660

台北市松山區復興北路375號
02-2718-1268

台北市南京東路二段178號2樓
02-2504-1711

台北市光復南路286號B1
02-2741-1600

新北市板橋區文化路一段145號
02-2969-5770

新北市中和區中山路二段369號
02-2228-9918

plus others, see website http://www.tokiya.com.tw

A hidden eat called Rice Cafe

Yes, it's that time again. Farewell to another Shida 師大中文中心 student/friend. He'll be heading back to New Zealand in a week. So today, we all decided to gather at another small and quaint restaurant that Taipei has so many of. It's tucked away in a small alley in YongKang Jie 永康街 right behind the Shida campus. The restaurant only has about 8 tables, so the wait was 30 minutes. It would be best to have someone come early to make the walk-in reservations because phone-in reservations are not allowed. The outside wall is made of sandstone colored brick with a simple backlit sign that reads Rice Cafe. The interior design is very simple with one long wood bench along the back wall, sandstone colored wallpaper and gleaming white tables. I liked the blue swirl accented glass cups. The collective atmosphere kind of gives off a Japanese beach feeling. As a group, we ordered Katsu-donburi (deep fried pork cutlets over rice), Tempura-donburi, shabu shabu, Japanese style Mapu tofu donburi and Korean-Japanese Kimchi donburi. If you see a reoccurring theme of donburi, it's because Rice Cafe is known for it's great Donburi. It's also known for bringing in a more authentic Japanese cuisine to Taiwan. The restaurant Rakumenya Ramen (樂麵屋) next door is also run by the same owner and brings in it's own culinary following of authentic ramen lovers. The Mapu tofu donburi was of my choosing. At first I dismissed the dish as a Chinese-Japanse fusion. But my knowledgable girlfriend corrected me saying that Japan does have it's own traditional version of Mapu tofu. The kimchi dish however I believe is a fusion recipe. The Mapu tofu donburi turned out spectacular! The rice base is a subtle sweet koshihikari rice, with a slightly spicy and tangy mapu tofu on top, topped off with a little saffron was absolutely the best dish on our table in my opinion. I sampled some of the other donburi dishes, and they just didn't compare to this unique flavor. I highly recommend trying this dish out. Or some of the other menu items that sound equally delicious, but more expensive, like the Chirashi bowl and steak donburi. Prices were quite reasonable for the quality, $180-$350. The donburi bowls also come with pickled sides and miso soup to add to the value. I really enjoyed my meal and would be willing to share this experience with others in the future. It is truly a rare gem of a restaurant in Taipei when it can offer value, authenticity, AND quality.

Rice Cafe
No. 7號, Lane 10, Yǒngkāng Street, Daan District
Taipei City, Taiwan (台北市永康街10巷7號)
11:30-2:30PM 5:30-9:30PM (closed Tuesdays)
02-2394-8236

Home cookin': Soy milk hot pot

Here's something different. Soy milk hot pot. My girlfriend's friend sent it to her as a care package from Japan. I'm not sure of the origins, Japanese or Chinese or other. But I do know it has a oddly striking appearance. I'm used to sour cabbage hot pot, mala hot pot or other broths. But the broth on this is white. At first glance at a restaurant, prior to today, I didn't know what it was. My girlfriend enlightened me on it. So tonight after some time of wonder, I got to try it out. It turned out rather light in flavor and not really much of a soy milk taste. Which is good. Hot pot can sometimes be pretty heavy and oily, so this is a refreshing option. Add more vegetables and seafood, and less meat and it's a rather healthier and lighter feeling meal. If i'm in a hot pot restaurant next time and it's an option, I wouldn't mind trying it again. Anyone know where this soy milk version originated from?

Irodori 鮨彩 @ Megacity

There's a new mall that has opened in Banqiao. It's part of the FE21 chain and is called MegaCity 大遠百. It's right accross from the Banqiao MRT station and New Taipei City City Hall and fairly close to the original FE21 mall. The new mall is a very modern took with outward slanted windows. The courtyard in front has been remodeled to include a lower level atrium and a giant Christmas tree in the middle. The Interior design of the food court area is awesome. It's modeled after Venice. So there are Venetian boats in a water filled canal, a 3 story Venetian building facade and lamps, pillars and walkways all tying into the theme. In fact I shouldn't say it's the food court, but the restaurant avenue. The basement floor is the food court. Don't worry, they created another themed world of visual delight there too. The Food Republic, the name of the food court, is painstakingly modeled from ceiling to floor to resemble the 40's era of China/Taiwan. They have rustic store fronts, with wood paneling, clay shingles and wooden beams. The old wooden chairs, lanterns, and various decorative items (including some old rusty bikes and straw baskets) help bring the atmosphere back 70 years. It's part museum and the coolest food court I know of in Taipei. But moving on, my parents, my cousin and I decided to try out one of the restaurants on the Venetian floor (9th i think). However it's Chinese New Years and most of the restaurants were booked, limiting our choices. Fortunately we were able to get a table at Irodori Sushi, one of our top choices. The interior resembles a simple and humble Japanese restaurant, not thing to elaborate much about. After sitting, we quickly decided on a set meal for 4. It turned out to be way too much food. After the salad, vegetables sticks and loads of sushi, there was still the hot pot. The beef that the hot pot came with probably weighed in over 2 kilograms. If you click through to the original image size, you may be able to make out the thickness of the pile 'o meat. Consequently, less than half way in, we all quit and called for a doggie bag. The quality of the sushi was excellent and the presentation was great. The bill ran into just under $1000 NT per person, so it's not going to be a cheap meal unless you stay away from the sushi. But note for the future, the set meal for four can definitely be split more thinly with 5 or even 6 people. The price will definitely be worth it for five people. Nice place overall and recommended. Great Venetian atmosphere, great service and perfect for a lazy saturday after some shopping (for people with fat wallets). Perhaps I appreciate it more that it's not on my checkbook. So big thanks, Mom and Dad!

*MegaCity Venetian floor and Food Republic picture credit goes to http://www.wretch.cc/blog/bajenny. Thank you!

Irodori Sushi 鮨彩 in the Banqiao Mega City Department store
新北市板橋區新站路28號9樓(板橋大遠百)
http://www.zoe-grp.com/irodorisushi

Oil rice with rice wine chicken

First off, due to some really confusing and complicated favor, I ended up having to meet Yuki for lunch at her work to deliver something. Which I'm quite OK with, because I've been wanting to join her for a weekday lunch for some time now. We ended up at a Japanese restaurant with rather cheap prices for the non-sushi items on the menu. Probably because it's Daan district and there are many local businesses around. For what our meal costs, it was a rather respectable clean and well decorated place. I asked the waitress for a glass of ice water (with ice cubes) and it took her a while to understand that and then she gave me a weird look. Asians like luke warm water, because they think ice water is bad for your health. I don't buy into it. But whether I do or not, it was a hot day and my body runs abnormally hot so I was burning up. My katsudon lunch turned out pretty good. Reminds me of my favorite Katsudon place in San Mateo, CA next to the Suruki super market. However the miso soup is something completely different. For some reason, my miso soup tasted sour. I don't know if it was a different variation of miso base they use, but that's not what i'm used to. I've tried hundreds of miso soups in Taiwan and in the states, never tasted a sour one. So I left it alone, for fear of getting sick from spoiled miso. Luckily dinner was better. Yuki's workplace gifted her a package of glutinous rice with mushrooms aka "oil rice" (油飯). It came in a fancy box, like it was some japanese dessert cake. But upon opening it, we discovered it was not sealed. So it's more like a bento box than a gift box. It's a good thing I felt like eating immediately tonight rather than storing it in the fridge for a later day. The rice turned out excellent! Not too oily and all the great traditional taste of good You Fan (油飯). It came with two chicken thighs and two eggs. Despite the pink coloring of the eggs, they're just normal boiled eggs. The chicken had a fried skin on it. But after being packaged for a few hours, it was soggy. Still great, but I'd like to try it when it was fresh and possible crispy from the frier. What was surprising was the chicken meat. It had a rice wine taste to it. Similar to drunken chicken or three cups chicken (三杯雞). Very very tasty and of course it tastes better when it's free. Thanks Yuki's company! Google mapping the name 太子油飯 (found on the box), brought up a location in Taipei. It's near the Daqiaotou MRT station (大橋頭捷運站). I must remember the next time I'm near that area, that there's a good 油飯 place, hopefully a restaurant and not a take-out only. All's well that ends well.

Home cookin': Kimchi Beef with potatoes

Yuki decided to cook some japanese dinner for me tonight. Well mayhaps not entirely Japanese as she could find a few key ingredients, so she substituted. She made a Kimchi Beef with potatoes and Bonito soup. So I guess it's a Korean/Japanese fusion dish? Anyways, I really like the combination. I'm do not know what went into this, but it tasted great! And the soup was awesome too. She soaked bonito flakes in boiling water, then strained out the bonito flakes to extract the flavor into the soup. Then she added mochi balls and beef balls and some vegetables. No need to describe it any further, because you'll never be able to experience her cooking. Haha just kidding. If you make it over here to Taipei and meet me and Yuki, I'm sure we can work something out. Sorry, the photo did not come out so well.

Shin Yeh: Japanese

The second selection of the three restaurants was Shin Yeh. Shin Yeh is a Taiwanese restaurant that usually serves Taiwanese food, but they have one location that serves Japanese style. At first I thought it was the 101 Shin Kong Mitsukoshi location, but it isn't. Yuki had the privilege of picking out this restaurant. Although it's not truly Japanese fare, she opted to not go completely Japanese with more traditional Japanese food. The Japanese branch of the Shin Yeh is near the Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station. When you first walk in, you'll see a female receptionist greet you in a traditional kimono in a black marble lobby accented with wood and japanese decor. They have table downstairs, but hopefully you won't be seated at any of those because all the food is upstairs. Fortunately we got seated upstairs next to the windows. The food turned out to be pretty darn good. Of course, there is still a lot of Taiwanese dishes and Taiwanese influenced Japanese dishes, but it's delicious. They also have unlimited beer (Taiwan beer not Asahi, sadly), wine and champaign. My only complaint about the food is the sushi selection. Other than the boring shrimp, eel, egg, octopus sushi, they only had yellowtail, salmon and tuna. But Yuki pointed something out that I never noticed before. Taiwan really doesn't have any sushi selection outside of tuna, salmon and yellowtail. Unless you go to a ridiculously expensive Japanese restaurant that can import more fish varieties. It seems to always be these same three selections. Well, in the end, I still enjoyed myself and left with a very happy tummy. The decor, food, drinks, desserts, service was all good to great. I don't remember the price tag, but expect somewhere between $500-600 NT/person. Once again I must apologize for coming back with no photos. Enjoy the one I stole from Lynette Sun courtesy of Google Images, LOL.

Shin Yeh: Zhongxiao [Japanese] branch
台北市忠孝東路4段112號2樓
02-2752-9299

Air raid day

Today was air raid day in Taiwan. I'm not entirely sure the reason why. But the way my teacher explains it, is to protect citizens during a bombing run if there happens to be a war between Taiwan and China. She says they do this every year. Sometimes twice a year if the relationship with China is bad. This is the first time in 2 years that they have done this, so I guess the relationship is good. So between 2-2:30pm no one is allowed in the streets. No pedestrians, no cars, no motorcycles. Just police like a city declared under marshall law. So Taipei becomes eerily like a ghost town. It wasn't as dramatic as I thought it'd be, because there are still a few people still on the sidewalks walking. But essentially a very quiet and empty Taipei when it's normally very busy and crowded. Moving on...writing yesterday's blog entry really got me craving for some Yakisoba. So after class, I set out to find a japanese store that sells Yakisoba. I remember it so fondly from my childhood when my japanese grandmother made it. It's so tasty and it really stands out as a special dish for me. She cooked it for me when I was living in Taipei (along time ago). So it seemed fitting to enjoy some Yakisoba again in Taipei. We found it in a small restaurant that I dined at before with a friend from Boston. It's called 紅蜻蜓食事處 (no english name that I saw). They're specialty is Yakitori and Kushiyaki. Having tried it before I can definitely recommend this place. But prepare to bring some extra cash, it's not that cheap. It won't break the bank, but is beyond my student budget for now. It's about $100 NT a plate and you'll need a few plates per person. But I was there for the Yakisoba. It turned out to be tasty too, despite not being grilled. However the serving portion was small and there was exactly two pieces of beef. They have the flavor down, but please give me more! Well, I guess it's a Yakitori bar, so I guess your supposed to order several plates at once in stead of a single plate meal. So I guess that's my fault. I shall return with more money and choose the delicious meat skewers next time instead.

No. 35之1號, YǒngKāng Street, Daan District
Taipei City, Taiwan

Hui Lai Hot Springs 會來尖石

Today, Yuki and I got up pretty damn early...for hot springs day! We've been waiting for this day for quite some time. So we headed out straight for the Taipei main station (bus terminal). We grabbed a quick on-the-go 7-11 breakfast and jumped on the bus to Hsinchu. The buses are even cheaper than the train. We got a student fare of $105 NTD. And it takes just about the same time as the train (non HSR). Despite the signs, they let you eat and drink on the bus. Don't spill though, I'm pretty sure they'll get pissed. Leather seats and very cushy, but a little short on the leg room (I'm over 6' tall) compared to the train (non HSR). But you can't beat $105 NTD and 1.5 hours. After meeting up with Lucy and friends we took a taxi straight to the Hui-Lai hot springs (會來尖石). Although the location is a little further to get to, the place was great! The bathrooms are clean and the park was pretty large. They had several hot springs with varying temperatures, two children's play pools, two swimming pools, two water slides, sauna, massage house and doctor fish. Doctor fishes or nibble fish are those tiny fishes used in medical purposes that eat dead skin from your feet to expose the healthy skin underneath. It's good for people with psoriasis. Sounds nasty but it really tickles! Back to the hot springs, They also have scented springs too, like salt and lavender. The scenery is beautiful and the park wasn't that crowded, so it was peaceful and quiet. After 4 hours or so...you kind of lose track of time, we headed back down the mountain towards the city. We had an belated birthday dinner for Grace, Lucy's roommate at Kanpai Classic Hsingchu (乾杯日式燒肉). It's a much fancier and expensive version of the flagship store in Taipei. It's japanese Yakiniku. Highly expensive and exceptional meats. I'm glad I experienced it, but not again without a nice paying job. I chose to forget the price tag, but if i recall it was above $1300/person. Perhaps i'll try the Taipei location instead. Then we headed to a sports bar afterwards and drank beer from a beer tower. All Carlsberg. Beer Tower!!!

Kanpai Classic (http://www.kanpai.com.tw/)
Hui-Lai Hot Springs (http://www.hui-lai.com.tw)

Ikki near Nanjing South MRT

Tonight I went to a very nice japanese restaurant, Ikki, with my family and Yuki near the Nanjing South MRT station. It's pretty dark inside with reflective black walls, ceiling, table and chairs. The walk way is illuminated from below with neon red lights. The restaurant gives off a very moody and secret atmosphere. I went for dinner and they only have two set menus. One $800, one $1250. The food was spectacular! With the exception of the fruit, which my Mom though was not that sweet, the set dishes were delicious. There was sashimi, rack of lamb, japanese version of carpaccio…etc. The waitress service was very very kind and attentive.They even asked us if we were full. If we weren't, they would provide extra food to fill our stomach up the rest of the way. Which I'm guessing would have been free of cost. Wow! This is an excellent place to bring the family for some nice dining, or a date if you have the finances to support it. I just can't justify it myself as a student right now. So Thank you Mom & Dad! BTW this is one of my Mom's favorite restaurants. She's been here three times. So tonight's entry, is my Mom's recommendation. Enjoy the delicious photos!

Huashan brewery, urban decay

Started out the day with a cup of spicey Xian Dou Jiang (咸豆浆).


Then some exploration into local Taipei urban decay of an old brewery. It's now called the Huashan 1914 creative park. On Weekends they have mini K-cars parked there serving small snacks. During the evening it's a good place to pick up a leaded drink.



Then finished the day off at a nice Japanese restaurant. It was a cool place. Live band suspended above the bar. The place used to be an old theatre. They had a boat of Uni pile don Uni, my favorite! and only $11, I love Taiwan!