[Taipei] Sushi Hui (鮨 蕙)

Sushi Hui (鮨蕙) was one of my favorite meals in Taipei this recent trip.  Located in a quiet alley, Sushi Hui is an Edo-mai style sushi restaurant that serves a limited number of customers every night.

[Taipei] RAW

RAW has been on my bucket list since the day it opened but reservations has been extremely difficult.  After pulling some strings, I finally got a reservation!  As one of Asia's best restaurant, RAW did not disappoint!  The ambiance, service, and flow were great!

[Taipei] Woolloomooloo Xin Yi (WXY)

This is the most "O" I have seen in a word and it's actually a real place in Australia.  This little Australian cafe/bar is a rare find in Taipei.  It has that industrial touch that is uncommon even in Taipei.

[Taipei] Old Sichuan (老四川巴蜀麻辣燙 南京東路店）

It is so cold in Hong Kong / Macau this week.  Only 9C!!! True, it's warmer than Seoul but remember, we got no central heat here so it's the indoor temperature!!!  /shivers  Winter is the most popular weather for hotpot.  As I am counting down the days to the year of the Monkey, I find all my gathering this week (reunion dinners) are hotpot related.  Speaking of hotpot, I miss the Sichuan spicy hotpot in Taipei.  It was recommended by one of my friends and it did not disappoint!

[Taipei] Melange Cafe (米朗琪咖啡館)

Happy 2016.  2015 has been a whirlwind for me.  I expect no less in 2016.  Thank you for the likes, comments, and shares on my blog posts.  I would have stopped blogging if not for you.  I still takes lots of photos when I visit restaurants but I rarely find time to write about them much anymore.  The best way to keep up with me these days is Instagram.  I will still try my best to keep this blog going but I can't really promise more than 1 post a month... So since my Taiwan collection remains the most popular of all, I will continue with this series even though I live in Macau and work in Hong Kong but travel around APAC most of the time.  LOL.

Anyways, this post is about Melange, which is quite famous for its waffles.  My first visit was for exactly that.

Spring Scream (春吶), Kenting, Taiwan (April 2015)

For some reason, attending Spring Scream in Kenting (墾丁) has always been on my bucket list.  It's like Lollapalooza in the US, Clockenflap in HK.  It so happened Spring Scream was happening the same week as Easter, which means, I only need to take 1 or 2 days off to enjoy a short trip!  Found cheap plane tickets with Cathay, booked my hostels, and off I went!  (Not to mention Yayoi Kusama was having an exhibition at the Kaohsiung Cultural Centre at the time!)  Taiwan is always a no brainer for me when I only have 4 or 5 days of vacation.

[Taipei] Mita Seimen (三田製麵所 阪急台北店)

Mita Seimen  (三田製麵所) is a well known tsukemen restaurants from Japan.  They recently opened a new branch in Hong Kong (February 2015).  With the even more recent addition of Tsukemen Tetsu, the line should not be horrible these days.  Luckily, I tried it when I was in Taipei and there was no queue!

Night Markets of Taipei (4): Raohe Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市)

Raohe Night Market (饒河夜市) is a very lively night market located towards the northeastern part of Taipei.  It used to be the easiest to get to via taxi u.  Now, it's super convenient to go to Raohe Night Market by metro: just get off at Songshan Station (Xindian/Songshan line).

[Taipei] MUME

I am truly flattered by all the recent "follows" on my Taiwan collection... your appreciation is my fuel and I will try to write as much as I can of what I have seen, tasted, and experienced in the treasure island (寶島) aka Taiwan.  (In fact, I just came back from a 3-week business trip from Taipei so I got lots to share, just not enough time...)

In the past, when I go to Taiwan, food that immediately comes to mind are local snacks, cheap food, and beef noodles!  Rarely does the word "fine dining" comes to mind.  Recently, it has been changed as a wave of modern western restaurants opened in Taipei.  The good news - most of them are quite affordable - thanks to the lower cost of living in Taiwan compared to its neighbors such as Hong Kong, Japan, etc.  I have been wanting to try MUME ever since it has opened.  The chefs' CV alone is impressive enough and there were a lot of raving reviews.  Needless to say, my expectation is high.  Verdict:  I was NOT disappointed!

Night Markets of Taipei (3): Shida Night Market (師大夜市)

Another night market I find myself going a lot is the Shida Night Market (師大夜市).  Compared to the other night markets, there are less food stands but it's a great night market for the ladies who love to shop!  The limited number of food stand doesn't mean the food here is bad.  In fact, quite the contrary in my opinion.

Night Markets of Taipei (2): Huaxi Street Tourist Night Market (華西街觀光夜市)

Another market close to the Taipei Station.  Just by telling from the name, you can see Huaxi Street Tourist Night Market is catered towards tourists.  It is actually well-known for the exotics (e.g. snakes) but there are plenty of choices for non-exotic folks like us as well :)

Huaxi during the day

Night Markets of Taipei (1): Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市)

I love going to night markets when I am in Taipei.  There are at least 6 night markets (Ningxia 寧夏, Huaxi 華西, Shida 師大, Tonghua 通化, Shihlin 士林, Raohe 饒河) and each of them is similar yet different.  In the next few posts, I will walk you through each of the night markets I've been and some of the shops I went or peaked my interest.  Hope you will find this helpful and enjoy!

Ningxia is the nearest one from Taipei Station.  It is also my favorite.  It offers a wide variety of Taiwanese snacks and most of them are very tasty.

[Taipei] Toutouan (燈燈庵)

Another fine Japanese restaurant hidden in my stash.  I first heard of Toutouan for their afternoon tea.  A quick look at their website led me to discover their kaiseki dinner.

[Taipei] Gu Xiang Restaurant (故鄉餐廳)

Good food generally happens when I am least expecting.  The beautiful sceneries at Bamboo Lake made us craved for traditional food (農家菜), dishes that were made with the freshest local ingredients!  Gu Xiang (故鄉) seems to fit the bill perfectly when we were checking out their menu.  Perhaps it's a popular restaurant among the locals but I wouldn't know.

[Taipei] L'apres Midi Cafe (立裴米提)

When everyone in Hong Kong still still trying to get in line for Coffee Alley's strawberries / salted caramel waffles, Taiwan is already on the next craze: mochi waffles!  Although less commonly found compared to the regular waffles, there are a good number of cafes already serving mocha waffles.  One of them is L'apres Midi Cafe (立裴米提) in Zhongshan (中山) District.

Hotel Double One (倆人旅館)

I want to switch gears and tell you about a hotel I stayed in Xin Beitou last February 2014.  Again, apologize for the untimely update but if you follow me on Instagram (@letstalkfoodandetc), you will know I have been quite busy these days... hahaha!

[Taipei] Good Cho (好.丘)

Good Cho is known for it's bagels.  As a lover of bagels, I was excited to come and try.  The area where the cafe is located is also worth a visit.  It is located inside a redeveloped military dependents' village commonly known as 眷村.   This particular one is called the 四四南村 (Four Four South Village) and is the first one to be built by Republic of China in Taipei in 1948.  If you want to find out more, you can click this link.

[Taipei] Mingyue Tangbao (明月湯包)

When it comes to soup dumplings (aka tangbao, xiaolongbao, XLB, 小籠包), the name that comes to your mind immediately is perhaps Ding Tai Fung (鼎泰豐).  I have been to DTF a few times myself and I like their XLB.  However, I just hate waiting in line and it's available almost worldwide these days... so why go to DTF in Taiwan? All their shops follow the same process when making their XLB anyways (unless your city doesn't have it I guess).

Well, that brings me to Mingyue Tangbao (明月湯包).  I was introduced to this place in 2009 by my friend and we had such a great time.  I have wanted to come back for their XLB since.

[Taipei] Du Xiao Yue (度小月)

Du Xiao Yue (度小月) is most well-known for its noodles (擔仔麵).  The brand has been around since 1895 and considered one of the most recognized Taiwanese restaurants among tourists.  Second to Ding Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) perhaps?

[Taipei] Tian Yuan Taiwanese Seafood Restaurant (田園台菜海鮮)

Tian Yuan Taiwanese Seafood Restaurant (田園台菜海鮮) is one of those traditional Taiwanese restaurants I have been looking forward to visiting after reading the stellar reviews on other Taiwanese food blogs.  So when my local friends suggested to bring me there I was pretty excited.  Unfortunately, it was one of those places where fame was louder than the food itself.  I have to say I was pretty disappointed.  Maybe we didn't order the right dishes?  Maybe we didn't come with a regular?  I don't know but I know I will not return.