You are browsing the archive for Taipei.

← Previous Entries

Burgers at Rabbit Rabbit (Taipei)

January 25, 2012 in Food, Reviews, Taiwan, Travel

I have no idea why it’s called Rabbit Rabbit (as far as I am aware, there are no rabbit burgers), but what I do know is that the place is famous for its gourmet beef and chicken burgers, as well as its Western-style brunch, especially amongst the younger crowd.

There are currently three stores in Taipei.  On this particular night, we went to the one near the Shida Night Markets, and it was jam packed with youngsters.  The store itself is bright and colourful, with lots of soft colours such as baby pink, cyan and light purple and green.  Kind of looks like a hip nursery.

Thanks to a semi-reservation, we didn’t have to wait too long (20 minutes).  Seeing how busy they were, we ordered quickly.  Their menu is quite varied and interesting.

For the beef burgers there are the usual plain patties with different cheeses, but they also have unique combinations such as peanut butter, gravy and fried beef, shrimp and salmon burgers.  The peanut butter was apparently very popular but it was a bit too risky for my liking, so I went with another ‘recommended’ burger (ones with a crown next to it), the Chilli Sauce Beef Burger (NT$250), which came with a hand-made beef patty, chilli sauce and jalapenos.

The chicken burgers are also quite special, also with a peanut butter version, a thai-style burger (with spicy peanut sauce), teriyaki burger, honey mustard, cajun and so forth.  We went with Chicken Burger with Creamy Pesto Sauce (NT$250).

Note that the burgers come with lettuce, onions and tomato, a side of either fries, wedges or cooked vegetables, and include an unlimited refill beverage of your choice (limited to teas and soft drinks).

They also have an all-day brunch menu with stuff like sausages and eggs, appetizers, soups and salads, sandwiches, fajitas and even pastas.  But from what I could see, most people were there for the burgers or the brunch food.

It was quite a long wait for the burgers, but the wait was worth it.  The Chilli Burger was full of spicy goodness and gave a real kick to my taste buds.  Thankfully, they were not stingy on the chilli sauce or the jalapenos.  The side fries we ordered were also surprisingly nice — crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

The chicken burger was good as well.  The pesto sauce was thick and creamy and the chicken was tender.  The biggest surprise were the cooked vegetables, which sounded like a strange thing to have but it was super tasty and took the edge off the heaviness of the burgers.

From what we had, I’d say the burgers at Rabbit Rabbit were pretty good but not exceptional.  The flavours were great but they did feel a little heavy and oily because of the thickness of the sauces, so it’s not the type of place you would visit regularly.  It’s perfect for group gatherings and when you feel up for a big meal.

7.5 out of 10!

Details

Rabbit Rabbit

Website: http://rabbitrabbit-burger.blogspot.com/

Opening Hours: Sunday-Thursday 11am-10pm; Friday-Saturday 11am-10:30pm

Price: around NT$300 per head (note includes 10% service charge)

Stores:

East Store 1: No. 32, Lane 160, Section 1, Dūnhuà South Rd, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106; (02) 8771-4073; Nearest MRT: Zhongxiao Fuxing/Zhongxiao Dunhua

East Store 2: No. 31, Lane 31, Section 1, Dà’ān Rd, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106; (02) 2778-3445; Nearest MRT: Zhongxiao Fuxing/Zhongxiao Dunhua

Shida Store: No. 1, Lane 4, Pǔchéng St, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106; (02) 2368-2338; Nearest MRT: Guting/Taipower Building

Tags: , , , , , ,
No Comments »

Patisserie La Douceur (Taipei)

January 22, 2012 in Best Of, Food, Reviews, Taiwan, Travel

We were walking around the Yong Kang Street area a couple of months ago on a rainy evening when we stumbled across a fine looking French patisserie called La Douceur.  Even though we only just had dinner, the uber enticing cakes on display lured us in.

Judging from the diplomas on the wall I assume the chef learned his or craft in France, where the big shots of pastry making are.  They certainly looked as good as anything I’ve seen in Europe.

I’ll stop typing now and just let the photos speak for themselves.

This is the "Tahiti" -- looks like a chocolate macaron but it's actually berry flavoured with vanilla mousse!

Of course, the chestnut flavoured Mont Blanc

A big cup of light, frothy coffee!

We didn't get these chocolate goodies as some bastard pre-ordered them all, but damn they look good

The coffee was good and the cakes were sensational.  The Mont Blanc was up there amongst the best I’ve had (and I’m not even much of a chestnut guy) and the Tahiti was refreshingly different.  I loved the sourness of the berries and the light sweetness of the vanilla mousse.  A perfect combo.

Can’t wait to go back there and test out the rest of their delicious cakes and macarons (you can check them out here).

Details

Patisserie La Douceur

Address: No. 223 JinHua St, Daan District, Taipei

Nearest MRT Station: Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall or Guting (a bit of a walk though).

Phone: (02) 33222833

Opening Hours: 1pm-9pm (Fridays and Saturdays till 10pm)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

Coffee at La Crema (Taipei)

January 15, 2012 in Food, Reviews, Taiwan, Travel

Man I miss the coffee in Sydney, and I’m not even much of a coffee guy.  After living in the UK and travelling around Europe and America, I have come to appreciate just how good the coffee in Sydney is.

What I didn’t realise was that Taiwan has a lot of cafes (not named Starbucks, Dante or Mr Brown, though some of the “gourmet” ice coffee  there isn’t actually too bad) and some of these places take quite a bit of pride in their coffee too.

A very popular cafe around the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall MRT station is called La Crema.  It’s a surprisingly spacious joint in a side alley filled with restaurants and cafes, and the decor inside has a old-school feel, with wooden furniture, a bar, a record player, jazz music, and from what I hear, live performances on occasion.  On Friday and Saturday nights the place is reportedly loud and crowded.

La Crema has a wide assortment of coffees made from fresh imported coffee beans.  Espressos, lattes, mochas — they’ve got all the usual stuff but also more exotic gourmet coffee from Brazil, Guatemala and so forth.  The specialities are apparently the latte and the espresso with two scoops of vanilla ice cream.  Their biscuits and cheese cakes are also popular.

Here are photos of what we got: a latte, an iced coffee and a plate of home-made biscuits.  We would have gone for some cake but we were actually coming off a big meal at Ma Shan Tang around the corner.

The biscuits were pretty good but not spectacular (they were better at San Kwai Tang Cafe near Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall MRT station) but the coffee was indeed excellent, reminding me a little of the awesomeness of some of the cafes in Sydney’s Newtown.  In other words, I recommend the place!

If you want to go during off peak times to avoid the crowds, I would recommended going for the afternoon special, which is available Monday to Friday between 1:30 and 5:30.  The special includes a tea, coffee or two espressos, plus either a cheese slice, cheese cake home-made biscuits or a piece of tick toast with spread for NT$160.

Details:

La Crema (克立瑪咖啡館)

Address: No. 45, Lane 280, Guāngfù South Rd, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106

Nearest MRT: Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall Station — take exit 2 and walk straight until you see Lane 280 and turn right.

Phone: 02-2731-3264

Opening Hours: Sunday-Thursday 12:00-23:00; Friday-Saturday 12:00-23:30

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

Ma Shan Tang: Noodles and Dumplings (Taipei)

January 8, 2012 in Food, Reviews, Taiwan, Travel

I love my noodles and dumplings.  Not long ago I was walking the streets near Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall MRT station and saw this packed out joint that appeared like a bit of a Din Tai Fung clone.  It is called Ma Shan Tang (麻膳堂) and there’s always a line during lunch and dinner time.  I did some research and it came highly recommended by a lot of bloggers.

A few days later, on a rainy evening, I went to check it out.  Fortunately, because of the rain and the relatively early time (6pm), we didn’t have to wait to get a seat.  The interior is not particularly big, but that’s because part of the space is dominated by a see-through glass kitchen, where the chefs are busy preparing dish after dish.  Like many Taiwanese restaurants, they give you an order form which you fill out yourself and hand to the waiters, but be warned — they only have a Chinese version, so bring someone who can read Chinese with ya.

The menu is varied but not extensive.  There is an assortment of stewed beef soups with noodles or vermicelli, and you can choose whether you want it spicy (mala) or not.  There’s also the usual selection of dry noodles, from minced meat (zha jiang mian) to sesame sauce to spicy sauce to pickled vegetables (mustard).  Of course, they also have fried rice (pork and prawn) and a selection of dumplings and pan-fried gyoza (potstickers), but what they don’t have is xiaolongbao.  On the bright side, the prices are quite reasonable — the beef noodle soups are around NT$120-140, while everything else is between NT$60 and NT$90.

This is dry noodle with minced meat and cucumber strips (炸醬麵)

We ordered a minced meat dry noodle (zha jiang mian), a bowl of dumplings in red chilli oil, a plate of potstickers and a spicy beef noodle vermicelli.  Naturally, it was far too much for two people.

Dumplings with red chilli oil (紅油水餃)

Potstickers (煱貼)

I have to admit, the photos look pretty good, but must say I was somewhat disappointed after all the hype.  The food was pretty decent for the price, but it was nothing exceptional.  The zha jiang mian in particular was very bland, and I’ve had better at stalls on the sides of random streets.  The dumplings in chilli oil were good but a little different because usually the oil goes with wontons, and it’s usually sour rather than sweet.  I didn’t mind it but my wife thought it wasn’t particularly appetising.  The potstickers were average and by the time they arrived at our table, not particularly hot, like they had been out for some time.  And the spicy beef noodle vermicelli, their signature dish, was interesting because it was different (it had sliced beef and blood cubes), but it wasn’t the type of flavour that appealed to me.

The signature dish, mala beef noodle soup with vermicelli (or noodles) (麻辣牛肉細粉)

So ultimately, I guess it was a personal thing.  For the price, it was a decent meal, but in terms of the quality of the food, I’m afraid Ma Shan Tang doesn’t quite live up to its reputation.

6.5 out of 10

Details

Ma Shan Tang (麻膳堂)

Address: No. 24, Lane 280, Guangfu S. Rd, Taipei (nearest MRT: SYS Memorial Hall, exit 2)

Phone: (02) 2773-5559

Opening Hours: 11am – 2:30pm; 5pm-10pm (7 days)

Price: Around NT$100-200 per person, depending on what you order.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

Akatombo (Red Dragonfly) Izakaya on Yong Kang Street

January 5, 2012 in Food, Reviews, Taiwan, Travel


Taipei’s Yong Kang Street is fabulous.  For starters, it’s not as packed out as many of the other food hotspots in Taipei because it requires a little walk from the nearest MRT station (Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall).  Secondly, there are dozens of fantastic places to dine at, from stalls to local stores to deluxe restaurants — and that’s just along the main road.  As I have come to discover, there are dozens more restaurants and cafes in the small lanes and alleys.  Hopefully I can sample them all eventually.

On a rainy evening a little while ago (I’m backed up), we went to Akatombo (紅蜻蜓 — translated to mean “Red Dragonfly”), a tiny izakaya (居酒屋) on the southern end of Yong Kang Street.  We had walked passed it a couple of times before and it looked enticing, and packed, so we decided to try it out.

Akatombo certainly looks like a great joint, with traditional Japanese decorations, wooden furniture, a bar, and menu items written on wooden boards hung up on the walls.  A real Japanese feel that brought back good memories.We ordered an assortment of dishes — one of my all time favourites, takoyaki (octopus balls — well…balls with octopus in them); the always reliable yakisoba (stir-fry noodles); the teriyaki chicken don; yakitori sticks (chicken skewers); and chicken tsukune (minced marinated chicken).  That’s a lot of chicken!

The food looked pretty good but was a disappointment.

The takoyaki was okay but barely competes with any street vendor takoyaki in Taipei (though to be fair, the street vendors are pretty good).  There just wasn’t the outside crunch I was looking for, and the inside was too soggy.

The yakisoba was oily and did not contain enough of that special yakisoba sauce, and as a result it tasted more like Chinese stir-fry noodles than Japanese.

The chicken teriyaki don was probably the best thing of the night, but let’s face it, you rarely can go wrong with chicken teriyaki (even the camera didn’t want to take a good shot of it).

The yakitori was a disappointment.  Too much skin, not enough meat, and extraordinarily bland.

The tsukune was decent but below par if you compare it to the real deal in Japan.

The pictures probably make the place look better that it is, but on the whole, Akatombo was a major disappointment, especially considering how enticing it looked from the outside.  Don’t think I will be back.

5 out of 10

Details:

Akatombo (Red Dragonfly) Izakaya (紅蜻蜓居酒屋)

Address: 53-1 Yong Kang Street, Taipei

Phone: (02) 2394 7517

Opening Hours: 17:00-24:00 (Weekdays); 12:00-24:00 (Weekends) — though note they didn’t open until almost 6:30 the day we went.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

← Previous Entries

Bad Behavior has blocked 438 access attempts in the last 7 days.