Taipei 2014: Taipei City Edition

Taipei is just an hour flight from Hong Kong, yet I've never been. Now that I have Taiwanese friends, I had to visit them, eat, and shop. Having local Taiwanese friends means that I get the local taste and experience: I know what places are actually famous and good, and what places in travel guides that are a waste of time. I was there for 8 days, so I will divide these 8 days up to blog about it. I loved Taiwan and will definitely go again in the near future.

First, I hit places in Taipei City, like XiMenDing, DongQu, Eslite book store, Taipei 101... all the Taipei landmarks.

Eslite book store is heaven for all you book worms out there. There is one in Hong Kong, but nowhere near the size of this flagship store. They sell various books, stationary, CD/DVD, and dainty accessories. English books are really cheap there, and you get tax refund tourists (if you buy over 3000NTS and show passport). I love travel guides from Taiwanese publishers, they're just so adorable!

8% ice is a very popular ice cream place in Taipei. We found one at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, near Eslite main store. I ordered a milk tea flavour (I'm kind of a milk tea addict). The ice cream is quite creamy, which is a plus, but they are slightly over priced for ice cream. Their interesting flavours, like Hojicha with honey (what I ordered), Chocolate with Earl Grey, Pumpkin etc. really draw me in, as I like exotic and unique ice cream flavours more than the typical vanilla/chocolate.

同心圓紅豆餅 is very famous for their red bean cakes. They have different flavors like black sesame, peanut, red bean, custard... and you can order regular or mochi ones. When I tried it, it was amazing to my expectation. So soft and chewy. I love anything with mochi and I love red bean cakes too, so that was just the perfect combination. The location is convenient and they open till late, perfect for supper!

When in Taiwan, you have to participate in their cafe craze. Melange Cafe is one of the famous coffee places in Taipei. They are quite particular about their coffee and have millions of choices. I went to the one in Sogo because the other ones were completely full but I only had to wait for around 4 tables to get in. The interior design of the cafe is home-y and posh, just how I like it. The service is amazing. So much better than in Hong Kong. When I praised the service here to my Taiwanese friend, she agreed that Taipei is in general well-known for good service.

Yes. Waffles. Most of these cafes specialize in this kind of dessert. I love their waffle. It's so thick, soft and chewy, which is my expectation of a good waffle. If you like thin, crispy ones, this may not be for you. We ordered the seasonal fruits waffle because we just could not pick what fruits to go with our order. It comes with a huge cup of assorted fruits and ice cream on the side. This is great because your waffle will not turn soggy as it would if the fruits and ice cream was placed on the waffle. We shared this because it was really big and we of course had to leave room for further eating down the road!

I'm not a huge coffee drinker, so I ordered an Earl Grey Latte. It was amazing. The milk/cream came in a separate jug, and I think they whipped up some cream so it's thick and fluffy but still runny, I have no idea the technical term for that but I try. After I pour the cream in, it floats on top and a long spoon is required to actually mix everything up. It was delicious. One of the best Earl Grey Lattes I've ever had.

They are actually very well-known for their cold drip coffee 冰滴咖啡. Too bad I'm not that into coffee drinking, or else I think it would be a really good idea to try that.

Ximending is an area for teenage shopping. A lot of celebrity shops and young people brands gather here, so it is constantly busy and full of both tourists and locals. I came just because it was a must go for tourists, but the style of clothing sold was not really my taste, so I didn't really buy anything. This area is perfect for 13-16 year olds (said my local friend). There are lots of Korean makeup brands though, so if you're into that, go look around.

BUBBLE TEA. It's Taiwan. Need more explaining?
I found out that bubble tea prices here are half the price of Hong Kong ones. Their "expensive" bubble tea is 天仁喫茶趣 (can be found in HK), and I like to order their bubble tea but with fresh milk. Most other shops use milk powder, which is obviously not healthy compared to fresh milk.
50嵐 is quite a popular bubble tea shop here, where the locals go. They provide different boba/tapioca sides. Mini or regular/big. I tried the mini one and they're so cute and adorable. Haha how can a drink be cute I don't know. Of course they also have ice level and sweet level options.

Brune egg & tofu is a specialty of Taiwan. Laotianlu 老天祿滷味 is an old brand that attracts many locals and tourists. They have eggs, tofu, duck, chicken... lots of options to choose from. I wanted the egg and tofu just for a treat. They don't look too appetizing in the bag, but it's really good and the taste is rich and all soaked inside, what you want brune food to be like.

If you want some good Taiwanese food, 度小月 (duxiaoyue) is quite good. I've never had 擔仔麵 (Tann-ah noodle), but I was pleasantly surprised The braised pork is very flavoured and the noodles are the perfect texture. We also ordered some veggies and black peppered pork to share with was also amazing.

東區粉圓 is another famous old store. Basically all it is is chewy balls. I'm not kidding. (The Taiwanese really like their chewy foods). They have different flavoured tapiocas and ingredients you can customize for your own bowl of chewy dessert, served hot or cold. They even have extra ice and syrup at the eating area so you can make your bowl sweeter or not. I like chewy stuff, so that was pretty good. Its a relatively large bowl of starch, so I would recommend sharing with someone.

YongKang street is a small area that has some good food too. The well-known DinTaiFung 鼎泰豐is just around the corner, but I didn't go because there were too many people. We did have some green onion pancake with egg, which is so good I want it now. It's situated at a street corner and does not have a very obvious or flashy sign, but look out for it and you will not regret paying a mere 30NTS for it.

Although I put food as a priority over museums when I'm in Taiwan 國立故宮博物館National Palace Museum was worth a visit. My friend brought me to specific displays that are famous in there, like the carved olive-stone boat and Jadeite cabbage with insects. As someone from Hong Kong, I was not largely interested in the classic jade and ceramics, but the special and unique things are worth seeing.

After a week of eating Taiwanese food, my friend brought me to her favourite Italian restaurant, Cosi O Cosi. It was really good bread and meat and pizza. The environment is cozy (no pun intended) and the food came pretty fast. We ordered a meat antipasti, and a 4 cheese pizza, both my friend's signature order when she goes. It's not expensive for Italian food at all, but the quality is really good.

My conclusion: Taiwanese food is cheap, so just go explore, eat, and shop. It is great if you go with a bunch of friends, so you can all order and try loads of things. This is the first time I'm in Taiwan, and I fell in love. I would love to go again in the near future.

More info from my trip to come!

xoxo