Tiana Eats Taiwan 002
My first destination in Taiwan was Taipei. Similarly to Tokyo, Taipei is a metropolis that offers a variety of delicious (and cute) restaurants and cafes. The kind of restaurant and cafes you would probably only find in Asia. This year I only spent two days in Taipei, but here is a list of the restaurants and cafes I had the chance to visit!
If you're ever at a loss for where to go in Taipei, then head to Ximen. Ximen is sort of the youth hub of Taipei and is known for its cute restaurants and cafes as well as its shopping. It is right off Line 3 Green Line (Songshan - Xindan Line) on the Taiwanese MRT.
Another reliable area to go to for restaurants and cafes as well as shopping is the Taipei City Hall station on Line 5 Blue Line (Yongning - Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Line) on the Taiwanese MRT. Taipei City Hall is a famous tourist stop, because that is where you get off for Taipei 101! I wouldn't recommend going to Taipei 101 for shopping or eating, because everything is quite expensive and most of the brands offered there are international. However, you should go there if you want to go to the observation deck at the top. You should also take a look inside because the architecture and interior design is phenomenal. Although Taipei 101 tends to be expensive, the surrounding area, the Xinyi shopping district, has tons of malls and there is almost always some sort of event or convention going on. My favorite mall in the area is ATT 4 Fun.
Mister Donut
Mister Donut is a doughnut-franchise that is immensely popular in Asia (in particular Japan) and, unfortunately, there aren't any in New York. Their doughnuts are a lot healthier in comparison to the American franchise alternative, Dunkin Donuts. The doughnuts also come in "Asian" flavors such as Matcha and Cherry Blossom. The menu flavors are constantly changing. The doughnuts have a chewy texture and don't feel greasy when you eat them.
Interesting fact! The founders of both Mister Donut and Dunkin Donuts are actually brothers-in-law.
Store locator: http://www.misterdonut.com.tw/storeInfoList_find.html
Three Brothers and Sisters (三兄妹)
Anthony brought me to his favorite shaved ice place in Ximen called Three Brothers and Sisters. We walked downstairs into a large seating area where we were handed a menu. Like many smaller restaurants in Taiwan, you check off what you want and then pass it off to the waiting staff. The menu included baobing (shaved snow - made of milk), chuabing (shaved ice) and a sort of a la mode option where they put scoops of ice cream on top of your shaved ice. Most of the flavors were either fruity or chocolatey, or a fusion of the two. The best part is that they always put chunks of fruit on top of it. The menu variety was plenty and the restaurant's walls are covered in graffiti and visitors' signatures. My sister and I split a watermelon shaved ice, while Anthony consumed an entire strawberry shaved ice himself.
The prices are approximately 100~120NT (~ $4US).
Address: No 23, Hanzhong Street, Taipei, Taiwan
Fish Bowl Cafe (Fishnet Leisure Teahouse)
Fish Bowl Cafe is a hidden gem I stumbled upon when shopping around Ximen with my sister and my friend Anthony. We had just left Uniqlo and directly across the street on the second floor we could see swing seats through the window. We thought it would be fun and everyone needed to take a break so we decided to check it out. The inside of the restaurant is painted to resemble a fish bowl. My sister's conspiracy theory on why the seats are swings was maybe the swinging was supposed to simulate swimming in a fish bowl - but who knows. The atmosphere was great, but the food was pretty mediocre. But hey, you pay for the experience.
Unfortunately, after much Googling I couldn't find an official website for the cafe, but I stumbled upon another site with some information on it.
Address: 59 HanZhong St, 2 - 3 F Closest subway access: Ximen stop, Exit 6
ATT 4 Fun (4th Floor) Mocktails
As mentioned above, Taipei 101 is pretty expensive and there are no casual sit-down restaurants or cafes. So you should head next door to another mall called ATT 4 Fun. The 4th floor is an Alice in Wonderland themed food court, and it is gorgeous. All the restaurants and cafes there offered cute English style tea, desserts and various types of cuisines. Since we weren't hungry, we settled on a cute cafe called mocktail. Tiara got a chocolate milk tea, Anthony got a plain milk tea and I got a cold jasmine tea. Although the menu items tend to be pricier (120~200 NT = $4~6 US), all the drinks were delicious and beautifully presented. The atmosphere was also a plus.
Website: http://www.att4fun.com.tw/ Address: No. 12, Songshou Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
Din Tai Fung
Din Tai Fung is probably one of the famous things to come out of Taiwan. It is a well-known soup dumpling chain, respected for exquisitely hand preparing each dumpling. In all of their restaurants there is a viewing area of the kitchen where you can actually go and watch them prepare the food. There are several Din Tai Fungs in Taipei, but my family settled on going to the one in Sogo Mall because the line is known to be shorter there. The one downside of going to Din Tai Fung is the wait. Depending on which location you visit and when, the wait can be up to 4 hours long. Often times people just go there and put their name down and wait for a text message before returning.
Store locator: http://www.dintaifung.com.tw/en/
Witch House
I visited my first board game cafe in Taiwan during this visit. My friend Brian is an indie game developer and asked me to pick up a game called Cat Box, designed by a local Taiwan game designer named Ava Chen. I had no clue as to where to even start looking for the game, so, of course, I turned to Google. A user on boardgamegeeks.com suggested I check out Witch House which is apparently a popular board game cafe in Taipei. So we took a taxi over there and the cafe ended up not being what we expected. There were bras strapped to the seats and the menu offered selections such as "Coconut Cock" and "Earl Greynipple". It was really strange, but the staff there was so nice. It was also a cool place to go hang out with your friends and try out some games developed by Chinese and Taiwanese game designers. A friendly staff member even helps to guide you through games you may be unfamiliar with or want to try out!
Website: http://www.witchhouse.org/ Address: No. 7, Lane 56, Section 3, Xinsheng South Road, Da'an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106