Taipei City - MiaCucina

Vegetarian food is something that I haven't had a great amount of exposure to living in the UK, however, I have had more than my fair share of exposure to such food in Taiwan. There are over 8 million Buddhists currently living in Taiwan (statistics taken from the Taiwan government). With some branches of Buddhism practicing vegetarianism, there is a large demand for vegetarian food on the island.

MiaCucina  is a chain vegetarian restaurant in Taipei, with stores near ZhongXiao FuXing MRT, ShiLin and TianMu. 

We went to the branch near ZhongXiao Fuxing MRT, it's based in a really convenient location, and just 5mins walk from the MRT station. 

The restaurant is kept neat and tidy inside, however, a gripe of mine is that the chairs are fairly uncomfortable.

The vegetables and fresh food on display looks amazing. It is a fantastic array of bold, bright colours and is very pleasing on the eyes! 

 

Fortunately, the menu is in English as well as Chinese. The menu is vast and presented well, however, I chose not to add the pictures here because it is around 14 pages long. If you would like me to email the menu to you, then let me know via Email, Facebook or Twitter. 

The cake selection looks great, but we were already booked in for afternoon tea, so decided to check out the main courses this time, but we will be back! 

What we ordered:

1. The Cowboy salad (small)

2. The Caprese panini

3. Roast tomato and cheese bread with toasted flatbreads

4. 5th Chakra tea

The salad has just about everything: avocado, carrot, iceberg lettuce, raisins, red beans, chickpeas, roasted yellow and red peppers, plum tomatoes, salted potato chips, red onion, cheese and also a tangy ranch dressing. 

The combination of flavours is great, the ingredients are wonderfully fresh and it certainly counts as your 5-a-day, all in one bowl. The pepper has been roasted then the skin has been peeled off, it is a lot sweeter because of this and a pleasure to eat. The lettuce has a good crunch and helps compliment the saltiness of the chips. 

2. The Caprese panini

Mozzarella, tomato and pesto make up the inside of this toasted sandwich. The mozzarella cheese is quite rich, but the balsamic dressing on the outside cuts through the heavy taste and makes brings the panini together really well. It is served with 3 potato wedges which are also seasoned very well. 

3. Roast tomato and cheese bread with toasted flatbreads

 We over-estimated the amount of bread being consumed on this trip, but this dish was also great. There is a raisin and cranberry bread on the outside, with a hot cheese and tomato dip in the center and also a crunchy pita flatbread on the right side of the plate. The raisin and cranberry bread was great and had little flecks of sweetness interspersed within the bread. 

The cheese dip is rich and smooth, and combines wonderfully with the crunchy pita flatbreads. Sharing with friends - this plate is brilliant. However, as an order as well as the panini, it was perhaps a bit too much bread. 

4. 5th Chakra tea

The Chakra tea is a brilliant end to a meal, feeling instantly settling and light. Within the tea, there is: licorice root, marshmallow root, echinacea purpurea root, orange peel, cinnamon, ginger root, fennel seed and cloves. It's calming, settling and delicious. It is not at all bitter, has a sweet after-taste and a slight spice. 

Overall, I was very impressed by MiaCucina. The service was good, the food was fresh and delicious and it is very varied. Gone are the nut roasts of the past, in are the fresh salads and paninis. I will certainly be coming back, probably for more of the tea and and cake idea next time. 

Best dish: 1. The Cowboy salad (small) - The salad dressing was sharp and complimented the sweet vegetables very well. I love raisins for the sweetness in a salad and the pulses added a good earthy flavour. 

Dish I wouldn't order again: 3. Roast tomato and cheese bread with toasted flatbreads - It was quite expensive compared to the other dishes and we should've really ordered something different as it was a bit of a bread overload. This is not a reflection on the dish in any way whatsoever. The dish itself was great, but if I have to choose a dish not to order again, it would be this one. 

   

台北市大安區復興南路一段107巷11號

No. 11, Lane 107, FuXing South road, Section 1, DaAn District, Taipei City

https://www.facebook.com/Miacucinafx

Happy Eating!

Taipei City - Bing Burger

*Invited*

Bing Burger is set among the winding backstreets around Taipei City Hall MRT station. The restaurant has only been there for around 10 months, the owner coming in to open it up specially from San Francisco. It was created as a beer and burger restaurant for people to hang out at in the evenings, with a relaxed feel and a comfortable atmosphere. 

The road outside is a very busy one, however, inside the restaurant there's less of the busy and bustling atmosphere. 

The restaurant is clean and well presented. However, it is a little dark. 

There is a more than ample selection of beers on offer: some amazing Belgian beers, American beers and also some other beers from all around the world. 

One thing that really excited me was the Tea Beer combining two of my favourite things, however by the time I noticed it we had already ordered the Pizza Port, and I was driving :-(, Next time! 

Here's the menu, and here's what we ordered:

1. Nacho beer cheese burger 

2. Beef tongue burger (a special, which can be seen on the picture above)

3. Ox-tail gravy cheese fries

4. Pizza Port beer

1. Nacho beer cheese burger 

 The burger is presented well, with a brioche bun, jalapeno's, nacho cheese, burger patty, tomato salsa and tortilla chips, rounded off in the brioche bun. It was certainly new for me, having never had nachos in burger before. But it was pretty good, actually! The spicy salsa and jalapenos give it a nice kick, with the crunchy tortilla chips adding texture. Nacho cheese isn't my favourite thing in the world, however, nothing mattered when this patty got involved! The beef was fantastic: it was juicy, it was cooked medium rare being crisp on the outside. It was seasoned well and it had a great depth of flavour.

2. Beef tongue burger 

Again, it is well presented and almost a carbon copy of the previous plate. 

The burger is built wonderfully with brioche bun, tongue, patty, tomato, lettuce and onion. The tongue lifts the burger to the next level. Just as the salsa and tortilla chips elevated the previous burger, this was the rich and irony taste of tongue. Anyone who hasn't had tongue before, may be put off for the simple fact that it doesn't often occur on western menus, or in fact, eastern. I feel like tongue is very close to liver in both flavour and texture. It has a rich, creamy texture to it, but where it differs from liver is that it has a slight chewiness that liver often doesn't have. Tongue is high in iron, vitamin B, potassium and sodium! So it's a great alternative if you do want to switch up your meats. However, don't go too crazy, it is high in fat! The tongue in this burger compliments the wonderfully cooked patty and makes the whole dish that little bit more rich. Half of the burger is, in fact, rich enough. So we split the burger and had half of each. 

3. Ox-tail gravy cheese fries

A generous helping of fries, secreting away a chunk of oxtail, topped with nacho cheese, a fried egg and fine shavings of smoked and dried red chili peppers. It's a lot in one dish! Oh, and some red onions for good measure, too. There is no doubt that this is a dish to share, however, you already get fries with the burger, so I guess only order this if you're really really hungry. The best bit about this dish was the dried and smoked chili peppers: they were short-lived bites of spice that were delights to compliment the thick cheese and the nice fries. The fries were cut with some of the skin left on, which for me, is exactly how I like them. They retain some earthiness and they work well with the light, sweet taste of the red onion.

4. Pizza Port beer

(No image, sorry, you can see it in some of the other food images)

The Pizza Port beer is from a craft brewery in California well-known in that area for its great beers. It's a light golden colour and it looks fairly weak. Taste wise it is quite bitter; it seems to start a little sweeter and it finishes with a big bitter bite. It's not to my taste, as I prefer a slightly sweeter beer. 

There's not doubt about the fact that Bing Burger can really challenge any other burger joint in Taipei for its Beef quality and it's flavour. They are all skilfully cooked and very well executed. However, my main gripe with Bing Burger is the price: it's a lot. I understand that with great quality, comes great cost, however, this comes with a very great cost. For two of us it cost over $1,000. This is more than I even pay at DingTaiFeng having a greater variety of foods on offer. Whilst I do not begrudge paying for great food, I do not think that this food warrants the hefty price-tag. There was no given price for the Beef tongue burger, which we only found out costed $439 when coming to pay...

The bottom line is: If you are looking for a really good burger and you're wanting a good beer to wash it down with, then this could be the place for you. However, if you are on a stricter budget and want a good burger for a reasonable price, then you may be better suited to Burger Fix . I certainly feel like the quality is very good at Bing, but the prices at Burger Fix are much more reasonable and the burgers are still pretty good. 

Best dish: 2. Beef tongue burger - It was without a doubt the best dish. However, I do not feel it warrants the price tag set on it of $439.

Dish I wouldn't order again: 3. Ox-tail gravy cheese fries - They tasted great, the ingredients were great and I really liked them. It is totally not about the flavour, in any way. I just question why I would order extra fries when I already get fries with my burger. If I order a salad next time, then I would without a doubt order these. 

台北市信義區基隆路1段147巷5弄9號

No.9, alley 5, lane 147, KeeLung road, section 1, XinYi District, Taipei City

Bing on Facebook

Happy Eating! 

Taipei City - 281 雞蛋糕 Egg cakes

雞蛋糕 jī dàn gāo is a popular night market snack as an on-the-go dessert of sorts. The original 雞蛋糕 was created using cast iron animal molds, pouring the egg cake mixture into the molds and then closing the lid on top of the model, which was then heated to really high temperatures. Not much has changed from those days, however, now a lot of the molds are simply cake shaped or oval shaped. However, these animal shape ones are a little more fun! 

This place is right near the MuJi Beef Noodles, which I reviewed here: MuJi Beef Noodles so you could do exactly what we did and team up a steaming bowl of beef noodles with these delicious hot egg cakes.

You can see that 4 moulds can be used at any given time, and there are a wide variety of flavours to have:

奶油 nǎi yóu Cream

原味 yuán  wèi Original 

巧克力 qiǎo  kè  lì Chocolate

起司 qǐ  sī Cheese

鮮肉 xiān  ròu Meat (probably pork)

 奶酥 nǎi  sū Butter

 芝麻 zhī  má Sesame

紅豆 hóng  dòu Red bean

芋頭 yù  tóu Taro

So there's a flavour for each day of the week, and the rest! We ordered the 巧克力 and the 原味. 

The animals make it quite fun, but don't alter the flavour in any way. It's just for show. The chocolate ones are nice, the chocolate taste isn't bitter or sweet, it's fairly well on the centre line between the two. 

It's moist on the inside, and with a soft exterior, too. The taste is just OK, it's nothing jaw-dropping, but it's a solid 雞蛋糕. 

The 原味 is also a solid 雞蛋糕 but also nothing extra special. For me, I am a much bigger fan of the 紅豆餅 hóng  dòu  bǐng because it has the actual paste within it, and is more like a crispy waffle. But, for 雞蛋糕 these are a solid effort and worth a try, they're also amazingly inexpensive, so why on Earth not. 

台北市信義區吳興街281巷巷口

No.281 WuXing Street, XinYi District,Taipei City.

281 雞蛋糕 on Facebook

Happy Eating!

Taipei City - 穆記牛肉麵 MuJi Beef Noodle

We were in the area and stumbled across this Beef Noodle restaurant opposite the Taipei Medical University Hospital on 吳興街 WuXing street. This place is very well known for its 牛肉麵 niú ròu miàn Beef Noodle soup and, especially, for its 斤餅包牛肉 jīn bǐng bāo niú ròu Beef and scallion roll.

Even though the shop doesn't look particularly busy inside, don't be fooled: the main seating area is downstairs.

Downstairs is a hub of activity as bowls of steaming hot beef noodles come down the food shaft and brought to your table by the friendly staff. The smell is a rich intoxication of hot beef and salty soup.

This is the menu that the staff use, however, you are given a much more user-friendly menu initially. The other menu has pictures and more depth of description (but, sorry, I didn't get a photo).

1. 半筋牛肉麵 bàn jīn bàn ròu miàn Tendon and beef noodle soup 

2. 醡醬麵 zhà jiàng miàn Soy bean noodles

3. 斤餅包牛肉 jīn bǐng bāo niú ròu Beef and scallion roll 

1. 半筋牛肉麵 bàn jīn bàn ròu miàn Tendon and beef noodle soup 

My favourite type of beef noodle soup is the one with tendon inside (筋 jīn). The tendon is silky smooth with a fairly neutral flavour. For the tendon, it is more about the texture rather than the flavour. However, the beef is unreal:

This beef is by far the best beef I have had in Taipei. You can see the different strands of muscle within the meat, separated by strands of silky smooth fat. The meat breaks apart with the slightest of touches and melts in your mouth. Inside each bowl there is around 5-6 big chunks of meat (the picture shows just half a chunk). 

As for the broth itself, it is quite average. It really isn't anything too special but also it is inoffensive. You can see that it is rather greasy, which isn't ideal. The noodles within the broth (we ordered wide noodles: 寬kuān miàn) are also fairly standard for noodles. They are cooked with a slight bite to them, but more on the soft side than the hard side.

2. 醡醬麵 zhà jiàng miàn Soy bean noodles

醡醬麵 is a common occurrence on many menus around Taiwan. From my experience of 醡醬麵 this one is actually quite different. Usually the sauce is quite heavily soy sauce based, with chunks of tofu and soy beans. However, the sauce for this one has all the usual ingredients, minus the soy sauce and plus pork mince. If you are a regular eater of this dish then it could be a welcomed change, conversely, it could be a strange variation. For my taste, it seemed to go with the latter: a strange variation. I enjoy 醡醬麵 for the soy base and the thicker sauce and I don't necessarily expect there to be meat inside.  

3. 斤餅包牛肉 jīn bǐng bāo niú ròu Beef and scallion roll 

This stole the show, I felt. It is prepared quite differently to other beef pancake rolls that I have had before. Unfortunately, I cannot show the picture I took of the preparation, as they weren't very happy with me taking a picture of the method. However, I will describe it to you: A length of dough is rolled out into a sausage like shape, then coated with a special thick sauce that looks like butter. The dough sausage roll is then rolled into a bun shape, rolled out into a flat pizza shape and finally put onto a hot plate to fry. It's quite different to other preparations which usually just  consist of roll out and fry. 

The beef inside is thin, but plentiful, the onion gives it the fresh kick and the thick sauce gives it a nice tang. The pancake is cooked wonderfully with a slight crisp on the outside, yet soft on the inside. 

Overall, I was very impressed with the beef pancake roll and also the beef within the beef noodle soup. The shop is in a nice setting being on 吳興街, right near a night market area. 

Best dish: 3. 斤餅包牛肉 jīn bǐng bāo niú ròu Beef and scallion roll - It ticked all the boxes. Quite honestly, I will think twice about ordering it at other places now that I've tried this one. I feel this could be difficult to beat!

Dish I wouldn't order again: 2. 醡醬麵 zhà jiàng miàn Soy bean noodles - This was so unlike my usual fix of this noodle dish. It was just so different to what I expected when ordering it, that when it arrived I was disappointed from the moment it hit the table, to the moment it hit my mouth. 

臺北市信義區吳興街239號

No.239 WuXing Street, XinYi District, Taipei City

MuJi on Facebook

Happy Eating!