Taipei City - Taiwan Bistro

Value for money: 7/10

Cleanliness: 8/10

Service: 6/10

Quality of food: 8/10

Overall: 7/10

If you're hungry after going up Elephant mountain and don't just want to dive into the nearest 7-11 you find, you'll probably stumble across this first, anyway. It's worth a try.

Unfortunately it was raining a lot when we visited, so pictures of the outside are out, sorry.

There's plenty of space inside.

We sat at the bar.

I like to take a look at what you can order, first. It's all clean and all looks (and smells) delicious.

Chef combination for 2 people

滷味拼盤 - 兩人份

Lǔwèi pīnpán - liǎng rén fèn
$360

We shared this between 3, accompanied by a few other dishes, too. It was plenty, to be fair. If you're really hungry, then I would suggest share this between 2 and get a bowl of rice/noodles, too.

On the plate is an assortment of different types of tofu, salad leaves and some intestine, too. It's pretty good, to be fair!

This is my pick of the bunch, though. The intestines have a chewy and soft texture with plenty of flavour. Paired with the slightly sweet, almost smoked spicy sauce it works nicely - especially washed down with a beer!

Cherry smoked duck
煙熏櫻桃鴨
Yān xūn yīngtáo yā
$200

I am always in search of smoked duck, of any kind. I really enjoy smoked meats. This duck was great. Shared between 3, the portion size is obviously too small. But, shared between 2 with the sharing plate as well, and you've got plenty of food.

The flavour of the duck was great, it tasted really fresh. I always enjoy some salad leaves accompanying it, too.

Bean sprout salad

涼拌豆芽

Liángbàn dòuyá

$60

It's not bad, but I won't rave about it, either. It's a fresh bean sprout salad.

Sweet potato congee

地瓜稀飯

Dìguā xīfàn

$30

It took them around 30-40mins to get this to us, and it was more like soup than congee.

Too watery, not much flavour, no seasoning and barely any rice inside. I won't be getting it again, that's for sure.

Taiwan beer

台灣啤酒

Táiwān píjiǔ

$120

Taiwan beer is alright, but next time I will spend only around $50 more and get a nicer beer. They serve a lot of the Taiwan Tea Ales here, so I will be going for them, next time.

Opening Times:

Monday - Sunday

17:30 - 01:30

Tel:

02 2720 9820

台北市信義區信義路5段150巷315弄12號

No. 12, Alley 315, Lane 150, XinYi Road, Section 5, XinYi District, Taipei City

Happy Eating!

Taipei City - 霸味薑母鴨 (木新店) - Ginger Duck, MuXin branch

Value for money: 7/10

Cleanliness: 5/10

Service: 8/10

Quality of food: 7/10

Overall: 7/10

As we were in MaoKong over the long weekend of 2/28 and getting cold, we decided to go and get some ginger duck to warm us up.

This chain ginger duck restaurant has branches everywhere, so we were just hoping it would be as good as what I hear the original store in SanChong is.

The pot you can see to the side of the massive pan with ginger in it, is one of the pots they serve up at your table.

What we ordered:

As we had ordered the Duck in ginger broth - 薑母鴨 jiāng mǔ yā (small pot $280), the coals were served and put on our table before the pot arrived.

Before the broth arrived, we were served up with our rice noodles 麵線 miàn xiàn. They were alright. They weren't about to change the way I think about Taiwanese food, but they provided the necessary carbohydrates for my meal.

The Duck intestines 鴨腸 yā cháng arrived cold, ready to be plunged into the molten ginger soup when it arrived. 

As the soup arrived, we prepared ourselves with two sauces provided for the table: The lighter coloured one is this salty sauce with no particular over-riding flavour. At first, I didn't particularly like it, but it grew on me as the meal progressed. It was fine, but I don't think necessary.

The other was just a spicy soy sauce, which I actually enjoyed more.

Packed full of duck, duck blood 鴨血, tofu skin 豆皮, frozen bean curd凍豆腐, hand made fish dumplings 手工魚餃 and duck meatballs 鴨肉丸, this soup was bursting with ingredients and aroma.

It seemed like every time the spoon came up, you could fish out something different.

The duck intestines went down to almost nothing if left too long. Not known for their flavour, particularly, but more for the slightly chewy texture.

We counted no more than 6 pieces of meat inside the pot, so it's a good job we had plenty of other things from the menu to eat. The meat itself was quite chewy, and not particularly flavourful. It had clearly been bubbling away for a while, otherwise it should have just fallen off the bone...

This is something I just cannot get used to in Taiwan. I know some people love chicken feet, so I presume duck feet are the same? However, the scales on the skin and the webbed feet on this duck foot was enough to make me shudder to look at it. And, really, it has no meat on it. If you are a regular foot eater, I'd love to know your thoughts on why you eat these things.

After we had only a little broth left and no more edible morsels to choose from, the pot was removed and the burning embers remained.

I have heard that the original store in SanChong is very good, so maybe I will try that next time. I feel that the chain stores can sometimes let standards slip and I don't want to decide that the SanChong one will be different, but I hope it will. 

Really, I expect the broth to have a deeper ginger flavour, I expect the meat to be cooked slower and for longer, and I expect there to be more meat. Afterall, it is called ginger DUCK.

Opening Times:
Monday - Sunday
16:30 - 02:00

Tel:
02 8661 3491


台北市文山區母新路2段233號

No. 233, MuXin Road, Section 2, WenShan District, Taipei City

Happy Eating!

Taipei City - Where can you get Western food in Taipei?

My site isn't necessarily built up for discovering Western food in Taipei, but obviously I still go to a lot of westernized restaurants, as Taipei is a capital city and has a diverse array of Western food. 

These are only a pick of a few Western restaurants dotted around the city. Click on the links in the name for a more extensive review.

(N.B. I will only be posting 7/10 and above restaurants)

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Whalen's 味鄰

Whalen's FB

What to expect: 
'Comfort food' is the order of the day here. Expect generous portions, with all the trimmings.

What not to expect: 
Fine dining. That's not to say the dining experience isn't good, but I mean that you don't have to think twice about which type of cutlery to use with which dish or which sauce to drizzle delicately over which deviled oyster.

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Paul

What to expect:

Paul is a chain restaurant/bakery with many international branches. Expect French styled food which is consistently good each time you go.

What not to expect:

Snails or frogs legs.

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RAW

What to expect:

Interesting and thought provoking dishes with excellent precision in execution.

What not to expect:

An inexpensive meal. Expect to pay anything between $3,000 - $7,000TWD for a 2 person meal.

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BING

What to expect:

Excellent burgers and excellent side dishes.

What not to expect:

Fast food at fast food prices. Expect time and care taken in creating your dish, and a solid price tag to boot.

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Pond Burger

What to expect:

A slightly Taiwanese take on western food. Good salad and a solid burger.

What not to expect:

Generous portions of fish in your salad.

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Take Five

What to expect:

Delicious deli food such as quiches, sandwiches, ratatouille etc.

What not to expect:

Burger and fries.

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Bencotto

What to expect:

A beautiful date place set in The Mandarin Oriental Hotel with delicious Italian food at great prices.

What not to expect:

Unlike many 'Italian' places in Taipei, this place genuinely feels like it is REALLY 'Italian'.

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Dazzle

What to expect:

Humbling Indian food with plenty of flavour and a good level of spice.

What not to expect:

Refined plating skills. 

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April Trip Breakfast

What to expect:
Bowls of cereal and solid breakfast burgers/sandwiches.

What not to expect:
A long lie in, this place is in DanShui/Tamsui

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Purebread Bakery

What to expect:
Delicious croissants likened to the ones sold in France, and bread enough to rival any other bakery in the city.

What not to expect:
Habitually sweet bread like most places in Taipei. 

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Garret

What to expect:
A lot of variations on flavour.


What not to expect:
Butterkist

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Illy Cafe

What to expect:
A decent enough attempt at a western breakfast.

What not to expect:
Sweet sausage.

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September Cafe

What to expect:
Delicious french toast. With plenty of light inside.

What not to expect:
Small tables, they're all huge!

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Caliburger

What to expect:
Great fries and deliciously simple burgers with great pickles.

What not to expect:
In-N-Out burger

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Mia Cucina

What to expect:
Hearty salads and delicious toasted sandwiches.

What not to expect:

Meat. This place is vegetarian.

Happy Eating!