Tasting Journey #138 - 順天外科醫院/烘培者咖啡

保安捌肆/順天外科醫院/烘培者咖啡
台北市大同區保安街84號
02.2552.0484

Coffee shop in a renovated heritage building.

This building used to be a clinic and was refurbished into a cafe.  All floors have been reconstructed to mimic the olden days - wooden beams, wooden walls, and with steep wooden stairs.
Lots of interesting time pieces in the cafe, such as an old record player, or plaques that had ancient time written on it.

 

Quite a popular place as we had to wait in line for 3-4 other tables. The entire cafe is packed with either decoration pieces or tables that are lined up next to each other.

Menu-selection offers sandwiches, coffee and waffles.  Lots of single bean coffee, but no description to explain their acidity.  Sandwiches are made fresh, with crispy toast and water-sizzling iceberg lettuce.  I had their house coffee which was OK.  Waffle's not bad.

 

 



Tasting Journey #137 - Vivo光癮時尚餐飲

Vivo光癮時尚餐飲
台北市大安區敦化南路一段232巷8號10號
02.2721.4666
http://www.vivotaipei.com/#about

Spanish cuisine in a very modern and contemporary setting.

 

I have never been to Spain before, so I'm not sure what to expect, nor what their infamous dishes are.  However, from the dishes we ordered this evening, I wouldn't be surprised if Spanish dishes lay heavier on the deep-fried end of the culinary methods.

 

 

 

The restaurant is hip, all in a cool blue shade.  Tall transparent chairs, tailored towards the younger working generation who is willing to splurge on food.  We ended up spending $800/person that evening.

Vivo offers well-presented dishes, all in a tapas-style form, perfect for sharing.  Those who enjoy trying out varieties would enjoy tapas-style because the portions are tiny, and you probably need to eat 4-5 dishes to be full.  Since none of us really know what's good, we randomly picked items off the menu list.  All were quite decent, but what's noteworthy is their sauce.  Sauce made with heart.  The gelatos are also quite good.

Noteworthydishes are:
the seafood risotto
deep fried pig's ear that had textures of bacon bits
deep fried oyster

Don't bothers are:
chiroso sausage & egg - it tastes like a misshaped quiche
deep fried chicken with basil - it tasted like a not-so-tasty salt&pepper popcorn chicken

 

 

Tasting Journey #136 - 欣葉日本料理

欣葉日本料理
various locations
台北市館前路12號6樓
02.2371.3311
http://www.shinyeh.com.tw/store.php?Location=J#Branch_10

Family dinner of 20 people.  Food choices were OK; quality's decent; ambience can be better.
Not much of a dessert selection, but I like how it offered fresh juice.

Buffet is always a good choice if you have a huge group with different preferences or dietary requirements for food.  Honestly, buffet wouldn't be my pick for dinner gatherings as it lacks authenticity and uniquess. Noneitheless, it does the job for a large party.

 

 

Tasting Journey #135 - 加貝爾廚藝工作坊

加貝爾廚藝工作坊
台北市中山區北安路837號
02.8509.8552

An extreme clash of restaurant and cuisine experience.  The restaurant is located in an area that sells local eateries like beef noodle soup, and breakfast quick stops.  The restaurant itself, has minimal decoration that showed signs of local eateries everywhere.  The servers and chiefs probably are run by the same family.  I was very skeptical  how good this place could be.

Looking at the menu, it served pasta in single portions, or whole grilled chicken for parties.  According to the selection, if you don't have a huge group, essentially your only options are pasta, pasta, and pasta.  Even if you have a large group, the dishes they offer would require that you make a reservation in advance.

Frankly speaking, the food is well made, but the presentation could be improved.  I think one important element of dining not only requires pleasure to the taste, but also the ambience.  This restaurant in itself already lacked the ambience portion for a well-balanced tasting journey, but at the same time, the presentation of the dishes were served on local plates that you would only expect to see in a stir-fry restaurant.

Regardless, the food is well-made.  The bacon & chicken spaghetti dish I ordered was fire burning spicy. Make sure you are well prepared for this sizzling dish if you do decide to attempt it.

 

 

Tasting Journey #134 - Vapiano

Vapiano
台北市松壽路12號10樓-2
02.2722.7111
www.vapiano.com.tw

German-owned Italian cuisine that offers s quality food.  Located in the heart of Taipei, the huge panels of windows looks directly out to Taipei 101.  The restaurant itself is well-lit and spaciously designed that offers great ambience for business lunch/dinners.



The restaurant is self-service in the sense that you approach the kitchen to order your food, and you pick them up when they're ready.  How does this work?  As soon as you enter the restaurant, you are giving a card.  You can then walk around to the different kitchens that differs by food type such as pizza, salad/soup, pasta... Once you are ready to order, you approach the counter, places your order,  and swipe the card that you were given.  You pay upon exit where the restaurant then tabulates your orders.

The food is nicely portioned and well presented.  The taste also seems quite authentic (little do I know about Italian cuisine).  I would recommend this restaurant any time!

 

Tasting Journey #133 - HK Trip - 泰昌餅家, 小甜谷, Lab Made 分子雪糕專門店, 東薈城金滬庭

泰昌餅家
香港中環擺花街35號地下
852.2544.3475
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=5522

Busy pastry shop.  We tried their egg tart and preserved-egg pastry:
Egg tart isn't anything special. 
Preservedegg pastry is interesting in the sense that it's a very unique taste - a whole egg wrapped in crispy puff.  You have to really like the taste of preserved egg to enjoy this.  I had one bite and had to give it away.

小甜谷
香港大坑書館街10-11B地下
852.2882.6133
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=26948

Dessert parolour offering asian desserts similar to Hui Lau Shan as well as western ice-cream and slushes.
We abruptly stopped by this place because we were tired, sweaty, and in urgent need of AC.
The dessert's not bad, but slightly pricey.

 

Lab Made 分子雪糕專門店
香港大坑布朗街6號地下
852.2670.0071
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=106775

Ice-cream reinvented.  The new hype in the dessert world where they create different ice-cream flavours by freezing the ingredient with liquid nitrogen while blending.

 

I think it is just a temporary hype, as it is nothing extra-ordinary other than a show, and a nice presentation. 

 

Offering only 4 flavours, the cafe (or reallly, a small shop) is tiny with no 5 seating spaces. People ate while standing as the portion is small, and you can finish it in 5min.

 

東薈城金滬庭
東涌達東路20號東薈城1樓211號舖
852.2625.9008
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=15561

Amazing, amazing Shanghainese food in City Gate Mall.
All the dishes we tried were so rich and flavourful with depth and pleasant surprises.
The garlic green beans are marinated so well that the garlic essentially has been infused into the bean.
The spicey chicken (口水雞) has always been my sister's most favourite, spicey to the taste, but not the buds.
The salted egg tofu (黃金豆腐) was jaw-dropping, saliva dripping good.  Soft tofu deep fried in salted egg yolk.  Such a perfect dish to chow down bowls after bowls of rice.
I don't recommend ordering the jelly fish as it's slightly over cooked.

A definite must-visit place again!!!