Tasting Journey #93 - 鳥家居酒屋

鳥家居酒屋
台北市忠孝東路四段223巷46號
02.2771.3902

Every time I walk by this place on a weekend, it is always packed.  Very typical izakaya-style where the entire restaurant front is made of wood, with a red lantern.
Menu is hand-written, and the selection is as expected. Servers are very interesting, as they all wear a name tag that showed some popular Japanese names. I asked one of them whether that is part of the uniform, but the Taiwanese responded that that is his name during working hours.  What an interesting policy/humour.

Food-wise, I have to say that 作田 is still much better. Price range is similar.
Dishes are all served on a small plate, and the portions are typical izakaya. I have to say that if I am looking for izakaya food, 作田 is still number one choice.

Tasting Journey #92 - 小樽手作咖啡

小樽手作咖啡
various locations
台北市東興路23號
02.2528.3288

Came here with a girl friend of mine because I needed to work (it was Monday afternoon), and she was waiting for me to finish up so we can go shopping together.

Architecture-wise, what struck me as interesting is the wooden door; It is heavy, huge, and thick.
The interior is quite common within the coffee cuture in Taipei - modern and wood themed. It is spacious, well-lit, and with electrical outlets for people who wants to surf the web.

 

Menu-wise, we went there for coffee, so I only paid attention to their coffee selection. It offers more creative coffee than single bean coffees for the experts.  Lots of latte's and frangrant drinks.
I ordered a sea salt latte. 

 

I did not know what to expect. Salty coffee?  Taking a sip of the coffee, I am pleasantly surprised by how well it tastes.  The sea salt is blended into the frothy milk that sits on top of the coffee.  Maybe the addition of salt makes the froth smoother and creamier.  Maybe the addition of salt stabilizes the froth so that it stays frothy longer.  Maybe the addition of salt brings out the aroma of the coffee.   Maybe, and maybe. A definitly maybe just a little bit better. :)

Tasting Journey #91 - Alleycat's Pizza

Alleycat's Pizza
various
台北市八德路一段一號
02.2395.6006
http://www.alleycatspizza.com/

Came here with my girl friends for lunch one day. Not a bad hang out place for after work snacking with coworkers.  Interior decoration is western style, with couches and long tables. Very similar to TGIF, except a bit more spacious.

 

Food-wise, decent quality at decent price. Their pesto pita is tasty. 

Tasting Journey #90 - 古早味豆花

古早味豆花
台北市民生西路210號
02.2558.1800

Located next to the popular Ning Hsia Night Market, this place served traditional-style tofu dessert.  This place is recommended by a friend of mine from Taichung.  "recommmended" in the sense that she hasn't tried it before, but is recommended by a Japanese magazine.

 

The restaurant front is clean and tidy.  Service not so great.  Food-wise, it offers all the varieties that you would expect in a typical tofu dessert parlour.  I'm not a big fan of soy bean products, and therefore I can't say that I've had enough tofu dessert to really tell whether this is thumbs-up or thumbs-down.  Supposedly popular, the parlour is not busy at all. 

 

In a tranditional tofu dessert dish, the tofu slices are served with a sugar water.  This parlour however, offers the option of replacing the sugar water with soy bean milk.  I'm guessing this is an original dish, so I ordered it and added a taro ball topping to richen the flavour.  Finished the dish, and that was it.  Not eye-opening nor tongue twisting.  I'm inclined to assume that this is a parlour that is catered for Japanese tourists only.

Tasting Journey #89 - 誠記越南麵食館

誠記越南麵食館
台北市永康街六巷一號
02.2321.1579
http://www.thanhky.com/

Found this place on ipeen.com.tw because a friend visiting wanted to have pho for lunch.  I am a big fan of Vietnamese pho, but haven't had much chance to dig into this type of cuisines in Taipei yet.  Vancouver has lots of tasty pho. I'm not sure if it is considered authentic in Vancouver, though there are a huge Vietnamese population there, and that these pho restaurants are all owned by true Vietnamese.  However, during my stay in Taichung a few years back, I did go around town looking for a taste of Vancouver-style Vietnamese pho and was unsuccessful.  My thought is either that Vancouver Pho is very unauthentic, or that it is from a different part of Vietnam, knowing that Northern Vietnam and Southern Vietnam has very different pho broth.

 

 

Thanhky is extremely popular for a reason.  Two store fronts located right across from each other in the 永康 district, both packed with people even at 1pm.  My friend and I ordered a salad roll, a bowl of their signature pho dish each, and vietnamese coffee. Worth mentioning is that the pho broth is really good.  Someone once told me that pho broth is loaded with MSG. I don't know if this one has MSG, but it's tastefully delicious.  Worth noting is that this dish also won 2nd price in the International Beef Noodle Competition in 2008.  The dish was also loaded with toppings made of beef bowl, tripe, beef slices, tendons and whatever other internal organ stuff I don't recognize.  The portion's huge, even for a small.

 

Coffee is typical, and the spring roll is soft and fresh.  Can't complain. 
I definitely recommend trying this place out.

Tasting Journey #88 - 厚子洋食

厚子洋食
台北市中山區四平街116號
02.2506.3306


Family-style Japanese restaurant that serves western comfort food.  The restaurant is small, and tucked away in a quiet area.  I've always find this kind of cuisine unique in the sense that it is not authentic, yet it is, because this  type of dishes can only be made by true Japanese.

 

The restaurant is family-style in the sense that there is only one person that runs the entire restaurant - from taking the order, to cooking, and to processing the bill.  All just one person.  What's even more amazing is that the dishes are served really quickly yet there is no sense of rushing.  The chief/server is a middle-aged Japanese woman.  She comes across with a strong sense of confidence in her cooking...which is also accented in the flavouring of the dishes.

The two of us ordered 3 dishes: two Japanese-style burger dishes, and a spaghetti dish. Japanese eat burger with rice.  Interesting combination, as it is more like a risotto/燴飯 type of dish to me.  The spaghetti is also quite tasty.  Portions are not large, as I can easily an entire dish on my own. The flavours are made with as much comfort as a comfort food can be.  But what really blew my mind is the dessert.  The caramel pudding. It is so damn delicious, and without a doubt can be ranked amongst the top with the pudding offered at the B-One buffet in Sherwood Hotel.  So damn tasty - probably also rich in cream.  I can eat 3 of those in a blink.

Tasting Journey #87 - Gabee 咖啡店

Gabee 咖啡店
民生東路三段113巷21號
02.2713.8772


Came here after lunch with a friend whom I haven't seen for over 10 years.  She highly recommended this coffee place because it has won awards in the past.  I must try it then!

The café is brightly lit; white tables and white chairs.  Contemporary decoration in a quiet alley way.
It's busy though. Next to the seats is a sill that has been fully occupied by anything coffee related from roaster to mugs to sacks.

 

The menu folds out to one sheet, and it serves many types of creative and flavoured coffee.  I ordered a cup of black coffee to try out the quality of the bean.  The server asked if I wanted northern Italy or southern Italy.  Apparently northern is more rich in acidity, where as southern is more bitter. I opted for the bitter option as I am not a fan of acidic coffee - It sometimes reminds me of overnight coffee if it doesn't have a smooth after taste.  I also ordered a waffle to compliment my coffee.

 

Coffee is dark roasted, and rich.  Waffle is only so-so.  My friend highly recommend that I have the honey and cream on the side, as it makes the waffle soggy quite quickly.  Overall, I think the coffee's not bad, but I wouldn't say that the waffle is over the top.