Taipei (Nov 2012) (2/3)

Day 3

On our third day, we had planned for something which most people would not recommend for Taipei - a visit to their zoo.

We had our reasons for doing so. Firstly, although everyone was against us going, no one had even visited their zoo before. Secondly, it was one of the few places that we could visit in the morning at 9am. 

Located at Taipei Zoo MRT station, which was at the other end of the brown line, we arrived there three transits and 13 stations later. We planned to reach there at 9am but was half an hour late, and when we reached, the zoo entrance was, to my utmost horror and disgust, packed with hundreds of primary school children yelling and screaming. My enthusiasm dampened somewhat, but we still proceeded.

The entrance ticket costs only NT$60 (S$2.54) per pax, compared to S$20 for the Singapore Zoo. Took a lot of pictures, and here is just a small fraction of them. 

Taipei Zoo entrance with just 1% of the bratty kids

So that's how turtles do it

We spent quite a bit of effort to get the picture of the giraffe. My gf had to climb up a rather high ledge and take the picture with me supporting her from below.

We left the zoo at around noon, and took a train to Daan MRT before taking a 20-minute walk to 王品 (and where the gf complained non-stop). The menu is still roughly the same as during my previous visit, with a fixed price of NT$1,300 (S$55.08). For this price, you get a salad, soup, main course, plum juice, fruits, desserts, and drinks.

法式杏鲍菇沙拉 - Shrimp Cocktail with Fruit

Something light and refreshing to start the taste buds going.

燻鲑鱼焗牛肉洋菇 - Smoked Salmon & Beef with Mushroom Gratin

Whatever positive traits about this dish were overshadowed by the numerous fingerprints on the plate... eww.

酥皮海鲜清汤 - Seafood Consomme with Pastry

My gf ordered this. It turned out to be a clear soup (I had forgotten that consomme = clear soup), which definitely didn't go well with the pastry on top. So far, I have only seen soup pastries with creamy soups! This aside, the seafood soup was also flat and uninteresting.

法式菌菇浓汤 - French Mushroom Bisque

This tasted rather different from other mushroom soups. It was much sweeter, for one thing, and I found that it didn't really agree with my taste buds.

Roast Beef Fillet with Nuts & Lamb Chops

This was actually a 'customised' dish, because we swapped the cuttlefish with lamb chops. The roast beef fillet wasn't really good - I suspect that it is New Zealand beef - and the lamb chops were only average.

台塑牛排 - Wang Steak

Their trademark dish. This time, the waiter told me that I could choose between US beef and NZ beef. The former would be more tender while the latter would be more chewy. Without hesitation, I chose the US beef. Fortunately, this dish was still as good as ever! The beef short-ribs were separated into the meat and tendons portion. The meat had been stewed until it had soaked up all the flavour, and was extremely tender.

烤浓浆巧克力冰淇淋 - Chocolate Lava

I have never really liked thick chocolate, but the ice cream was still okay. The waitress even came over to offer us some free refills of ice cream, but we were too full to eat more.

红石榴慕斯 - Pomegranate Mousse

I preferred this dessert to the previous one. This was better - it was only mildly sweet and had the right balance.


To sum up, I wouldn't rate 王品's food too highly. It is all right, but not fantastic. Their service is something different, though. For tourists, I would suggest just visiting it once, and do order their 台塑牛排. For me, I would probably give it a miss during my next visit.


Restaurant name: 王品
Address: 台北市光复南路612号 (Nearest MRT is Daan or Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall station )Tel: 02-2325-3478

Taipei 101

Just like my previous visit, we walked to Taipei 101 after 王品. Unlike my previous visit though, where I spent 90% of the time sitting somewhere and playing my iPhone, this time I actually did quite a bit of shopping. A pair of Burberry cuff links caught my eye but cost more than S$200 (ouch), so I gave it up. We spent the most time in Zara, where I bought a wallet (NT$690 - S$29.24) for my brother, and a pair of shoes for only NT$990 (S$41.95).

After shopping, we had coffee at a cafe and sat there for a while with our iPads and magazines before taking a cab to our dinner venue, 巧味食堂. We were still pretty full, so we went there prepared to order less. It turned out that there was no menu; customers could just order what they want and the kitchen will see if they can prepare it. I told the owner specifically to cook for just two pax, but we ended up with too much food again. This is becoming a common affair. 

The food wasn't really too good honestly, so I won't bother posting the pictures. We didn't finish everything so that we still had space for 卤味 later at 师大夜市.

师大夜市

Another night market, which is located just five to seven minutes' walk away from our hotel.

灯笼加热卤味

Ah, the main purpose of our visit to 师大夜市 - for 卤味!

Lots of ingredients to choose from

Busy cooking the ingredients in their special gravy

卤味 for 2 pax

This still tasted as good as ever. Some of the ingredients I chose included meatballs, liver, pig intestines, and noodles. I can't recall how much it costs, but I think it's less than S$7. Why doesn't Singapore have any places selling this?

师大夜市
Address: 台北市大安区龙泉街106号 (Nearest MRT is Taipower station)