Had breakfast at a nice and quaint cafe, Second Floor Cafe, which was around 5 minutes away from our hotel by cab. I have actually visited their Daan outlet last year and it was quite a good experience, so this time we included it in our trip.
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| Entrance of Second Floor Cafe |
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| The interior, taken using the panorama camera function on my iPhone 5 |
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| Smoked Turkey Focaccia, NT$220 (S$9.32) |
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| Both our meals came with soup and bread |
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| The Perfect Morning Breakfast, NT$280 (S$11.86) |
Bacon, hash browns, scrambled eggs, and a bagel. And it came with yogurt cereal too (below), so it was really value-for-money.
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| Yogurt cereal |
Address: 台北市中正区罗斯福路三段316巷9弄7号
Tel: 02-2364-1666
The cafe provided free wifi, so we stayed there for some time before taking a train to our next venue, 赵时机担仔厨房 for lunch, since there was nothing else to do meanwhile. We were still quite full, so we made sure we ordered less this time.
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| 玉米鸡, NT$300 (S$12.71) |
This cost more because I ordered the thigh portion, though I can't recall how much more it cost. If I were to compare it to Singapore's Pow Sing, this was considerably tougher and drier. But taste-wise it was quite different, and I found it to be tastier and with more "chicken" flavour.
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| 担仔面, NT$60 (S$2.54) |
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| 卤肉饭, NT$40 (S$1.69) |
Another one of Taiwan's well-known local delicacies. If it is not clear enough, the topping on top of the rice is actually fatty pork, so the health conscious can steer clear away from this dish. I have eaten other versions which were basically 90% fat, but this one had much more meat - maybe only 30% was fat? So this was 'lighter' and not that filling.
So far, we haven't tried any local Taiwanese food that truly impressed us. So this could be considered the best thus far. We had wanted to try other dishes such as their 卤鸡脚, 手工香肠, 猪肝 etc, but there was really no more space in our stomachs...
So far, we haven't tried any local Taiwanese food that truly impressed us. So this could be considered the best thus far. We had wanted to try other dishes such as their 卤鸡脚, 手工香肠, 猪肝 etc, but there was really no more space in our stomachs...
Restaurant name: 赵时机担仔厨房
Address: 台北市大安区延吉街177号 (Nearest MRT is Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall station)
Tel: 02-2752-0057
Next stop was Danshui, a long 23 station train journey that included one transit.
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| Along the harbour |
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| 淡水老街 |
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| 阿婆铁蛋 |
阿婆铁蛋 was the most well-known store that sells 铁蛋, but it comes at a premium - their eggs cost much more than other shops. We bought quite a few back to Singapore as gifts. On our way back, I bought some grilled squid from a stall which was manned by a rather rude woman. But the squid was so damn good that I almost doubled back to buy another one!
We bought so much stuff that we decided to return to the hotel before going for dinner. So it was a non-stop 22 station train ride from Tamshui to Taipower Building station.
Dinner was at 宁夏夜市.
We ordered a variety of food, but nothing really impressed us except for the oyster mee sua, which was really nice! Looks like it was a good idea to order it after we saw some people (who were sharing our table) eating it with relish...
Passed by this place selling Taiwanese oyster omelette. From what I recall during my first visit to Taiwan six years ago, I didn't enjoy their oyster omelette at all. But the sight of this man frying it with gusto right at the entrance was quite a drawing factor - that, and the fact that my gf has never tried it before. So we joined the queue.
Okay, now I am 100% positive that I do not like Taiwanese oyster omelette. It was a bit too gooey and the sauce on top was too sweet. Give me Singapore's oyster omelette anytime!
We bought so much stuff that we decided to return to the hotel before going for dinner. So it was a non-stop 22 station train ride from Tamshui to Taipower Building station.
Dinner was at 宁夏夜市.
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| Entrance of 宁夏夜市 |
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| Packed with people and stalls |
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| Oyster mee sua |
Passed by this place selling Taiwanese oyster omelette. From what I recall during my first visit to Taiwan six years ago, I didn't enjoy their oyster omelette at all. But the sight of this man frying it with gusto right at the entrance was quite a drawing factor - that, and the fact that my gf has never tried it before. So we joined the queue.
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| Taiwanese oyster omelette |
宁夏夜市
Address: 台北市宁夏路34之三号 (Nearest MRT is Shuanglian station, around 600m walk)
Day 5
Our flight was at 345pm, so we planned to eat lunch nearby, then take a cab to Taoyuan International Airport. My gf found this place called I Swear Cafe on the internet, so we decided to give it a try.
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| I Swear Cafe |
It turned out to be major letdown. The cafe serves Western food - low quality Western food. We ordered steak and risotto, and both were so bad that I wouldn't bother posting the photos. The only comfort was that the prices were not too high.
After that, we returned to our hotel and did some last-minute packing before taking a cab to the airport. The cab driver was extremely friendly and chatty, and through our conversations, we learnt that out of the standard cab fare rate of NT$1,200 (S$50.85) to the airport, the taxi company pockets NT$400 (S$16.95). So if we were willing to call him directly next time, he can offer us a rate of NT$1,000 (S$42.37) instead. It would be a win-win situation for both of us, since I would pay less and he would earn more. Of course, the taxi company would lose out, but who cares?
Planning for another trip to Taipei next year, probably with my family and relatives since we are all foodies. Taiwan is really a perfect place for cheap and good food, especially when it comes to Japanese food.
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