Food

Sparks Cafe & Bistro @Thomson V One

Posted on 3 February 2016 by lendeliz

2016-02-03 20.51.11 We were back here today, now that Sparks has started serving mains 🙂

We were at Sparks several months back (when we visited Five by Five who is their neighbour) and had their signature sugee cake. We were told then that they were preparing to begin serving mains. Given their standard of sugee cake, we were quite anticipating what they could come up with and they finally started!

2016-02-03 20.51.20So we tried an Oven Baked Duck ($16.90), and Rosemary Chicken ($15.90).

The duck leg was juicy and fragrant, and the homemade cranberry sauce was quite sweet and fruity. The half spring chicken was a bit dry, but the generous amount of rosemary made it quite fragrant too.

Both mains were served with mash potato and salad. The mash potato was deliberately served cold to balance the dish, and we felt that it was delicious with the bacon bits all mixed in to provide the texture and crunch.

There’s no service charge or GST.

Contact:

  • Location: 9 Sin Ming Road Thomson V One #01-04 S(575630)
  • Website: www.sparkscafebistro.com
  • Hrs: 11:30am – 10pm (Mon), 10am – 10pm (Tue-Sun)
Categories: Dinner, North | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

ことぶき居酒屋 Kotobuki Japanese Restaurant @Holland Village

Posted on 30 January 2016 by lendeliz

This seemed to be a relatively new restaurant, and the January promotion of a Deluxe Don Special caught our attention.

We entered the restaurant around 6.45pm, and the waitress very enthusiastically informed us that all food orders (excluding drinks), were entitled to 20% discount, if we ordered before 7pm. Hence, we just quickly browse through the first page of specials and placed our orders, plus an additional sashimi platter. After our orders had gone through, another waitress came to inform us that specials on the first page were not entitled to discounts… Well done! Truth to be told, now that we had a chance to slowly browse through the menu, there was indeed very fine print on that specials page indicating that there was no discount available. We guessed that the waitresses just needed more training.

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Categories: Dinner, West | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

The Populus Coffee & Food Co. @Neil Road

Posted on 21 January 2016 by weiming

2016-01-21 19.37.25

Wifey was at a meeting nearby so we decided to drop by The Populus for dinner. We had walked past on Tuesday but it was closed. We had wanted to try out this place since it opened in Oct 2015 but had not been able to. Lucky for us, it was a Thursday today and they closed at 10:30pm!

The Populus is just a few shops away from The Lokal along the same Neil Road. It has quite a large seating area with a simple, modern deco. Warm lights on a high ceiling creates a homely atmosphere where friends can just gather and chit-chat over food and coffee.

Plain water is self-serviced and they accept credit card payments for totals above $50, which is quite steep in my opinion. Lower than that, you can pay by cash or NETS.
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Categories: Central, Dinner | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Hoto Cafe @Taipei

Posted on 12 January 2016 by lendeliz

2016-01-12 14.14.18I wanted to try out this cafe as there was this supposedly very yummy blueberry tart (limited to 6 per day).

When we arrived here after lunch, the tart was sold out already. 😦

Nonetheless, the cafe indicated that their cakes were all handmade, so we got ourselves a slice of 提拉米蘇 Tiramisu (NT90) to share.

2016-01-12 14.38.47It was light and not overly intense, and we rather enjoyed it with our 拿鐵 Latte (NT110) and 唐寧伯爵鮮奶茶 Earl Grey Milk Tea (NT110, additional NT10 for hot version).

The food and drinks presentation were really pretty! Coffee was pretty good (hubby said all the coffee he has tried during this trip were similarly good), but I thought that the tea was a bit too mild.

We loved the ambience here, and were most impressed that it was a single staff who was managing the entire place. Next time, I will call in advance to reserve the blueberry tart!

Contact:

  • Location: 台北市中山區南京東路1段13巷7弄6號, No. 6, Alley 7, Lane 13, Section 1, Nanjing East Rd, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 104
  • Nearest MRT: Zhongshang Station 捷運中山站 (Take Exit 2 and walk 8mins, its between Okura Prestige Hotel and Regent Hotel )
  • Website: www.facebook.com/Hoto-Cafe-874776065900123
  • Hrs: 12pm – 9pm (Mon-Fri), 10am – 7pm (Sat)
Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

阿永小吃店 Ah Yong Eatery @Taipei

Posted on 12 January 2016 by lendeliz

Since we were going to Hoto Cafe later in the day, we figured that we should check out the area near it for lunch. There was only one small eatery nearby, but we figured it should not be too bad as there were consistently customers going in and out of the place.

We tried the 肉丝炒米粉 Beehoon Stir-fried with Sliced Pork (NT70), and a plate of 炒花枝 Stir-fried Squid (NT150). The bee hoon tasted like 新竹米粉, which we like, and the celery with squid had a lovely wok hei to it. This was a simple, homely, and delicious meal 🙂

Contact:

  • Location: 台北市中山區南京東路一段13巷7弄2之9號1樓, No. 6, Alley 7, Lane 13, Section 1, Nanjing East Rd, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 104
  • Nearest MRT: Zhongshang Station 捷運中山站 (Take Exit 2 and walk 8mins, its between Okura Prestige Hotel and Regent Hotel )
Categories: Lunch, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

NOTCH咖啡工場 站前店 NOTCH Coffee Factory @Taipei

Posted on 12 January 2016 by lendeliz

2016-01-12 12.16.31 A cafe spanning 4 floors, this was a generous place in terms of space and free wifi and charging points. The minimum spending is 1 drink, and some tables have minimum pax rules. You can spend the entire day here, as evidenced by plenty of people studying, working, or in discussion with their laptops.

2016-01-12 11.40.22The 拿鐵 Latte (NT80) here was not bad, and I found the hot 南法莊園 Lavender and Grape Tea (NT70) quite nice, though I thought that some syrup might have been used. The sweetness of grapes was very distinct and not too artificially sweet, and as one sips the tea, the lavender fragrance fills up the entire mouth, very nice!

Despite the crowd, it was not a noisy cafe, and it was lovely to just laze around. When we were done, we only had to leave our cups at the collection point, leaving the space free for others to use.

Contact:

  • Location: 台北市中正區信陽街6號, No. 6, Xinyang St, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 10047
  • Nearest MRT: Taipei Station 捷運台北站 (Exit 8)
  • Website: www.facebook.com/NOTCHfrontstation
  • Hrs: 7:30am – 10pm (Mon-Fri), 8am – 10pm (Sat-Sun)
Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

公館夜市 Gongguan Night Market @Taipei

Posted on 11 January 2016 by weiming

2016-01-11 21.18.50Back in 2013, we were utterly lost trying to find 公館夜市 Gongguan Night Market, and ended up rather disappointed. This year, we decided to try again 🙂

The maps in the subway station still did not show where 公館夜市 was, but we just followed the instructions online, and got out of Exit 1.

We then realized that as this was more of an area with many shop fronts, it is known as 公館商圈 Gongguan Shopping District. And this time, we were at the correct starting point, and the push cart food stalls were actually spread out across 4 lanes, including that one lane which we went to previously.

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Categories: Dinner, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

景美夜市 Jingmei Night Market @Taipei

Posted on 11 January 2016 by lendeliz

2016-01-11 23.21.54Today was our last night in Taipei *sob*, and we really wanted to cover 景美夜市 Jingmei Night Market, and 公館夜市 Gongguan Night Market, as they were just 2 stations apart.

Being a Monday night, we expected that some stalls might not be open. But that was fine with us, as there were plenty of everything else to eat.

The area at 景美 Jingmei is a 市场 market place in the day with shopping and food, and as night falls, it turns into a night market as other push cart style food stalls begin their operations. We were here from late afternoon, and manage to do a little shopping before dinner. The prices here seemed to be slightly cheaper.

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Categories: Dinner, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

微客棧-人文空間 Waker Coffee @Taipei

Posted on 11 January 2016 by weiming

2016-01-11 13.31.40-2We were caught in the rain after lunch!

While taking shelter under a not-very-big canopy, we FourSquare-d for cafes near us so that we could rest the rain away, and picked 微客棧-人文空間 Waker Coffee!

This cafe is opened by a social enterprise, 微客國際服務團隊 Waker Group of Taiwan who focuses on child education around the world as their cause. This cafe was opened as part of a gathering point for their volunteers as well as a retail outlet for their handicrafts. Their HQ is located just above the cafe. 🙂

Apparently they had just opened for an hour or so, and there were no other customers. So we occupied the sofa and made ourselves comfortable.

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Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

金峰魯肉飯 Jinfeng Braised Pork Rice @Taipei

Posted on 11 January 2016 by weiming

2016-01-11 11.37.59-1We have been to Taipei many times but seemed to have missed this popular braised pork rice every time. So today we made it a point to die-die-also-must-go!

It was easy to find, and we located it quickly once we came out of station’s Exit 2. From afar we could already saw a queue forming. In out hearts we were thinking “Got so nice meh?” Haha…

As we approached, we realized the queue was for take-outs, because they are popular during lunchtime. But we were here to dine in, and got our seats quickly.

We ordered:

  • 魯肉飯 Braised Pork Rice (NT30) – The rice was the best we had in this trip, fluffy and 粒粒分明 not mushy. The gravy was very addictive, and the minced meat was a good mix of meat and fatty bits.
  • 焢肉 Pork Belly (NT35) – The meat had a slightly chewy texture, and could be easily torn off; yummlicious!
  • 人蔘雞湯 Ginseng Chicken (NT50) – This was very value-for-money, as the small bowl of soup was packed with chicken meat and ginseng.
  • 燙青菜 Green Vegetable (NT20)- We ordered this to feel less sinful, haha 😛

Overall, a very enjoyable lunch 🙂

Contact:

  • Location: 台北市中正區羅斯福路一段10號, No. 10, Section 1, Roosevelt Rd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100
  • Nearest MRT: Zhongzheng Memorial Hall Station 捷運中正記念堂站 (Take Exit 2)
  • Hrs: 8am – 1am
Categories: Lunch, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

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