Bravo Burger

Site: http://www.orangeland.idv.tw/?p=1480

Phone: 02-87719787

Address: 106台灣台北市大安區市民大道四段72號

Price: $$

Time: 11:30am to 9:30PM, Daily

MRT: ZhongXiao FuXing

I came here with some friends and it was packed. Fortunately, we were able to get a table, but I think it's better if you try to get a reservation if you can. Not really sure what their policy on that was because at first it seemed like they didn't do reservations and then they changed their mind and said it was booked until 9PM, so I don't know. However, they gave us a table. There was a minor hitch while we were eating and they made us move tables to another open table because someone reserved the one we were sitting at (so I guess they do have reservations? Strange.), but other than that, we were fine.

A couple of my friends ordered this root beer, which they declared "the best root beer ever" though I must disagree. However, I am not partial to root beer, so maybe I'm not an accurate judge. You could also make it into an ice cream float!

I ordered a mushroom Swiss burger and a peach Calpis, they totally do not match, but they were both delicious. The burger was done perfectly, not overcooked and juicy. It hit the spot with the craving. Also, each burger came with a side dish and I chose fried mushrooms, a bit of a mushroom overload on my plate, but it was also amazingly delicious. The drink was what you expect of Calpis, yummy!

Good company, good food, what more can a girl ask for?

It's a bit of a walk, but not too far, maybe ten minutes at most.

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Snow King (雪王)

Site: http://www.snowking.com.tw/
Phone: 02-2331-8415
Address: No. 65, WuCheng St., Section 1
Price: $$
Time: 12PM to 10PM
MRT: Ximen, Exit 5. Go straight until you hit WuCheng St. and turn right. You'll see Snow King on your left after 2 minutes.

This ice cream store has been here for awhile. It also is known for it's strange ice cream flavors. Salty pigs feet? Of course. There are also normal flavors, such as mint, but why go to a weird ice cream store and not try something odd? I couldn't bring myself to do it. There are flavors such as curry, carrot, and basil. If you're brave, you'll try something weird, but the weird flavors are more costly. 

My friend got guava flavor, which she liked so much we actually came back again so that she could get the guava flavor. I was also unadventurous and got Honey, which was quite delicious. The second time I went, I got a Milk flavor, which was strangely, not very good. 

Honey Ice Cream!

This is the front of the store. This is where a lot of the ice cream flavors are. There are also more inside. 

As you can see, there are a lot more in here. It looks homemade, as they are in the yellow bowls, but of course, I'm sure they would be homemade since no one would create a salty pig's feet ice cream. I cringe just thinking about it though my curiosity is peaked. 

I totally recommend taking people to this place. The ice cream is delicious as well as interesting, so it's fun to go in and look at the funny flavors. It's a bit small, but cozy, in a way. I really enjoyed it. 

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山西刀削麵之家

Site: None
Phone: 02-2776-9889
Address: 106台灣台北市大安區敦化南路一段190巷49號
Price: $
Time: It closes at 9 or 10PM, I forget, sorry!
MRT: ZhongXiao Fu Xing, you'll have to walk a bit to get here

I've been meaning to try 刀削麵 since I've been here, but for some reason or other, it's never come up when I eat with friends. However, this time, my friend was suggesting places to eat and this came up and so she brought me here. The noodles are made differently, as the name says, they "shave" the noodles with a knife so the noodles come out in pieces, but they're very "Q" and chewy and delicious. I decided to have something more common here in Taiwan and got Beef Noodle Soup with the noodles 刀削.

I must say, it was delicious. I would definitely come here again to eat these noodles.

My friend got 酸辣麵 and it looked decent, but I prefer eating beef noodles. You won't be disappointed! There's also another branch of this store located on YongKang Street, I discovered it wandering around the area, so it's closer to where I am, so if I'm craving these noodles, I can always find them.


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吉馬陳蚵仔麵線大王 (Ji Ma - King of Oyster Noodles)

This store has four chains, but I went to the one on Zhong Shan, right next to the MRT station. This isn't the front of the store, but it was a meal they offered.

Site: http://www.chain777.com.tw/in/index.phtml
Phone: 02-25561188
Address: 台北市大同區南京西路41號
Price: $
Time: Not sure, but I ate dinner here around 8PM
MRT: Zhong Shan Station, Exit 2 and turn right. It'll be on your right near a bakery

I'm not a big fan of oyster noodles. I wouldn't go out of my way to eat them, especially with the intestines. Definitely not fond of anything remotely close to internal organs. However, I will admit that this place was not bad. The sausage was pretty good, but the zhong zi was pretty disappointing. The meal also came with a small plum drink, which was delicious!

It looked good, it was small and compact, but upon eating this morsel of food, it was slightly disastrous. Not only was it dry, it was tasteless and just not very good.

This was much better. I didn't eat the internal organs, of course, but the oysters were plump and did not have that sea taste or as they say in Chinese, 腥. The flavor of the dish was not bad and the noodles were thin and had a good flavor to them.

However good this dish is supposed to be, I am personally not a fan of it, so I'm not too sure how I felt about this place. They have good sausages and the prices are reasonable, so if you're a fan of oyster noodles, I'm sure you'd enjoy this place.

It actually looks further than it is on this map, it's actually quite close to the exit 2, maybe a 2 minute walk and you're there.

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Florida Bakery

They have two locations, one on Zhong Shan and one on Ren Ai, but I went to the one on Ren Ai.

Site: http://www.bread.com.tw/
Phone: 02-27021175
Address: 仁愛店:台北市仁愛路4段26號 (Ren Ai Road, Section 4, #26)
Price: $
Time: Daily 06:30 to 22:30 (for the Zhong Shan store)
MRT: Minquan W. Rd. Station (for the Zhong Shan store), ZhongXiao Fu Xing (for the Ren Ai Store)

I thought this bakery was adorable. They have shelf upon shelf of cookies and you can choose whichever ones you want because they weight what you buy and charge accordingly.

They had both Asian cookies, such as red bean or flaky butter cookies and more Western cookies, such as chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin. They also had amazing palmiers. They also sell cakes and breads, basically a large bakery but with a huge selection of everything!

It looked like everything was in bulk, but you have your choice of cookies, cakes, and breads. I really enjoyed the cookies and I can't even say which cookie was my favorite. They all had different textures and flavors, it was quite a fun experience choosing which cookies to buy. I would definitely come here again, though not too often. ;)

A - Zhong Shan Store
B - Ren Ai Store

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Tai Yi Milk King

(photo via 5daysintaipei)

Site: None available
Phone: 02-23623712
Address: Lane 82, Section 3, XinSheng S. Road, Taipei (across the street from main entrance of TaiDa)
Price: $
Time: 10:30AM to 12AM
MRT: Gongguan

My uncle took me here for the first time and told me this place was really good. He used to come here a lot when he went to TaiDa and said that everyone came here. When we got there, it was crowded. I've come to expect anywhere my uncle takes me is amazing. He has yet to prove me wrong.

We ended up getting three things because each person wanted different things. I wasn't too partial to red bean, but my uncle insisted that we had to get it. We also got grass jelly with ice (not the best, I'm afraid) and mango with strawberry shaved ice. The mango strawberry one was average. The red bean with tang yuan was pretty good. I did my best to avoid the red bean and ate some of it. Delicious! I will have to go back again some time to try different flavors. There's a LOT of them.

I definitely recommend this place!


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Smith and Hsu

Site: http://www.smithandhsu.com/en/intro.php
Phone: 02-27474857
Address: 臺北市忠孝東路五段33號 (No.33, Section 5, Zhong Xiao East Road, Taipei)
Price: Depends what you get, $$-$$$
Time: 10AM to 10:30PM
MRT: Taipei City Hall Station, Exit 1 and turn around and walk the other way and Smith & Hsu will be across the street on the left

This was a pleasant surprise. A friend brought me here and I wasn't expecting English tea, but that's what it was. It has a modern look and the food was really good. You can also buy things from the store.

We got the English Garden Cream Tea, now called the English Afternoon Tea Set. Here's a pdf of the full menu!

First, we had to choose our teas. They brought out these little sample cups where you can smell and pick which one you wanted. I went with English tea because I really like English tea. Next time I think it would be fun to pick a fruit tea.

The afternoon tea set came with a ton of food and the three of us couldn't even finish it all and had to take it home. The jams and spreads that came with the scones were made incredibly well. I LOVED the spreads.

Overall, I really liked this place. Some sets are more reasonably priced. It's a nice place to come to. It was quiet and seems like a nice studying place, especially with a pot of tea and some scones!


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YoFroyo

Site: http://www.yofroyo.com/Yofroyo_first/index.aspx
Phone:(02)2365-0188
Address: 台北師大路59巷9號1樓
Price: $-$$
Time: Sun-Mon: 11:30AM to 11PM
         Fri-Sat: 11:30AM to 12AM
MRT: GuTing

It's a relatively small store. I actually just wandered around ShiDa Night Market until I stumbled upon it. There's not a lot of space to sit down inside, but there's a small counter, so it's easier to sit alone and read, but I don't think this place is actually meant for those types. Maybe for a meetup with a friend.

The menu was convenient as it was both in Chinese and English, so it was easy for me to decide what I wanted. The thing that I like about this yogurt place was that it was different than the ones in Cali. They had things in the yogurt that I never thought about.

This is my yogurt! I ended up getting the "Guiltless Indulgence" which consisted of: original froyo, raspberry, aloe, and konjac (which is this clear jelly). It was pretty good, I guess I wasn't actually expecting it to be that good, but I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend it to others.


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Alleycat's

(picture via TripAdvisor)

Site: http://www.alleycatspizza.com/
Phone: 02-27315225
Address: 台北市忠孝東路4段248巷2號 (No.2 Lan 248 XhongXiao E.Rd.)
Price: $$
Time: Mon - Thurs & Sun: 12PM to 10PM
         Fri - Sat: 12PM to 12AM
MRT: ZhongXiaoDunHua, Exit 3 and go straight until you see Kingstone and then turn right and walk a bit and you'll see Alleycat's on your right.

The thing about this place is, it's known as the best pizza in Taiwan, but I will forever love So Free SO MUCH BETTER! Something to think about. ;)

This pizza place has multiple locations throughout Taipei, so it's more convenient to find.

I will say that I really did enjoy their Cesar Salad, but maybe it's because I haven't eaten salad in so long and I miss it. I'm not too sure. The pizza was thin crusted and too crunch to be good. It was fine, but not my idea of the "best pizza ever". That category goes to So Free. Also, this pizza was more expensive with less topping. However, it's not terrible.


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So Free Pizza

Site: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/sofreepizza
Phone: 02-2364-3351
Address: 台北市大安區羅斯福路三段283巷28號
Price: All pizzas 120NT
Time: Saturday and Sunday - 11:30AM to 9PM
MRT: Between Gongguan and Taipower

This is the best pizza place in Taipei. Alleycats can't even compare. This small pizza place is all vegetarian, but it's so good. It is crowded most of the time and the wait can get as long as an hour. If you want to sit after getting your pizza, the chances are slim. I recommend buying the pizza and then going to the park across the street to eat it.

This was strange tasting. I'm not too fond of vinegar flavored things, so personally I would not recommend it.

My favorite pizza would be the mushroom asparagus. They're all 8 inches, so each person can buy one and then try different flavors. The dessert pizzas are actually pretty good. The Korean Kimchi one was not bad, but I'm not a fan of Kimchi, so I didn't love it. However, it was ok.

This is my favorite pizza place in Taiwan. Or maybe ever!


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Yu's Almond Tofu

Site: http://www.yustofu.com.tw/
Phone: 02-25702587
Address: 台北市八德路三段200號4F之1
Price: $-$$
Time:
MRT: XiMen Exit 4, it's right there

This place has the best Almond Tofu. No joke, this place is great. Another thing (besides the almond tofu) that's famous here is their Almond Shaved Ice. I haven't tried it, but I will eventually!

This place is different from other places. They give you the almond tofu and they also give you almond milk (I think it's milk?) for you to pour into your almond tofu. It's almost like a weird dessert soup.

The almond tofu is silky smooth and not overly sweet. It's subtly sweet with a strong almond flavor. If you like almonds, this is definitely for you! Next time I go, I will definitely try the shaved ice!


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