CantaloupeAlone

Green tea, pistachio, and strawberry on the left, and chocolate and tiramisu on the right and all with a crisp fresh cone It's my tradition to eat ice cream on my day off, because ice cream makes me happy. I'm very excited to have discovered a boutique ice cream shop a few blocks south to Da'an Park called 朱里昂冰淇淋 Julien Ice Cream that agrees 100%. Ice cream makes you happy Ice cream scoop stucco Ice cream cone lamps The shop has a clever modern design tucked away on a lazy, shady section of WenZhou St. They offer gelato, made in house in fresh waffle cones made a few feet away from the counter. They aren't taking any shortcuts here. The ice cream is rich, creamy and natural. The best part, 3 flavors for $100 or about $3.25 USD. They offer savory food and other desserts too, but I'm currently hooked on the cold stuff. Pistachio and vanilla are my flavors of choice. There isn't an English menu, but each time I've visited the staff have all s...

There are so many culinary advantages to living in Taiwan. One of which is the abundance of high-quality Japanese cuisine from both Japanese trained-Taiwanese chefs and authentic Japanese chains. Ramen nerds rejoice! There are plenty of chains and local stores to stand in line. I have been trying to educate myself on the nuances of ramen. What I can tell you so far is that ramen is good. Ramen is really good in the winter. I am beginning to understand why the Japanese needed to create a new word to define all the goodness. Ramen is umami, umami is ramen.  Menu, pictured here poorly in poorly pieced together photos.... Tonchin ramen usually has a line. When my friend and arrived on Wednesday night there were only 5-7 people ahead of us, and we waited for less than 10 minutes. Tonchin offers a fairly conservative menu of 4 flavors with different variations (with the egg, with seaweed, corn, or everything). The menu is full of photos so pointing a...

I like to keep up with Taiwan's food-spotting app,  愛食記 , or in English, ifoodie. It's a feed of photo-centric food blogs reviewing the newest and oldest spots around Taiwan. It is usually overwhelmingly cute. Ifoodie is driven by waffles covered in hearts, strawberries, cookies, marshmallows and pastel two-toned smoothies. Every now and then I give into cute. 思考吧 Thinking Bar appears to be nothing but cute, offering parfaits topped with dolls, flowers, and butterflies. I was delighted to discover that the ingredients in their parfaits are nothing but high-quality. The pineapple mango parfait I ordered ($190 NTD/$6US) was layered with raspberries, mangoes, crushed cookies, panna cotta, sorbet, and a very creamy and tart plain flavored frozen yogurt, topped with a slice of dried pineapple. It looks like an adorable sugar bomb, but it's a very thoughtfully crafted dessert with balanced flavor and texture. The parfaits are huge, maybe around 600-800 grams and ...

Fish Taco, my fav A large population of American immigrants in Taiwan are from the West coast, specifically California. They are bringing their Cali-Mex and Mexican food traditions with them to Taipei. I like tacos, but as someone from the midwest and NYC, I don't have a solid education. What I can tell is that Twinkeyz Tacos, opened in 2016, is working hard to present quality food. Their tacos use tons of fresh vegetables, sauces, and salsas. I believe they are making their own corn tortillas and would love to hear why they are pressing them to be so thick . There are plenty of meat and vegan options on the menu. So far I've tried al pastor, kimchi beef, fish and carnitas. Carnitas and fish stand out for flavor and texture. Chicken, Al Pastor, and Barbacoa However, fresh foods and Western foods always come with a high price tag in Taiwan for plenty of reasons. On my first visit to Twinkeyz my boyfriend and I spent $800 NTD on tacos 6 and we both left feeling hu...

Starbucks is a joke in Taiwan. Sure, you maybe need syrupy, chocolate sprinkle, whip cream thing every now and again, but since 2012 Taiwan has an enormous, and evolving coffee culture. Felice Cafe 享樂咖啡 in Taiwan has a tiny seating area of about 3 tables and one outside, but its convenient location makes it a great stop in the morning. I've noticed a lot of great coffee shops, in Taipei, aren't open in the mornings. Felice has you covered all day. On a humid hot cloudy day I opted for an iced latte. They asked if I wanted to "heavy or normal" and I'm not coffee nerd enough to understand.  It was rich and milky. A deal for $60 NTD, or about $2 USD. They do breakfast sandwiches too.  Coffee roaster takes up 20% of the room. This is clearly a serious operation. Felice Cafe is a simple tiny shop making complex delicious coffee. The menu in Chinese. There is an English menu on the counter too. Felice Cafe 享樂咖啡 台北大安區復興南路二段13號 No. 13-1, ...

Today's "new food" came from the North China Breakfast Shop 北方大陸餅, are you seeing a pattern? Many food shops in Taipei are named after the area their cuisine comes from. It seems that many places skip coming up with a name and just differ to using a description of what they serve. This particular breakfast shop is very near my home, but I've been ignoring it for 2 years. A friend who studies at TaiDa recommended it. They offer lots of traditional Taiwanese and Chinese breakfast items. I grabbed an egg pancake (dan1bing3) for $25 NTD, roughly 90¢ USD. A thin crispy scallion pancake surrounding a simple omelet.  It was salty, crunchy, sweet (why?), a touch greasy and just the right amount of food for a weekday breakfast.  The North China Breakfast Shop does not have an English menu, but there are photos of items above the counter of featured menu. Foreigner friendliness is just ok.  North China Breakfast Shop 北方大陸餅 台北市大安區辛亥路二段171巷12號 #12, Lane...

Today's "New to Me" came to me from my excellent boyfriend, who is wonderful and I feel thankful for every day. A fewVietnamese places have been popping up around the neighborhood. 台越美食 caught my eye right away as there always seem to be people coming in or out. This place doesn't have an English name yet, so I'm calling it Taiwan Vietnam Delicious Food, because that is exactly what the name means Chinese. I haven't traveled to Vietnam, yet, and I am no expert on the cuisine. I get the sense that most Vietnamese food in Taiwan has been "tweaked" to meet the Taiwan palette. By that I mean more sweet than salty, and never aggressively spicy. BBQ pork on rice with a fried egg, green papaya salad and cabbage. The sides are better than the meat, but it was ok.  Green papaya salad is always my favorite at Vietnamese restaurants, crunchy, sour, spicy. This one had a few little shrimps too. Green papaya salad is always welcome in my home...

How can you possibly consume all the tea and coffee in Taiwan? Glass by glass, let's see if I can! This morning I ventured slightly outside of my neighborhood and found a nice cup of green WenShan tea at Bog Tea shop right at next to the Da'an MRT on South Fuxing Rd in Taipei. Ordering tea in Taiwan can be a little overwhelming, but there are plenty of good resources to help beginners . I usually take my tea with half ice and half sugar. Even so, this green tea was a little on the sweet side. A few bitter notes linger which I like. The English, Japanese, and Chinese menu is very foreigner friendly. Click the images for a larger version. Bog Tea Shop Da'An Branch; 波哥茶飲大安區 台北大安區復興南路一段321號 No. 321, Sec. 1 Fuxing South Rd, Da’an District, Taipei Bog Tea Shop Da'an  Facebook page

How many nights can you eat broccoli for dinner? Too many. I've been eating broccoli for years. I'm shaking loose. I'm going nuts. I'm challenging myself to try one new restaurant, food or beverage item a day. Taiwan is an awesome place to be eating out, and I need to take advantage. To stay accountable I will try to post what I'm digesting here in daily briefs.  Tonight, Thursday, September 29th: The lovely understated entrance and logo of Origines Table Francais bistro restaurant in the Da'an district of Taipei off of Dunhau Rd and around the corner from a whole collection of other hip and boundary pushing restaurants. My friend and I went split-sies and shared three appetizers and one main. This Salad Nicoise was full of delightful bites including an expertly roasted cherry tomato and some red pepper puree. I loved it. Next up was some amazing bone marrow, which was demolished before I photographed it. Take my word, it was great.  ...