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 ...

The Old Kiln Scallion Pancake or 蔥油餅 (cong1you2bing3) My expectations are usually pretty high, especially if my boyfriend (a Taipei local of 30 years and a chef) point out food to me. I bike to Yonghe 6 days a week for week, and it seems that every day I pass a "well-known" scallion pancake stand in Gongguan, next to the 福和橋 Fuhe Bridge called Old Kiln Scallion Pancake 舊漫窯烤蔥油餅. Biking makes me snacky, and scallion pancake is a great snack. Menu The kiln. What is it for exactly? Condiments: chili sauce, white pepper, and soy The Old Kiln Scallion Pancake 舊漫窯烤蔥油餅 is not good. I was served a tepid, greasy fried scallion pancake. I ordered my pancake with an egg, which in my past experience has meant a fried egg. At Old Kiln Scallion Pancake 舊漫窯烤蔥油餅 cool scrambled eggs are spooned inside the pancake. A time-saving trick that seems invalidated by a poor menu. So, did I go on the wrong day? Was going at 11:30 am the wrong time? Did they pawn out the day-old pan...

Generous plates of perfect food Hello, you want this guy making your kabobs. This cooking is better than mine, but not quite as good as Grandma's. Living in Taiwan for the last 4 years I thought I would never taste most of the Armenian/Lebanese food I grew up eating again. Even when I return to America family and friends enthusiastically try to feed me sliced cabbage, canned orange and condensed milk salad instead of my childhood sarma, lamb, kabobs, pilaf, yogurt, and lahmacun. Taiwan has a few Middle Eastern restaurants ( Sabbaba , meh) that mostly seem to cut corners or compromise true taste for the local preferences. It is not a good scene. Beyti Kabob wrapped in lavash with Turkish red pepper sauce, rice, and yogurt Vegetable Pida scallions and mushrooms on a flaky and crispy crust That has all changed. No more moping and longing from me! Safranbolu Turkish Restaurant is putting out excellent, high-quality food with authentic flavor. There is though...

New life goals, order the 40 kg shaved ice that is served in Taiwan-shaped bowl. I'm thinking birthday, next year, for myself and 50 of my closest. It's only $5999 NTD,  or less than $200 USD The South East Asia Ice Shop東南亞冰店 in Gongguan isn't the most famous shaved ice shop in Taipei, but it is reliable and generous. They offer unflavored shave ice, topped with condensed milk and the fruits (strawberry, mango, kiwi) of your choice, and a selection of fruit sorbets if that isn't enough. It's light, sweet, and more refreshing than a chilly dip in a waterfall on a hot and humid Taiwan day. Advertisement for 40 kg of shaved ice in a Taiwan-shaped bowl Photo menu I like this place not only because it has good desserts, and even some savory snacks too, but mostly because it is yellow. The yellow tables, walls and chairs just make mango taste a little more mango-y, mango-ish, mango-riffic. They also offer a photo menu of each version of shaved ice.  ...

You know pearl tea . It's a big thing in Taiwan. It is also called bubble tea, boba, tapioca. Sometimes the chewy, or as we say in Taipei "QQ," dark orbs are spooned into other drinks, like milk. Sometimes the pearls are made of brown sugar. Chen Sanding Brown Sugar Pearl Milk 陳三鼎黑糖青蛙撞奶 in Taipei's Gongguan night market serves just that. They have some other drinks, more QQ jelly drink. The name of the stand is 黑糖 (hei1tang2) which means black sugar, so just order that. Ok? Ok. Its been around for a while, at least 15 years claims my boyfriend who says it was a regular treat in high school. I'm not finding much information to confirm or deny it. Eater's Taipei 38 calls it a, "hard must." There is always a line at the Chen Sanding Brown Sugar Pearl Milk stand, but do not be afraid. The line moves quickly. We waited for about 3 minutes behind 10-12 people. The words hanging vertically from the sign are the menu. If it is your first time, jus...