Cafe a la mode

Shida branche (師大店): 

No. 2-1, Yunhe Street, Taipei

台北市大安區雲和街2-1號

02 - 2362 3957
Monday - Friday:  10:00 - 21:30
Saturday - Sunday:  09:30 - 21:30

Zhongshan branche (中山店): 
No. 11, Lane 26, Section 2, Zhongshan North Road, Taipei
台北市中山區中山北路二段26巷1號
02 - 2581 6691 
Tuesday - Friday:  11:00 - 21:30
Saturday - Sunday:  10:00 - 21:30
Monday: Closed

We went here for dessert and ordered a tea and a brownie with ice cream and whipped cream. I was pleasantly surprised that the brownie was warm and crunchy! Such a delight! Looking forward to try their brunch and pasta next time. 

Toasteria Cafe

Toasteria Cafe
No. 3, Lane 169, Section 1, Dunhua South Road, Taipei
台北市大安區敦化南路一段169巷3號
02 - 2752 0033
Monday - Friday:   11:00 - 03:00
Saturday:   09:00 - 03:00
Sunday:   09:00 - 00:00
http://www.toasteriacafe.com/

Toasteria Cafe is THE place to go if you are craving for a yummy panini (and grilled cheese)! 

Some of my all-time favorites are their BBQ chicken, Meat lover and their Salmon classic panini. This time we opted for a lighter and vegetarian version, the Sicilian (NT$ 190), a panini (whole wheat bread) with grilled jack and cheddar cheese, roasted pepper and pesto garlic. All the flavors combined are truly delicious and the grilled cheese really melts in your mouth. 

The Cubano belongs to Toasteria's "big toasts", and are sandwiches made of toasted Ciabatta bread. The Cubano (NT$ 270) is a toasted Ciabatta sandwich filled with slow roasted pork, ham, caramelized onion, house pickles and good mustard, topped with grilled swiss cheese. The taste is phenomenal! Very delicious, but also very heavy. If you are a huge fan of roasted pork, this is the sandwich for you! 

All toasts are served with house pickles and olives. The toasts do not come with fries, so you can order them for NT$ 90 extra. The fries are very crispy and it comes with some mustard sauce.  

If you haven't been to Toasteria Cafe yet, go and try it out! Do make reservations first, if you don't want to wait for a table, since they are quite popular. 

Tino's pizza

Tino's pizza

No. 69, Section 2, Jinan Road, Taipei

台北市中正區濟南路二段69號

02 - 2358 1708

Monday - Sunday: 11:00 - 21:30

MRT: Zhongxiao Xinsheng (exit 5)

http://www.tinospizza.com.tw/bin/home.php

Tino's pizza (Jinan branch) isn't very big, but besides the tables for 4 persons, they also have long tables for larger groups, which can seat 10-12 people. 

The menu is quite diverse, besides the pizza's you can order some tapas or snacks on the sides. 

The Focaccia (which you will not find at every pizzeria) looked good, but unfortunately I didn't get to try it this time.

I ordered the Pineapple lemon melon tea (NT$ 70), which was refreshing, but I didn't really taste any pineapple or lemon flavor. The flavor of the melon tea was way too overpowering to actually taste any pineapple. Later it appeared that the pineapple element was the slice of pineapple that was added to the drink (see bottom of the cup). 

Besides the peanut butter sauce, the Peanut butter fries (NT$ 70) were sprinkled with some herbs and topped with some crispy bacon. Very tasty! 

The Grilled rib eye steak paella (NT$ 280) was very dry and didn't look/taste like a traditional paella at all. It was more like layer of crispy rice, covered by pesto sauce and topped with some slices of steak and mushrooms. Overall it didn't taste too bad, but it was a bit too dry for my liking. 

The pizza Signore Tino (NT$ 200) was good, generously topped with dried tomatoes, mushrooms onions, olives and bacon. 

For dessert, we ordered a Sweet crustar honey pearl (NT$ 160). It was sort of a sweet pizza covered with tapioca balls, fruits (kiwi, mango and berries) and some sweet dressing. I found the combination a bit odd and my friends weren't a fan of this sweet pizza either. All the wet toppings made it a bit hard to eat, since it made the pizza bottom all soggy. 

Overall, it is a nice place to meet up with some friends and enjoy some pizza. But Taipei has so many other options to offer, that I probably won't come back to this place any time soon.  

Traditional Taiwanese gelato

北門鳳李冰

忠孝東路四段216巷33弄9號

02 - 2711 8862

Tuesday - Sunday: 12:00 - 21:30
Closed: Monday

北門鳯李冰 is a traditional Taiwanese gelato place. The store is simple and clean, nothing fancy, with a couple of tables and stools. The menu is written on an old-school chalkboard and pretty straightforward. All in Chinese though and I'm not sure if the staff speaks English, so you might need to ask some help from customers around you. 

They have single flavors like lichee and their signature flavor Feng Li, which is pineapple gelato topped with some picked pineapples and a plum. Unfortunately I didn't get to try it this time, so maybe next time! For the other flavors, you can choose two different flavors: pineapple, salty plum, peanut, taro, green bean and longan. 

This is the second time I visit this place and so far I have tried the following flavors: pineapple, taro, green bean, peanut and longan. 

For the taro-fans out there, their taro flavor is the best! Very taro-ish and creamy. I am also a big fan of the longan flavor. I simple love longan! Actually, long story short, you can strongly taste the basic main ingredient in all their flavors. So basically you can't go wrong if you pick a flavor you like!

They also have other desserts (depending on the season), like rice porridge, red bean soup and peanut soup. 

Please note that you have to throw your own cup and trash away. On your way out, there is a washbasin and trash can on the right.