Month: September 2021

September 25, 2021 All, Cafe/Dessert Post a Comment

The Best Desserts in Taipei

grass jelly shaved ice

Oh Taiwan…a paradise for foodies, where night markets and tasty foods abound. Taiwanese people really love food, and desserts are no exception. For example, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of different ways chicken is prepared, cooked, and seasoned. The same love can be extended to desserts as well. Taipei has so many shaved ice shops, patisseries, bakeries, and more. Any shop can sell shaved ice, but each shop has its own differentiating factors for preparing and creating the shaved ice. Having tried a lot of desserts—some good, some half-assed, and some plain bad—I decided to make a compilation of some of what I thought are the best desserts in Taipei.

Here is a list of some of the best desserts you can find in Taipei:

  1. Tzubi Coffee – grape chiffon cake – grape was a bit underripe, but the cream and chiffon cake layers were perfect. Both were light, airy, and not dense. 
  2. Melon Coffee – hojicha chiffon cake
  3. Smoothie House – Da-An – Mango Shaved Ice – Right around the corner from the Dongmen Station. The mango shaved ice is refreshing, has fresh mangos, mango sorbet, and full of mango.
  4. Lady M – Regent Taipei – Mille Crepe Cakes. Although Lady M crepe cakes are known to be pricy for a slice, these crepe cakes are such an intensive labor of love that you really get your money’s worth. There are a lot of other stores that have tried re-creating crepe cakes but none will ever come as close to the crepe cakes of Lady M because it’s technical, and it’s not easy to get the heavy cream flavors and texture right, yet Lady M successfully overcomes those obstacles. Their renown is well-deserved.
  5. Uzna Omom – Miramar – delicious hot cakes! Tall and proud, these hot cakes will comfort you like the hug of a loved one. It will be dry without the syrup, so make sure you take care to use the syrup that is provided!
  6. Mountain Kids Chill & Relax – cinnamon rolls & cheese cake(maybe vegan). What I really like about this cafe is that the staff heats up the cinnamon roll for you(so you don’t have a stale and cold cinnamon roll), and that there isn’t excess sugar glaze on the rolls.
  7. Harrit’s Donuts – fluffy & chewy donuts w/o the greasiness. The best donuts in Taipei.
  8. Capatina – Shilin – tasty fruit sorbet
  9. Tokyo Cheese – Xinyi District – creamy cheese soft serve with a slice of cheese cake and namesake biscuit.
  10. Tangyuan – Tonghua St Night Market – Tang Yuan (Glutinous rice balls, like mochi) served on a bed of shaved ice that you can flavor with lemon or osmanthus syrup. This is a very unique combination that somehow works!
  11. 台灣手作水果冰淇淋 Ice Cream/Gelato Stall – Tonghua St Night Market – generous portions,  generous samples, natural ingredients, high CP
  12. Nice Cream – creamy coconut milk ice cream with barely, if any, the taste of coconut meat (vegan)
  13. Pablo Cheese Tart – yummy cream cheese tarts
  14. On the Road – The best gelato in Taipei. Literally, the best.
  15. Lady Chef – homemade French custard ice cream
  16. Soypresso – creamy soy milk soft serve ice cream (vegan)
  17. Yu’s Almond Milk – almond milk shaved ice, almond milk ice cream with almond bits
  18. Maccanti – Italian owned gelato shop. This shop has lots of Italian flavors such as, sicilian casato, and stracciatella.
  19. Beard Papa Cream Puffs – light and airy outer shell, with rich, light and fluffy cream. There are seasonal flavors every month.
  20. Meet Fresh – Taiwanese chain full of delicious taiwanese shaved ice toppings such as, herbal grass jelly, taro balls, red bean, & more. Meet Fresh is known to use fresh and high quality ingredients.
  21. 108 Matcha Saro – Near Tianmu – delicious matcha wheel cakes!
  22. 緣味古早味現烤蛋糕 – Tamsui – Castella Cake Block. There is nothing like a gigantic and jiggly cake fresh out of the oven. The cake is cut into the whopping size of a text book and is only 80-100 NT depending on whether you want the original or with cheese slices cake.
  23. Tim Ho Wan – Mango Pomelo & Sago
  24. Eastern Ice Store – shaved ice with traditional toppings
  25. Japan Rail Cafe – JRC is known for 7 levels of matcha gelato. The texture of the gelato is smooth and creamy, and the matcha flavor is rich.
  26. Smoothie House – the best mango shaved ice in Taipei. Read more about it here!
  27. & more! Updated on a rolling basis.
September 24, 2021 All, Bakery Post a Comment

The Best Croissants in Taipei

best croissants in taipei

Rise Bakery

The Best Croissants in Taipei

Rise Bakery makes the best croissants in Taipei. If you’re an avid bread enthusiast who is yearning for more western & less asian-palate refined bread, then you need to add this bakery to your bucket list!

The store is sort of tucked and hidden away like an uncut gemstone, and looks as plain as a rock. I mean that is a good thing, no? Less is more. In addition, Rise doesn’t really appear in the results on google maps, and the signage is barely visible–I don’t even think I saw one. The store literally blends in with the surroundings that you wouldn’t have noticed that this is a bakery unless you were paying special attention, especially to the smell of butter from the freshly baked bread running out of the building in the afternoon.

I haven’t tried anything, ANYTHING, like these croissants in Taipei, ever. Not even that Japanese croissant chain franchise can compare to the homey and comforting croissants from Rise Bakery. Perfectly crisp, plump, with just the right amount of butter and salt. It shines just as bright and golden as a crescent moon. I’m salivating just from reminiscing about it all over again.

Best Croissant in Taipei

There’s no point in just having the croissant when there’s also the Pain Au Chocolate. It was also puffy, flaky, and buttery, but the chocolate batons were a bit too sweet(I prefer mine dark).

pain au chocolat

Other goodies:

Milk Toast: if you put your nose close to the package, you can smell the hints of butter and milk, coupled with the pillowy soft texture. Moist, and fluffy. My colleagues devoured what was left, instantly.

Milk toast

Sourdough Bread Loaf:

I used to have an aversion to sourdough because the one I tried from Panera in the states was sooo sour. The loaf from Rose Bakery is modestly sour without being overbearingly sour. The crumb is not too moist and spongy.

sourdough slice

Sausage & Jalapeño Pizza: I would advise you to ask if they could re-heat it because it might be cold and could use a little more crispness. The sausage and jalapeño toppings were generous. The dough was thin and a bit floppy because it was cooled. Meh, I’ve had better pizza. This reminds me of costco pizza but with better quality ingredients.

sausage and jalapeño pizza

Mushroom Focaccia: perfectly spiced. There were holes where the air bubbles had formed. Not too dry and tasty with butter.

mushroom focaccia

Raisin Scone: For some reason, Taiwanese people have a recent obsession with scones. The raisin scone had generous amounts of raisins and wasn’t too doughy. Almost like a biscuit.

raisin scone

Cookies:
Double Chocolate Sea Salt Cookie

Sea Salt, Toffee, & Chocolate Chip Cookie

I wasn’t a fan of the cookies. They were too sweet for my liking.

Rise Bakery is an excellent Bakery with a wide variety of breads and other carbs. The ingredients used are high in quality, and comforting to the soul. If you’re in the area, do try the croissants, the sourdough, and the milk toast loaf, or better yet, everything else. You won’t be disappointed. Expats would most definitely appreciate Rise.

address: No. 164號, Section 4, Xinyi Road, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106

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