Hello Kitty Store

If you are a fan of Hello Kitty, you might want to drop by to take a look at what's in store. I saw a nice camera pouch for sale in the store but since I had already got a new one in Singapore, I decided not to get that. There are also other cute Hello Kitty items for you to choose from.

I didn't have the exact address but from that photo above, you should be able to located it near KFC, along 台北市汉中街. It is quite near Cheng Ping 116.

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Sophisca (菓风小铺)

Sophisca (菓风小铺) sells various interesting items such as Xiao Long Bao (Mashmallow), Poison like Medication (Sweet), Pad  (Sweet), Condom (Sweet), etc. They also sell seasonal products that are related the the latest festival during that period. As you can see, I visited during the Halloween season so they have various Halloween theme products on sale.

This sall is also available at Jiu Fen and various other places as well. A pretty common stall I should say.

Website: www.sophisca.com
Address: 台北市武昌街二段26號
Tel: 02-2370-4740

Operating Hours:
Mon - Thurs: 10:30~22:30
Fri: 10:30~23:00
Sat: 10:00~23:00
Sun:10:00~22:30

Here's the blackcurrent
candy that I've bought
(Packaging - Death in 1 day)

Xiao Long Bao Packing Marshmallow 

Personally, I prefer the Xiao Long Bao Marshmallow and it finished within 1 day. While the other candy take much longer to finish.

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Yang Ji Ice Peanuts & Corn (杨记花生玉米冰)

花生玉米加三圆冰 (TWD $80)

The All-In-Mixed Ice as shown in the photo above is one that you should give a try as it contains peanuts, corn, yam ball, sweet potato ball and rice ball, sweet tasting and nice to eat. Even though the 2 of us shared this bowl of ice, we still didn't managed to finished it all, probably because we ate too much in total. There are also other desserts available but if you have 2 or more people in your group, I would recommend that you give this dessert a try. For me, being a corn lover, I like the corn part of it most :)

Address: 台北市汉口街二段 38 & 40号
Opening Hours: 11:00 - 22:00
Tel: (02) 2375-2223

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Cheng Du Ice Starfruit (成都杨桃冰)

The Cheng Du Ice Starfruit (成都杨桃冰) is one of the recommendation in the guide book. I would say that it is certainly worth a try to share a small cup. As it has been marinated with salt, it no longer has the usual starfruit's bitter sweet taste, giving it a slightly salted yet sweet taste and crunchy feel when you bite the starfruit. However the taste of the syrup that came with the dessert is a bit too salty for me. I wouldn't recommend that you finish the liquid portion for health's sake.

Address: 台北市成都路3号
Operating Hours: 13:00 - 22:30
Tel: (02) 2381-0309
Price: TWD $40

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Duck Meat @ 鸭肉扁 (Ya Rou Bian)

The one and only unique Duck Meat store is located in Xi Men Ding (西门町) Area. The duck meat had a unique taste that is not cooked via the common braised or roasted way that we get to eat everywhere in Singapore. It has a slight burnt taste probably the method used for coking is smoked. Hence, leaving the lean meat almost fat free and tasty. I would say that it is more of an acquired taste kind of food, so you either love it or hate it. And you have to try to find out. :)

Taipei's one and only 鸭肉扁 (Ya Rou Bian) stall
Located at: 台北市武昌街二段2号
Opening Hours: 09:30 - 22:00
Tel: (02) 2371-3918

As there is only 1 store as mentioned in the signboard, meaning you can only try it out at Xi Men Ding area.

Here's the bee hoon and yellow noodle soup that you can order to eat with the duck meat. I would say that the noodles tasted better and even if you just eat the noodles, you will feel very full as it also come with some duck meat in the soup itself. But of course, this meat is mainly used to give the noodle soup it's flavoring and the actual duck meat certainly tasted better. If you are a small eater, you might want to consider sharing 1 bowl of noodles instead.

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Ay Chung Flour Rice Noodle (阿宗面线)

With the help of the guide book, we managed to have a taste of the famous Ah Chung Flour Rice Noodles (In Singish, we will call it Ah Zhong Mee Sua), it has a rather thick soup full of noodles and the chewy pig intestine. Do remember to give it a try if you happen to be in the area.

Website: www.Ay-Chung.com
Address: 台北市峨眉街8之1号 (No. 8-1, Éméi St, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108)
Opening Hours:
Mon - Thurs: 11:00 - 22:30
Fri - Sun: 11:00 - 23:00
Tel: (02) 2388-8808 / 2388 - 8182

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Tamagoya (蛋蛋屋)

Tamagoya's Egg certainly tasted nice. Just remember to moderate your intake. :) For me, I didn't exactly finished my share as I ordered too much.

Dear ordered: Omelette with Chicken

I ordered: Omelette Rice with Mushroom

Tip of the day: Decide if you still wish to order
your dessert only after you had settle the bill

They might give you a free dessert voucher after your meal. If you do get that and you can still eat, why not order another dessert? Otherwise, you can always keep it for another day I guess.

Address: 15 号台北市成都路

Tel: (02) 2371-3837

Operating Hours: 11.30am to 10pm (Extended to 10.30pm on Fri & Sat)

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Miku Coffee (米加咖啡)

Breakfast at Miku Coffee (米加咖啡) comes with
Magazines Reading Session while waiting for our food

Service at Miku Coffee was excellent! With the enthusiastic and very friendly sales man bringing in the crowd, sharing tips with the tourists on their planned visit. Entertaining their guests with magazines. What else are they short of? I guess, that's perhaps why their business is pretty good. We simply felt at home sitting in the cafe waiting to be served.

I find the Noodles Better Tasting

The very full baked rice

The friendly salesman even wrote us a guide to Tamsui
as our plan was to visit Tamsui that day. :)

These 2 slips of notes is certainly worth the visit!

Website: www.mikucoffee.com

Take Away Hotline: (02) 23700111
Address: 134號之1台北市萬華區昆明街

I've dropped by their website to see how does it look like. To my disappointment, it actually called Mika Coffee and not Miku Coffee. With the current website design, I wonder if there are any natural traffic that ever visit their website apart from those that visit after seeing that banner on their shop? What a pity!

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Fong Da Coffee (蜂大咖啡)

I suspect that it is due to the special coffee making process that it produces better tasting coffee. My partner felt that the coffee is one of the best after tasting various other coffee in the area. At least better than the store next to it and other normal coffee in the area.

Even their figuring are cute!

Here's how they brew their coffee with the flask

Waiting for the water to boil

The big coffee machine!

The antique one

If you ever visit that place, do drop by to have a drink. Even their milk tea tasted better :)

Opening Hours: 8am to 10.30pm
Addr: 42号台北市成都路
Tel: (02) 2371-9577 / 2331-0230

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Xi Men Ding (西门町)

Xi Men Ding (西门町) is probably something like our Bugis Street. Filled with small little stores along the streets and they have a big shopping center at the center of the street (Cheng Ping / 诚品116). Someone told me that it's something like Orchard Road but based on the items on sale in the area, I would think that Bugis is a better fit.

How to go: Take the MRT to XiMen (西门) Station along the blue Bannan Line (板南线).

At Xi Men Ding, I would recommend a few places of places:

• Fong Da Coffee (蜂大咖啡)
• Miku Coffee (米加咖啡)
• Tamagoya (蛋蛋屋)
• Ay Chung Mee Sua (阿宗面线)
• Duck Meat @ 鸭肉扁 (Ya Rou Bian)
• Cheng Du Starfruit Ice (成都杨桃冰)
• Sophisca (菓风小铺)
• Daiso at Cheng Ping 116 (诚品116)
• Yang Ji Peanuts & Corn Ice (杨记花生玉米冰)
• Red House Creative Market (西门红楼创意市集) (Weekends only)
• Carrefour (家乐福)
• Hua Xi Street Night Market (华西街夜市)

Note: For the list of items on the book, we would think that Hot Candy had closed down as we are unable to locate that place.

After reading through the book again, I'd plan a visit Xi Men Ding (西门町) on a weekend probably starting around 10am:

1. Breakfast at Miku Coffee (米加咖啡), where the friendly sales person might recommend you the places to go around the area during your visit
2. Stroll along Cheng Du Road (成都路)
3. Take away a cup of nice coffee from Fong Da Coffee (蜂大咖啡)
4. Visit to the Red House Market (西门红楼创意市集)
5. Share a bowl of Starfruit Ice with your loved ones at Cheng Du Starfruit Ice (成都杨桃冰)
6. Shopping at Daiso - Cheng Ping 116 (诚品116)
7. Share a bowl of Mee Sua at Ay Chung Mee Sua (阿宗面线)
8. Proceed to Sophisca (菓风小铺)
9. Shop along 武昌街二段 (Wu Chang Jie) - 西门徒步区 (XiMen Walking Zone)
10. Take a break and share some Ice at Yang Ji Peanuts & Corn Ice (杨记花生玉米冰)
11. More Shopping along 昆明街96巷
12. Late Lunch at 鸭肉扁 (Ya Rou Bian) 
13. Walk around 西宁南路(Xi Ning Nan Road) 
14. Then 汉中街(Han Zhong Jie)
15. Dinner at Tamagoya (蛋蛋屋)
16. Ending your trip at Carrefour for some grocery shopping (Don't buy too much if you still intend to visit the Night Market)
17. Take the MRT to 龙山寺站 (Longshan Temple Station)
18. Visit Hua Xi Street Night Market (华西街夜市) for more shopping at night

I'll test out the feasibility of this plan the next time round as I didn't have a full day to visit Xi Men. Most importantly, my hotel is here so I'm there almost everyday. I covered those places in about 3 separate occasions on 3 separate days :P

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Easy Card - Taiwan

Similar to our ezLink Card in Singapore, Taiwan had their very own Easy Card where they can use to take almost all the common transports available in the city. The startup cost of the EasyCard is TWD $200, where $100 is the deposit and $100 is the value which we can use for travelling. Should the amount not be enough, the deposit may be used to make payment.

The deposit can be refunded if you no longer need the card. An admin fee of about TWD$20 will be charged for the refund, which seems to be waived if the period of use is less than 1 month. However, as we felt that we should be going again, we decided to keep the card. :)

It seems like there is no expiry date for the Easy Card, so it should be fine to keep it for long. As it also mentioned that you will need to topup the card in order to re-activate it if it is not in use for more than 2 years.

Their website: www.easycard.com.tw

Customer Service: 412-8880 (add 02 prefix if calling from mobile phone or from Kinmen or Matsu districts)

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Taiwan Voice & Data Mobile Plans

If you are interested in getting a Taiwan line with either voice or data mobile plan, try FarEasTone (远传) or Taiwan Mobile (台湾大哥大). Where the former offers overall cheaper calling service, the former offers better coverage. For data plan wise, both offers the same rate:

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