Wandering Fel

Showing posts with label Taipei 101. Show all posts

Taiwan Instagrammable Food: Ice Cream Burger from Hello Burger, Taipei

Salty and ice cream burger from Hello Burger Taipei

Strawberry ice burger from Hello Burger Taipei

Hello Burger near Shinkong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Taipei

When I first stumbled into a snipped of these cute buns from Insta, I thought this is a re-creation of Domo-kun, a famous Japanese character. But surprisingly, this cute burger creation actually comes from Taiwan. Oh what? Is that a burger? I would have thought it’s some kind of dessert because the colorful cube stuff which forms the “teeth” of the burger gotta be something sweet, right? I suppose everything is possible when you are creative, just like the Taiwanese.

After further research, the cute burgers are actually sold by Hello Burger, a burger joint located in Shin Kong Mitsukoshi at Xinyi, Taipei. Shin Kong Mitsukoshi is one of the shopping malls in Xinyi area and I think the easiest way to reach Shin Kong Mitsukoshi is by either taking the train to Taipei City Hall MRT or Taipei 101 MRT station and then follow the direction to go to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (google map will help a lot). It is at level B2 of the shopping mall. You will find out you are the right place when you see the friendly burger in blue saying Hello.

Hello Burger’s menu is simply a math equation. You start by choosing the bun for your burger (oh wow, bamboo charcoal bun looks interesting although it’s gonna be black) and then proceed to choose the topping based on your taste preference. If you like it salty, it will become a savory burger like fried chicken burger (110 NTD). Oh boy, fried chicken with sauce, now you’re talking. It looks pretty yummy. But I personally think that the more interesting choice is gotta be the sweet burger which is filled with ice cream cubes. All the ice cream selection costs 100 NTD and you can choose from many flavours like matcha & milk, black tea & milk, etc. I suspect Hello Burger changes their flavour every now and then so don’t be surprised if you see something funky. The last thing that you have to select is gotta be either the sauce (for salty) or jam (for ice cream).

Cold drinks are available too and guess what, they are not just some simply coke or fanta. You can choose either tea or soda but both cost the same at 60 NTD and it seems you gonna get the cute holder when you purchase drink too. I wonder if it’s free but I hope so.

Taiwan is so full of interesting food, I really can’t wait to go there again to take a bite of everything cute and yummy.

Credits: @tali4227, @yun_che_0304, @yen.food.life, @_tyng1116, @luck75424

"You and me, get in the car together and ride."

I always think of doing a solo travelling because it has been a long time since the last time I did it. However, few years have passed and I have been doing it again since then. I always think that as long as I am blessed with someone who's willing to travel with me, I should just go travel with them instead going solo. I suppose the moment I am going solo travelling is when I have nobody in my life to share the adventure with. Sound lonely and yet not so lonely after all. I suppose yourself is your best company? Hahaha. It does take me years to realise this phrase, you know.

10D9N Taiwan Trip: Xinyi Shopping District, Taipei

But I was kinda happy I was not alone when I was roaming around in Taipei. My best buddy from high school, SL, has always been my best travelling companion and she's here with me enduring all the nonsense given by her travelling mate, me. Hahahaha.

The moment after we touched down at Taipei after our days spent outside Taipei, we quickly filled ourselves with so many food from unagi rice bowl to bubble tea to cheese tarts and ice cream. Needless to say, we need to walk and burn some fats right now. We decided to wander around Taipei's most glamorous shopping district, Xinyi. You can reach Xinyi by taking the train to Taipei City Hall station. Xinyi is the so-called Central Business District of Taipei. The area was nicely lit up even though it was not Christmas or anything when we visited Taipei in early March. Street musicians and performers are plenty in this area making it a cheerful place to wander around.

Pretty evening walk at Xinyi Shopping District in Taipei City Hall

Alternatively if you do not want to go via Taipei City Hall station, you can also take the train to Taipei 101 Station instead because the skyscraper is located in Xinyi district as well. Plan your timing carefully if you want to go up to the observation tower because there are so many tour groups going up there, you don't want to be stuck in the queue with them. There was one time where I had to queue for nearly two hours because turned out one of the elevators to bring you up was spoilt. So yeah, plan carefully.

Walking toward Taipei 101 at Taipei City Hal

Few blocks away from Taipei 101, we saw a small park right in the midst of big corporations building. The trees in the park were lit as well and we were getting pretty excited to take picture here. Big names for banks, insurances, consultancy firms can be spotted from the surrounding buildings. I wonder if the Taiwanese office workers have time to enjoy and walk around in the vicinity. Working hours for such industry in Singapore are pretty crazy, after all. Maybe it's about the same in Taiwan. Sad notorious Asian working culture.

Beautifully lit road at Taipei City Hall

Oh hello! Did I tell you I was getting pretty excited taking picture here? I never get excited taking picture at Raffles Place of Marina Bay area in Singapore though despite the same "Central Business District" tagging. LOL.

The magnificent Taipei 101 tower can be seen clearly from the park that we were at. The weather was kinda foggy that day so we did not bother to go up after all. Taipei 101 is leased for both retail and office space. So the first 5 levels below belong to retail space while the rest are leased for office. It will be kinda scary and cool at the same time if let's say I'm working at level 40 of the tower? I don't want to be there when earthquake or typhoon strikes the city though. Hahahah.

Other than Taipei 101, here are some places that you may be interested to visit at Xinyi District:

1. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall

2. Elephant Mountain

3. The flagship Eslite bookstore

4. ATT4 Fun

5. Shinkong Mitsukoshi Xinyi (you can do tax refund here)

4. Breeze Songgao (a must visit for LINE Friends lover)

I have never seen this kind of message in my fortune cookie but...apparently it's quite common? Hahaha.

If you really get hungry again in one hour, how about eating something small, light, and yet yummy just like these xiao long bao (of course I am assuming that you are not gonna eating the whole portion by yourself). Taiwan has the best xiao long bao that I have ever tasted in my whole life and here are 4 best places to eat xiao long bao in Taiwan.

1. Din Tai Fung

Everyone of you who loves to eat xiao long bao has surely heard about a restaurant named Din Tai Fung. Din Tai Fung was actually originated in Taiwan and it has subsequently grown bigger and bigger first in Asia and then, throughout the world. Din Tai Fung in Taiwan and Singapore both always have long queue in front of their door. So if you happen to visit Taipei 101, make sure you pop by to Din Tai Fung which is located below at the shopping mall for a taste of their famous truffle xiao long bao.

2. Hang Zhou Xiao Long Bao

Being known as one of the favorite xiao long bao joint among the locals (who somehow does not really like to go to Din Tai Fung), Hang Zhou Xiao Long Bao is located near to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. You need to walk a fair bit from exit 5 of Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall Station but the walk is so gonna worth the food. Hang Zhou's Xiao Long Bao taste nearly as good as Din Tai Fung and you do not have to wait for so long for a table.

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3. Kao Chi

Kao Chi is located very near to Din Tai Fung at Yongkang Street (which is a few steps from Dongmen Station) and hence, it has become one of our alternative to eat Xiao Long Bao especially when the queue at Din Tai Fung is too crazy to bear. Xiao Long Bao sold at Kao Shi also tastes pretty nice and you should give Kao Chi a try whenever you visit Yongkang Street or Zhongxiao Fuxing.

4. Gong Zheng Bao Zi

The last xiao long bao that I am gonna share with you guys looks kinda different from its three siblings above. The xiao long bao actually resembles Chinese buns more than the normal xiao long bao. However, the xiao long bao from Gong Zheng Bao Zi is like the best xiao long bao I have ever tasted in Taiwan.

Which xiao long bao joint taste the best in Taiwan? Have you found the one yet?

Din Tai Fung Dumpling House is now located everywhere around Asia but if you don't know it yet, Din Tai Fung Dumpling House was originated in Taiwan. Apparently back in 1993, Din Tai Fung was the first Chinese restaurant to be rated as one of the top ten gourmet restaurants in the world by New York Times. When we visited Taipei 101, we saw that there is Din Tai Fung Dumpling House inside the mall so we joined the queue and tried how good the original Din Tai Fung dishes taste.

Let's start with the appetizers. We ordered two kind of appetizers. Talk about being greedy. Hahaha. But they are all veggies so they should not take so much space in our tummy. #excuse

The first one is the cold dressed wood ear mushrooms. I love mushrooms! Especially this type. You should try this because I don't think this kind of mushroom is easily available in the other part of the world (I may be wrong though).

Din Tai Fung cold dressed wood ear mushrooms

The second appetizer that we ordered is the braised bitter melon. Initially, I was quite skeptical about this dish because when I ate this in Indonesia, the veggie really lives up to its name. It is really bitter. But the funny thing is, the Taiwanese love to eat this veggie. And now, I found out the reason why. It is because in Taiwan, bitter melon does not taste bitter at all. I wonder if there's something about the veggie or it's just the way they cook the dish.

Din Tai Fung Braised Bitter Melon Taiwan

After the appetizers, we moved on to the dishes. The dishes menu are basically filled with greens. Stir fried lettuce, spinach, bamboo shots (okay this one not really green), you name it. Since it is important to have a balanced diet, we ordered a plate of stir fried spinach served with tofu sheets.

Din Tai Fung Stir Fried Spinach served with Tofu Sheets Taiwan

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Next, we continued on to the main star of Din Tai Fung, the xiao long bao! Yum! Taiwan has a lot of yummy xiao long bao I must say but I admit Din Tai Fung offers a really delicious xiao long bao. They have so many different fillings on the list but if you are having xiao long bao in Taiwan branch, you should order the truffle and pork xiao long bao because this filling may not be available at other countries' branches.

Din Tai Fung Truffle and Pork Xiao Long Bao Taiwan

If the above xiao long bao is not enough, you may also want to try Din Tai Fung's buns. The pork buns especially taste so delicious.

But how about rice and noodles? After all, we don't really feel we have eaten anything yet without eating our carbs. Blame the upbringing of Asian, but I guess I also live up to that kind of stereotype about Asian. LOL. But the noodles at Din Tai Fung do not disappoint, especially the Noodles with Minced Meat Sauce. My all time favorite.

Din Tai Fung Noodles with Minced Meat Sauce Taiwan

If you prefer something soupy, you can go for the Shrimp and Pork Wanton Noodle. I personally feel that while the wantons are nice, the soup is somewhat bland.

Shrimp and Pork Wanton Noodle Din Tai Fung Taiwan

There are so many branches of Din Tai Fung Dumpling House in Taipei. For a complete list, you can refer to its website here.

We are finally going to the landmark of Taiwan, Taipei 101. Yeay!!

I know it can be considered a sin not to visit the landmark of a country when you are living in the country but late is better than never right? Hehehe. Fyi, with the latest MRT line, you don't have to walk from Taipei City Hall station to Taipei 101. Simply alight at Taipei 101 Station. Cool!!

Did you know that Taipei 101 is used to be the world's tallest building? It was beaten by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai though. If you notice, whenever there is a new year celebration, fireworks are always launched from Taipei 101.

Taipei 101 serves as shopping mall, financial centre, office and observatory tower. Since we are here mainly to see the night view of Taipei city, we proceeded to level 5 directly. There are signs everywhere inside the mall so you will not get lost.

The ticket for the observatory tower costs us NTD 400 with student ID. It costs NTD 500 for non-students though. Yes, it's pretty expensive.

Ticket for Taipei 101 Observatory Taiwan

But the expensive cost did not deter tourists from coming to the observatory though. As a matter of fact, we were queuing for nearly two hours. Oh my legs. O_O!

The entrance to Taipei 101 Observation Deck

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At the end of the line, you will ride the fastest elevator in the world. You will be transported from level 5 to level 89 in 37 SECONDS!!! If you don't believe me, you can count inside the elevator. In fact, if I remember correctly, there is an indicator of time inside the elevator.

37 seconds later...

Awesome night view of Taipei, right?? ^^

You must make sure the weather is not raining or foggy when you are visiting Taipei 101 though. Wait, we all know that there are a lot of typhoons (in the summer) and earthquakes in Taiwan. But, why are they still insist on building a skyscraper?

If you happen to be up here and there is an earthquake or typhoon, you don't have to worry because Taipei 101 is designed to withstand the earthquake tremor and typhoon winds. Thanks to this steel pendulum (which is also known as the mass-damper). This pendulum is hanged from the 92nd to the 87th floor.