Wandering Fel

Social Place offers instagrammable dim sum on plates and this is the reason of why I’m including it in my list of Taiwan instagrammable food (which I will conquer when I have the chance to revisit Taiwan). The dim sum restaurant is located within walking distance from Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT station. Its FB page show English translation of its menu (woohoo) for the benefit of those of us who can’t read traditional Chinese characters on the menu. It opens daily from 11AM to 10PM. Based on @wennick’s insta post, Social Place seems to be decorated in Tiffany & Co’s color and this would elevate your instagram game to the next level. After all those kind of blue-green-ish does not come often in the restaurant setting.

Let’s talk about the pretty dim sum items, shall we? First, they have Pear-shaped Dumpling with Crab Meat (138 NTD) which I thought was dessert item. Looks can be deceiving after all. I would definitely order this because they are so pretty. If you are not sure on what to order, it seems safe to go for the dim sum platter (238 NTD) and @yen.food.life’s platter looks so interesting, it even has heart-shaped something. The charcoal custard buns (138 NTD) are another must-order item since it comes in black color with gold dust sprinkled on top of it. Custard buns have become exceptionally luxe.

Have you ever thought that your rice roll (zhang fen) can come in color other than white? Nope, me neither. But Social Place manages to pull Steamed Rice Roll with Shrimp (138 NTD) off and serve it in pink which I suspect is beetroot’s color (and hopefully not chemically induced coloring). Next item which I would like to order is definitely the Steamed Rose Floret Bun (58 NTD) because well, rose-shaped ice cream is so last season, right? I wonder what’s the filling for the rose bun though. Hmm.

Social Place does serve other normal items (but less instagrammable) in their menu like rice, noodles, congee, chicken, etc. You can try them out but don’t forget to check out their dessert department because it’s not everyday you can eat your mahjong tiles. Yes, you read them correctly, Social Place includes the mahjong tiles (108 NTD) in their menu. Don’t worry, they are actually coconut pudding so your teeth won’t break from eating them.

Ahh, just talking about the food makes me want to go there and try them out myself. Hope they are as nice as they look on menu and instagram.

Credits: @jjeanllin, @shannonliu, @zoelin090, @yen.food.life, @rabin1030,  @wennick, @akumatw, @fanialin

I’m gonna start today’s post randomly. I mistook someone in the pantry for my own colleague. In my defense, there are a lot of baldy slim Asian guy out there and all of them seem to be in dire need of caffeine. But it’s probably time for me to buy myself a good pair of glasses. Hmm, but if I do that, I have to live frugally in terms of food expense. Aw, shucks!

Anyway, since reality is kinda brutal, let’s check out another instagrammable café in Taiwan, Cheevit Cheeva. I found out online that this café is actually originated from Thailand. The original café is located on the banks of Kok river in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand. Chiang Rai, hmm, that sounds like Chiang Mai and Chiang Mai kinda annoyed me although it’s actually not the area’s fault. My ex-crush used to flirt with me and then decided to get hitched together with a Chiang Mai girl who happened to be his Airbnb’s host. What the heck is this sorcery. Oh well, it’s probably love. Or black magic. I don’t wanna know.

Cheevit Cheeva café is located within walking distance from Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall MRT station so do give them a visit if you are nearby. The café looks so pretty and cozy and it definitely makes the list to one of Taiwan instagrammable food. It opens daily from 10AM to 11PM. Alternatively, other than Taipei, you will only be able to visit the café in Bangkok and oh well, Chiang Rai.

Credits: @imprincemickey, @purasara, @hisonja2578, @fishcan_another, @taipeifatty, @1njoyourlife, @cala216______

I am actually chained to my desk now in the office by an “invisible chain” called salary but it does not stop me somehow from daydreaming about pancake. I love eating pancakes for breakfast but it’s not a common breakfast item in Singapore so I end up making note on where to go for good pancake in basically any part of the world. That’s how I stumble upon the pancake café in Taipei named Belle Epoque.

Well to be honest with you, I am attracted to the fact that omo omo, is that pearls used for bubble tea on top of the pancake? Belle Epoque offers various type of stacked pancakes and it comes with various toppings. The pearls cream milk tea pancake (NTD 240) seems to be the most exciting thing to eat at Belle Epoque. The pancake has sticky texture and it goes so well with the creamy milk tea sauce. Hmm pearls and pancakes I wonder how do they pair.

If you are not up for pearls on your pancake, you can also choose Belle Epoque’s normal pancake I suppose like the tiramisu pancake and lemon pancake ordered by @suzkana. The tiramisu foam kinda remind me of the similar foam used for shibuya toast from Dazzling Café. I suppose those magical foams go with everything hahaha. You can also choose to add ice cream at the side of your stacked pancakes just like what @eva200221 did.

Belle Epoque’s café décor looks pretty interestingly vintage. I think the theme of the café is wooden style library. Ahh I can imagine myself sitting there while enjoying my stacked pancake bit by bit. And then a handsome waiter will come to bring me a comfortable cup of coffee. Wait, do they sell coffee? Hmm, I should really go there to find out more I suppose. Thankfully, it won’t be difficult to find Belle Epoque as it is located in the Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT’s vicinity. It seems to be located two streets behind Sogo department store. I’m sure I can find it with my reliable Google Map skill.

Credits: @crave.n.cram, @suzkana, @eva200221, @lin_ant0116, @amanda.eat

I have been reading news and it seems that the summer heat is really at its peak at many countries. Japan has reached 41 degrees while Taiwan follows suit at 39.9 degrees today. I am thankful that the everyday-summer in Singapore is still mild at 32 degrees especially if you compare to the region of Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong. However, the heat does not kill these countries from serving something that can help the heat. Today we’re going to look at one of the classic dish to fight the heat, shaved ice. 

In Japan that would be called kakigori but in Taiwan, I think it’s simply called fruit/flavor + bing (means ice). Simple Table is located near Songshan MRT station. So if you want to go to Raohe Night Market but you reach Songshan too early, you can hang out at Simple Table while finding shelter from the hot summer sun. 39.9 degrees is inhumane for me who easily melts in Singapore. But then again, what does Simple Table sell?

Simple Table sells something simple just as its name referring to, shaved ice in many flavour and color. From insta, it seems that the most favourite items from Simple Table is its shaved ice, in particular the green tea cream shaved ice. Wah it really looks beautifully cooling, I will definitely take a lot of picture of it before I have to quickly enjoy it, since it’s ice and it’s so gonna melt if you take too long taking its pictures. Oh right, do you know how much does it cost? 50NTD my goodness. I don’t think I can get any shaved ice with that kind of price in Singapore.

Other flavours are as pretty as the green tea shaved ice. For instance, it seems that there’s passion fruit and strawberry shaved ice too. Some insta users also uploaded picture of soft-served ice cream. Yumz. Simple Table also sells chilled drink which I guess can be milk tea, coffee, or soya milk. Now I am imagining myself eating shaved ice in my room while cooling myself off with fan (electric is expensive in Singapore, sadz). You can check out Simple Table’s facebook page (although they are in traditional Chinese). It seems that they also provide cream cake wow. One slice of the cake costs around NTD 880 but it looks so pretty. Mango cake, I think. Aww I love Taiwanese mangoes so much.

Simple Table opens everyday from 11AM to 7PM and from the Google Map, it seems that you just to go right along Civic Boulevard section 6 from Songshan Station. Hope they are as nice as they look. Cheers~

Credits: @yoho_matcha, @joshinyang, @eden_0522, @nalinsaw, @redbean.h

 What’s the best thing about summer? Everyday is an ice cream day. Especially when you are young and does not have to be so concerned about glucose in your blood. But really, I think ice cream is my most favourite dessert unless you count bubble tea as dessert but I will count it as beverages instead. Did you remember last time there was taiyaki ice cream in Singapore? (Taiyaki is the fish-shaped pancake originated from Japan, if you dunno). I recalled there’s one at the basement level of Vivo City but it was gone before I tried it. Boyfriend said the taiyaki ice cream was not as nice and it’s not as good-looking as it looks on the display. 

But it seems that nowadays taiyaki ice cream is making a comeback. Although unfortunately, they are not in Singapore, so you probably have to try it while you are flying to Taipei. Hahaha. Fish Bay at Zhongshan sells a higher level of taiyaki ice cream. For a start the taiyaki which is used as the cone is black in color (hmm, charcoal? Sesame? Ok, most likely charcoal). Second, it seems that you can do a lot of mix and match here like the taste of the ice cream and the toppings to go with it. @liyu_foodmap shows that you can still opt for normal cone (but in badass version of black) if you don’t want the taiyaki. Toppings shown on Instagram vary between popcorn, cereal and a piece of waffle. The color of the ice cream offered by Fish Bay are all so pretty, they have purple, green, pink and what’s that...bluish greyish whitish? Gosh, I can’t tell but it looks good. 

Price-wise, @_lien.eatingdiary mentions on her caption that her ice cream costs NTD110 but she got it during one-for-one two weeks ago. Oh wow, that must have been a great deal. I wish Fish Bay had the deal going on longer but anyway, since the ice cream + taiyaki cone looks so instagrammable, I would still probably buy 1 at its normal price. Oh gosh, I’m so vain. But it really looks nice on picture, don’t you think?

From the map provided, it seems that you have to walk a bit from Zhongshan MRT though. Make you way to Chifeng Street Lane (which is the street behind the main street where Etude House is located) and you just need to walk straight. 

Credits: @_lien.eatingdiary, @liyu_foodmap, @sandy10_21

 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