Capricciose [Taipei/Italian]

Capricciose 卡布里喬莎

add:台北市中山北路六段75號8樓

hours: 11am-10pm   
mrt: zhisan                                               

tel: 02 2833 2558
pricing: moderate

Capricciose is located on the top floor of the Tianmu sogo, along with several other restaurants. 

The menu consists of many types of pasta , pizza and appetizers.  Typical types of food one would find at Macaroni Grill. We opted for a dinner deal they had which included an appetizer, a salad and a entree for 800 NT 

The caesar salad was good, but unique with it's abundance of anchovies. 

This baked pilaf had gooey melted mozzarella cheese inside doused with bolognese sauce.    

A pesto pasta served with succulent duck breasts. I found the pesto sauce to be quite bland but the duck breasts were excellent. 

L'escargots [Taipei/French]

L'escargots

add: 台北市北投區立農街二段155號

hours: 11:30am-9pm

tel: (02)2820-9920

mrt: shipai 

pricing: pricey $$$

Located near Yangmingshan college, this lovely restaurant was introduced to me by some friends who took for a birthday treat. A French restaurant with a semi formal atmosphere that serves up entrees paired with a all you can eat buffet.  

The lunch buffet does not have a whole lot of variety , but what they have is pretty good. The buffet has typical fares, salad,pasta,dessert, smoked salmon and also delicate braised pig knuckles. 

The blueberry marbled cheesecake was actually quite delicious

I've always had a deep love for smoked salmon, and it didn't disappoint. The pig knuckle was braised till tender making it delicious. 

For my main course I ordered the steak , I ordered it rare, but as you can see it definitely was not rare. When I cut through it I didn't see the familiar red color but brown... with that said the quality of the meat was good just not cooked to what I wanted. 

I'm not sure if I would go back, the food wasn't overly special and frankly I could get better food for better prices in lots of other places.  

        

Sanroku Curry [Taipei/Curry]

Sanroku Curry

                                 

add:士林區忠誠路二段166巷28弄5號1樓

hours: 11:30am-9:30pm

tel: (02) 2872-3189

mrt: zhisan

pricing: moderate $$                             

                      

A little quiet shop located in the alley right off the Tianmu Sogo.  I visited Sanroku on a wed night around 7 and it was completely empty except for the waiters,eagerly awaiting customers. It was pleasantly decorated with its neutral colors, and alluring signs. 

Sanroku Curry serves several different varieties of curry. They have japanese curry,green,yellow and red curry, along with Indian curry.They also have many curry sets that include fried cutlets,prawns, hamburger patties, and beef.  The curries have many different levels of spiciness ranging from 0-7.

I ordered the Japanese curry cutlet

The seafood pasta was unassuming, not a horrible but not good either. I think sticking with the curry would be the best bet.  Overall the curry was pleasantly good but the stick to the curry and dont shoot yourself in the foot. 

            

Nido Cafe 巢 [Taipei/Cafe]

Nido Cafe 巢

add:台北市信義區忠孝東路四段553巷22弄10號一樓

hours: 2pm-12am

tel: (02) 2753-4402

mrt: city hall

pricing: moderate $$

After hearing many great things about this cafe, I made it a mission to find it and experience it. Hidden in one of the alleys near City Hall, it took me a little while to find it, but it turned out to be located right next to the Songshan Cultural Park. 

The menu has a good variety of dripped coffe,tea ,blends and delectable desserts. The price was quite affordable, especially paired with its incredible taste and flavor.

The cafe is very charmingly decorated with many unique and interesting focal points and various knick knacks thoughtfully placed throughout. The cafe also sells many beautiful and handcrafted tea cups and sets for reasonable prices on their counter. 

The cafe incorporates tons of reconstituted wood shavings and other similar types of wood, creating a simple and surreal but intricate space to sit and enjoy life. The atmosphere of the is quite alluring, its a great place to still the mind and just relax, sipping a cappuccino whilst reading some novel and letting the afternoon slowly tick away. 

While the cafe itself isn't the most spacious, it has a few small tables in the front, but there is a larger table in a more private room located at the back of the cafe. Along with the private room in the back theres also shelves and shelves of various magazines for patrons to read.

There is only one word I could use to describe this cappuccino, sublime. It was surreal, the perfect balance of espresso, milk and the frothy goodness of the steamed foam milk.  Within the first sip I could tell that it was gonna be a good afternoon. 

The Early Grey Tea set beautifully served in a handmade tea set. The Earl Grey was remarkable, it's hard to find good Earl Grey in Taiwan, as there are so many other varieties of tea to choose from. But this tea was excellent, it had a gentle and subtle approach to the blend yet still had strong hints of citrus which created a melodic duo on my taste buds.

Now what afternoon tea would be complete without some desserts?

The Tiramisu was gorgeously made, it had real mascarpone cheese, somewhat of an rarity, the biscuits were soaked very well in espresso and liqueur, as we could taste it in every heavenly morsel. 

The cheesecake was smooth, silky and creamy with a graham cracker crust that crumbled into thousand pieces of deliciousness.

               

Hagaan Dazs Cafe [Taipei/Dessert]

Hagaan Dazs Cafe                    

add:台北市士林區天玉街38巷18弄1號

hours: 11:30am-9pm

tel: (02)2874-5223

mrt: Zhisan

pricing: moderate $$

I have never actually been to a flagship store of a Hagaan Dazs, so I was quite excited to go and devour lots of ice cream and chocolate 

A plush interior with various different seating and a upstairs with a large open balcony, a romantic setting for couples in their fiery romance. 

Unlike regular Hagaan Dazs stores, this flagship has artistically designed and made ice cream creations. Creations that are inspired by different cultures and countries. Although this creations are quite pricy, ranging from 350NT and up.

A Chocolate Cathedral inspired by Belgium, made with coffee and caramel and biscuit ice cream, constructed with belgium chocolate and chocolate twist sticks set on top of an ice cream sandwich with chocolate glazed cherries. This was chocolately goodness wrapped with frozen delight. The chocolate was excellent and ice cream was superb as usual.  

The Kyoto Delight, inspired by the Japanese culture, was created with Matcha green tea and vanilla bean ice cream on top of a green tea and chocolate cake, set with fans of light and crispy wontons, tiramisu bites and white chocolate rings. 

Bellavita Cafe [Taipei/Cafe]

Bellavita Cafe

add: 台北市信義區松仁路28號  110        

hours: 12:30am-7:30pm

tel: -

mrt: city hall

pricing: moderate $$

Walking into Bellavita one day, an entire cafe magically appeared smack dab in the middle of the lobby.  Where once various props were set up, a cafe now laid in its spot.  The cafe was beautifully laid out with tons of natural light streaming in through the roof dome. The cafe is usually quite busy on the weekends, but empty on the weekdays. 

 The cafe was only equipped with a small bar, which limited its variety of dishes, but there was still plenty of things to choose from. Looking through the menu I could smell the waft of freshly baked waffles that stirred my hungry tummy! 

I saw many people order the iced dripped coffee, but I was in the mood for something more refreshing that day. But I think next time I'm going to try the coffee. 

I decided to order the prosciutto and arugula panini. The bread itself was a little too hard for me, but the melty goodness inside was delicious! The taste of mozzarella with the smokiness of the prosciutto and arugula blended very well together.

To accompany my panini I ordered the Thunderbird Sunrise! The Thunderbird Sunrise is grapefruit juice with soda water and splashes of lime and mint.

A quaint little cafe situated in Bellavita, with a relaxing and peaceful atmosphere where, one could just spend the day reading a novel and letting the day go by. 

     

Cafe Trouve [Taipei/Cafe]

Cafe Trouve 

add:台北市泰順街16巷4號

hours: Sun-Thu 10am-11:30pm, Fri-Sat 10am-12am

tel: (02) 2365-5653

mrt: gonguan 

pricing: moderate $$

                                 

After pondering a while of where to go for lunch, I suddenly remember a nice cafe tucked in the middle of a quiet neighborhood a few blocks from NTNU ( National Taiwan Normal University).  So with that dilemma solved we were off to eat! 

The cafe has very arty yet homey feel as the cafe itself is made entirely of wood. I love me some wood , it just gives thing a solid feel to it and a homey touch it as well. 

But the cafe is nice, its actually quite spacious, with cafe divided into three parts. The first part is the outer area which stretches onto a balcony area (which i forgot to take) the middle part (centered in the photo) and lastly the third part separated behind the bookshelves.  So its a good place to chill by yourself for those days where no one answers your call... or an even better place for a festive gathering. 

Cafe Trouve has a good selection of drinks but as typical cafe style only a few things to eat. But of course dont be deterred, when there isn't a lot of choices , you know they'll make it right... most of the time 

The brunch combo came with a delicious piece of ham and  bread with a golden yolky egg with tomatoes drizzled in garlic olive oil and a small wild green salad.

A hearty serving of beef bourguignon, simmered in red wine for 24hrs, with bread and a small salad. The beef itself was a hit or miss, some pieces were fall apart tender while others had to be wrestled with. The sauce was a little on the bland side for me.

And the smoked salmon quiche was I think the shining piece at lunch. The quiche itself was quite a big portion and delectable to say the least. It was crispy and flaky where it should and creamy and gooey packed with spinach, onions and lots of smoked salmon. Although you can't see too much salmon in the picture there was plenty in every bite!