The shops in Taiwan open a tad bit later than in Singapore, they usually open around noontime on average. This was a plus point for us because it simply meant that we don’t have to wake up in the early mornings to start our days :D Weather by now in Taipei was slightly windy.
First stop of the day was Din Tai Fung restaurant at Xinyi Road, which is the very first branch of the now internationally famous restaurant. We tried to make a reservation on the day itself before making our way there, but they asked us to go to the restaurant and queue instead.
When we reached there, there were lots of people crowding around the entrance of the restaurant. Most, or rather, the entire crowd outside the restaurant seemed to be tourists. We were given a queue number and the menu to look at first, before indicating our orders on the piece of paper.
While waiting, we had a clear view of Taipei 101. Today was the first day that I have seen the famous building with my own eyes.
Our wait was shorter than expected, about 10 to 15 minutes. We were led up to level 3 of the restaurant, to a four-seater table. The interior of the restaurant was clean and surprisingly spacious.
We ordered the cold drunken chicken appetizer, fried rice with egg, crabmeat xiao long bao, pork xiao long bao, shrimp dumpling noodles and little red bean buns for dessert. The food was almost similar to Singapore’s, I can’t really differentiate them. Din Tai Fung is always one of my favorite casual restaurants to dine at.
They were selling an array of Din Tai Fung mascot themed souvenirs at level 1 and I was quite tempted to purchase one because they don’t have it in Singapore. The Singapore market does not even promote the mascot…
Never thought about how a bun-headed body character can be so cute, making it mandatory to snap a few shots with it.
Next up was to go to Yong Kang Street, which was just nearby. Apparently it is a street full of delicious food and cafes. One of it will be Yong Kang Beef Noodles, which were all over the Internet as “must-trys” in food reviews. Is it that good?
When we reached the noodle shop, there was a queue and the restaurant seemed really crowded! Maybe it is as good as Din Tai Fung? Given our full stomachs from lunch less than half an hour ago, we had to forgo trying the famous beef noodles.
We went on to walk towards our next destination at Ren Ai Road, Section 4. We walked past a two storeys high 7-11 with a sit-down area (like a café) and also clean toilets. Then, we chanced upon an English kindergarten for little Taiwanese kids, who were all so cute!! They were practicing “Last Christmas”, and had all these little dancing steps going on. After the rehearsal, the teachers led in more kids so that they could perform for the others to see! We were watching from the glass windows outside and the teacher came out to ask us to move to a side as they wanted to take a video of the kids performing.
We walked and walked and walked towards our next destination but we just can’t seem to reach it. Don’t ever underestimate the distance between their road sections!! We even asked the locals about the destination, no one seemed to have a clue. In the end, we gave up and took a cab. Then...we reached the building in less than 5 minutes.
TADAH, Chromehearts TAIPEI!!! Of course, it is Woody’s request to come here. No pictures were allowed inside the shop, the staff were very strict about it. This female staff even watched me delete the pictures off my camera to make sure. After spending some time in the shop, my boyfriend was ecstatic to buy something that he likes and has been lusting over for quite some time ^^
Can you spot it? We cabbed to Zhongxiao East Road for some shopping because we were both SO SICK of the walking. The sky turned dark really fast and made it abit hard to know which alleys we have been through and there were too many alleys and shops to handle.
We decided to rest a while and settled at Dazzling Café, which had several branches across Taipei. They were famous for their honey toasts, which came in a variety of flavors. Main courses such as pasta were available there too, and the café has a requirement that every customer has to buy at least a drink when you enter.
We ordered a Caramel Honey Toast for TW$240, which is about SGD$10. Woody had caramel tea while I had a brulee latte, the latter was really sweet after some time but nicer than the former. Hee. When the toast arrived, the waiter will ask if you want to snap photos of it before he helps you cut the toast up so we can savour it well! For the toast, you can ask for it to be toasted longer for it to be crispier or shorter to be softer. After Dazzling Café, we headed back to the hotel because we were too tired from the afternoon walk to Chromehearts.
We bought some ice cream, the pudding one was nice!! It was quite an experience to be able to eat something cold in the cold weather, because the temperature drops when the night comes.
We walked around near our hotel for a while and saw Taipei Xiao Ju Dan, which acts as a concert hall, an ice skating arena and whatnot. The name of the building is so contradicting. Woody was also telling me about how Show Luo was the first artiste to hold a concert in that dome itself. Did you know that they are in the midst of constructing a Taipei Da Ju Dan around Taipei City Hall area? I wonder how big it’ll be…
Next up will be Taiwan Travelogue Day 3!
