A shop selling dumplings at 5NTD the dumpling (around 0,12€ the dumpling). I tried the Korean spicy one, the curry one and the original pork one. Curry isn’t really good, so i stuck with the pork and the korean one. That’s not amazing, but it’s really cheap.
I’ve been there twice now, and it’s one of the foreign students’ favorite places. Jim’s burger is one of the few to provide salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, pancakes, toasts and bagels for a price under 100NTD. So of course all the girls run there when the university bell rings to have a chance to get a seat. Last time i tried there salad, which was nice with cheese, salad, pasta, tacos, olives, chicken, tuna or beef depending what you order. The only bad point is their sauce which is sweet and that i don’t really like, and which you can’t ask to be removed.
This time i tried a chicken-egg bagel, which was actually a chicken omelette bagel. The chicken was to totally cooked. I also discovered that i wasn’t really fond of bagels (i had never eaten any before). It was nice to try anyway. So if you crave for foreign food and well-balanced one, you definetely have to go there!
They call it a “Fondant au chocolat”, but actually that’s a mistake, this cake is a “Coulant au chocolat”. A coulant has a melting heart, while a fondant is just a chocolate cake. So i call it as it should be called: a coulant.
Now, who’s “they”? …Shame on me, it’s Starbucks.
The cake is average, but definetely doesn’t look like a “coulant”. Just by looking at the color of the cake you can see that’s not a home-made! I don’t know why they use a such dark color, while chcolate is never that black. Not really good, not bad neither. That’s something you will take if you want something sweet, but not something you will really enjoy. But that’s what Starbucks is anyway, so it fits their brand image. However their coffees that are quite bad (frappucinos being the exception).
I tried a fresh cake in one of the bakery near school. It was actually ok since it’s vanilla. The cake in itself is really light compared to the one we usually have in Europe. The cream is also more like a vanilla chantilly.
Another one, another kind of Japanese. I prefer this one: cheaper and hot food which is perfect with the current weather. It doesn’t propose expensive food with bad quality, you have a big bowl and a cheap price= perfect for students.
On the right from the Main gate, a little further, in the second part of the street
Another kind of take-away. Noodles. I wanted some cheap thing, here it goes: 35TWD. They’re called Typical Taiwanese noodles.
I know that fat is usually the thing that gives taste, but i think that even though the shop might have heard that their noodles didn’t taste like anything, only putting fat instead of meat isn’t that nice. Well, for 35TWD i shouldn’t expect much, but still that’s a little bit a bother. This was ok once, but next time i’ll try the dumplings in another shop.
My favorite restaurant near NCCU. Well, i don’t know anybody around here who doesn’t like this restaurant. It’s always crowded. I haven’t reviewed it yet because i forgot to bring my camera the last 2 times. I love it, but the 3 times i went there i ended up sick because i always eat too much…Because yeah, you have free refill in rice, tea, soup, and they give you also one pickle per person. With that i always take some kimchi -cabbage marinated with red hot chili pepper- (of course!). Then i took some bibimpab (rice with egg, meat and veggies) to compare with the one i had in France, and 2 times i took Jjajangmuyn (noodles with black sauce), my favorite Korean dish. I’m a Jjajangmyun lover, which make laugh the owner (a Korean guy). I always ask the name of the dish in Korean because i can’t recognize it in Chinese. The first time i went there, he gave me a yogourt and Coca Cola for free, and 2 pickles. The second time, he explained me how i should put the spicy sauce in the bibimpab and not eat it plainly. He also taught me a few words in Korean (like it’s good/or not) since he saw that i liked Korea. Then today, when i took Jjajangmyun again, as he saw last time that i had troubles to mix the noodles, he did it for me. He’s really nice and i love the place, but as i say, i’m always sick after (coz 3 bowls of rice, one big bowl of Jjajangmyun, pickles, soup and kimchi, that’s a lot…). Count 100TWD for Jjajangmyun and kimchi, or 120TWD for bibimpab.
On the right from NCCU
2F, the first Korean restaurant (the second is really bad: i got sick there, and certainly not because i ate too much)
Since today i finished my exam and wasn’t really happy about the Chinese one, i decided that i needed something sweet. And, lucky me, tiday is Thanksgiving day. So the “famous” pie seller around the university that usually only comes on Tuesday and Thursday from 3pm to 8pm stayed longer today. I was finally able to taste these pies that everyone talk about in the area and that taipei food blogs also know. I was then expecting much about these. I was quite disappointed.
I chose 3 (i’ve been wanting to try them for 3 months now, so of course, i had to try several!): Pinapple coconut cheesecake, coffee cheesecake and strawberry banana pie. I must say that was the first time that i remember eating a cheesecake (i ate once in NYC but i can’t remember the taste, so..). I think that i just don’t like the cake in itself, because both cheesecake weren’t that good. I mean, it’s easy, you can’t really taste the fruit or coffee flavors and i don’t really enjoy this texture that’s creamy but heavy and too much cheese flavor. That’s the cake in itself that i don’t like, so i can’t really judge it, since that’s also my first time eating one.
However the strawberry banana pie was ok. Not exceptional though. I will not travel around the city to get one, and i don’t think i’ll buy another neither. I ate 3 and i was still hungry as if i hadn’t eaten anything! It’s still too “American like” dessert, which are usually not my cup of tea, except a few sweets.
Mom’s Pie
75 Neihu Road, Section 2
Neihu District
In front of Kuma
Tuesday, Thursday
3pm to 8pm
Last week, I tried their meal for the first time. I was expecting some fried noodles with what i read, but i ended up with a spicy noodle soup with clamps. Oh oh. The joys of my basic level in Chinese.
Anyway, spicy here is spicy, they don’t joke about it. Clamps had all things inside, with was nice compared to some other restanraunts were they’re empty. However the one and only shrimp wasn’t in it best shape. The fried tofu was like a sponge because of the soup. Noodles were just noodles, but truthfully i couldn’t taste anything since my mouth was in fire and totally burn.
Not exceptional. Advantage: it’s cheap and big. Next time i’ll try their rice, since all locals take rice.
I tried a coffee there since the weather is quite shitty here. One whole week of rain, non-stop. Every morning before opening my eyes i try to listen to the rain, hoping that, no, finally today i won’t hear it. But well, it doesn’t seem to work. So what’s best when you have to study and it’s raining than something hot?
Thus i went to this coffee shop, after going 2 times to Starbucks (but it will ruin me if this goes on). Hazelnut Coffee Latte. I didn’t really feel the Hazelnuts, but the coffee latte was ok. Not that good, but not too sweet as the Caramel Mochiatto that’s horrible (i tried it 2 times in Starbucks and another shop, that’s a way too sweet. Too bad because i like the flavor though).
The shop in itself is quite nice, with some music and pictures. A good alternative if you don’t want to pay twice as much for the same thing. And it’s not too crowded so you can stay there a long time.
taipeifrogtongue.wordpress.com 