19 Jun 2013

Cafe Hopping in Taipei Part II: Dazzling Cafe


Our awesome Taiwanese tour guide brought us to Dazzling Cafe on the second day of our Taiwan tour since most of us didn't meet the age limits for Baby Boss (suited for 3 to 15 years old). At first, I thought he would bring us to some random, average cafe by the street but I have never expected the cafe he mentioned to be Dazzling Cafe! 







Dazzling Cafe is actually owned by this young female tycoon in Taiwan named Aimee Sun. Basically she owns this shopping centre called Breeze Centre, and Dazzling Cafe Deluxe is located in this shopping centre. There is still another branch nearby Da'an District, which means it is a stone's throw away from Agnes b cafe. As what our tour guide introduced, the cafe is famous for its honey toast. To the afternoon tea/brunch lovers who have a sweet tooth, this place is definitely the place to go to!



Mum ordered a Raspberry Frappe, while I asked for a cup of cafe mocha. The raspberry frappe was a little too sour but my mum loves sour foods so it was like heaven for her. The cafe mocha was served in a uniquely shaped cup but by the time I spotted it, I have already spoiled a certain portion of the latte art soooooo.... no photos. :/


Aha. Here comes the famous Dazzling Cafe's original honey toast! 



 I found it so amusing when the waitress asked if we would like to take photos of it before she helped us to cut up the toast. I was wondering, 1. How does she know that we have a habit of letting our cameras eat first 2. Why can't we cut up the toast ourselves.

Turns out that the toast had little slices of toasts within (toastception heh heh) and the waitress skillfully prepared the toast for us. That preparation took about 5 minutes, so I don't really quite advise you to eat this if you are in a mad rush. :/



Toast+Custard+Honey+Butter+with some raspberry ice cream on top = That's your toast! :)

 I found that the overall taste was truly enhanced by the custard cream. Without it the taste of the whole toast would be gone. The fragrant aroma of the custard in your mouth infused with the ice cream and crunchy toast is just heavenly. The strawberries were too sour though.



They also sell macarons at the cafe however the scattered brains mother-and-daughter pair left it in the refrigerator in our Taichung hotel and didn't remember to remove it when we checked out the next morning. By the time we realised we were already on the way to Cing Jing Farm so.... we never got a chance to try ANY of the macarons but I'm pretty sure macarons on a whole taste pretty good :)

I would go back to try the other different toasts at Dazzling Cafe (there's strawberry, chocolate, etc) when I have all the time in the world to do so. :)

Dazzling Cafe
台北市大安區復興南路一段39號
Tel: 02-2731-7976
Hours: Mon - Wed/11.00am - 9.30pm
          Thu - Sat/11.00am - 10.00 pm
          Sun/ 11.00am - 9.30pm

13 Jun 2013

Cafe Hopping in Taipei Part I: Agnès b. Café Le Pain Grillé






On my second day in Taiwan, I brought my mum to the Da'an vicinity in Taipei for a Hello Kitty Sweets Cafe lunch. But sadly, they were closed till end June for renovations. We intended to visit Agnès b. Café L.P.G. after lunch for a short dessert stop before returning to our hotel at Taoyuan Airport, however since there was no other good lunch place nearby + we were still feeling bloated from breakfast, we decided to have brunch at  Agnès b.Café! 

The café wasn't that difficult to find after exiting from Exit 3 of Zhong Xiao Fu Xing Metro Station. It's nestled in a quiet neighbourhood with occasional sights of rich tai-tais walking their puppies. I immediately felt relaxed as I pushed the little black gate at the entrance open, leading myself to one of those outdoor seats in the shade as the cafe wasn't opened yet when we arrived. 










The interior gave off a strong perenakan and vintage feel with the black bookshelves and colourful printed tiles on the ground. I was pretty glad that the cafe wasn't too crowded when we went as we could enjoy our food and soak in the chill atmosphere before we head out into the open air sauna outdoors as it is currently summer in Taiwan.

If you are wondering what's a Le Pain Grillé, it means they serve toasted food too as Pain Grillé means toasted food or simply just, toast!

And so these are what my mum and I ordered at the cafe:

Chicken and Mushroom Quiche

 Paris

Jeanne

My mum had the quiche as she isn't a big fan of cakes and pastries, tried it and felt that there was nothing special. Still prefer my Starbucks beef quiche (haven't ordered it in a long while so I really forgot its name :/) We still ordered a cup of pineapple tea and cafe mocha which I did not photograph. 

I would definitely choose Jeanne any day as the texture of the cake was light and fluffy. Inside the cake is berries and peaches, so basically it is like a fruit cake. The reason that I chose Jeanne was because the Paris was still very crumbly and hard to cut up despite it being semi-cut up already. The stubborn strawberries on the pie base did not want to stay steady on the base and kept toppling over. Ended up eating the strawberries separately from the pie base -.-

There are still many more choices of cakes, pastries and quiches to choose from and they also have a chocolate bar selling Agnès b chocolate. Overall. I would definitely go back to Agnès b. Café L.P.G to soak in the atmosphere again and try other cakes that they have. Missed out their froyo this time as we were in a rush to catch the HSR back to Taoyuan. Though the price of the desserts are almost around the retail price in SG, there ain't an Agnès b. Café in Singapore, so do go check them out the next time when you are in Taipei or HK. It's worth a try :)

Agnès b. Café Le Pain Grillé
1F 2 Lane 106 Da’an Road Section 1, Taipei
台北市大安路一段106巷2號1樓 
Tel: (02) 8773 5273
Hours: 12pm - 11pm
Website: www.agnesb-lepaingrille.com/tw
Price: [drinks] 80~160 NTD [desserts] 100~230 NTD

5 Jun 2013

Koh Grill & Sushi Bar's Makis



Visited Koh Grill & Sushi Bar today with two of my friends specially to try its "Shiok Maki" and indeed, it does live up to its name when we first tasted it! Shiok Maki is actually a good mix of salmon, avocado and bbq unagi topped with a thick coat of melted cheese and prawn roe (as seen in the first image). There is actually a Shiok Maki version 2 that we did not have the monetary power to try... so we shall leave that for the next visit. Both versions cost $16.80 each, which was well worth its taste.

But instead we ordered the Crappy Maki, as shown in the second photo. In contrary to its name, the Crappy Maki is far from being crappy. The sushi is a thoughtful combination of swordfish belly, avocado again and soft shell crab, which gives off the Crap-crab name to this maki, and leaves a surprise to us sushi lovers when we bite down on something crunchy while we eat this Crappy Maki.

If you would ask me to choose the best between these two makis, I would definitely choose the Shiok Maki I as I'm a huge sucker for cheese, especially melted cheese. I absolutely love my sushis with ebiko, mayo/melted cheese, avocado and unagi. The salmon was a surprise bonus!

Will be back soon with a post on Shiok Maki I vs Shiok Maki II, stay tuned guys ;)

Koh Grill & Sushi Bar
Food Republic Wisma Atria
Singapore 238877
Contact No: 9180 3805