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台北市大安路一段106巷2號1樓
Hours: 12pm - 11pm
Website: www.agnesb-lepaingrille.com/tw
Price: [drinks] 80~160 NTD [desserts] 100~230 NTD
