February 01, 2009
La Crema
After all that time cooped up at home nesting, it's time to get the wife out and moving about a little bit. First a stroll around SYT park, then into the side alleys nearby looking for a cafe for afternoon tea. Noticed good reviews for this cafe and managed to find it with some help from the Google Map on the iPhone. Although the wife did wonder why I kept looking down at my phone as we walked.
Compared to the flashier, hip lounge-cafes in the area, LaCrema offers a more old-World European feel, with dark woods and small, hard chairs, which probably wasn't the best thing for the wife, come to think of it. The background music was certainly a notch above the rest, being played on some hard-core audio equipment mostly comprised of massive BAT gear, with a Jeff Rowland pre for the front end, plus a NuForce solid-state amp for the modern touch.
The cafe is obviously a family affair. The kids plus some hired help took the orders, the wife handled the food and the register, while the serious-looking dad painstakingly made all the coffee drinks. They offer a few simple desserts and snacks, but the focus is definitely all about the coffee. As one might imagine, with the small crew and filled tables, the service was a bit spotty, and it took a while before my cappuccino and her hot cocoa arrived. But the wait turned out to be worth while, as LaCrema joins the short list of places where I can honestly admit the coffee is better than what I can make at home. Almost a wine-like lingering complexity in the coffee's flavor. The home-made cheesecake is pretty good, too, and complemented the coffee drinks well.
Despite its low-key nature, the cafe seemed to be doing great business. It's always nice to see quality being rewarded, which is not always the case in Taipei. We'll have to make time for more visits, once the wife is allowed to have caffeine again.
La Crema
克立瑪
台北市大安區光復南路280巷45號
02-27313264