吃飯了嗎？

Smith & Hsu

Excellent whole-leaf tea and fresh baked goods served on stylish chinaware.

The fancy tea shop opened a while back right on the bustling 忠孝東路 near Exit 1 of the Taipei City Hall subway station. We pass by a number of times but never quite had the time to step in to check it out. Finally we had a dreary Saturday afternoon with nothing to do and a spot of afternoon tea seemed like just the thing.

The small store is made smaller split in half with one half acting as the showroom for their selection of high-end tea and teawares, while the other half contained a row of heavyset tables and designer rattan chairs for the teahouse crowd. On this gray day, the bright halogen spots was a fair substitute for the ray of sunshine.

There's a wide variety of black, green, and herbal teas on tap from their extensive catalog and various light pastries and sandwiches for accompaniment. The signature fresh-baked scones was a must, and we also picked a slice of thick-set apple pie.

The apple pie was pretty good but it seems to have been sitting in the cold case for a while. On the other hand, the warm scones had that fluffy texture that only comes with freshness. The scones came with small dishes of fruit jam (your choice of flavors) and clotted cream for that perfect extra touch to go with my Darjeeling tea. The pot contained delicate whole leaf in a removable filter basket to prevent over-extraction. The SO had some herbal tea mix which had an interesting flavor and is probably good for you but it sure doesn't taste anything like Camellia sinensis.

For the price of tea and cake we could've gone around the corner and got a couple of big fat 便當 meals to go. But there's something to be said for nice furniture, too. The wife was happy, so that's good enough for me.

Smith & Hsu
台北市忠孝東路五段33號
No.33, Section 5, Zhong Xiao East Road, Taipei
02-2747-4857

The Diner (樂子)

It was SO's younger cousin's birthday and she likes American-style food. We've already done the chain places like Chili's and TGIFridays. Heard good things about The Diner and from the name of the restaurant you could tell it's classic American fare, mostly done right.

The Diner was decorated more like a coffee-house than a greasy spoon, but the bustling crowd with a good dash of Westerners gave the place a good energy and vibe of a popular spot. The restaurant itself, tucked away in an alley near DaAn Forest Park, isn't very big, so our big group was placed in the annex across the alley. Although they had to run the food across the alley from the main kitchen, we had dedicated servers so service was reasonably prompt.

No need to get fancy here. The burger was big and juicy and the stack of veggie garnish accompaniment were generous and fresh as were the side of fries. Her Philly Cheeseteak probably doesn't reach Geno's standards, the primary sin being the white American cheese-food. But at least they tried with the chewy sandwich roll, and it's hard to go wrong with the beef, onion, pepper combo. The potato chips were lame, though. Was expecting fresh-fried and got stale supermarket crisps. And no refills on the soda! What the hell is up with that? You figure they can afford a soda fountain with all the business. Nevertheless, as long as they do the basics well we'll put up with it. The Egg Benedicts looked and tasted alright, but the presentation was a bit rough around the edges. Will have to hit it at brunch-time to give the breakfast-type items a try sometime.

樂子
The Diner
台北市大安區瑞安街145號1樓
02-27001680
http://www.thediner.com.tw/

千代田

The father-in-law is finally back in Taiwan after a long stint wandering about China and the SO wanted to take the family to some place nice to eat. Japanese food is always a good choice for a classy mid-priced meal in Taipei, and it's something not as easily found across the Strait. SO's been to Chiyoda for company get-togethers before and recommended it, which was good enough for me.

The room was dim but nicely decorated with Japanese flair. Flexible partitions allow them to provide private accommodations to groups of various sizes. The initial server was out-of-sorts and clumsily spilled tea on the SO's purse, but thankfully the Prada nylon is easy to wipe and keep clean. The manager was profusely apologetic and offered us an extra appetizer to make up for it.

The appetizer offered a variety of morsels with interesting flavors and textures, some more tasty than others. We chose a few different set meal options amongst us for a nice variety, with beef shabu-shabu, sashimi platter, and seafood teppanyaki. The first two were tasty with good ingredients, but the third was a bit greasy.

Okay, so the food may be better at Mitsui. But Chiyoda offered a good value in a good space with a more relaxed atmosphere than the more upscale restaurants. There's a lot of similar Japanese restaurants in the area, popular with visiting Japanese businessmen, so most of them are pretty good. Will have to try more of them later.

千代田
臺北市中山北路一段105巷10號
02-25310918

冰館

Located on 永康街, Ice Monster is famous for their mango ice, made with farm-fresh mangoes. Famous enough to become a popular tourist stop for dessert after eating at the original 鼎泰豐 around the corner. Unfortunately, no mangoes for us during the winter, but the strawberries and kiwi fruit ice, with a scoop of mango sherbet on top, was still good even in the middle of winter. It's expensive, far as shaved ice goes, but it's clean and they don't skimp on the fruity goodness. And the insistence on fresh, seasonal fruit is quite admirable. It's certainly earned a return visit for when the mangoes come in.

冰館 (Ice Monster)
106台北市大安區永康街15號
02-23948279