[Taipei] Cha Cha Thé 采采食茶文化

Categories taipei
[Taipei] Cha Cha Thé 采采食茶文化

Cha Cha Thé 采采食茶文化

Add: 23, Ln 219, Fuxing S Rd Sec 1, Taipei 台北市復興南路一段219巷23號
Tel: (02) 2781 8289
Hours: 11:30am-10pm (afternoon tea 2-5:30pm)
Website: www.chachathe.com
Price: [lunch] 790~990 NTD (+10%) [afternoon tea] 480~580 NTD (+10%)
Visited: Mar 2011

Cha Cha Thé, one of my favorite spots in Taipei, is an elegant teahouse / restaurant by Shiatzy Chen. It is a center of calm admist the dizzying Taipei Eastern district, with beautiful interior design, tasteful merchandising, and soothing tea with dainty little bites to match. A perfect place for a quiet tête-à-tête.

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[Taipei] Sadaharu Aoki 青木定治

Categories taipei
[Taipei] Sadaharu Aoki 青木定治

Pâtisserie Sadaharu Aoki Paris 青木定治

Add: B2 Bella Vita, 28 Song Ren Rd., Taipei 台北市信義區松仁路28號B2樓
Tel: (02) 8729 2867
Hours: 11am-10pm
Website: www.sadaharuaoki.com
Price: [cakes] 180~200 NTD [macarons] 80 NTD

Sadaharu Aoki is known for infusing Japanese ingredients and sensibilities into French pastries, inventing creations that are a feast for both the eyes and the taste buds. But as I sat myself down and dug into these alluring cakes and macarons at his new outpost in Taipei, I was disappointed.


But to start, the gorgeous display of macarons had me staring and drooling for quite a while.

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[Taipei] Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon

Categories taipei
[Taipei] Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon

Salon de Thé  de Joël Robuchon

Add: Level 3, Bellavita, No. 28 Song Ren Road, Taipei 台北市信義區松仁路28號 BELLAVITA 3樓
Tel: (02) 8729 2626
Hours: [Mon-Fri] 10am-10pm [Sat-Sun] 10am-10:30pm
 Price: [macarons] 80 NTD [cakes] 160~200 NTD [afternoon tea set] 1040~1200 NTD

…and Joël Robuchon has finally extended his tentacles to Taiwan. Voici le salon de thé de Joël Robuchon, let’s see what we’ve got here.


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[Tokyo] HARBS

Categories tokyo
[Tokyo] HARBS

HARBS

Add: 3F, Marunouchi Bldg 2-4-1, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-6269-9595
Hours: [Mon-Sat] 11am-9pm [Sun] 11am-8pm
Price: [cakes] ¥600~1200/slice
Website: www.harbs.co.jp
Visited: Jan 2011

It’s hard to not like HARBS. The warm lighting, the wooden furnishings, the cute hand-illustrated menu, the beautiful, massive cakes on display – all the elements wave invitingly at passerby, luring them to line up one after another at the perpetually long queue. What you’ll get when you are eventually seated are huge cakes that are made fresh daily and sliced by the order, which prevents the sides from getting stale. We went to HARBS in Marunouchi Building, one of the 26 branches in the country, and despite the long line we were seated in about 20 minutes. Bring on the cakes!

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[Shanghai] Café Dan

Categories restaurant
[Shanghai] Café Dan

Café Dan

Add: No. 41, Lane 248 Taikang Lu, near Sinan Lu / 泰康路248弄田子坊41号后门, 近思南路
Tel: 6466 1042
Hours: 10:30am~10pm
Price: 100~150 RMB/person
Website:  www.idancoffee.com
Visited: Sep 2010

Café Dan is small cafe in Tianzifang filled with an abundance of sunlight and the alluring aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Luxurious iced latte, desserts, and down-to-earth Japanese comfort foods that warm you up from the inside.

Dan Cafe is a 3-story structure. The 1st floor has no seating area and seems to be filled with coffee and coffee brewing apparatus. After climbing the dangerously steep stairs, you will arrive at the 2nd floor with half a dozen counter seats and a few 2-person tables that can be combined for bigger parties. The in-between floor and the 3rd floor have additional tables and tatami seating, but the space quickly fills up on a Saturday morning. We arrived before 11am to snatch the 2nd floor window seats because reservations are apparently not guaranteed.

The menus, both for drinks and food, are extensive with plenty of appealing choices. After perusing the menus for a good 20-minutes with plenty of flipping back and forth, we finally settled on the following dishes, starting with breakfast set 3 – Japanese style (60 RMB). The Japanese style egg was fluffy and moist, served with perfectly cooked organic rice.

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