I went to Taiwan in the middle of February.
It's my first time, so to make my trip easier for me I chose to go with a travel agent than go by myself. Actually, I booked this trip in 2019 but the trip had to be postponed because of the outbreak of Covid 19.
The main purpose of this trip was Taipei International Bakery Show and to eat, haha, and I visited 2 cities, Taipei and Taichung in 4 days.
Lately, I travel by myself, so going with a large group of people is not easy ^^", I took fewer photos than on other trips as we had to pay attention to the timetable.
Let's start!
We started our trips in the early morning on February 18. Our flight was 8:30 am. so we had to check in before 6:00. I was afraid that I wouldn't wake up so I couldn't sleep! I was so tired but filling out the immigration form before traveling was the best thing for me, haha as I didn't have to be worried that I will make any mistake while I was asleep.
After finishing all the tasks at the airport, we were staving.
The first restaurant that we went to was 一私麵宅 中壢過嶺店 (320桃園市中壢區松義三街238號) Menu
The dish that I ate was (芃派滷肉飯) it's very delicious, soft, and flavorful pork and cooked rice.
Well, if you want to try it you can use my recipe too ^^ https://dailydelicious.blogspot.com/2018/12/jasmine-brown-rice-with-five-spice.html
There is also a noodle and wanton menu too.
But the menu that I love is braised pork belly (滷腿庫肉), and I couldn't stop eating it.
After eating it's time to sleep, haha, NO!! we would go to start our sweet tour.
The first stop was TERRA Bean to Bar Chocolate 土然巧克力專門店
This chocolatier is one of the Top 5 of Taiwan chocolatiers, not only its chocolate, the store itself is so beautiful.
Terra is a chocolate specialty store.
The chocolate in this store is made here from roasting, conching, kneading, and molding.
He wants customers to taste and enjoy the flavor of cocoa, so he travels around the world to search for all kinds of cocoa beans, from South America, and India to Asia and other places.
We had a chance to taste different kinds of chocolate from different places.
Not only chocolate bars, in this store you can enjoy delicious desserts and drinks too.
Chocolate tart NT$200 and Mont Blanc NT$230
氮氣冰巧克力 (Nitrogen ice chocolate) NT$180
Tiramisu NT$180 and Chocolate Mousse NT$210
單品熱巧克力 (Hot chocolate) NT$210
We went to see the kitchen, this small kitchen is the place where all the chocolate that we saw in the shop was coming from!
It's fun to taste and smell cocoa beans from different origins.
I think that it's chocolate lover heaven.
After packing ourselves with a load of chocolate, it's time to rest.
We checked in at the hotel and walked to the hot pot restaurant.
食焱廠創意鍋物 Delectable Hot Pot Lab
Many people love to eat Mala (spicy and numbing seasoning made from Sichuan peppercorn and chili), but I couldn't eat spicy food.
So, I chose a simple hot pot, haha.
I found that I should order pork than meat as the pork was more delicious here.
Today's program was going to Taipei International Bakery Show. It's a very huge Bakery fair.
Before going to the show, we had to register (online) and used QR Code that we received as a ticket. This year the show was held at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.
The show was divided into 2 parts. 1st floor and 4th floor.
The 4th floor was about ingredients, bakery shops, finished products, and drinks while the 1st floor was equipment both small and large.
There were a lot of cooking shows and competitions.
Bakery products from different countries.
I think it's so exciting! Taiwan's bakery market is huge, and every store tried to show its best at this event.
Not only the quantity, but the quality of the bakery product is also high, they are made from good ingredients, and filled with creativity and flavors.
I was so jealous to see that many ingredients were cheaper than in Thailand, so they can use good quality ingredients to make delicious products at affordable prices.
Well, there were too many things to try, but I ended up buying Umeshu instead of baked goods, haha.
We didn't have a lot of time, so we ate lunch at 呷七碗 (台北南港店) because it's close to the Exhibition Center. Simple cooked sticky rice with mushroom, I had to say that it's Delicious!
Back from lunch, we went to the 1st floor.
My target was buying new baking pans, hehe, I never have enough of them.
I bought a lot of things from Sanneng (a Taiwanese brand).
You could find imported brands here, there were a lot, and a lot of things that I want to buy but I didn't think that I could pack them into my suitcase.
I thought that I needed a whole day but this time we had only 3 hours !!!!!!!!
After walking, we should eat something, haha.
We went to 嵜本 (Sukimoto Taiwan brunch No. 16號, Lane 15, Section 5, Zhongxiao E Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110 )
A bakery from Japan.
It's famous for simple toast and delicious jam.
You can buy a slice of toast in an individual pack.
And you can see a cat, hehe, there was nothing to do with this cat (and the staff told us not to touch him, as he would give you a scratch or two.
There was also an eat-in space.
You can choose a different type of toast and top it with two types of jam.
I think it's good for us as we can try before buying ^^
And now, it's time for another sweetness.
We went to Deux Doux crèmerie, pâtisserie & café.
The shop was small, so they had to close it for us.
Besides the ice cream, there were a scone, cookies and etc.
But we came here for Ice cream!
You can find Parfait, coffee, and iced dessert here.
The chef 陳謙璿 (Chen Qianshen) Willson loves to use seasonal ingredients and flavors.
Parfait- Figgy Chestnut NT$320
At the time that I visited this shop, there were strawberries, figs, and grapes.
The parfait contains delicious ice cream, not-too-sweet meringue, juicy seasonal fruits, and cake.
Here comes the strawberry NT$320
Classic Affogato NT$180
The best thing that you got from traveling with friends is you can order many desserts.
Petite gâterie glacée aux fruits NT$180
Because all of them would end up in our stomachs ^^
All of them were very delicious.
After all the sweetness, now I wanted a cup of good coffee.
As the main of this trip was not coffee, I was longing for a good one.
Chef at Deux Doux crèmerie, pâtisserie & café told us that there was a good coffee shop not far from his store so we decided to walk there.
About 9 minute's walk and we arrived at 鬧蟬咖啡Now Chance Coffee (Fuxing).
Me and my friend drunk hot Special blended Americano (You can choose Light, Shadow, Forest, and Shadow)
I chose Forest Special blended (Herb, nut, and chocolate note).
My friend's cup was Shadow (Dark chocolate, woody, rich crema)
Coffee with a rich taste was perfect esp. after eating all the ice cream, haha.
I couldn't finish my dinner (I was so sorry), for this trip, there were no words like "balanced eating", ^^", I had to wait until I returned home to care about my health, haha.
Today, we left Taipei and headed to Tai Chung, but before leaving we still had to visit 1 bakery and 1 patisserie.
The first one was "My Croissant".
Well, I didn't have to tell you that the main product of this bakery was croissants.
But there were many kinds of delicious bread too.
Chef Guillaume PEDRON
We had a chance to talk to Chef Guillaume PEDRON, he is French and moved to Taiwan (and married to a cute Taiwanese woman). He let us see the bakery kitchen and explained the type of yeast and process that he used. With good quality ingredients and a lot of attention that he gives, it makes his bread so delicious.
Inside the croissant
I really loved the taste of My Croissant's bread, they were rich and flavorful, I wished I could eat them with a cup of (delicious) coffee!!!!!
I bought a lot of bread from this bakery: Croissants, Poolish bread, Chocolate sourdough, Apple puff, Cinnamon Cronut, and Caramel Cinnamon rolls, they were very good.
And another patisserie that we would go to was Le Ruban Pâtisserie
When we arrived, there were a lot of people queuing in front of the store. This small Patisserie was very famous, we had to queue too and we could get into the store only 5-6 people per round.
At the end of February, the main ingredient of the store was Strawberries.
There was no end-in space here, but there were small benches in front of the store where you can buy the cake and eat it there.
The taste of the pastry was light and mind.
I didn't buy a lot of cake or entremet, as they were not suitable for traveling.
莓香細語
I bought 莓香細語 and ate it in front of the store ^^ (I didn't know the name and I couldn't read its Chinese name too).
I only know that it was made from berries, this one was so delicious, tangy, and sweet taste with a soft and lightly crunchy texture.
Now, I could sleep, as there would take 2 hours to arrive in Tai Chung.
The first stop that we made in Tai Chung was Miyahara Ice-cream.
This beautiful store had a long history.
Not only baked goods but there were also tea and chocolate too.
The design of the shop and products were so tempting. They were suitable as a gift.
The price was not cheap, but it was close to the price of the souvenir at the Airport.
But you have to load them into your luggage, and pineapple cake is heavier than you think, hehe.
At first, I didn't dare to buy it, as you know that beautiful package was not equal to delicious.
So, we bought the ice cream (it was one of the Instagram spots, haha), and chose cheesecake and pineapple cake for the topping.
The ice cream was a bit too sweet for me but the pineapple cake was so good!!! It was crumbly in texture, rich butter taste (and aroma), and was not too sweet.
I tried many pineapple cakes before and I had to say that this one was one of the best.
So I had to buy it! As my brother told me that if it was delicious, you could bring it home.
https://www.dawncake.com.tw/
After buying a lot of things, we went to Shenji New Village 審計新村.
Here, there was a famous choux pastry shop: LUHO Home of Puff.
But I ate a lot of ice cream so I couldn't eat it anymore, all I wanted was a good cup of coffee.
We asked the interpreter to find a good coffee shop, and she took us to a small booth where we found this man, the Che! coffee.
Each Pour over coffee that was slowly made.
The coffee was very delicious, we talked to him and know that he roasted the coffee beans himself, I and my friend bought his coffee beans to enjoy at home.
One thing that we didn't have on this trip was the cultural place and museum, even though we had a chance to stop at Cultural Heritage Park 文化部文化資產園區, there was no event at that time.
Anyway, just walking and resting at this place was not a bad thing.
夫麵 (乾) Kung-Fu Noodles NT$100
Our dinner was at Chun Shui Tang Siwei Original Store (春水堂人文茶館) this shop claimed that they were the first one who invents bubble tea in Taiwan.
冰珍珠奶茶 Pearl Milk Tea NT$90
The bubble tea should be drunk just as soon as possible as the boba (the bubble in the tea) would be stiff if it waited too long, and because the shop prepared the tea too early before we arrived, it was a bit too stiff.
But I still enjoy this meal so much, 功夫麵 (乾) Kung-Fu Noodles was very, very delicious.
茶香高麗菜(葷) Braised Cabbage with Green Tea NT$90
黃金煉乳饅頭 Buns with Condensed MilkNT$95
I think that Chinese food in Taiwan was so good, and next time I want to eat more of it.
Tonight, we checked in at 7 逢甲 hotel, it was our last night in Taiwan.
This morning we were so happy. Not only the breakfast was good, but I also enjoyed the bread that we bought from "My Croissant" too.
Cinnamon Cronut NT$60
Today, we would participate in Tea Barista Level 1 at 講茶台中店 TEA‧TALK TAICHUNG
Well, when I saw the types of equipment I think about cocktails not bubble tea, haha.
We learned how to boil the boba.
Type of tea
Making Layers and creating the original drinks.
At the end of the class, we had to make our own drink, and this was my bubble tea with layers.
Taiwan is famous for its Power spot too.
But I am a Christian, so I just spent my time taking the photos, hehe.
Small time for a cultural tour.
Cute!!!
Our short trip ended with a final thrill. We had to see if our bags are overweight or not, but it went well as it was a misunderstanding. I just thought that if I knew it before I would enjoy more shopping, haha.
The conclusion that I found on my trip to Taiwan this time.
( I didn't have any information about public transportation as we traveled in Taiwan using the travel agent's minibus )
Preparation
1. I find that it's very convenient to carry cash and Travel cards (debit cards for travelers), most restaurants accept cash.
2. The weather is very volatile. The first day was very hot but on the last day, it was so cold, and a thin raincoat helps more than an umbrella as it rains a lot. (I went there in February)
3. Filling in the immigration information online helps a lot.
4. Most Taiwanese people are not fluent in English. (except for some stores with foreign customers or a new generation who dares to speak) and very little English information. But the people we meet are very cute, willing to help, and try to communicate with us. We can use the language translator app to some extent.
food
1. Chinese food is delicious ^^ even in chain restaurants, the taste is very good.
2. The bakery is delicious with a lot of variety and creativity. Good quality at an affordable price
3. There are many good coffee shops, but chain shops are not recommended, haha.
4. Souvenir snacks are sold at many places (including in the airport), but it would be good if Buying from a bakery will get a much better-tasting dessert.
market
1. Stores in Taiwan close late. I like this very much because after eating, we have time to go shopping (or window shopping) up until about 9:30 PM.
2. There is a lot of food in the market. If you like street food, this place is made for you.
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