Hello Kitty, Jay, DTF?! - Restaurants of Taiwan (May 5-8 '12; Taipei, Taiwan)

Another week, another post. I must say… pretty impressed with the regular posting :) Yay!

Still posting about Taiwan… there’s actually so much stuff to do here (please replace the word ‘do’ with ‘eat’).

First restaurant I’d like to introduce, the iconic character of all things Asian: Hello Kitty. Yes, she has her own restaurant here and its pink, all pink and only pink – in different shades. I must say, I had a really bad Hello Kitty phase back when I was around 5/6 years old. I had everything pink and Hello Kitty. If 5-year-old me went to this restaurant, 5-year-old me would cry tears of joy and die happy. When 21-year-old me walked into this restaurant? Slight embarrassment and lots of awkwardness. As much as I’m aware of the color pink, I don’t think it truly hits you until you walk in - the only thing you see is pink. It’s a sense-shocking experience.

Store Front... the foreshadow of pink and pretty that follows

Kitty Cake!

I must say though, the kitty-face cakes look really pretty, and they come in a bunch of different colors, white kitty, tanned kitty, and of course, pink kitty. We all decided to order set meals so we could try a bit of everything. Pricing-wise it’s a bit on the pricey-er side, though for Hello Kitty, I’d say its pretty worth it. I think it came up to around 15-20CAD a person. In Canadian standards this is a deal and a half, in Taiwanese/Asian standards, it’s a mid-range meal, still for a Hello Kitty patented item, I expect it to be pricey-er.

The Hello Kitty curry bread bowl was pretty iconic. Hello Kitty’s head is the bowl. The curry was pretty light flavored and a bit saltier than I’d like. On the other hand, the seafood bake was actually quite good. It kinda reminds me of a baked seafood rice at a 茶餐廳 (HK-style restaurant).

Hello Kitty Curry Bread Bowl

Seafood Baked Rice

Pretty Kitty Drinks!

The drinks that we ordered were actually pretty good, not so much the Kitty head pudding. That was flavorless.

An abundance of flavorless Hello Kitty Head puddings

Kitty Salad - i spy with my little eyes... BUGLES IN TAIWAN!?

At the Hello Kitty Sweets café even the bathrooms have to be decorated. Of course, who could expect any less?

Fancy place where i do my thang!

All in all, I’d say you should come and experience this nuclear bombing of all that is pink and pretty. Come prepared to eat some mediocre food and spend a little more than you would normally, but really, now you can brag and say that you’ve been to the most famous kitty’s restaurant :)

Asian Fingers seem appropriate at Ms. Hello Kitty Sweets Café

Next up? Mr. J’s Secret Restaurant. For those of you who don’t know who Jay Chou is, well he’s the little Asian sidekick in The Green Hornet. In Asia, he’s much more well known… I promise! We decided to go for a little visit to his restaurant which is themed after one of his more successful movies – Secret. If you haven’t watched the movie, well I haven’t either. But I have heard good things about it, so maybe we should all go and give it a try. And if you don’t watch the movie, go to the restaurant anyways. The Secret restaurant is located in the campus of the Taipei Medical University. It is a French-Italian Restaurant. I must say I was a bit skeptical about a celebrity restaurant, and the fact that they serve western food just made me that much more skeptical.

The 'Secret' Menu

Mr. J's French-Italian Restaurant

I must say, the food was a pleasant surprise. The food was all pretty tasty with the exception of the dessert, which was very mediocre. We all ordered set-courses and if I remembered correctly, it was about 700TWD a meal. Not bad for a 4-course dinner. I liked the atmosphere of the restaurant, they even had the piano from the movie for you to sit and pose with. Obviously they played loads of Jay Chou’s songs. Though it’s strongly suggested that we made a reservation, it wasn’t very packed. Maybe it’s because it was a weekday? Who knows. Either way, I actually really enjoyed the restaurant, and I’d suggest that if you were a fan of either Jay Chou or his movie ‘Secret’ then you should go and check it out!

Spinach Seafood Spaghetti w/Salmon Roe and Japanese Fish Flakes 

Salad 

Last but not least, the most famous restaurant of the post: 鼎泰豐 Din Tai Fung (DTF: ehehehe… sorry). This restaurant originates from Taiwan and specializes in xiaolongbao (small steamed buns with soup inside). Of course we had to go! First thing to note, SUPER PACKED! But like all things Asian, we fit as many people into a small space in the least amount of time possible. So the actual wait time wasn’t all that long. We order the famous xiaolongbao along with a dan dan meen (peanut/sesame paste noodle) and some green beans. Food tasted as to be expected – very good. Though I have a thing about super famous restaurants, because you expect so much from them, they don’t ever get the chance to surpass your expectations. So, I may not be raving about this as much as I should, but it’s always because I’ve already expected so much from it that it just hits my expectations. Unlike Mr. J’s restaurant, I knew they place was good, and so I expected good things from it. Either way, stop by here – they have multiple stores over the city (and internationally) – and take a pic with the xiaolongbao statue outside!

Left: Xiaolongbao; Top Right: Dan Dan Meen; Right: Green Beans

Take a Pic with Mr. Xiaolongbao!!!

This concludes the restaurant wrap up of Taiwan. I’d say visit all three restaurants. For bragging rights, go see Hello Kitty. For a nice French-Italian meal with a twist of Asian Fusion and celebrity, go to Mr J’s Restaurant. For the more traditional experience, go grab some xiaolongbaos at Din Tai Fung.

Which restaurant would you most likely go visit? Traditional? Fusion? Pink&Pretty? What expectations do you have of certain restaurants when you go for a meal?