Taiwanese CNY delights at Check-In Taipei

As  well as HK, Taiwan celebrates CNY as well.
At Check in Taipei, they have come up with some festive dishes which I tried.
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Wintermelon pudding drink:

Started off with the wintermelon pudding drink topped with tapioca pearls, at the bottom of the drink was a silky pudding.
It was sweet and fun to drink.
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Crispy pork knuckles:

These bites were topped with soft stewed pork knuckles which were tasty and gelatinous.
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Taiwanese bbq prawns:

Next we had the bbq prawns which had a delicious mix of spices.
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Braised pork nachos:

Then we had the nachos which were surprisingly addictive because the braised pork tastes much better than beef because the sauce has a lovely mix of savoury goodness.
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Chinese pepper pig ears:

Although the Sichuan peppercorns were quite spicy, I really liked the crispy prawns crackers and the diced peppery pig ears and the piece of soft tofu beneath it.
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Chicken and waffles:

These were similar to American chicken waffles but the chicken was crispy and it was coated with delicious Taiwanese spices complemented by the lovely sweet pineapple chunks in between.
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Beef noodles:

To finish off, we had noodles which were delicious wide strips of slippery noodles with frilly edges.
Each strand was tasty after it absorbed the meaty broth and the pieces of beef were soft and well marinated.
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Panna cotta:

The dessert was amazing because the Panna Cotta had pieces of pineapple in it and it tasted like heavenly clotted cream.
It was served with Taiwan's famous Sunny Hills pineapple cakes.
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I didn't drink any cocktails that night but the others had it and I thought the presentation and the names of the cocktails were fun.
I love Tai-Mei:

Fly me to Taipei:

Tea-ramisu:

Yearning Taipei:

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https://www.facebook.com/ctaipei

Squid ink pasta from Mr.Big

Ordered some pastas which were promptly delivered.
The squid ink pasta was al-dente but it lacked taste.

Hungry for more at Hungrybird

Intrigued by the name Hungry bird was why I dined here!


There were lots of hungrybirds that night so the restaurant was quite full.

Here was what I had:
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Hungry bird:

When it came, it was a huge piece of pastry.
Inside the pastry was pigeon wrapped in lotus leaf.

The pigeon tasted delicious because the sauce that came with it tasted like American BBQ sauce which is sweet and smokey.
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Chips coated in salty egg yolk:

These chips are a must eat item, they were coated in delicious salty egg yolk which gave it a starchy salty crunch.
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Asparagus:

The asparagus was nicely grilled with a strong taste of cumin.
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Vegetables:

The vegetables could be improved because they looked like they were plucked from the ground.
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Marshmallow toast:

Anyway who likes marshmallow spread will love this.
It was crispy toast topped with gooey marshmallow.
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2015 Valentines series at 2/3 Dolci

The Valentines cake collection has got bigger this year and there are two new drinks as well.

Tried the TI AMO which was raspberry and Tiramisu cake, it was creamy with a mix of Tiramisu layers and tart raspberries.


Then, I had the AMORE which was panna cotta and mousse infused from real lychee and rose tea leaves.
It was the perfect pairing of lychee and rose with a good balance because you could taste the fragrant lychee and the rose was not too strong.


To finish off I had the AURORA which was rose and lychee latte served with a lovely thick milk cap infused with fragrant rose and lychee.


Last but not least was the KISSES, a hot nutty hazelnut and chocolate drink.

https://www.facebook.com/2thirddolci

Peri Peri chicken at Flaming Frango

I have been wanting to try this place for a long time but it wasn't opened yet.

It was finally open so I went in to try it.
I was not in the best of state to eat the food because I had this annoying flu but when the chicken arrived it looked and smelt like the chicken at Nandos.

The chicken was springy and delicious, but it was quite spicy, the chicken beneath the skin was also marinated well that you could taste the herbs.

https://www.facebook.com/flamingfrango

Hot sugar cane water

I was thirsty so stopped by for a drink.
As usual, the place is historic and there is a ferocious black cat at the back.







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Sugar cane water:

The sugar cane juice is a bit too sweet for my liking, so I ordered the sugar cane water [drink at the centre of the picture] which is less sweet.
It was perfect that day because it was not that sweet and it was luke warm.
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Needs improving at 3rd Space

Came here because the pancakes looked attractive.
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Earl grey pancakes:


Not fluffy enough and the earl grey flavouring was a bit too artificial but the blueberries in the pancakes were nice and gave a burst of blueberry juice when you bit into them.
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Pineapple and banana smoothie:

It was very bland and watery lacking pineapple taste and it was quite sweet as well.
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Breakfast tea:
I wanted to order the Earl Grey but it had lavender so I chose the breakfast tea!

When it came it was black as coffee and they put way too much tea leaves in the teabag that it was sufficient to make a huge pot of tea.


Anyway, it was extremely bitter so had it diluted many times to make it drinkable and I was told that it is normally served in a pot so why did they use a cup!





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Overall, I felt that it was a bit overpriced because the quality did not match the pricetag.

Celebrate with the love of The Rose from Maxim's Bakey

Maxim’s have launched a series of cakes for Valentines day and The Rose is perfect as a romantic cake!




When you slice it, you can smell the fragrant rose.


It is layered with raspberry jam, sponge cake, cheesecake surrounded in rose flavoured mousse.

The cake was light and dreamy with sweet pieces of strawberries in the middle paired with heavenly rose flavoured mousse!!!

www.maxims.com.hk