Taoban House 陶板屋

This place serves a decent 8-course meal. I cannot really make out what type of cuisine this is, but it came across as a mix of Chinese and Western to me. Regardless, it was overall a very filling dinner and we enjoyed the service provided!  

Appetizer

Appetizer

Starter

Beef soup

Mushroom seafood soup

Mushroom steamed rice

An all-u-can-drink cordial drink 

Beef strips

Pork chop strips

Pork and Fish Combo

Beef steaks

Dessert 1

Dessert 2

If your birthday falls on the week you are there, they'll celebrate it for you! Here's what they did for the next table.

台北市重慶南路一段58號2樓

http://www.tokiya.com.tw/index.html

Recommendation for first-timers: **** (out of 5)

Price range: *** (out of 5)

Probability of return: High

The food was slightly unique and served in a timely fashion - pretty soon after we finish each dish. There wasn't any delay and though we had two to three choices per food category, the waiters seemed to remember our orders pretty well. Service was prompt and extremely polite, taking care to introduce the dishes to us briefly. At least we felt that they care and took pride in their food. Finally, a restaurant that takes the effort to celebrate birthdays always gets a PLUS in my books, so kudos to them.

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Sukiyaki 壽喜鍋物

台北市大安區羅斯福路四段85號

http://www.sukiyaki.tw/

Recommendation for first-timers: *** (out of 5)

Price range: *** (out of 5)

Probability of return: Maybe

We have this back home in Singapore and I must say the soup base tastes pretty much the same. I liked he fact that we could adjust the sweetness of the soup by handing us a bottle of soup base and water each. Selection is decent, but I did not really like the pushcart format of picking our food. We had to squat, bend over, open the various lids to look at what is inside. Ok, probably that's because we could not read the food labels and understand them instantly. That makes it unfriendly to non-Chinese customers then. There were like only 2 staff when we went there and it took us quite abit of effort to get their attention. It is very reasonably priced though, so it's still a go-to place to fill that hungry stomach!!

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L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon

One of the few times we had a proper Hi-tea in Taipei. Well we kind of had enough of streetside food and it's nice to seat in a posh-looking restaurant once in awhile and enjoy some yumy desserts and chat our time away. So, we found this French Two Michelin Star Restaurant inside Bellavita.

All of our orders! Photography-friendly much.

My Thousand Island Pie

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon

信義區松仁路28號

Bellavita購物中心3樓

http://www.joel-robuchon.net/

Recommendation for first-timers: **** (out of 5)

Price range: *** (out of 5)

Probability of return: Maybe

A nice, chill environment to laze the afternoon away. You forget that you are in Taipei momentarily. I have nothing to pick on both the ambience and desserts. Service was prompt and the crowd was in between classy and well groomed. Definitely a place to visit, if you are tired of the traditional Taiwan restaurants and food.

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Elephant Cafe

奶油青醬鮮蝦面

台北市敦化南路一段238巷1號1樓

https://www.facebook.com/elephant.cafe

Recommendation for first-timers: *** (out of 5)

Price range: ** (out of 5)

Probability of return: Maybe

Initially thought this would be one of those nice themed-restaurants. But as it turns out, I don't see much reason in calling it "Elephant Cafe", except for the cute looking elephant outside the restaurant. I guess you can't really do much with elephant decorations inside either. Really liked their food though. The sandwhich we had was so thick and appetizing. The spaghetti was awesomely delicious too, different from the usual sauce base you have. Check out their facebook- there're plenty of mouthwatering dishes there.

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