Places to eat

If you fancy a couple of slices of fresh, hot toasted bread with some molten cheese in-between, head over to the Toasteria, Taipei’s latest sandwich shop. It’s small and generally always busy, so you might be better ordering something on the go. They offer a wide range of fillings to choose from as well as a good selection of drinks. My favourite is the Cubano, even though it’s not the real deal.

You can find their opening hours and contact details on their website. There are currently two locations, but over the years, there have been multiple other locations.

Update: Current website added.

Escape41 is owned by a friend of a friend that happens to be another foreigner living in Taiwan. The restaurant is located by the waterfront just outside of Kaohsiung City. They serve up a wide range of different types of food, including some really unusual burger toppings. Although I haven’t been down there yet, I figured I’d give him a free plug anyhow 😉

You can find out more details about where it is, how to get there and what to eat by clicking this link

Update: This place closed some years ago.

This is possibly the best beef noodle place in all of Taiwan, the soup is rich and beefy and the beef is really soft and tender and the noodles are some of the best you can get as well. The location is on the map below, and you can call them on (02) 2913-5899, but I doubt they speak English.

You can find some pictures of their food here, and the prices are still the same, more expensive than your average beef noodle, but so worth it.

Update: This placed closed a couple of years ago, despite being quite popular after the owner was in the movie Lucy.

Cosi o Cosi is a decent little Italian restaurant on Dunhua south road, section 1 and the food is generally quite good there. Some stuff is slightly over priced, but most of it is quite tasty. They also have a large selection of imported beer for those interested in that. Their phone number is (02) 2771-5883 and they’re open seven days a week from 12.00 to 14.30 for lunch and 18.30 until 23.00 for dinner.

If you’re not familiar with Taipei, then take the blue line MRT to the Zhongxioa Dunhua MRT station and then exit via exit number eight. Walk straight up the road you get out on (Dunhua south road) and keep walking for about 3-4 minutes. You should walk past a a Häagen-Dazs before you get there.

You can find more details on their Facebook page.

Update: I would say that Cosi o Cosi has gone downhill over the years and we don’t tend to go there any more. At one point they had a Gelato place a few doors down, but that didn’t last too long, most likely due to the high rents. However, it’s one of the older Italian restaurants in town.

If you like decent pizza and calzone, then Alleycats should definetly be on your list if you live in Taipei. Although I’ve only been to one of the five restaurants (the one on LiShui St), I can highly recomment them. The food is good and it’s also one of only a few outlets in Taipei that servers Cider. The best part is that you can customize your pizza if the topings on the menu isn’t to your liking. You can find their website here and it has addresses to all of their restaurants including telephone numbers.