Places to eat

Forkers

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Forkers is another fairly recent burger place in Taipei and although it’s a fair bit bigger than KGB, it seems to be just as busy and if you’re not going in a group, you better call ahead and book a table most nights of the week between 19.00 and 20.30. Forkers feels more like a restaurant than KGB and the selection of food is also bigger. Forkers has an interesting system, as you select the type of burger you want out of a list of 50 or so options, then select the type of patty you want, be it beef, chicken, veggie, kobe beef, fish or pork.

In other words, it doesn’t really matter what your dietary requirements are, you’re likely to find something that tingles your tastebuds. They also do a selection of sallads and a few other alternatives like fried fish, quesadillas and a few wraps. All burgers comes with two sides from a selection of eight and there are some other sides that costs extra as well. You also get a drink with you meal and for an extra NT$30 you get unlimited refills.

I bumped into a couple of friends as we were there so we all shared a table. I went for the Mexican burger with a beef patty and apart from the fact I didn’t read the menu properly and missed the fact that it had a ton of sauteed peppers on it, it was a tasty burger. Brenda went for the Three Cheesy with a kobe beef patty. She also ordered the classic Poutine, which was fries with gravy and melted cheese ontop. One of my friend ordered the same fries, but with an Aussie burger sans beetroot and his girlfriend went for the Hack burger with kobe beef. The Hack burger has bacon, cheese and chicken strips on it…

The burger buns at Forkers are odd, they’re not like any burger buns I’ve ever had. They’re dark brown and has loads of mixed seeds ontop and I can’t say I was super keen on them. The garlic fries I ordered were dry and the spice mix didn’t stick att all and was all in a corner on my plate. Apart from that it was quite tasty. Our meal came up to NT$610 which isn’t bad for two people overall.

Forkers is located at No. 8, Alley 10, Lane 223 Chung Xiao East Rd. Sec. 4 and you can call them on 02-2771-9285. There’s a full menu on their website which you can find here.

Update: This place closed back in 2015.

KGB

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KGB is short for Kiwi Gourmet Burger and they’re located on the left hand side of Shida Road if you’re coming from the Taipower MRT station. They have a pretty decent selection of burgers and everything is cooked fresh as you order it. I’ve only had the classic cheese burger there so far, but they offer a wide range of more exotic options. This is also a good place for vegetarians, as they have a big selection of veggie burgers and they also have a selection of chicken burgers.

They also have a good selection of side orders and desserts. Milkshakes are also on the menu and they have a special selection of imported beer and cider from South Africa, despite the New Zealand theme. Most stuff on the menu seems to be going for between NT$250-300, but as they don’t have a website as yet and I didn’t memorize the menu, I can’t say for sure. I would definitely recommend KGB if you’re in the mood for a tasty burger with a difference.

The address is No 5, Lane 114, Shida Road and their phone number is 02-2363-6015. The place isn’t huge, so if you’re planning on going on a Friday or Weekend night, I’d suggest you call ahead. You can find more details on their Facebook page.

2019 Update: Unlike so many other places I’ve written about here, KGB is still going strong and they still serve up very decent burgers and the prices haven’t gone up by much since the original review in 2008. If anything, they’ve expanded their menu and even managed to survive a Burger King opening almost next door (which closed a year or so ago).

Biff’s Pita

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Some stuff is hard to find in Taiwan, at least if you want something a little bit different and stuff inside a pita bread or a wrap is usually not that easy to find here. Thankfully one lad decided to start up his own eatery here and although he started out very low key, business grew and these days there’s a pretty good selection of tasty food at Biffs. His recipes might not be traditional stuff that you normally find inside a pita, not that I’m going to say that I’m very unhappy about that, as he’s come up with some rather fitting stuff.

Biffs is located along Shida Road which is famous for its affordable eateries and Biffs holds true to that. You can get two pitas for a mere NT$120 (or NT$65 each) and the burritos which are bigger, come in at NT$79 or NT$89. Originally he only had a selection of three fillings and although I tried one back then, I wasn’t really taken by the food. However, I went back to the new place recently and boy was it tasty, juicy, tender meat, loads of jalapeno and really good sauces and marinades. I had the Tex-Mex pita and a Refried Beans & Mexican Cheese burrito, while Brenda went for the Xinjiang Cumin pita. Everything was prepared there and then and tasted just fabulous, it couldn’t compare to the early days of the business.

The selection of Pita’s include Marsala Curry, Xinjiang Cumin, Tex-Mex, Thai Tom Yum, Thai Yellow Curry and Yunnan Fermented Tofu (although I won’t be trying the last one) and the cheaper burrito is the Salsa & Chicken, although I’d suggest to add the extra NT$10 for the Refried Beans & Mexican Cheese, as I have a feeling it’s the same burrito, just with more tasty stuff in it. They also serve potato wedges starting at NT$39 although the fancier toppings you want, the more expensive it gets, all the way up to NT$65. Fried rice sets you back NT$79 and a fried rice pita goes for NT$49. Oh, and if you don’t like Pita’s, then you can have the same tasty fillings in a sub.

They’ve also got a deal with the Malaysian tea stand next to them where you can get a discount on a bag of tea (yes, you drink it out of a bag). The only downer is that there are only four seats available and two inconsiderate people had sat them selves in the two middle seats, so we couldn’t have a seat when we went there. Either which way, this is a place I will be going back to more often as the new menu has made it the best and cheapest place to get a pita or a burrito in Taipei.

You can find Biffs at Shida Road Alley 49, No. 9 and they’re open from 11.30 to 23.00 most days of the week. They also have a website here on which you can find the menu.

Update: Sadly Biffs closed its door on the 21st of February 2009 due to slow business among other things. They might be back with a restaurant sometime in the future, fingers crossed.

N.Y. Bagles Cafe

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If you get a craving for bagles in Taipei, then N.Y. Bagles Cafe is one of the places where you can get some decent bagles. However, they serve a lot more than bagles and the good news is that they’re open 24h.

They have a fairly decent selection of bagles and you can get a helping of cream cheese with them. They also do a wide range of other types of filled bagles and sandwhiches, as well as burgers, all day breakfast, burgers, sallads and pasta. Some of the restaurants also serve steak, like the one near the 101 area.

They also have a good selection of drinks to chose from, including hot and cold stuff as well as some more exotic imported things and rather decent milkshakes. You can find a map here and their website is located here. It’s not a gourmet place, but it’s a good place to go to on a weekend after a late night (early morning?) out in Taipei, as they’re guaranteed to be open.

Debbie's

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Debbie’s is a smallish American style diner that opened up in Taoyuan in June 2008. The atmosphere is nice and relaxed and it’s tastefully decorated, in as much as you can decorate a diner. The owner speaks English and they seem to cater both to the locals and the foreigners in Taoyuan. The place is small, but it doesn’t feel cramped and there’s around 10 tables, all of which seat four.

Debbie’s serves brunch until 14.00 although we missed that today, but the rest of the menu has a decent selection of burgers, sandwiches, burritos and some other stuff as well. The whole menu isn’t available on the website and in addition to the brunch items listed they also have pancakes. The drinks are large and they serve Root Beer which isn’t very common in Taiwan.

I ordered the beef burritos and Brenda got the bacon sandwich and a side of buffalo wings. The bacon sandwich came with a side of freshly made fries and they were really good and the sandwich was quite tasty as well. The buffalo wings were a bit dry, but came with a side of ranch dressing. The burritos were big, but not very authentic, although they had refried beans a bit of mince, sour cream and a side of salsa, so no major complaints for the price.

The total came up to NT$590 which has to be considered reasonable for what we ordered, as most western style places in Taiwan are expensive for no good reason. We’ll definitely go back and try the brunch next time. You can find Debbie’s website here. Debbies is located about 5 minutes walk from Mitsukoshi in Taoyuan.

Update: Well, we went back for brunch this weekend and both of us ordered pancakes, although they normally come with a side of some kind of meat byproduct such as sausage, ham or bacon, but neither of us wanted that so Debbie kindly offered to give us a couple of extra pancakes. The only downside this time was that it took forever to get the food, the place was quite busy, but a couple that came after us got their burritos before we got our food. The pancakes were good, although you’ll most likely have to ask for extra maple syrup as we didn’t get enough, but that was most likely cause of the extra helping we got. Brenda also ordered a side of mash, which we had to remind them about, as it didn’t turn up. The pancakes comes with a drink and are quite affordable at NT$110. We might yet be back one more time before we move from Taoyuan, as I think we’ll need a hearty breakfast on Friday morning.