Last month while Five & Dime was closed for 5 days for a minor renovation, we had a small company trip to Taipei!
We flew to Taipei by Scoot airlines, and despite hearing all the bad experiences from my friends who have taken Scoot, I found my journey a really pleasant one! The leg space was huge too, but it was not as if that I needed it hahaha.
Day 1
We touched down at Taoyuan International Airport at around 5am and also received the news of Mr LKY's passing via social media. It didn't really strike me much at that moment, but I felt kind of guilty of being away having fun while Singapore's greatest leader just passed away.
Anyway. Day 1 was also the day we ate the most hahahah:
Where we stayed for the next 3 nights: ECFA Hotel @ Ximending, which is just a 5-minute walk from Ximending station:
Sleepy faces at 7am hahaha:
Went out to look for food since we could only check in at 3pm (?!!) and we were really hungry but most shops only open at 11am.
Heh heh heh....:
Settled on a cafe called What Day Kitchen / 花嘴厨房, one of the few that was opened as early as 6.30am:
Food was okay, nothing impressive, but we were too hungry to care haha.
Went back to the hotel lobby to rest and the TV kept repeating news of Mr LKY and how leaders of other countries were sending condolences as well :( It was then that it really hit me, and it felt like the skies of Taipei were mourning for him too. R.I.P., Mr LKY.
Clara and I fell asleep at the sofas (soooo comfy) and we woke up to have lunch with Chef at 食在好味道, just right beside our hotel:
Pork Dumplings / 水饺 (NT$50 / ~S$2) - the skin was a little too thick and stiff it got very filling after awhile:
We loved the Noodles / 干面 (NT$50 / ~S$2)! Tasted really good with chilli:
The Lu Rou Fan / 卤肉饭 (~NT$40 / ~S$1.80) was okay, but there was too much rice in comparison to the meat:
It was constantly raining while we were there for the 4 days, plus it was their cold season and the winds could really kill.
We heard from the locals that it only started raining on the day we reached, and it was predicted to stop by the end of that week....... we totally chose the wrong week to travel there hahaha. But anyway the rain was good news for them as many parts of the city was experiencing a shortage of water before this.
In the evening, we hunted for more food! Had our pre-dinner at 九龙 which sells a lot of roasted goodies:
YUMZZZ:
And we had our actual dinner @ Ding Wang / 鼎王, a highly raved steamboat restaurant. Needless to say, service was really great!:
Managed to walk at Raohe Night Market / 饶河夜市 this time round (it was pouring too heavily last year my friends and I didn't make it there), but many stalls were also closed due to the rain:
Tried these Broil Roast Beef Dice (NT$100 / ~S$4) for the 1st time AND THEY WERE AWESOME. My friends and I swear upon it hahahaha please try them if you are in Taipei!
We ordered ours with Rose Rock Salt:
It was also really cool watching them flambé the beef cubes right in front of you:
I miss them already!! :(
Our Mentaiko Corn Tamago / 明太子玉子烧 (NT$70 / ~S$3). It was okay~~ the bonito flakes made everything better:
Check out the pro shooters Ben and WS hahaha:
Weisheng and I couldn't resist having some Herbal Bak Kut Teh in the chilly weather:
The broth was hot and thick and it was one of the rare times I didn't mind drinking herbal soups:
Day 2
Went out for brunch the 1st thing next morning!
Here we were, at The Eslite Spectrum @ Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall station:
Had our 1st meal at VVG Action / 好样情事 (VVG stands for Very Very Good hahaha), located at level B2 of the mall:
The Calamari was unfortunately really bland :( I was quite looking forward to this:
I enjoyed the Winglets!:
Don't remember much about this..... was it Beef Stew with Rice??
Clams!
Mentaiko Pasta - the mentaiko was used more as a dressing so the taste didn't turn out as strong as we'd preferred it:
Fish & Chips:
Desserts! The cakes were really good:
Brunch part (II) @ Cafe Showroom on the ground level:
Apparently they microwaved their eggs which I thought was quite cool.
This tasted like ban mian hahaha:
Eton Mess:
Our favourite - the Earl Grey Lemon Tart:
Went out to take some OOTD shots and kinda regretted because it was so much colder outside:
Took the TRA Railway to Jiufen!
Cabin and seats were allocated to you:
Dropped at Ruifang station and we took a cab to Jiufen Old Street / 九份旧道:
Hello!
Shopped and ate the usuals... no photos cos I took videos instead hahaha. Watch it below!
Went to Ximending Night Market / 西门町 after that with Clara for some shopping while the rest did their own:
Met up with the boys and we headed to Shilin Night Market / 士林夜市 after that for more food! The lu rou fan here was so much better. I loved the bite-sized soft shell crabs too:
Mushroom and Seafood Toasts:
Yummy oysters which took ages to come. They only came after we've finished everything lol:
Here's an overview of our whole trip!:
Will blog about Day 3 & 4 soon :D
For those who are interested/need more information, you can read about my previous trip to Taiwan in June 2014. It's much more detailed over there hahah:
Day 3 & 4 - here
Day 5 & 6 - here
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