mei eats

Moon Star Rotating Restaurant

Posted in Coffee and Tea, Desserts on January 22nd, 2008 by mei| | 2 Comments.

I may be cheap but who’d ever thought that I’d start eating out of a garbage dump?

If I could muster the courage to eat out of the loo (at Marton. Boy, was that a shitty restaurant. Pun very intended ) this should be a piece of cake. Or two.

Moon Star Rotating Restaurant is located on the 120th floor of the Beitou Incinerator (åŒ—æŠ•ç„šåŒ–å» ). It is the only rotating restaurant in Taipei and I daresay it’s the only one in the world that sits atop a municipal refuse burner.

Yours truly missed out on lunch but made it there for Moon Star’s afternoon tea buffet. It’s all you can eat cakes, sandwiches, and miscellaneous nonsense (drinks included) for 299nt plus tax. As you can probably tell, I was not impressed. The tea sandwiches were ridiculously tiny and have as much substance as a piece of floor wipe. I had two bites of my chocolate cake but I did finish all of the pumpkin cheese cake. The latter was smooth and light and the pumpkin flavor was just subtle enough. I would have to say, however, that most of the cakes look unimpressive and could pass a the fodder available in any ol’ Taiwanese bakery. The selection wasn’t even that great and ran out pretty fast (I got there around half past two and supposedly the afternoon tea session only started at two).

My verdict – don’t go for the food, go for the view.

I even thought the service to be pretty dismal. You have to fetch your own cakes at the counter. Normally, so spake the waitstaff, sandwiches are displayed along side the cakes but since there were quite a number of people there that day the staff brought them to you as soon as they were made. Well, they took a darn long time making them and usually ran out before reaching my table. I also thought it rather rude to be asked to pay upfront. For somebody who used to work in restaurants, this is tantamount to shooing away your customer. And oh, forget having a romantic tÃªte-Ã -tÃªte here. The afternoon tea was a family affair with kids running around creating miniature melees.

The view was great, however. The restaurant is situated even higher than the observatory (which is four floors down, on the 116th). Even on a cloudy day, I was quite happy with the vista. The ambience really perked up in the evening when the streets below and the restaurant were lighted. I can’t say much about dinner since I didn’t get to dine there but a nice lady who was in the elevator with me on the way up told me that the food is terrible. And with prices from 500nt to 100nt for dinner sets, it hardly sounds like a good deal.

In fact, eating at this dumpster was pretty darn expensive.

Moon Star Revolving Restaurant æ˜Ÿæœˆæ—‹è½‰é¤å»³
www.moonstar2007.com for the restaurant’s site (still under construction)
www.ptrip.gov.tw for the Beitou Incinerator website
120F, No. 271 Chou Mei Street, Beitou
åŒ—æŠ•å€æ´²ç¾Žè¡—271è™Ÿ120F
(It is about a kilometer away from the closest MRT station, Qulian.)
02 2837 7122

Bubble Milk Tea and other Tapioca Ball Drinks

Posted in Coffee and Tea on December 19th, 2007 by mei| | 3 Comments.

“Egg Egg Milk.” What a name.

I came across a stall selling this curious sounding drink, the “Kenting Egg Egg Duai Milk” (å¢¾ä¸è›‹è›‹ã„‰ã„¨ã„žå¥¶) in Gongguan this evening. It’s not much of a pitch but the real clincher was seeing the round-the-block queue. Apropos to the Taiwanese way, I just had to join the line.

The drink ended up just being a combination of tapioca pearls floating in a mix of black sugar syrup and diluted “whole” milk (trust the Taiwanese to come up with trite and hyperbolic ways of advertising their products, man). As interesting as it was, it’s nothing I’d pine over any time soon. I’d much rather stick with a good ol’ classic Boba milk tea.

It’s high time I paid homage to Taiwan’s (quasi) national drink. I can’t really tell you the best place to go for bubble milk teas since it’s something that most stalls don’t eff up. However, I do quite like the ones from 50 Lan (50åµ), also known as “The Tea of Cool. Craving. Content.” *Shakes head* Just look for the ubiquitous blue and yellow signs.

Spring Water Pavillion (æ˜¥æ°´å ‚) – one of the stores in Taichung that claims to be the originator of the boba tea – while not bad is pretty darn expensive. Be prepared to pay 100nt – 200nt a pop. If you like a frou frou cup of boba milk tea this is your place. No need to travel to Taichung – there’s a store in the basement of the Xinyi Mitsukoshi A9.

For those who’d like a cuppa after a late night could try the Bubble Milk Tea Lane behind the California Fitness at the Chung Hsiao-Dun Hua MRT (read: Luxy). Though crowded and not the cheapest place for a boba milk tea fix, it’s a decent place to chill and people watch.

A personal favorite is Jimmyï¼ˆå‰ç±³èŒ¶åŠ). The place knows how to make one mean coffee jelly bubble milk tea.

50 Lan 50åµ
various locations
www.50lan.com.tw

Spring Water Pavillion æ˜¥æ°´å ‚
B1 of Xinyi Mitsukoshi A9
02 2723 9913
various other locations
www.icetea.com.tw

Bubble Milk Tea Lane
street parallel to Chung Hsiao behind Luxy and the California Fitness Center

Jimmy å‰ç±³èŒ¶åŠ
South West corner of Xinyi and Daan roads

Ginger Tea

Posted in Coffee and Tea on May 11th, 2007 by mei| | 0 Comments.

It’s not really tea.

It’s ginger with brown sugar/molasses and oft times there are chunks of red jujube added for good measure. It’s always served HOT. This is what I’ve been drinking all last week when I was sick. Supposedly, this drink is good for chasing away colds, flus and bad circulation. Ginger tea is more of a winter drink and now that summer is quickly approaching I decided to write this quick post about it or else I wouldn’t find another apropos occassion. One can usually find these ginger molasses cubes sold at food fairs around town, especially during fall and winter. I don’t believe I’ve seen them sold in supermarkets but alternatively you can buy brown sugar and mix it with grated ginger to make your own concoction.

Now I better hit the sack and get some sleep or else I’ll end up sick once more and have to drink ginger tea again this week. Not that it’s a bad thing.

Coffee, Tea or Me?

Posted in Coffee and Tea on March 22nd, 2007 by mei| | 0 Comments.

Mei’s Tea Bar
No. 16, Lane 37, Yongkang Street
02 2394 2425
æ°¸åº·è¡—37å··16è™Ÿ

Black Gold

Posted in Coffee and Tea on March 20th, 2007 by mei| | 3 Comments.

I like my coffee like how I like my man: rich and very black.

I also tend to like him pint sized and either bitter or very sweet. Yes, yes, Mei is an espresso shot kinda gal. I despise instant coffee with a vengence and I won’t go anywhere near the watered down americano joe.

Truth be told, I really can’t tell you where to go for good coffee in Taipei. What I can tell is where not to go. For example, I found the coffee at a certain bagel chain here horrid. It’s the kind that sets off wanking migraines for hours on end. At least I have to give the joint credit for sticking true to their New York diner style roots, as bad as it is. Yuk yuk.

What I do condone when it comes to savoring arabica’s finest is to brew your own. Anybody who has made the walk from the original Fushing Sogo to the Breeze center might recall passing a charming little coffee and tea periphernalia store where oft times there’d be store attendant handing out little paper cups of tea… and you guessed it, coffee.

For 125nt dollars I can buy my own 1/2 pound of Italian roast grounded to suit the moka pot friends brought back for me from Spain last summer. I keep the grounds in an air-tight glass container in the fridge and even if I made a pot a day I would have plenty to last me close to a month.

Coffee, unlike my man, should be very cheap.

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