[Xinyi/信義] UZNA OMOM 杏桃鬆餅屋阪急店

[Xinyi/信義] UZNA OMOM 杏桃鬆餅屋阪急店


Rating: 8 out of 10


Address: 信義區阪急百貨一樓 Xinyi Area, Hankyu Department Store, First Floor

Phone Number: 02-2722-0179

Opening Hours: Sunday - Thursday 7:30-21:30 and Friday - Saturday 7:30-22:00

Directions: Take blue line MRT to Taipei City Hall, Exit 3 and Hankyu Department Store is to the right next to W Hotel.


Uzna Omom (Hankyu Department Store branch) has a nice atmosphere as they have big full-length windows to allow you to do some people-watching. The seating area is both chic and has a slight lounge bar feel. We were seated in the sofa area which had comfortable seats thus making it an enjoyable afternoon tea. It is not as packed during weekdays as well, so we didn't need to cram with other people.

[Souffle Pancakes - 蘇芙蕾厚鬆餅 (w)] - $250

Even though they are called souffle pancakes, to me, they are more like fluffy sponge cakes. The texture of the cake is very fluffy and light, it is not as thick as pancakes or waffles. It comes with honey and butter so you can have a salty souffle pancake if you go with butter or have it sweet with honey.

This makes for a very light dessert if you are still feeling peckish after a meal but don't want something too heavy. I would definitely go back again!

[Matcha Latte - 抹茶拿鐵] - $180

I love ordering the Matcha Latte here because it is unique in the sense that you can make the Latte yourself! You can enjoy your own creation when you drink it! Check the picture below where the waitress is showing me how it's done.

You can adjust the sweetness and milkiness of the Matcha Latte with the syrup and milk that they provide. 

My creation!!! It was pretty tasty although it looked slightly like leek soup! It was weird to drink from a bowl though But overall, the matcha taste blended well with the milk and syrup. I used mostly all the syrup because otherwise, for me, it would be slightly bitter without all the syrup.


[Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows - 經典可可拿鐵] - $160

The marshmallows are in the shape of flowers and gives it a very cute effect but they melt very quickly! This was a milky hot chocolate as the milk taste was stronger than the chocolate. I liked it because I prefer milkier hot chocolates!


[Overall Thoughts]

This visit was my second time and I mostly go for the Souffle Pancake because it is more unique and always fulfills my craving for a light, sponge cake dessert. 

I would recommend this place as the desserts are one-of-a-kind that you don't get anywhere else. Pricing is reasonable and destination convenient!

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[Dongmen/東門] Xu Luo Fa Korean Restaurant - 徐羅伐

[Dongmen/東門] Xu Luo Fa Korean Restaurant - 徐羅伐

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Address: 台北市大安區永康街14巷5號 No. 5, Lane 14, Yongkang St, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan

Phone Number: 02-2358-1211

Opening Hours: 11:30-14:00 and 17:00-22:00

Directions: Take the red MRT line to Dongmen Station (東門) and walk out of the exit that leads to YongKang Street, walk straight on YongKang Street for 3-4 minutes until you see Aveda (the haircare products store) and then turn right at the small intersection where Aveda is, walk for 1 minute and you will be there!

  

Good Korean restaurants in Taiwan are surprisingly hard to find! My friends and I were craving Korean so we went to Xu Luo Fa to get our fix.

Xu Luo Fa is conveniently situated in Dongmen and it is very accessible. Once you have finished dinner, there are plenty of dessert places to choose from to satisfy your sweet tooth too!

It was our first time trying Xu Luo Fa, some of the dishes were very tasty but others left us disappointed and didn't fulfil our craving. Let's see how we rated each dish!

[Complimentary Starters - 韓式小菜] - Free

 

The starters at Korean restaurants are always free and you begin with five small starters at Xu Luo Fa. They are not refillable (which is pretty disappointing because some Korean restaurants in Taipei have refillable starters).

The kimchi was my favourite because while it is spicy, it is not too overpowering that you can't feel your tongue afterwards. It had the right amount of spice, so even those who can't eat spicy very well could eat this kimchi too!

Out of the 5 starters, 3 are considered spicy as you can tell from the picture above however, the spiciness level is not that high therefore, people who eat minimum spice could eat these starters too. I really liked that about the starters.

[Dukbokki - Spicy Rice Cake - 韓式辣炒年糕] - $250

I loved, loved, LOVED this dish!! It was my favourite dish out of everything we ordered. Why? Because I have tried plenty of dukbokki since I have been back in Taipei but they are either cooked with Taiwanese spices or the rice cake does not fully infused with the sauce so you are technically just tasting bland rice cake. I had been disappointed in the quality of dukbokki in Taipei until I FOUND THIS PLACE :D!

Xu Luo Fa's dukbokki is soft but chewy and it completely encompasses the taste of the sauce in each rice cake. It is spicy and sweet at the same time which is what a good dukbokki should have and I think it is very authentic as it tastes just as good as the ones I had in Korea! 

The sauce has a nice, thick consistency which allows the rice cake and fishcakes to fully soak in the sauce. This dish is spicy so I wouldn't recommend those who don't eat spicy to order this dish.

I would go back in the future JUST for this dish; that is how good I think this dish is.


[Seafood and Egg Pancake - 徐羅伐煎餅 (海鮮+蛋)] - $250

They had several options of seafood pancake available: normal seafood pancake; seafood with kimchi pancake; or seafood and egg pancake. We chose seafood and egg and this dish lived up to our expectations!

The pancake contained a lot of seafood and was compact but fluffy. The egg gave it an extra crunch outside. I really liked the crunch added with the fluffiness inside the pancake. I want to try the seafood kimchi pancake next time to see if it will be equally as good without the egg on the outside.


[Mixed kBBQ Beef Platter - 綜合牛肉拼盤] - $1,300

We drooled when we saw this platter, it had a mixture of the best beef for BBQ and it was accompanied by rice cake and mushroom. They cooked the beef for us but it was slightly overcooked at some points.

The type of beef shown above in this picture was not marinated enough so for us, it lacked the taste that a normal kBBQ should have in their beef. Whenever I ate this beef, I had to slather it in the red spicy sauce that they gave you to pair it with the lettuce for it to have taste. The sauce makes up for the blandness from the taste of the beef.



On the other hand, the galbi (ribs) were very well marinated and were easy to chew as well. The fat wasn't hard and the sauce in which it was marinated in gave it a sweet and salty flavour. Overall, I found the galbi enjoyable however, there was slightly too much fat on the beef.


[Seolleongtang and Rice - Ox Bone Soup and Rice - 牛骨湯] - $200

The Ox Bone Soup comes with complimentary rice. The rice that they use is healthier than white rice but, don't worry, it has the exact same taste! As a rice-lover, I really liked the rice and it goes really well with the BBQ beef and Spicy Rice Cake.

My friend taught me that with Ox Bone Soup, you have to flavour it with pepper or salt or else there is absolutely no taste to the soup (it's true, I tried it without putting salt or pepper in at first).



We added A LOT of salt to this soup and because the soup wasn't hot enough, the salt didn't fully melt so once we finished scooping up the top layer of soup, the bottom layer of the soup was really salty.

For me, this dish didn't do it for me, the soup was just slightly tasteless even with salt added into it and it wasn't hot enough while we were drinking it. I like my soup to be really hot when it reaches the table so I was really disappointed when it was warm soup that I drank.


[Overall Thoughts]


I thought the atmosphere in the restaurant was not too bad because it was decorated in a korean style with wooden flooring, chairs and tables and ginseng bottles on display on the walls.

The smoke from the BBQ didn't cling onto our clothes and deliverance of the food was pretty fast as our food came within 15 minutes.

There is the one-hour-and-a-half seating limit at this restaurant, like a lot of restaurants in Taipei, but you can finish your meal plenty within that time.

Xu Luo Fa have also opened a shop opposite where you can buy their spicy rice cake in frozen packets, I am definitely going to get me some next time I go!

All in all, I thought most of their dishes were pretty good and would definitely go again for their spicy rice cake.

Please comment below or follow my blog to let me know what food you guys would like to see me blogging and what type of cuisine you are looking for in Taipei so I can help give recommendations to you guys!

Hope you all liked this post :)!  

First-Time Blogger

Hey Everyone :),

I am new to the scene of blogging but my infinite love for food and sharing good food led me to start up this blog! I hope that through my blog, I can show you guys some of the best restaurants in Taiwan and hopefully, all around the world in the future :).

Taiwan is an island with exponential talent and amazing food, however, not many people may know about it. Thus, I wanted to create a platform to advertise and promote the food in Taiwan and through this, it may entice more people to visit Taiwan and experience the cuisine for themselves!

So...a little about me before we get started. I was born in Taiwan but moved to Scotland from an early age. I grew up in Scotland but I would come back and visit Taiwan every year. The food in Taiwan was one of the things that I missed most when I was in Scotland and I would always be super excited when I was coming back to go back to my favourite eats. 

I recently moved back to Taiwan and I have tried out so many great restaurants that I feel that it would be unfair if I didn't share my finds with you guys!

I hope you guys enjoy my posts and have a try at the restaurants I recommend :)!

If you like my posts then please comment and share some of your favourite restaurants so that I can try!

Let's get started!

[Zhongxiao Fuxing/忠孝復興] San Ho Yan 叁和院台灣風格飲食參和院

1. [Zhongxiao Fuxing/忠孝復興] San Ho Yan 叁和院台灣風格飲食參和院
2. Rating: 8 out of 10
3. 
   
4. Address: 台北市大安區忠孝東路四段101巷14號  
5. No. 14, Lane 101, Section 4, Zhongxiao East Rd, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
6. 
   Phone Number: 02-2731-3833
7. 
   Opening Hours: 11 am - 1 am
8. I strongly recommend this restaurant if you are looking to try a taste of Taiwanese food. 
9. The restaurant takes authentic dishes in Taiwan and gives it a new splash of creativeness resulting in more innovative dishes but with the same great taste.
   
   The price is reasonable for the portions and quality that you get. It is not as pricey as other restaurants which specialise in Taiwanese foods therefore, I thought it was a great find.
   
   Reserve beforehand because it is a really busy restaurant so if you don't want to queue then definitely reserve!
   
   Directions: Come out of Zhongxiao Fuxing Exit 4 and keep walking for around 5 minutes. You will see a Tian Ren Bubble Tea shop and that is where you turn left into the alley and you will find San Ho Yan.
   
   Now...onto the dishes :)!
   
   
   We had three people and ordered around 8 dishes, it was more than enough and we were completely stuffed afterwards!
   
   
   [Fried Turnip Cake in XO Sauce 叁和院秘製XO醬炒蘿蔔糕] - $227
   

   

   
   This dish is slightly spicy because it's cooked in XO sauce. XO sauce is a spicy seafood sauce. For those of you who can handle your spice, I definitely recommend to order this dish. The XO sauce gives the turnip cake an extra burst of flavour and I think this dish complements rice very well. 
   Note: For those who are allergic to shellfish, check with the waiter beforehand to see if you will be able to eat the XO sauce!
   
   
   [Steamed Bread 南瓜虎皮&墨汁斑馬刈包] - $17 for one
10. 
11. One of the creative dishes from San Ho Yan. Steamed bread is normally completely white however, at San Ho Yan, they have packed other ingredients such as pumpkin (to get that orange colour) and squid ink  (to get the black lines on the steamed bread) to create this zebra-styled steamed bread. 
    I think the other ingredients give the steamed bun a more aesthetic look and pumpkin is healthy for you too! The taste of the new ingredients are not that heavy so you don't have to worry about it impacting the taste of the other foods that you put into the steamed bread.
    
    You can pair the steamed bread with mostly any kind of meat but my personal favourite is to pair it with pork stuffing!
12. 
    [Pork Stuffing 東坡肉] - $287 (For 2-4 People)
13. 
14. Pork stuffing is marinated in a soy-sauce like sauce to get its flavour. This dish comes with pak choi as well and it tastes amazingly good! Pork stuffing is composed of half pork meat and half fat. It might sound really unhealthy because of the fat but trust me, pork fat is actually really tasty and you can always make an exception once or twice a month, right?
    
    I would recommend eating this dish with either the steamed bun or rice as it goes great with both! We had it the traditional way - with the steamed bun.

You will get three toppings alongside the steamed buns and those are the extra flavourings that you can add when you put the pork inside the steamed bun.

I would recommend adding the peanut powder onto the steamed bun with the pork stuffing to add some sweetness into the taste. This is a great dish to order because you can share it among 2-4 people and if you can't finish it, you can take it home and have it with rice!

San Ho Yan have really captured the traditional taste and I really enjoyed this dish!


[Mapo Tofu - 麻婆豆腐] - $187

Mapo Tofu is spicy and should be paired with rice or else it might be too spicy for some people! I think their mapo tofu is pretty good and it has the right amount of spiciness with the tofu being marinaded really well in the sauce.

In some other restaurants, the tofu might taste bland because the sauce hasn't fully reached inside the tofu yet, but at San Ho Yan, this isn't a problem at all. It was a big portion (even though this picture doesn't make it look that big, but it definitely was) and can be shared among 2-4 people as well.


[Steamed Barbecued Pork Bun - 刺蝟叉燒包] - $137

This was the cutest thing that I have ever seen! San Ho Yan reinvented the normal fried char siu buns into cute hedgehogs, it almost made me not want to eat it! I thought it was a fresh take on fried char siu buns and made it a pleasant surprise to eat. That taste was great and the spikes on the hedgehog gave it an extra crunch. However, it was just slightly oily but otherwise, it tasted great! Definitely recommend to order when you are there!


[Pork Belly on Rice - 參和院極品豚丁飯] - $27

For me, I thought the pork belly on rice was very average, it didn't have the taste that I was looking for and I found that the meat was slightly hard to chew. I compared it to other places that I have tried and it wasn't as good. Therefore, I would recommend that you just get the white rice to pair with your food!

[Sanho Rice Cake Roll - 叁和年糕捲】 - $87

I love sweet rice cake so this dish was right up my street. I loved how it was shaped like a spring roll but it was actually a sweet inside. At first, I kept thinking that I was going to taste a salty dish but when it turned out to be sweet rice cake, I was even more overjoyed! If you have never tried sweet rice cake before, I would definitely recommend that you try this dish! 

It has a chewy texture and it is not that sweet so you don't have to worry about it being too sweet for your teeth. It was one of my favourite desserts at San Ho Yan!


[Creamy Custard Bun - 叁和院金沙包] - $87

The creamy custard buns did exactly as its name suggests. It had creamy custard on the inside and looked like a bun on the outside. I love creamy custard buns because they balance the right amount of sweetness since the custard is sweet while the bun outside isn't therefore, it won't be too sweet on your teeth.

These creamy custard buns were piping hot and were great to eat because sometimes, in other stores, the buns are lukewarm when it comes to your table and that in turn causes the creamy custard inside to harden, therefore, San Ho Yan's creamy custard buns did great in this respect.

Be careful when taking a bite into these buns though. Always make sure to take a small bite because the creamy custard inside will come oozing out and you may burn your tongue so watch out for that!



[Red Bean Rabbit Bun - 紅豆白兔包] - $77

The red bean buns were made in the shape of rabbits and they had cute pink bottoms which would entice children and adults alike to eat. By the time we got to this dish, we were all completely stuffed and satisfied, but I couldn't resist my temptation to eat one! I thought the red bean buns were pretty good but I have actually had better elsewhere. However, despite saying that 3 red bean buns for $77 is actually a pretty good deal since in other restaurants which sell dim sum, the price is more.

Red bean buns shaped in rabbits or peaches are pretty common in Taiwan since it is a tradition to eat them on birthdays. The ones shaped in rabbits can be found in supermarkets while the peach shaped ones are more likely to be found in traditional markets.


[Overall Thoughts]

The restaurant has a great feel in general because it is very nicely decorated. I will take pictures and update my blog when I go back next time to show you guys the feel of the restaurant!

I thought the food was great for the price and it is very reasonable compared to other restaurants selling Taiwanese food! It is very filling as well, we all came out of the restaurant with a food coma :D.

This is a place that you can go with family or friends because you can try more dishes if you have more people.

Definitely recommend this restaurant so give it a try and I promise you won't regret it :)!

I hope you guys liked this post, if you liked it, please comment below or share this review. I will post more good restaurants soon!