Taiwan - Day 5 (Taipei - Huashan 1914 Creative Park

We checked out from CitizenM Taipei North Gate Hotel at 11am and left our luggage at their luggage storage area. Then we walked to Taipei Main Station (Zhongxiao) and took bus no. 265 (Bus fare - NT$ 15 per person) to Moon Moon Food Jinan Branch. I choose this restaurant because it has a very high rating of 4.9 in the Google review! We reached there around 11.30am and there's already a long queue outside the restaurant. They have this ticketing system whereby you need to take a number from the ticket dispenser and wait for your turn.

We waited for almost half an hour for a table. While waiting for our turn, they give us a menu to place our order and a cup of ginseng tea. We order braised pork rice, braised sea bass, pork slices, small scallop chicken soup and spicy sesame noodles. This restaurant is famous for their chicken soup. Scallop chicken soup consists of three pieces of chicken meat, mini scallops, cabbages and goji berry but the soup is a bit sweet for my liking. Braised sea bass is meaty and soft. It's best eaten with the chili dipping sauce.

Pork slices mainly consist of cartilage, tendons and ligaments which I don't really enjoy. However, their spicy sesame noodles has a very unique taste. It has this strong peanut taste with a hint of spiciness that produces a tingling numbing effect on your tongue when eaten. Braised pork rice is a very popular dish in Taiwan and it's one of my partner's favourite dish. It consists of braised fatty pork and rice. The only thing I like about this dish is their rice texture which is sticky, chewy and soft. Overall, we are not impressed with the food here but it's worth a try.

Total bill - NT$ 490

Postal Museum Taipei Beimen Branch

Taipei North Gate

Taipei Main Station (Zhongxiao)

Moon Moon Food Jinan Branch

Restaurant ambience

Complimentary gingseng tea

Chili, free flow of drinking water and gingseng tea

Braised pork rice - NT$ 40

Braised sea bass - NT$ 130

Pork slices - NT$ 50

Small scallop chicken soup - NT$ 200 and spicy sesame noodles - NT$ 70

Address:
Moon Moon Food Jinan Branch
No, 7, Jinan Road, Section 1,
Zhongzheng District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 100

Wood x White Cafe is just 8 minutes walking distance (600m) from Moon Moon Food Jinan Branch. Along the way we walked past Shandao Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in Taipei. Wood x White Cafe has this minimum one drink per person and dining time is limited to 3 hours when all seats are full but you can keep the seat if your order another drink. There's a NT$ 50 discount off on second drinks.

The cafe is warm and cozy. I order Muscat Darjeeling tea and I love the fruity Muscat scent. Whereas for my partner he order Paris Ginza recommended by the waitress. It's an elegant cold black tea with fresh aromas of red fruit. However, there's slight bitter taste in it. I order a slice of green tea rolled cake. It's light and fluffy with matcha whipped cream in the middle. The matcha tastes a bit of bitterness and after finish drinking the tea, my mouth feels dry.

Total bill - NT$ 520

Shandao Temple

Wood x White Cafe

Restaurant ambience

Paris Ginza - NT$ 185 and green tea rolled cake - NT$ 150

Muscat Darjeeling - NT$ 185

Address:
Wood x White Cafe
No. 23-2, Lane 9,
Linsen N Road,
Zhongzheng District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 100

Huashan 1914 Creative Park is just 7 minutes walking distance (600m) from Wood x White Cafe. The park used to be an old wine factory and was converted into a creative space. There's cafe, book store, Kakao Friends store, small stalls selling crafts, arts, jewelry and souvenirs.

Huashan 1914 Creative Park

Kakao Friends

Huashan 1914 Creative Park

Address:
Huashan 1914 Creative Park
No. 1, Section 1, Bade Rd,
Zhongzheng District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 101

We took bus no. 262 (Bus fare - NT$ 15 per person) back to CitizenM Taipei North Gate Hotel. We plan to leave Taipei before the rush hour. We took an Uber to Song He Motel (Uber fare - NT$ 692) approximately 30 minutes drive from CitizenM Taipei North Gate Hotel. We reached the motel before 4.30pm. Alan came and fetch us for early dinner at 5.30pm. He brought us to Plate Pasta Restaurant, one of Bena's favourite dine in place.

I order spaghetti with fried chicken while my partner order grilled chicken. Our set meal comes with an appetizer, a glass of sparkling juice, tea, soup and dessert. Appetizer is the first course. It's a small dish served in a cocktail glass - mozzarella cherry tomatoes and bacon tomatoes skewers dipped in a plum sauce. I might say cheese haters will not enjoy this appetizer because the cheese taste are buttery, tangy and yeasty. Both of us share a bowl of corn soup and mushroom soup. I prefer the corn soup as it's creamy and rich. Corn soup pairs well with their bread. Thanks to Alan, both of us had an overly full dinner. In fact we couldn't even finish our main meal.

Plate Pasta Restaurant (布蕾特义式餐厅)

Restaurant ambience

Ice water and appetizer

Sparkling juice and cold Oolong tea

Hot red tea

Corn soup and mushroom soup

Bread with lemon curd

Cheese fries

Soup with baked puff pastry

Complimentary chicken wings

Grilled chicken

Clam pasta

Prawn pasta

Spaghetti with fried chicken

Risotto with fried chicken

Dessert - creme brulee

Address:
Plate Pasta Restaurant (布蕾特义式餐厅)
No. 191-1, Wenhua 2nd Road,
Guishan District,
Taoyuan City, Taiwan 333

Alan brought us for supper around 10.30pm together with Jon and his wife. Instead of going to the same skewer shop that we went that day, we try a different shop. He ordered variety of meat skewers including the bacon mochi roll, edamame, sizzling beef and grilled fish. I still prefer the bacon mochi roll from "燒鳥串道林口長庚店" as the mochi here is just too soft for my liking. However, their grilled fish is good. It's fresh and tasty. Besides that, all of us love the Calpis drink. It's refreshing and not too sweet.

Note: NT$ 1 = RM 0.14