Cafes Hidden In Taipei Alleys and Mountains

Taipei is really more than night markets, pineapple pastries, hot springs and shopping. Look into any Chinese travel guides, you can discover lots of eclectic eateries and cafes. Please discard all English guidebooks on Hong Kong, Taiwan & China if you can read Chinese.

On our itinerary, my companion and I have ambitiously put in many cafes that caught our eyes from travel guides and blogs. Well, a coffee at each cafe definitely make us exceed the recommended daily caffeine intake.

One of the HG of cafe hopping: Yong Kang Street (永康街) and its vicinity - home to quaint boutiques, cafes and famous beef noodles.

First stop, 小茶栽堂 Zenique. Well, it's not a cafe but a Taiwanese tea salon that sells a wide assortment of organic tea as well as french desserts. Ground floor houses a tall wall full of tea variants which you can purchase in tins or by weight. On the other side is a pastry display with all sorts of dainty french pastries, colourful macarons and chocolates. Second floor is where we enjoy our lazy afternoon tea while waiting for the rain to be kinder to us. Well, three (ALL THREE OF THEM!) of the tea infused desserts that I had my eye on weren't available. Major disappointment. 

Cookies to go with the tea. Love the teapot of my companion's genmai tea.

The name's something osmanthus...something blanc...

My lemongrass milk tea

With very limited seating, a minimum spending per person applies. I can't remember how much but a dessert and a drink covers that. Mine costs NT250 or so.

小茶栽堂 Zenique

Address: 8, Alley 4, Yongkang Street, Taipei (永康街4巷 8 號)
Tel: (02) 2395-1558
Opening Hours: 11:00am~10:30pm
Website: http://www.zenique.net

If you like chilling in a quiet cafe and vintage furniture, Ecole is the place for you. The furniture in this cafe are vintage from elementary schools in Germany. From what I read from other blogs/guides, this place regularly hosts art shows and live music in its basement gallery. Not enough of vintage furniture? Hop next door to Mooi (魔椅), a vintage mid-century modern furniture shop.

Vintage tin playthings from the past.

Ecole

Address: 6, Ln 1, Qingtian St (青田街1巷6号）

Website: http://ecole-cafe.blogspot.com

Tel: 02-2322-2725
Opening Hours: Mon - Thur 1 pm - 11 pm / Fri 1 pm - 12 am / Sat 11 am - 12 am / Sun 11 am - 11 pm

Here's another cafe with vintage school furniture. This is hidden in the mountains in Jing Tong (菁桐), which used to be a coal mining town, now a tourism destination, in Taipei outskirts. No, we did not specially track down this cafe but was a bonus discovery when we are in Pingxi (平溪) and Jing Tong (菁桐)。

矿厂咖啡

Students' scrawling

I'm glad we decided to stop for coffee because this is where I had my virgin taste of latte with sea salt! And it was quite a delectable flavour! The nutty coffee that we are familiar with is accompanied by a salty aftertaste. My companion described the taste as "sweet and salty popcorn". I'm tempted to try concocting this coffee on my own...

My Sweet Lunch

Mr. LTC & I returned to Pumpernickel last Saturday, hoping to try the Crumble Cheesecake. This time, we went to the cafe at Causeway Bay. Alas! It was not available that day. Determined to try their desserts, I had their mushroom soup (I love soup) & ordered the Blueberry Cheesecake & Tiramisu. That's lunch for me.

Mr. LTC handed me this book from the magazine rack. It's all about cafes in Hong Kong.

No wonder I keep seeing his pictures sprinkled in the book...this was edited by him...(I always think Mr. LTC bears a strong resemblance to him...)

The cafes mentioned in this book are sectioned into different categories such as "branded cafes", "under-the-radar cafes", "stylish indie cafes". Among those mentioned, I have tried a couple of them. I've noted the address of some interesting ones. Gotta visit them. And I gotta go back to Pumpernickel for that slice of elusive Crumble Cheesecake!

Divalicious Tin Hau

I find myself drawn to this area in the eastern district on Hong Kong island called Tin Hau (天后), named after the Tin Hau Temple nearby. In case you are wondering, Tin Hau ("Heavenly Goddess") is a goddess of the sea to protect fishermen and sailors during their sea voyage.

Tin Hau is famed for small eateries and eclectic shops. For the past few weeks, Dar and I have been trawling the area and considering the option of making the area our home for the next year. (Our lease would be up soon and going by the rate that property prices and rental are hiked, we may not be able to afford our current place now.)

Love to live in this cool walk-up apartment! 

Last Sunday after Dar's basketball game, we had tunch at a cafe in Tin Hau called Pumpernickel. It's a home-grown cafe, popular for its bakery items. It's specialty bread is .... guess what....Pumpernickel bread. The outlet in Tin Hau (later I found out that it has a couple of outlets and a restaurant.) is a small, cosy place of about 7 or 8 small tables (yes, a very intimate size. This is Hong Kong, remember?)

The cafe was fairly quiet with patrons chatting nearly inaudibly (thank you for that!) and soft music playing in the background. In Pumpernickel, you are transported away from the noise and crowds that Hong Kong is associated with. 

An old piano sits with some old books.

You can flip magazines, fiddle with your Ipad, nurse a coffee and while an afternoon away, not to mention escape the withering heat in this air-conditioned enclave. There is no sharing of tables or be pressurized to leave after you consume your food, unlike the char chan teng (local eateries) here.

Love this drinking glass!

Will they notice if I slip one into my bag?

I ordered a German potato salad with bangers with soup and of course, its Pumpernickel bread while Dar ordered a steak baguette. No woots or sighs about the food we had though the soup was surprisingly robust, creamy and flavorful (much better than those watery soup that comes in a set lunch). The bread, served warm, was crusty at the top and soft to bite. Yum! 

The cafe's Crumbly Cheesecake waved at both of us from the cake fridge and we were tempted. Our stomachs could fit some desserts but we decided not to push it and do no justice to it. Oh Crumbly Cheesecake...we will be back for you...