WooBar [W Hotel Taipei]

SOOOO I’ve been in need of a change of scenery from the usual from the past few days… and perhaps a glass of champagne or two :]  It’s rainy and cold now.. what happened to this super sunny 81 degree weather I came to?!… I bundled up like crazy and headed out, Starbucks in hand, to W Hotel.

10th Floor – WooBar

We got a cozy cute table near the windows looking out into rainy [boo] roof with a pool.. still a good view tho.. even might have seen a cute guy there.. but then again I was delirious and hungry.

Taipei Champagne

Lychee Liquer with Fresh Orange and Lemon, topped with Champagne

MMMM….. finally got a little bubbly in me…

Side note: As much as I love Taiwan, it’s like family overload since it’s just 24/7 and it can get a bit stressful… also all these asians and overcrowdedness like Manhattan x100 is just…  *anxiety* I love the city but after awhile this germaphobe/claustrophobic chicklet freaks out a bit.  For example today on the train, Friday night after work/after school I nearly had a nervous breakdown – asian ppl are just SO much ruder and I was just pushed all over the place, I may be tall but I weigh a lot less than most people…. :[ But I ain’t no rag doll k!??!?! BOO!

So we ordered the special Tea Time set to share…. THIS IS SOOO MUCH DELICIOUS FOOD.

Colorful Winter Afternoon Tea Set

Condiments for the scones and then some….

Whipped Cream w/ Chocolate Balls

Strawberry Jam & Aussie Honey

Grissini with Parma Ham & Lobster Egg Creams

Lobster Egg CreamThis was delicious. Would’ve been even better with a little shaved truffle :] But I’m not complaining.. it was a bit too buttery/oily?! But it was sooo goood… tender pieces of lobster and delicate egg custard on the inside… reminded me of chawan mushi :] NOM! This was the first thing I went straight for since you need to eat it hot and plus seafood and egg.. need it piping hot :] I ADORED the way they presented/plated it – things are delicious eyes first. Then smell, then taste :]

Arancini with Marinated Vegetables & Crab Stick Toast w/ Caviar
It’s funny because I’m watching Iron Chef America Mozz and Chef Symon just made some arancini.  I’m very picky about my arancini – it’s either really good or BLAH. These were good.. loved the little bits of veggies on the stick :] Fun! Of course these are always better piping hot and fresh…

Crab Stick Toast w/ CaviarThey looked cute but it wasn’t that special.  I liked the crunchy toast tho – just cuz I love toast and I love crunchy :] And the pop pop pop of the caviar on top. Salty. But aside from that, the fake crab was just… fake crab. Or at least I think it as fake, either way – meh.

Truffled Potato/Chicken Tea Sandwiches & Caviar Crisps with Cream Cheese
Okay I added the chicken because I tasted chicken and celery and no potato, def no truffle but they said truffle and potato *confused* but then whatever, they were tasty. Slightly toasty white bread – MMM sometimes you just need your wonder bread!!!

Creme Fraiche <3 South Park <3 LOVES

Caviar Crisp with Cream Cheese

I thought it would be creme fraiche but it was CREAM CHEESE!!! Still good tho.. just cream cheese is a bit more overpowering in taste and texture for me.  Need more caviar.. LOVE caviar [you guys obviously know that already tho] <3

NY Cheesecake & Orange/Cranberry Scones

OMG this is my favorite cheesecake I’ve had in Taiwan. Usually the cheese taste is a bit off for me here, but this was SO delicious. Light, airy, fluffy… NOM!  The scones on the other hand were a bit dry and flavorless for me.  I like a scone that tastes SUPER scone-y but still super moist. I also love my scones with devonshire cream & jam <3

Vanilla Creme Brulee, Lemon Meringues & Gummy BearsThe meringues were teeny and super yummy! Great lemon flavor and just enough extra meringue to make a girl like me giggle. If it was a bit toastier it would’ve been even better but I’m not complaining.

Makes Tiffies happy!

Vanilla Creme BruleeVanilla bean seeds and all – great brulee crust and amaaaaaaazing custard on the inside. HAPPY!

Gummy Bears
Obviously…..

OH this made me oh oh oh oh oh SO HAPPY!!!

Bag of Macarons, Chestnut Raspberry Tarts w/ White Chocolate & Chocolate Lips

Bag of Macarons

Raspberry, Pistachio and….. Passionfruit?!.. These were mini and delicious! LOVE LOVE LOVE! I could eat macarons for forever!  A little on the sweet side but delicious none-the-less ;D

Chestnut Raspberry Tart w/ White Chocolate “W”

I wasn’t too ino the flavor combo but I ate the chocolate “W” :]

Chocolate Lip

Creamy chocolate-y center and so good.. there was a ice metallic sheer to it to :] YAY yummies

*MWA* XOXO to YOU ;*

Shopping and EN Japanese Cuisine

After a tons of food and tea time we knew we had to walk off all the sugar….

Anna Sui – jacket was too big but loved the fur… also fell in love with gorgeous cowboy boots

Got a new hat from this awesome Japanese designer

I want this neon yellow jacket from Robyn

We walked and walked til almost 8, tummies were gurgling so we headed to EN…  I’ve seen it but just never been and yes I’ve been getting it confused with the one back in the States.. big mistake. Not only did we eat well over 20x the price of my lunch it wasn’t filling and just subpar :T Alas, let’s continue….

Sashimi… Tuna and Salmon…

Beautifully plated and super fresh…

Sanma-Umeni [Sanma Pike]

Braised in a soy sauce based broth…  this dish was TINY… it was tasty but I’m not quite sure it was really worth the price…

“Sanma” or Mackerel Pike usually comes on our plates with the advent of Autumn, but can be found until mid-winter in Shizuoka Prefecture
Known under other names such “Saira” or “Banjyo”, it is a fish with red meat rich with proteins.
In season, the flesh is fatty and sweet.

Its Japanese name 秋刀魚 means Autumn Sword Fish!

It is mainly caught off the north eastern shores of Japan as the fish swims down from Hokkaido.
But the more south it is caught, the less fat it will contain.
The annual catch exceeds 20,000 tonnes, although breeding is increasingly successful.
If you eat it at a sushi restaurant, you can expect its bones and head served deep-fried.”  [Source]

Okonomiyaki w/ Sakura Shrimp & Mountain Yam

Not the kind of we’re all used to, obviously, but this was super tasty and probably my favorite dish of the night. A lot of people can’t get over raw mountain yam… cooked mountain yam reminds me of a tender cooked potato but raw is gooey and daikon-ish… definitely like a crunchy radish but gooey… not as snotty as natto tho LOL… and tastier…  This was gooey, creamy, crunchy on the top and sides and just YUMMY!!!

EN’s Special Seafood Salad

Sashimi, Squid and delicious greens and caviar… light simple, but the descriptions on the menu sucked and I had no idea I was getting MORE raw fish in this dish… or else I would’ve picked a different salad… lol

Satsuma Style Deep Fried Burdock Root & Mitsuba

“Mitsuba is a Japanese vegetable that has three plain, parsley-like leaves on each long slender, white stalk. Young leaves and stalks have aromatic flavor and are often used as a seasoning in fish soup, Sukiyaki and many Japanese dishes. Young seedlings are used in salads. Seeds are sown in spring and early fall. The plant grows vigorously in mild climates and can be harvested 50 days after sowing. In Japan, plants are generally blanched in darkness or by earthing-up for growing white and tender stalks.” [Source]

And of course with Burdock, I eat it all the time…

This dish was NOT what I expected. I expected LITERALLY a crunchy burdock root, fried, not this fish cake like thing. MEH. Bland and disappointing :[ Squishy squishy..

And then the Snow Crab Hot Pot

Look at the sexy snow crab :] This was a special for the month of December.. also special hot pots were an oyster hot pot and a frogfish/anglerfish [?!] hotpot…. this was was double the price of the other ones tho.. but I found the basket lacking :[ Things were fresh but it could barely feed one, let alone three of us….

So we also ordered the BEEF… it’s their “Special” Beef but they only had one choice anyways LOL…

Fish of the Day grilled on Rock Salt: 石頭公 “Round ScorpionFish”

Lacking in meat and while it WAS tasty meat it was TEENY TINY and just… bony :[ Our poor little tummies needed more food…

Sauteed 油菜 [You Cai] with Cod Roe

YO! HOLY HUGE SAK OF EGGY ROE ROE.. they looked like preserved plums!

Seriously? I’m not gonna eat something that resembles gross veiny human balls.. kthanx. NOT hungry no more.Source: Google

By the time we got this tho we just wanted to get out of there.. and we didn’t wanna eat the cod roe… so we opted out of dessert, altho they did give us a lovely yummy cup of toasted rice green tea… and headed back to our hotel.

Tea Time at Brasserie Liz

I woke up early, got a little mini exercise in.. okay, I lied, I got my mouth a little exercise ie FOOD :] Tons of food while I got ready to go out and shop and lunch and tea time and shop and eat and eat and shop ;D Basically…. eat and shop!

Ready to go go!!!

Lol silly :]

FIrst up!!! SOGO Food Court for my favorite Kimichi Seafood HotPot with lots of banchan… can you believe ALL of this for less than 10$?!?!?! DELICIOUS!!!

6 different Banchans of my choice!!!

All together now!! DELICIOUS!!! The HotPot had Shrimp, Squid, Tofus, Noodles, Clams, Kimchi and tons of other deliciousness!!!

My mom and aunt also got a table full of delicious foods… soups, veggies, oyster pancakes, noodles, fried tofus, etc etc :] I ate a lot of their food too HEE HEE

After a short shop around, like at Spiral Girl for some cute skull top and leggings… we headed over to Brasserie Liz which used to be my favorite cafe with delicious macarons and ice cream sundaes – so sad I can’t remember the specific name right noww….. it had something to do with Petit Prince ;] But yes another French cafe replaced it… well, “Brasserie” :]

Beautiful chandeliers now too…

Oh Julia Child

Tea and a cute little strainer…

“Paris Brest”

Pretty sure it was “engrish” mistake :] But it was like a cream puff shaped like a bagel and filled with delicious hazelnut mousse and covered with toasted almonds!  There was ice cream on the side.. since ice cream came with every dessert we got strawberry this round – SOOO GOOD.. the strawberry ice cream wasn’t too sweet and slightly tart – AMAZING! I could eat it forever!

YUM! Innards! SEXY

Next up?! Souffle… with Chocolate & Vanilla Ice Cream

This thing was HUGE, took forever but was WORTH the wait. Not sweet, creamy and just heavenly!! It was SOOOO warm and delicious… so fluffy and amazing.

Mille Feuille of Red Wine Pear w/ Fruit Pates & Macarons
…and surprisingly, MORE ice cream :] YUM!  The chocolate ice cream is SOOO GOOD, with chocolate flakes/shavings and everything!!!

Delicious layers of pastry and cream and the poached pears.. the pears were a little on the sweet side for me… and by this dessert I was ready to burst but I couldn’t stop eating!!!

NOM! Raspberry macarons <3

I had SO much sugar I was hit with a wave of sugar high.. walked it off with loads of shopping :] Next post on that….!!!