N.Y. Bagels Cafe

Address: No. 145-1, Section 4, Rén'ài Rd, Daan District
Telephone: (02) 2752-1669
Hours: Mon - Sun 24 hours!
Price: $$

Perhaps you've overstayed your welcome at On Tap or maybe Luxy is closing and you really want to wait for the buses and MRT to start running again. Not because you can't afford a cab because you've blown all your money on last night's shenanigans, but because ... you know, you still look fabulous and why waste an outfit? Why waste an outfit indeed. Walk a block away, withdraw money from the nearest ATM, and head over to N.Y. Bagels Cafe (don't worry, you still look fabulous!).

N.Y.BC is a great place to buy a bagel with cream cheese and a coffee. It's not the most authentic thing out there, but it's one of the only 24 hours joints in the city (7-11, Family Mart, and McDonalds don't count). There are some things that N.Y.BC does well: bread bowl clam chowder, cheese fries, pancakes, and a blue cheese burger. I would personally vouch for almost any of their burgers. 

On this occasion, I ordered the Chipotle chicken sandwich on an onion bagel ($230 NT). The sandwiches come with your choice of bread (a roll, French bread, or your choice of bagel), fries, and unlimited refills of coffee (and maybe Coke or tea). As I turned on my computer and hooked up to the free Wi-fi, I got my cup of coffee. Black. I asked for milk and they brought me a little decanter; but three cups of coffee into my meal, I realized it wouldn't suffice. In other news, I'm slowly learning to love black coffee.

My Chipotle sandwich arrived and I was warned that it was "extra" spicy. The sandwich consisted of chicken breast, brie, chipotle sauce, string beans, lettuce, and tomato. Paired with the onion bagel, this sandwich had a slight kick to it (though I still added Tabasco). If you're walking off the effects of Luxy, this sandwich has your name all over it. If it's 1:30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, you should be sober and slightly disappointed.

I ordered this sandwich primarily for the brie and the chicken. While the chicken was a little on the skinny side, I was happy nonetheless. The brie, however, was applied to the sandwich as though Taiwan was in the midst of a brie crisis. The five, count them, FIVE string beans added a weird dynamic to the sandwich. I was interested to see how they would work with the other components and was disappointed when they didn't. Completely superfluous ingredients. Unfortunate.

The onion bagel was a redeeming factor for this sandwich. I was beginning to think I should've just ordered a bagel or two. I'll go back to N.Y.BC since I've had great experiences there in the past ... and it's close to On Tap and whatnot. As far as the Chipotle sandwich goes, I won't be ordering one of those anytime soon. The menu is in Chinese and English; the waitstaff speak both; the service charge is 10%; and the website has photos of almost every menu item. 

Kooka Coffee

Address: No. 5, Lane 57, Dàzhí St, Jhongshan District
Telephone: (02) 8509-5859
Hours: Mon - Sun 8am to 10pm
Price: $ to $$

So as I mentioned last month, I paid Kooka Coffee a brief visit. I noticed they had free Wi-fi and quite an extensive food menu, so I made a mental note to come back when I had some studying to do.

A week or so later, I took a seat at a table near the windows (and a power outlet) and ordered a glass of iced rose tea ($100 NT). Located next to Shih Chien University, the cafe attracts many students looking for a cheap cup of coffee, free Wi-fi, and a quiet place to do work. Unlike the Starbucks down the street, Kooka has a plethora of seats and rarely are all of them taken. Side note: Kooka is a reference to the Kookaburra bird. ... It's not colloquial Italian. In case you were wondering.

The rose tea arrived and was light, crisp, and flavorful. If you've never had rose tea, I highly recommend it! What miffs me a little about the tea prices in Taiwan? Restaurants are purchasing these tea packets for pennies on the dollar, then charging their patrons $100 NT for a glass. They must be making money hand over fist at this rate... still, I purchase the tea so I really only have myself to blame.

After an hour or so (during which time I discreetly refilled my tea glass with complimentary water), I ordered Kooka's special ice coffee ($120 NT) and chocolate stuffed waffles ($180 NT). Yes. That's right. Kooka sells waffles stuffed with chocolate sauce, Nutella, mochi, peanut butter, and jam and honey. Served with a side of Meiji ice cream. Lord, give me strength.

The "special" Kooka ice coffee tastes as though it's been transformed into an Irish ice coffee. I've had this feeling before with Fong Da's special ice coffee, but perhaps I'm hallucinating? It tasted like a "virgin" Irish coffee; there was a hint of liquor flavor, but it wasn't the real deal.

Now on to the glory that was the chocolate stuffed waffle! I could smell it before I could see it. Yesyesyesyes! As the barista put the plate down in front of me, I saw the waffle (bigger than I imagined) oozing chocolate. The plate was decorated with peanuts (who cares?) and delicious Meiji vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate sauce and topped with peanuts (again, who cares?!).

The waffle was hot, crispy, and not cake-like! The chocolate sauce was omnipresent. I wish I had thought to grab a spoon! That was probably a much more necessary utensil.
You felt as though you were eating solid chocolate, until you reached the edges of the waffle. Perfect ratio and marriage of chocolate and waffle. I want to try the Nutella stuffed waffle, but feel as though I should start reviewing salad places or something.

I topped off the waffle with the Meiji ice cream and was immensely pleased. There was nothing they could do to improve this dish (in a good way). I highly recommend Kooka as a cafe to visit on the northern side of the city. You feel as though you're in Portland (I'm obsessed with this neighborhood); it can be cheaper than Starbucks; there's ample seating (maybe not during finals); and if you don't like it, there are plenty of other places nearby. You'll be practicing your Chinese for sure. The menu is in English, but the waitstaff really want you to practice your 中文. Nothing wrong with that.

Lastly, Kooka is a very "do it yourself" kind of place. You need to grab your own utensils, water, and menu. And you also need to place your order with the cashier up front. The trade-off is that there's no service charge. You can check out their FB page here. They have a lot of photos of their food and detail their summertime food specials.

Donna Caffe

Address: Lane 170, Section 4, Zhōngxiào East Rd

Telephone: not provided

Hours: Mon 10am to 9pm, Tues - Fri 1pm to 11pm, Sat 10am to 12am, Sun 10am to 8pm

Price: $$

UPDATE: Donna Caffe is now closed. The Papa Gio next door bought them out and now Donna is an "overflow" restaurant. Such a shame!

Since it's Chinese New Year and a lot of places remain closed, I went to the Dunhua area (yes, again) to see what was open. Surprisingly, a familiar little cafe/bistro was open ... and packed with people. Donna Caffe is a cute European place right next to the German Town restaurant. There isn't always such a big crowd, but with only a few restaurants open during the holidays, there was a five minute wait for a table. Also, because I've reviewed this cafe before (see 'Ginjer'), I'll include pictures from both visits.

Donna Caffe has relatively simplistic and modern decor. A few paintings, an orange accent wall, and beautiful bouquets everywhere (there's even one in the restroom), make this cafe welcoming and tastefully decorated. I like Donna because it isn't gimmicky like some of the other cafes and restaurants in the area. German Town, for example, is a garish caricature of a "German" restaurant complete with cuckoo clocks, marionettes, nutcrackers, a gingerbread house, paintings of Neuschwanstein Castle, and probably the remains of the Kaiser. Donna isn't trying to sell the European atmosphere; they're just trying to sell good food.

 Bright and cheery, Donna is a good place to come for a cup of tea or coffee. Also, there's isn't a rule about outside food or drink. ... Or maybe there is and I just haven't been reprimanded yet?

 The menu is relatively light in comparison to other cafes in the area and offers sandwiches, "royal Austrian pancakes", "salty fried cakes", and desserts. Everything on the menu is reasonably priced for the area with the Buckwheat sandwich at $95 NT and the Bomb sandwich at $85 NT.

While the menu isn't really in English (there's no English explanation as to what a "Bomb" or a "Buckwheat" sandwich consists), there are some photos. Since there are only three or four different variations on an item (four types of sandwiches, three types of "salty fried cakes", seven types of Austrian pancakes), you can discern (to a certain extent), what you'll be ordering. On this occasion, I ordered lavender tea ($160 NT). And when reviewing the Ginjer cupcakes, I ordered rose tea ($160 NT).

Rose tea

Lavender tea

Firstly, the rose tea was one of the best I've ever had. The taste was light, delicate, (and dare I say?) flowery, and the rosebuds in the sachet were pretty to look at and smelled wonderfully. The lavender tea was a darker, more crisp tea with a mint aftertaste. It too, smelled powerfully of its namesake though a sachet full of lavender isn't as wonderful to behold as a sachet of roses ... just my opinion. For my meal, I chose the "Coffee Cream Brulee Royal Austrian Pancake" ($180 NT). To those of you who think I mean "creme brulee", I probably do, however that's not what the menu had printed.

While there are several variations to this dish (vanilla caramel, dark chocolate, seasonal fruits, assorted nuts) it isn't quite apparent to those either unfamiliar with Austrian pancakes or to those who cannot read Chinese what's really going on here. The title names of the dish (vanilla caramel, coffee cream brulee) refer to the thin, inner layer of the pancake (read: these are stuffed pancakes). On a plate with ice cream, some fruits, chocolate syrup, and a disconcertingly tasteless cube thing, the Austrian pancakes are actually quite delightful. Lightly dusted with powdered sugar, these pancakes are fluffy yet satisfying. At first I was a little concerned at the absence of butter or maple syrup, but quickly came to the conclusion that butter, syrup, and creme brulee filling would probably be overkill. 

The fruit portion was extremely sparse; there was only one not-really-ripe strawberry and a slice of cantaloupe. A little disappointment there. The scoop of chocolate ice cream that accompanied the pancakes was actually filled with pistachios! It was a good addition to the dish as it broke up the sweetness. Sweet, stuffed pancakes + chocolate syrup + ice cream = too much sweetness! When the ice cream melted, the pancake became this chocolate, creme brulee mash of deliciousness. The next item on the plate remains a mystery. As you can see in the photo above, the coffee colored cube looks innocuous enough. And it was. That's the weird part. It didn't really taste of anything, though perhaps there was a slight coffee flavor? Whatever it was, it was frozen prior to being served as it suffered from freezer burn. Also, it was gelatinous. Nothing wrong with that, but a tasteless, vaguely gelatinous, colorless cube concerns me. Not quite sure why.

As previously mentioned, there are bouquets of white lilies, carnations, roses, and azaleas throughout the cafe. It is especially pleasant when you walk around to the dessert case, the restroom, the wine cabinet and suddenly catch a whiff of a well-placed bouquet. 

The desserts are modestly priced. The passion fruit mousse, strawberry mousse, chocolate cake, Boston cream pie, tiramisu, and mango belige cake are all $80 NT, while the handmade cookies are around $25 or $55 NT. I can't review any of the desserts unfortunately, but since there's a dessert set menu, I may go back with this in mind. In addition, I've never had the wine, nor do I know how much it costs. Such a useless reviewer!

Donna Caffe has a wonderful staff, fluent in several languages. Pick one, four at most. And though there's a 10% service charge, somehow my bill doesn't add up. I ordered the coffee cream brulee pancake ($180 NT) and the lavender tea ($160 NT) which should come to $340 NT without the 10%. I was charged $290, then $29 was added for the service fee and I owed $319 NT. I'm not complaining but I am a little perplexed. Maybe the pancakes come with a pot of tea? 

Though Donna Caffe does not currently have a website, you can visit their Facebook page for better directions.