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.

Big Tom

Address: 2F., No. 233-2, Zhongzheng Road, Danshui

Telephone: (02) 2626-1622

Hours: ?

Price: $

  So over the holiday I wanted to get out of the city a little bit. I went to Danshui (not too far out there on the red line) and ate at one of my favorite cafes. Danshui is known for its delicious street food and there's a lot of fantastic cuisine around every bend. When you've had your share of chòu dòufu and want to sit somewhere to take it all in, I recommend Big Tom's cafe.

What Big Tom lacks in number, it makes up for in location. There aren't many of these cafes around the island, but what little there are are in high traffic locations i.e. Taipei 101 observatory, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. The one in Danshui is a cozy little affair that occupies the second and third story of a building right on the waterfront. The view is absolutely breath-taking at sunset and it's a good opportunity to snag some scenery photos.

The day I went to Danshui happened to be a little chilly and overcast, so I decided to order a hot brown sugar caramel latte ($85 NT) and a fresh waffle with maple syrup ($90 NT). The latte came first and was topped off with the customary foam. On top of the foam was a thin layer of brown sugar. Absolutely divine! I liked that the brown sugar wasn't just dumped into the latte. You had the option of stirring it in or waiting for it to dissolve, thereby controlling the sweetness of the latte (a little).

I tend to forget that there are some places in the world that take the word "latte" seriously. In Italian the word "latte" means "milk", so if you order a latte in Italy you will not be getting a cup of coffee with milk. At Big Tom, a brown sugar caramel latte is essentially a shot of espresso with a lot of steamed milk and foam. Regardless of its coffee to milk ratio, the drink is delicious and I definitely wasn't disappointed!

The waffle, piping hot and dusted with chocolate powder, arrived shortly after my latte. Let it be known that this cafe has the best service of almost any cafe I've been to in Taipei. The servers are friendly, quick, and have a good attention to detail. I've never been kept waiting more than a couple minutes for anything at any time of day.

 The waffle didn't come with butter, but there was a small dollop of whipped cream on the side (and an edible, chocolate "Big Tom Ice Cream" wafer). The waffle is typical of Taiwanese waffles. It has a cake-like consistency and isn't as fluffy or light as an American style waffle. This being said, I enjoyed my afternoon tea meal. It was the perfect thing to combat a cold, grey day. I wish it had been a little warmer and then I would've been in the mood to sample some of their ice cream flavors!

Big Tom offers a variety of flavors like cookies and cream, marionberry cheesecake, Oregon wild strawberry, banana walnut, and green tea. Two scoops (in a waffle bowl, I believe?) are $198 NT, and pints are $320 NT. They also sell floats, sundaes, bagels, and ice cream making classes (subject to location). 

The staff is fabulous and the menu is in English and Chinese. I've never had to use the restroom in this location and, that being said, I'm not sure where they would have room to put one. This is going to be my last post for the next week as I have quite the work week in front of me! If you want to know more about Big Tom, check out their website.