Showing posts with label cute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cute. Show all posts

Friday, January 22, 2016

japanese/hotpot: i recommend HELLO KITTY SHABU




HELLO KITTY SHABU SHABU
No. 17, Alley 27, Lane 216, ZhongXiao E.   Rd, Sec. 4
台北市大安區忠孝東路四段216巷27弄17號

MRT: Zhongxiao/ Dunhua

website: Hello Kitty Shabu FB page

hours: 11:30AM - 10PM

$$ (about NT$500-700 per person)

Kid friendliness: booster seats available

Visit reviewed: 2/20/2016


Before my childhood friend Jenny even got to Taipei, she messaged me from LA, "Can we go to Hello Kitty Shabu?" And being the good host, friend and curious food blogger, I said, "Of course!" A reservation and few days later, we found ourselves wandering the alleys near Zhongxiao near Lane 216 looking for it.


Once you get closer, the glow of Hello Kitty's face beckons and a lifesized Hello Kitty greets you at the door, ready for selfies (also in that alley, NCIS Sushi, Hoshina udon and a new branch of dessert spot Monteur Cafe).




The inside decor seems to be casual Japanese, with lots of small tables for individual hotpot and a side area with tatami-style, lower seating for bigger groups. 



Reservations at Hello Kitty Shabu Shabu are limited to one and half hours, and when we arrived at 5:17pm, we were a little late. In Taipei, busy restaurants will usually tell you, you have a ten minute grace period before you potentially lose your table, i.e. If people are waiting there. Sometimes the restaurant will call you, or if you call them sometimes they'll be nice enough to hold it for you. I didn't call and they didn't call us, so when we told them our reservation was for 5pm, the girl told us we were late and it seemed like she was going to tell us we lost the table. But since the restaurant wasn't full and there weren't people in line, I emphasized that my friend had flown all the way from LA to eat Hello Kitty hotpot, and after some discussion between her and another server, they directed us to a small table in the back. 

Tables for four are divided with a removable divider, which is smart for the restaurant but crowded for us. Even though no one sat next to us, you can see there isn't a lot of space, so you have to do some Tetris-like maneuvering to make everything fit with your hotpot, once your veggies, meat and steamed egg comes. 





Hello Kitty Shabu offers individual yuan yang hotspots, so you pick two broths out of four choices- regular kombu, pork bone broth, tomato or Mala. Then you choose your meat- there's three kinds of beef or pork available or chicken or seafood. Then you pick noodles or Hello Kitty shaped rice. Everyone gets their own veggies and fish cakes, and additional hello kitty-fied fish cakes are available to add on. 



There's also fried shrimp, chicken and croquettes to order on the side, and a colorful drink menu. 



Once you've ordered, let the photo ops begin!! (Haha the only reason you're here right?) The servers asked us if we were done taking photos before whisking away the bow adorned wooden lids.



Complimentary pre-meal amuse bouche- I think it was konjac- but I found it inedible and tasteless.. 


I ended up choosing the pork broth and tomato. Next time I would skip tomato (it intensified when cooking) and choose the plainer kombu or go for spicy Mala. 


Additional fish cakes we added filled with mentaiko. You can also pick cheese filled. (NT$160 for 2)


The vegetables are quite bountiful- with chinese cabbage, cabbage, various mushrooms, corn, one piece of pumpkin, broccoli, taro and some tofu skin and fish cake.. And then topped with a Hello Kitty thing-- we think it was some sort of tofu soy thing with the HK face burned in, which actually gave it a smoky burned flavor that was kind of unpleasant. But oh, it makes for a cute photo. Lol. 


See how we barely managed to fit everything on the table, and it fits just so. I got the beef (NT$550) which wasn't as tender as the short rib (NT$650).


I loved this little apple bowl and cover with the spoon. I would maybe buy a set if they sold them there. The steamed egg inside was decent too. 




Of course most of you know how Shabu works, but in case you don't, you basically cook the meats and veggies in the hotpot until it's to your liking. You can dip in the sesame or soy sauce, but pork broth was actually quite flavorful already. 



Lots of chopped veggies at the bottom of the large bowl. Sometimes restaurants cheat and it's actually empty or raised inside, but I was pleasantly surprised to find plenty. 


Cooking and eating.. As for the mysterious Hello Kitty faced tofu, it was a spongy, mysterious bite and tasted a bit burnt from what I'm guessing is the char from imprinting the face onto the tofu. I took one bite and wasn't sure if I wanted to take another. 


Dessert at the end included in the set are a few bite sized, brown sugar mochi..


All in all, it wasn't a bad meal as shabu spots go. Would I recommend it? Sure, I'd come back with other Hello Kitty loving friends- I like how they give you a lot of veggies, broth options and steamed egg on the side. And if you're a Hello Kitty fan, then you kind of have to experience it for yourself. It's not as bling and overly cute like Hello Kitty Sweets (now Hello Kitty Kitchen) so now Hello Kitty fans have two places to choose from, three if you count Hello Kitty Bubble, four, if you count the Hello Kitty food souvenir shop next to Ice Monster I have to write up. I was surprised to see an older couple next to us eating (and chilling) who didn't appear to be Kitty fans, but maybe they just liked the food. Also there were empty seats in the restaurant during our hour and half so maybe they save spots for walk ins. It will be interesting to see if Hello Kitty Shabu becomes popular- on one hand, Taiwanese people love hotpot, especially in the winter time. On the other hand, because they loved hotpot, the hotpot game in Taipei is fierce- there's super cheap version and fancy, luxe versions, spicy mala, all you can eat, vegetarian only, herbal broth, the list goes on and on, and now, you can add Hello Kitty Shabu to it. 

Monday, May 18, 2015

dessert/taipei food trend: GLAM AIR



GLAM AIR
at Xinyi Mitsukoshi A11
No. 11, Songshou Road
(02) 8780-2334

MRT: Taipei City Hall or Taipei 101

website: Glam Air's FB page $

Kid friendliness: kids will definitely want one.

Visit reviewed: 4/29/2015



Google "cotton candy ice cream" and spheres of sky blue and glowing pink swirled scoops of ice cream show up. (Personally, as a kid, I was more partial to rainbow sherbet kid rather than the sickly sweet cotton candy ice cream, but that's another story)

The first time I ever had actual clouds of cotton candy stacked on top of ice cream was at Coffee Alley in 2011, where it was more of an interactive experience. A small pitcher of espresso is served to pour on top of the cotton candy so that it melted into a caramel coffee sauce over three scoops of vanilla ice cream. I've since spied imitations at a cafe in LA that opened a few years ago.

Then I spotted wisps of cotton candy on soft serve at Honey Creme, which was more known for their honey comb ice cream.

Glam Air takes it one step further, by making the cotton candy into literal eye-candy. Sugar rainbows are molded and stacked high like Taipei 101 and dry ice is added so that each cup has its own special effects of fog drifting out, its own "Glam Air". The visual result is hypnotizing- you can't help but to feel like a kid again,  those times that your parents agreed to buy you cotton candy. The concept is so simple it's brilliant- cashing in on those kid at heart fantasies for NT$150 a cup. 

Glam Air also has soft serve without the cotton candy (NT$110-140)- plain, with caramel, honey, honey comb, chocolate or with fish taiyaki instead of a cone, or as a float with bright hued sodas or shake.  



Everyone taking selfies with their cotton candy ice cream (and not eating it. Lol)


It's amazing to see how crowded it usually is, even on weekday afternoons, especially in comparison to other ice cream shops in the Mitsukoshi malls. One news clip on Glam Air's Facebook page reported a 40 minute wait on weekends. There's a liquid nitrogen ice cream shop in a different building that had no buzz going on. The thing with liquid nitrogen ice cream is that it looks cool when it's being made, but the end result looks just like regular ice cream- while Glam Air's final result is purposely eye catching.


Each Smokie Cloud is made to order. The three tiers of cotton candy tower are made from freshly spun puffs of sugar then molded into doughnut rings to fit around the soft serve. When it's done, a small scoop of dry ice is put in a larger cup and then the smaller cup of soft serve is placed inside and served.







I know by posting this, I'm perpetuating the hype, but dang it if it isn't pretty. It's only a matter of time we see a copycat in the states. I know some of you will go and get one just for the photo ops and it won't even matter how it tastes! Isn't that crazy? Thanks Kirbie's Cravings for the excuse to finally try one during our Xinyi dessert crawl.

Glam Air is one of those businesses that succeeds in the age of social media- you see it online, you try it once for your own post/selfie, but unfortunately it doesn't taste very good.  It's much prettier than it tastes. The cotton candy tasted like cotton candy and I found the soft serve overly sweet, but in the end, most people won't care. We'll have gotten our sugar high and photos and Instagram likes and endorphins from the rainbow hued memories of being a kid again.


Saturday, March 09, 2013

snapshot/dessert: HELLO KITTY at CLOUDY CUPCAKE



CLOUDY CUPCAKE 克勞蒂杯子蛋糕 
at Eslite Xinyi B2 誠品百貨信義店
No. 11, SongGao Road
台北市信義區松高路11號
(02)2722-2586

MRT: Taipei City Hall


Hello Kitty kind of gets around. I've been seeing her face everywhere and on everything. Taipei (and the world) is obsessed with Hello Kitty. We used to spend money on Sanrio stationary and pens and bags, but now it's moved onto Hello Kitty hamburgers, cupcakes and honey toast.

You can spot her lovers posing for a picture in front of the homebase Hello Kitty restaurant- Hello Kitty Sweets- any given day of the week.  I often spy her at 7-11, making me buy stuff to collect trinkets or stamps or magnets or whatnot, and now strawberry stuff. Dazzling Cafe also has been featuring Hello Kitty honey toast and desserts the past few months for a limited time (until March 11th, I believe).


from Dazzling Cafe's FB page

And now Cloudy Cupcakes has also been getting in the Sanrio action with the big red bow and some white chocolate candy faces. What is about the cuteness that makes us squeal and open our wallets? I didn't try them (since I've heard multiple meh reviews about their pricey little cupcakes), but I admit I was tempted. Don't know how long the cuteness will last at Cloudy, but had to share.



OTHER LOCATIONS

QSquare B3
No. 1 ChengDe Road B3
中正區承德路一段1號京站店B3
(02) 2552-5719


Thursday, December 27, 2012

mall/chinese: i still strongly recommend TAIPEI 101



Happy holidays from Taipei! 

If you haven't been to Taipei 101 food court recently you might be surprised to find a sleeker, glossier version since a remodel a few months ago. I definitely was- all the signage has been streamlined and made shiny, there's glassware chandeliers hanging above the new black and gold seating. 


i was so surprised to see the revamp
There's a few new Japanese restaurants with its own seating in the corner near KFC where the pho and Indian place used to be. Things have been moved around a little, including the do hua shop Xiao Nan Men to the back and the addition of a new Hi Sushi and Baskin Robbins and Laetitia. Subway is gone. I guess it's appropriate as 2013 is almost here- out with the old, in with the new.

i thought my fave taiwanese dessert was gone, but it's just relocated in the back

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year. With all the craziness happiening recently and even though it might not feel like Christmas in Taipei, use the holidays to connect with those you care about, spread a little holiday cheer and kindness, hug your loved ones and yes, treat yourself to some good food.


i love that even Din Tai Fung is getting in on the holiday spirit, making its xiao long bao mascot even cuter.











:)