Taipei: 統一阪急百貨 Uni-Hankyu Department Store - Day 2

After GuangHua, we rested a bit and had a chance to catch up with each other, I wanted to check out the new 統一阪急百貨 Uni-Hankyu Department Store near Taipei 101. It just opened recently and created quite a buzz in Taiwan because of the Japanese brand, UNIQLO. UNIQLO is extremely popular around the world, with stores in Japan, UK, China, Hong Kong, US (SoHo in NY), and now Taiwan, excelling in designing clothing with a Japanese minimalistic approach, lowering price yet reaching a certain level of quality Japanese consumers are accustomed to. People even call it the Gap of Japan, but IMO the quality is much better. It has created a sort of cult following with it's genius marketing. The man who started Uniqlo is also the richest man in Japan, which is quite an achievement.

Nevertheless, new department store also means that's a new foodcourt in the area. Every time a new department store opens, the quality of these foodcourt just gets better and better, so needless to say I was excited.

統一阪急百貨 Uni-Hankyu Department Store

台北市忠孝東路五段8號

ZhongXiao E. Road, Sec 5, No 8

Taipei City, Taiwan

MRT Station: Taipei City Hall

www.uni-hankyu.com.tw

First thing I saw when I got to level B2 where the food court is at, Momi & Toy's Crepe. Kind of a weird name for a crepe place... but there was a loooooong line for it so I decided I can wait until next time. BTW, Taiwanese people love lines, and they can line up for anything.

Saw Laetitia Pastry as well. If you like Beard Papa's, then I have a feeling you'll like Laetita as well, if not more.

Mountain of unfilled puffs.

...

I just want to plunge my whole face into it.

There's also a Mister Donut! Mister Donut is a big donut chain from Japan. Of course, it's different from your typical donuts here in US. Donuts have a texture that's more like bread, that's more fit for the taste of Asians.

Glorious selection. They were running a "Green Tea Festival" for October. Calvin and I both got one to munch on. Each is about $30-40NT (roughly $1 US).

As we were trying to find a place to sit... I saw 翰林 HanLin Tea!!! So what's HanLin? Well, damn it's where the whole milk tea + boba revolution originated from! The main store is actually located in Tainan, Taiwan so I never got a chance to visit it but they've been slowly opening up branches throughout Taiwan. You can call it my milk tea mecca haha. It's my first time seeing one so I was really excited and was determined to get a drink from here even though I already had 2 that afternoon haha.

Ended up getting a Milk Tea with Small Tapioca, rather than boba since they sold out of boba. Boo. But still, I was amazed at how chewy the white tapioca pearls are! At most places, they are either squishy or just soft. And the milk tea... was so damn good. Perfect amount of dairy and you can still taste the tea. Kinda expensive though... I think it was $40 or $50 for a small like that...

Donut and milk tea. What a perfect pairing :]

Green Tea Donut.

Matcha Donut. Shaped like an old-fashioned but no spices added here.

Chewy donut, with a hint of matcha tea throughout.

There's a bunch of options in the foodcourt such as Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, American etc. Price is a little higher in here but certainly is convenient to be all in one location. I can see it getting packed during lunch or after work so it's practically right next to the MRT station.

After eating the donuts and finishing up the milk tea, we had to walk around again just to help digest cause we were so full. After window shopped at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi 新光三越 for a bit, we decided to meet up with one of Calvin's friend at Gordon Biersch in Shin Kong for dinner.

Gordon Biersch

台北市信義區松壽路11號2樓

(新光三越信義新天地A11館2樓)

Songshou Rd., 2F, No.11, Xinyi District

Taipei City, Taiwan

Beer time! Decided on the Marzen. Beer is awesome.

Garlic fries. This was all I could eat for dinner since I was too full. Beer might've remained the same but the garlic fries is a little different. It's not as oily as fries served in US's Gordon Biersch and the garlic flavor isn't as pronounced. Still good though!

Short rib. Only had a small bite but it was really tender.

Wasn't a big fan of the salmon. The sauce was a little bland for me.

I would probably order a burger or sandwich here next time... or just drink beer. Lots of delicious beer.