Travel | Taipei: Udon, Maokong and Cafes

Sanuki Udon (土三寒六)

We'd been curious about the quality of Japanese food in Taiwan because of their historic ties with Japan, so we made sure we made a visit to at least one Japanese restaurant when we were there.

Udon noodles are handmade on site, if my understanding of Chinese is correct.

Maokong

We're not big on sight seeing, so Maokong was not a place anyone particularly wanted to visit, were it not for the lure of cute Hello Kitty themed cable cars ('mao' in chinese means cat, hence the Hello Kitty Theme). We're a sucker for cute things!

Taipei has these awesome public rental bikes everywhere- if only I had a bit more time, I'd definitely have a go cycling around!

Anyway, Maokong is situated on a mountain and is known for its tea houses. You can get up there either by bus or on the Hello Kitty themed cable cars, which are an attraction in itself. They're a half an hour ride up with plenty of nice scenery on the way, and a couple of stops for those who are a little more adventurous- and all for a ridiculously cheap price (~$2AUD).

We've decided to try out one of the tea houses, but we're side tracked by the little food market just next to the station. There's street food just about everywhere in Taipei.

And it's like the night markets all over again!

There's just about every night market staple in this little cluster of food stalls.

Including our all time favourite- Taiwanese sausages!

We've had our Taiwanese sausages multiple times in the afternoon and at night, so it's about time we start the day with a sausage!

It's easy to navigate around, with basically one long windy road along the mountain, with tea houses scattered along.

Somebody Cafe

Coffee Jelly 

Top Coffee House (上上咖啡)

We'd been wandering around trying look for breakfast, but there isn't much open during the morning so we kept walking and walking until we walked past this very vintage looking cafe and decided it'd be something different to try!

The cafe certainly has an interesting vibe, with 70s decor complete with checkered tablecloths, vintage lamps and all that. They seem to be quite serious about their coffee, with an array of coffee making equipment operated by a dedicated coffee master.

The drinks menu included on option which I was pretty sure said ice-cream but surely no-one would order ice-cream for breakfast right? Curiosity got the better of me, so I ordered it, half expecting a milkshake or something similar only to actually receive an two small scoops of ice cream with my meal!