Taiwan Trip - Part I

I have been in Taiwan for a week now but have not had time until now to really sit down and organize pictures and start writing my first trip post. I've been eating pretty much non-stop since I landed :P I can't help it, there's just too much good vegetarian food in Taiwan.

There's going to be quite a few blurry pictures from my trip since cellphone is still the easiest way for me to take pictures without drawing too much attention. I'm pretty shy :P I just want to apologize for them in advance and also some of the translations on food names. Translated names are always confusing and more than one way to say it. Let me know if you would like to know where a restaurant is or what the name of the food is in Chinese.

YVR - left van at midnight on EVA airways




TPE - arrived in Taipei at five in the morning

Simply Thai

Friend who works in Yaletown recently discovered this new Thai place by his work and he would not stop talking about having it too often, which made me craved for Thai really bad. I even googled up Thai restaurants downtown and to my surprise, there aren't that many and I've been to almost all of them already. So finally I said we'll be having Thai food for lunch and that's that.

Sitar

It's funny how it's always so difficult to pick a place for lunch at work. Even if everyone's easy on what to eat, it is still a challenge everyday. This day is pretty much like any other one, we tried picking a place to eat on our way to meet up with a friend at Gastown and we managed to agree to go for Indian food at Sitar.

Goldies

Last minute decision to join another group of coworkers for lunch, all I heard was 'pizza, let's go' and we were off. The whole time walking there on Pender Street I was thinking that we were going to go to one of the cheap pizza places for a quick bite. After we passed by a couple of them, I started to wonder where we were heading, then we stopped in front of Goldies.

Nuba (Hastings)

If I recall correctly, Nuba was on the other side of Hastings Street when it first started. I remember going there a few times maybe a couple years ago. This time, when I was about to head back to where it was, my friends stopped me and said, "Where are you going? It's right in front of you. Sure you've been there before?"

So this is where it is.
It's down in the basement.

Pearl Castle (Richmond Centre)

It was another girls' day out. We decided on having lunch at Richmond Center's Pearl Castle.

Hon's Wun Tun House (Robson)

It's been a while since I last visited Hon's on Robson Street.

Ricky's (Dunsmuir)

I don't remember how we decided on having Ricky's for lunch that day, but it is just right across the street from my work, on Beatty Street and Dunsmuir Street.

Well Tea Downtown

I've been going to Well Tea for lunch for quite a few times already, I just haven't had the time to write about it yet. Located next to BCIT downtown campus, this is the Well Tea downtown location.

Kamei Royale

Last time I was here at Kamei Royale, it was still under renovation. It's good to be back and see how nice it has become :)

East Fusion Food

My first time back eating at Tinseltown since I started working. I remember there used to be a Chinese fusion restaurant upstairs called Wild Ginger. I'm not sure when it was closed but we used to go there all the time for goodbye lunches as there always seemed to be someone leaving the company every week. The food was not too bad and it was really cheap but we eventually had to stop going because people got tired of the food there. So when I got back, they told me Wild Ginger is no longer there but there's a new on the ground level called East Fusion Food. My friend who just started working in Gastown wanted to meet up for lunch so we decided to just go there for a try.

A show or movie was filming inside Tinseltown that day. The Christmas set was amazing. When I walked in I thought they were doing the Christmas decoration already.

Veggie Tacoyaki - 1st try

My tacoyaki pan arrived a couple weeks ago. I wanted to test it out as soon as I had time to put my hands on it. XD

Tacoyaki Pan.


Brush and Pick

Atithi

The online group coupons have become very popular recently. I got a WagJag deal for Atithi a while ago, 10 dollars for 20 dollars. To dine-in, it's only valid from Sunday to Thursday but it's good for pick up seven days a week, so I decided to just get a pick up.

Sushi California

The original plan was meeting up with some old friends that we haven't seen for a few years at the bowling alley. But when we got there, we were only to find out that the place was booked out for a private event. Good thing the weather was nice and we quickly decided we should all just go to Deer Lake for a nice walk.

Acme Cafe

Took a nice walk through woodwards building during lunch break. My first time here since the area has changed. I actually saw quite a few reviews about Acme Cafe, that's how I know about the place.

Indian Gate

I've been back to work since Wednesday. Working is definitely taking some time to get used to again but this also means I will get to try out more places downtown, if work doesn't get too crazy >.<

It's really great to see a lot of old faces and getting to know new ones :) A few of us went for lunch as an old coworker coming back soon dropped by. We didn't really know where to go at first then we finally decided to go for Indian food.

Cactus Club Cafe (on Robson street)

So I take it that most people already know that Cactus Club Cafe has changed a lot, not only with their new menu by Canada's only Iron Chef Rob Feenies, or their restaurant design and atmosphere, but also all the friendly hot hostesses and waitresses. Although my friend said they've always had cute waitresses, I'm not too sure, at least I notice it a lot more now than before.

4 Stones Vegetarian Cuisine

4 Stones is always packed with people at meal times, I can't remember if it was late lunch or early dinner when we decided to go, but we were very glad we did not have to wait for a table and also that their parking spots were actually available. The restaurant is located in a small plaza where they only have two customer parking spots and they are always taken.