Miss Delicious #96 : Exploring the not so conventional food offerings of Ximending, Taipei!

Dear Steemit Friends:

I can't wait to share with you today an exploration of some of the many exciting restaurants of Ximending, in the heart of Taipei in Taiwan. Last time we explored the sights and shops of the area so now this time we venture inside the many different food retailers to do one of my favourite activities - eating!

The diversity of food found in Ximending is huge and you'd never have enough time in your entire life to try all of the different restaurants and food stalls that it has to offer. Frequented mostly by the younger generation of Taipei the area is well renowned for being cutting edge, fashionable and a great place to hang out.

Having Afternoon tea— in Machi Doggie

Machi Doggie is a fashion shop and cafe owned by the famous Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou, a long with his wife Hannah Quinlivan. The whole place is themed around Hannah's pet dog, a Pomeranian who is called Machi!

You can see Machi's little face features both on the clothing shop and on the cafe. The design is absolutely adorable and I do really love Pomeranian dogs so I just had to go and check it out.

I had already shopped myself silly around Ximending so I decided to mostly skip the clothing range and fashion store in favour of a nice sit down afternoon tea in the coffee shop.

The place was really busy, especially for an afternoon, with dozens of local young people taking their time to relax and enjoy each others company in this most cool of surroundings. The style is absolutely amazing, with big glowing lights everywhere. From SMILE signs, to hearts, to the important Machi, everything was lit up and the atmosphere was buzzing.

There's clearly a lot of inspiration here from America with signs for Route 66 and old fashioned American signs and cars scattered above the open kitchen. You know that I always love this kitchen set up - it feels so special to be able to see the chef's at work and appreciate a well run kitchen, while your food is being prepared.

Some more of the signs spread around the establishment

Having a quick peek inside the clothing store before sitting down for afternoon tea

I absolutely love Machi, I wish that I could have met him at the shop! But I imagine he is too busy jet setting around the world with Hannah and Jay. Jay Chou is famous for his music, singing, record producing, acting and directing. His first album was released in 2000 and was a massive hit. He is now a household name thorough much of Asia and has sold more than 30 million albums! He was even on the cover of Asia's TIME magazine being called the New King of Asian Pop.

He has since launched an extremely successful movie career, even breaking into the western movie market with his co-starring role in Now You See Me 2, alongside Mr. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) himself back in 2016. He also starred in The Green Hornet, a movie that was hugely successful world wide, playing the character of Kato, a role made famous by Bruce Lee in the TV series!

Clean cut minimalist lines mixed with industrial chic add to the style of the service counter

SMILEEEE!

I was very excited to eat here at Machi Doggie because the food and drinks are also themed around Machi! I love dogs and now I get to have cute dog shaped food too! Perhaps that's a bit weird actually but it was all so cute - you'll see!

Look at all this amazing Machi themed food and drink. The coffee mugs are shaped in a Pomeranian shape, the little marshmallows have faces, and the coffee art does too! On top of all of that, you can get Machi shaped waffles and other food too. Needless to say, I was in heaven - good food, cute dogs and beautiful modern arty-ness keeps me very happy,

mmmmmm, machiiiiiii

They also have some crazy drinks on the menu, from Butterly Pea Juice with Lychee to Cotton Candy Soda. These are all served with an interesting modern twist - mine came in a lightbulb! Though probably not a real lightbulb. It felt like a bit of a magicians laboratory actually.

Enjoying my Machi waffle on a stick

Bye Machi! I had a wonderful afternoon tea, one that was truly unique. Jay Chou and Hannah Quinlivan have created something really special in this cafe, and their design influence and passion for art, modern culture and of course, the Pomeranian Machi, really make this place a cool place to hang out.

The 'Modern Toilet' restaurant... you'll have to see to believe

OK next stop, the Modern Toilet restaurant for dinner. Now... I'm going to have to let the pictures do a lot of the talking on this one. You'll see soon what I mean. But first, a little history...

Modern Toilet was first established in 2004 after the idea came about to have a toilet themed restaurant. It was a bit of a joke at first, but the idea seemed too funny not to try! The first restaurants served chocolate ice cream in toilet shaped cones and it caused such a stir and became so popular that there are now three different restaurants, all serving a variety of different foods.

The theme of the restaurants are in the name - toilets. Most of the foods are served in a toilet and even the seating in the restaurants are toilets, with crazy toilet seats to sit on! Could I really not visit such a crazy place? Of course not, so enjoy with me now - Modern Toilet.

Not quite sure what to expect before entering the restaurant

OK I expected toilets, but I didn't expect this many toilets. Each seat was a toilet, the lighting was in... certain shapes, the tables had wash basins in them and even the art on the walls was more... shapes.

They even had toilet piping painted in different colours as lighting

As you can see from the art behind me, toilets can of course be used for many different things and in many different ways. I don't know what I expected but every single inch of the restaurant had a toilet theme. I was getting a bit nervous for my food actually!

Pull up a toilet and have some food

What would a themed restaurant be without some merchandise? Everything from little edible chocolate toilets to cushions in the shape of... I didn't think you could make so much stuff related to toilets!

Even the windows were in the shape of...

At least they had real toilets too! Though I imagine they'd be quite hard to find because of all of the other toilet signs - which one do you follow to the real toilets! Also check out this gold bling toilet - so crazy.

When the food came... well I don't know what I was expecting really. It was served in a nearly full sized toilet bowl! This was the Modern Toilet Chicken Curry and I have to say it was absolutely amazing. I can understand trying to bring in customers with a gimmick, but I really felt that Modern Toilet backed up their gimmick with genuinely nice food. I suppose you can imagine that this experience was extremely weird, however.

I... erm...

Thai Tom Yum Hot Pot beef

Thai Tom Yum Hot Pot beef

Korean Kimchi Hot Pot Beef and more themed stuff

Luckily the side dishes weren't served in toilets as well. I don't think there would have been enough space on the table! It must have been extremely strange for the waiters to be serving in this environment all day.

This is the dish that made Modern Toilet famous - the classic chocolate ice cream in a toilet. The attention to detail on shape was almost too much for me, especially how they'd managed to make it shiny. As much as I'm posing for the photo here, I was quite weirded out by this point! I did eat the icecream, which was some of the best chocolate icecream I've ever had, but I think that's probably enough of the toilet restaurant for now!

Meat Warehouse, Korean BBQ with an English Tea Time Twist

Time for something a little more serious I think! Next stop on my exploration of Ximending's restaurant scene was Korean BBQ Meat Warehouse which I had heard amazing reviews of. Also Korean BBQ is one of my favourite styles of food so I was really excited.

One of the unique features of Korean BBQ is that the dishes are usually prepared on grills that are built straight into the table itself or on portable stoves that are used at the table. Sometimes you might sit in front of the chef and he will char grill the meat in front of you! At Meat Warehouse it was the first kind, with the grill built straight into the table as you can see here.

Korean BBQ is most famous for its meats. In Korea, this style of eating is called gogi-gui which means, "meat roast". There are usually many different types of meats to choose from, including the obvious beef, pork or chicken. They come in varieties, some beautifully marinated and some left simply prepared so you can enjoy their simple traditional flavours.

Meat Warehouse makes a fun little twist on the Korean BBQ concept by serving the food as if you were out for an English Afternoon Tea. I could almost imagine little finger sandwiches stacked up on the plates and perhaps some scones!

Once you've received your selection of meats and vegetables, then it's time to get grilling! Simply place the meat you want to eat on the hot charcoal in front of you and start to char grill that tasty meat. You can cook it to whatever level you want and it's always a great sharing experience. It feels very enjoyable to sit around the able with friends, sharing the grill, and taking your time over your food, to cook and talk.

This was one of the most beautiful Korean BBQ restaurants that I have been to, and I think the little English Afternoon Tea twist was a lovely touch. The side dishes were also amazing and the variety of different foods, from sea food to marinated meats was really delicious.

A final meal in Universal Tonkotsu Ramen Nagi

Universal Tonkotsu Ramen Nagi is famous in Tokyo, Japan and Taiwan for serving the most amazing ramen. First opened in 2004 in Tokyo, the restaurant has now expanded with seven locations in Tokyo and five in Taiwan. They've won awards for their ramen, being voted best ramen and Tokyo Ramen of the Year - so I had to go get me some.

Ramen is a Japanese noodle soup that usually has meat or fish based broth, with noodles and various toppings such as meats, seaweed, onions and egg. It has become famous around the world for its taste and frequent appearances in anime making it a world wide staple.

One of the really unique things about Universal Tonkotsu Ramen Nagi is the ability to customise. You can choose from the menu which soup base you want as well as loads of other customisation so you can get the ramen that YOU want.

Bright, bold and quite traditional, Universal Tonkotsu Ramen Nagi is a great place to eat and not just for the food. A really lovely atmosphere where you can socialise with friends and enjoy some of the best ramen that the world has to offer.

The chefs cook so fast. You submit your order by circling the different options you want from the menu, with the broth, meat options and other extras, and then watch them assemble it in front of your eyes. A really easy and quick dish if you're on the run because the cooking time is so short. I got the best seat in the house (I thought) because I got to watch the skilled chefs cooking up a storm and serving the dozens of hungry customers.

In the top left you can see an example of the menu that you choose from

It's been a while since I did a Miss Delicious blog and it was a real treat to be able to share such a diverse range of different eateries with you. I had a great time at the first two themed cafes, enjoying both the food and the design. What did you think of Machi Doggie and Modern Toilet? Do you like themed restaurants or would you prefer a more traditional experience? I must know what you thought about the design of Modern Toilet...

Could I choose a favourite out of the four restaurants we visited today? Probably not because they were all so different, though I do really love Korean BBQ so perhaps Korean BBQ Meat Warehouse takes my vote! Do you have a preference between Korean BBQ and ramen? Both such favourites - I wonder which would win?

If you've enjoyed the blog today, and want to see more from me, then make sure you hit that follow button. I always appreciate an upvote, of course, and I love to chat with you all in the comments, especially when I've been away and busy for a while - it will be nice to catch up with all of you!

Check out my video of the food tour!

上一篇文章带大家去体验了丰富多彩的西门町生活，这一篇我迫不及待想要和大家分享一下西门町的美食啦。对我来说，一段美妙的旅程总是和美食分不开的，品味美食是旅行的一大乐趣，当然要想深入了解当地的风俗文化，就要去体验当地人最喜爱最亲民的食物啦。西门町绝对是创意美食的聚集地，一筷子下去你绝对想不到下一口是什么滋味，那种莫大的惊喜感给我带来极大的享受，有机会我真的想把这里的新鲜美味一一尝个遍呢。

今天我们就一起去开启寻觅西门町创意美食的旅程，体验一把新生代年轻人的美食生活。Machi Doggie，听到这样小可爱的名字，就想到了每个人家里可能都有只萌萌的小宠物啦，名字确实让人好感倍增，而这家店更因为是由天王周杰伦和昆凌夫妇开的，变得星光闪闪。当然这对明星夫妇的小宠物就是这只人见人爱的博美犬Machi啦，你看Machi胖嘟嘟的白色小脸，作为餐厅的招牌Logo，在夜空中闪闪发光。

这家创意餐厅由潮牌店和咖啡厅组成，作为一代天王巨星，音乐奇才周董开的潮牌咖啡店，再结合上萌宠这样讨人欢喜的概念，我当然是无比期待想去一探究竟。整个咖啡店几乎座无虚席，各色的潮男潮女，非常养眼，仔细一看，还有带着宠物狗狗一起喝咖啡的，看来真是映衬了咖啡店的主题呢。咖啡店的气氛非常好，运用了当下最流行的工厂风格，随处散发着周式情歌里的轻松、幽默和浪漫，非常吸引眼球的是墙壁上这些霓虹灯牌，为这间咖啡店增添了独一无二的美学艺术特色。还有热气球，冰激淋，爱心的闪亮灯牌，就连可爱的Machi也被做成五光十色的灯牌，装点在复古的红砖墙上，非常的时尚摩登。另一侧的投影幕布上还播着《罗马假日》这样的经典影片，把怀旧风情和新潮时尚神秘结合，真的是个特别的创意。

这里的食物真的超级可爱，3D立体的咖啡猫咪拉花新奇的让我挪不开眼，上面的立体猫咪竟然由甜蜜的棉花糖做成，一股幸福的味道油然而生呢，还有Machi logo的拉花图案咖啡，醇香袭人。最让我惊艳的是这个由周董《星晴》歌名命名的饮料，我知道玩魔术一直是周杰伦最大的爱好，这次把魔术玩到饮料里啦，而且还可以让你自己尝试其中的魔幻，太有意思啦，当我把魔术小灯泡里的紫色bling bling液体倒入饮料里，就会呈现出星空一般的迷幻涌动，这种荔枝汁和星空酒的碰撞，酸酸甜甜非常可口，同时还附赠一杯小冰糖水，饮料的浓稠度都可以依照自己的喜好调节，喝起来有一股清爽的冻茶汽水的味道，其中还放了一块Machi爪子形状的紫色冰块，真是非常细心的小设计。还有这个Machi样子的松饼，就像个超大的棒棒糖，造型独特，味道松软可口。

离开了萌宠主题餐厅，接下来我要带大家去一个最独特的餐厅，我承认应该是我人生中吃过的最搞怪的主题餐厅啦，那就是仅此一家的便所主题餐厅。我想你们一定能猜到厕所主题餐厅里的主角是什么了吧，哈哈，整个餐厅的建筑上一个硕大的立体突出马桶，作为餐厅的招牌真是太逼真太醒目啦。我和大多数人一样，第一眼看到，满脸的错愕惊讶，脑袋里出现一个大写的问好❓驻足许久决定入店一探究竟，店内的景象似乎又在我的脑袋里画出了一个大写的惊叹号❗️餐厅的装修别具一格，墙上、地上各种颜色样式的马桶坐便椅子非常抢镜，桌面里面放着带便便磨具的洗手盆，墙上装饰着各种便便的卡通形象，还有便便形状的窗户。这样童趣幽默化的把厕所和餐厅结合，展现便便作主角的美食，真的是天马行空的创意呀，看到眼前的场景，客人们脸上不禁流露出了开怀无比的笑容。

接下来让我们按下冲水马桶，看看都能冲出来什么惊喜的美食吧。首先，迷你版马桶锅里装着的咖喱鸡套餐上线，同时还附送一个便便锅盖，真是时刻不忘主题呀。好吧，这是我人生中唯一一张举着便便的照相吧？额…接着泰式酸辣牛肉火锅也被装在马桶里威武的上场。还有韩国泡菜牛肉的火锅也不错哟，没想到马桶里还能冲出这么火红又美味的食物呢，哈哈。后来还上来了用尿壶装着的果汁，这个颜色嘛，很逼真的，敢不敢挑战喝尿壶，反正我就勇敢了一次。最后还有巧克力口味便便形状的冰激凌放在蹲式马桶里，逗趣又可爱，绝对满足了我尝“鲜”的心态呀。

除了这些独一无二的创意主题餐厅，在西门町还可以吃到正宗的韩式烤肉，最有意思的是这些烤肉以三层叠子的下午茶形式上桌，十分新颖。当然还可以吃到美味的日式豚骨拉面ラーメン凪，这家拉面馆无论在日本还是台湾都人气超旺，店里的日常都是大爆满的状态。而我最喜欢的就是它非常人性化的定制功能，没错，你可以定制最合自己口味的拉面。比如酱汁的咸淡，蜜汁风味油的浓淡，蒜蓉、叉烧肉、辣度的分量，甚至连猪肩肉的肥瘦都可以选择。当然面条的种类也有多重选择，软硬口感也有了客制化的调整，不用亲自下手，却可以调制出自己最喜欢的口感和味道，是不是超级贴心的服务呀？而这家餐厅最有名气的四种拉面分别为豚王，就是最常见的豚骨拉面，黑王就是加了墨魚汁的拉面，赤王就是口味偏辣的拉面，翠王就是意大利罗勒口味拉面，这次尝了两款，已经在暗地里计划下次一定要都尝个遍啦。

今天带大家品尝了西门町五花八门，创意点爆棚的特色餐厅，你最喜欢哪个呢？今天的西门町美食之旅就分享到这里啦，之后还有更多精彩的台湾旅游日志想要分享给大家！