Oma has just opened an outlet in Neihu in walking distance from MRT Xihu station. Address: No. 335 Neihu Road Sec. 1.
And yes, that is a cardboard cutout of Peter, but I assure you, he DOES exist -ask there, maybe he’ll be on duty.
Oma offers good quality traditional German breads and cakes, as well as gluten free and organic ranges. Other outlets are in Gongguan and Tianmu (inside Takashimaya).
The dark rye loaves at the Tianmu Carrefour are pretty good.
I partly agree. A small subset of the bread at Carrefour is doable, especially for the lack of an alternative. I go for the white “歐式麵包” loaves (isn’t the dark bread here just dyed white bread anyway?), which are neither soft like a worn-out sponge nor are they coated with a thick layer of raw flour (most of the bread there fails at least one of these two tests).
I don’t think all Carrefours here have them, but they’re definitely sold in Zhishan (Tianmu) and Qizhang (Xindian). The price is $45 but every now and then it drops down to $35 for “出清” on the day after it was baked.
Occasionally there’s also an edible French roll in Carrefour (priced at $49 or down to $25). On the other hand, Carrefour’s baguettes have a nasty smell and aftertaste like the shit from the local “bakeries” so I’d give them a pass.
Doraemonster’s assessment is a fair one. The Neihu situation is similar. Much of the bread is typical local stuff, which I can’t stomach, but they have a couple European styles which are a notch up in quality. Le Coin du Pain and Lalos are also better.
I agree that those Carrefour boules are good, especially at the price. I buy one a week for my daily lunch sandwiches.
Right, the boules or another smaller loaf they have. Pretty decent. Don’t think it’s dyed-faux-rye, seems to taste like it should.
I don’t believe I would have encountered (or even imagined) a concept such as “dyed-faux-rye” before moving to Taiwan. This makes me sad.
At the same time, as many have noted, there are some kick-ass bakers out there: Boite de Bijou in Da-an in Taipei; Artiste de Pain (國王烘焙) in Xindian; Robuchon’s Salon de the, in Bellavita in Xinyi. Yes, some of these places require a special trip. But they really deliver the goods.
Guy
After more than 10 years in Asia I have a lost all hope for finding a “good European bread” anywhere. The stuff you can buy in those German / French / Swiss bakeries is adapted to local taste: some lump with the consistency of greasy Styrofoam - the taste no different.
The good news is: it’s really easy to make your own bread. It tastes better, it lasts longer and it is cheaper. All you need is flour, salt, oil, sugar and yeast… Happy Baking!
Cheers
Robin
I love the country bread at Nonzero restaurant, which is airflown from France. They also sell It at $250 per loaf.
Ken Bakery in Danshui has nice sourdough. I got some off them from a temporary stall at Maji square. Very good.
There’s a decent bakery at Sun Yat-sen memorial hall MRT exit 1 that has excellent stick bread with thicker dough (don’t know what it’s called but it looks like this)
Lane 204, Guangfu South Road.
Close to Nanjing Sanmin MRT stop exit 2, at the corner of Ji Xiang Road and Guang North Road Lane 11, next to Campus Cafe, this bakery sells out almost every single day. The owner is a local, but she studied in Europe. I cannot vouch on whether she caters the flavor to local taste, but the price tag on her pastries/bread tells me that they are very good. I’ve only had the baguette a few times and usually I expect super crunchy and/or had “crust”, but it’s sooo soft! Even my 90 year old grandma who is unable to chew on anything too hard can have the baguette!
I can’t vouch for anything else that she sells except for her chocolate cake. Her chocolate cake is a great mixture of light and sweet. Just the perfect amount of flavor.
I’m curious as to what you guys think.
Here’s the address:
Pain aux raisins葡萄麵包
No. 97, Lane 11, Guangfu N Rd, Songshan District
Taipei City, Taiwan 105
Lutetia in Tianmu, just south of Wellman’s (a short walk south of TAS), is not bad, their ciabatta in particular (other than the fact that they appear to be using the cheapest, typical cubed cheese in their cheese breads). I like the fact that they really push their oven temp and baking time to get more flavor and color in the crust, and a nice shiny crumb in their ciabattas. From appearance, I’d expect their baguettes to be excellent but haven’t tried them yet.
Besides Lutetia’s multigrain(?) bread (round one with flaxseeds), I also like the Dutch bonissimo bread at Le Coin du Pain, with branches in Neihu and near Technology Building MRT station: facebook.com/LeCoinDuPain/
Yup, Le Coin du Pain has some decent breads. Even Costco has upped its game a bit, with a pair of heavily seeded multigrain ‘artisan’ loaves in a bag, around $198 at Xizhi branch, a fair bit better than their usual breads, although of course not as well done as from a real artisan baker, who could develop more flavor through sourdough or slow fermentation techniques.
Running the risk of inviting all the repetitions (everything people posted on this subject before), I get my bread at the Schwarzwald-Cafe in the alleys west of Yongkang Jie. They have one decent kind, so I usually buy three to four loafs and put them in the freezer. Much easier than travelling to Tianmu (might do it for variation one day, though).
Another one to add to the list: Purebread specializes in sourdough. The owner is from San Francisco. I really like their jalepeno sourdough and chocolate croissants. It’s a good thing that they are expensive because it keeps me from buying too much. https://www.facebook.com/PurebreadBakeryCo/
You can check out Clover Loaf near Taipei Main station.
https://www.facebook.com/Clover-Loaf-100-Handmade-Bread-1023356121052543/
Looks great! Thanks Gregski!