I live close Shi Lin but I do not know of any good restaurants in the area. Tien Mu is close by but out of the way if I am going into Taipei. I need some suggestions, all I see is teahouses and coffee shops, where the food is barely edible. Please provide some good advice, no Taiwanese food either. Thanks.
what kind of food jade?
There’s not much there. I think people just go there to eat the crap at the night market. I like the chicken chop or jipai in the food place across from the MRT at Jiantan. There’s several and they’re about the same. I think most everything else is Taiwan food. (except McDonalds)
I mean anything edible except local food. Last Saturday afternoonI had a girl stay at my place and I did not want to venture into Tien Mu because I was headed to Taipei. I mean there was nothing around Shi Lin/Jian Tan. I mean there is a serious lack of anything good to eat there. It’s even worse in Yang Ming Shan. Try and find me a decent place to eat there. I am at a loss. :help:
well there is the post home restaurant, right across the bridge to tienmu off fuguo rd. not quite shihlin or tienmu but it might be convenient for you.
An italian place:
If you start from the Shilin MRT Station, walk east on Zhong Zheng Rd (the one on the north end of the station) until you get to the intersection with Zhongshan N. Rd. It is only one block or so. Cross Zhongshan N. Rd. and stop. Turn left and look toward McDonalds. Just to the right of McDonalds, along Zhong Zheng Rd., there is an Italian place (maybe two or three shops from the intersection). Sorry, I’ve forgotten its name, only been there once. In any case, it has pretty good food. Bit pricey and not very flexible in terms of changing any dishes. They have 15 types of pizza, for example, and 13 of them have weird ingredients from a Western perspective. They wouldn’t alter any pizza in any way. The decor is nice.
Kiss Cafe:
It used to be a very good Italian restaurant until the chef left. Now they serve biendan food with a garnish on expensive plates for $250-300 per entree. It is on Jiantan Rd., just west of Cheng De Rd, a couple of blocks from the Jiantan MRT Station. Stop in there some time to say, “Hey, heard your Italian food was good until the chef left. Too bad. You should get him back!” and then leave. 
(I’m trying to use grassroots influence to get my favorite Italian place back)
Cool! Thank a lot. That
One more place:
Disclaimer: All of this info comes from experience at the location on Minsheng W. Rd. (not Shilin/Jiantan). However, this is a franchise type of cafe with many locations so I assume the offerings are the same.
Leave the Shilin MRT Station on the south end, and go right/west to Wenlin Rd (first major road). Turn right (facing north). Walk north. Within a very short distance (the length of the MRT station I think), you’ll see a coffee shop on the left/west side of Wenlin Rd. It has a green and white sign/logo that says “Cafe” with a large flat white oval. I think that white thing is white background around a coffeebean. I’ll let you figure that out and report back! 
Their menu is in English and Chinese. They serve food of different types and an assortment of cold and hot drinks and desserts. My favorite is the tuna crossant sandwich (combo). As I recall, they give you some potato salad with the sandwich and a simple drink (juice?) for a pretty reasonable price ($130-140?). My favorite drink is the blueberry shake/smootie, but it is pricey at $120 or so.
The other nice bonus is that it is open 24 hours I believe.
Enjoy!
Is Tianmu too far out of your way?
As of when I was still in Taiwan (now more than a year ago), there was a great Mongolian barbecue place on Tianmu West Road, just to the west of the creek there, about halfway between Veterans General and Tianmu North Road.
It’s called 大可汗 “Great Khan”. It was easily the best Mongolian barbecue in Taibei, I would say. A little pricier than most, but with great selections of barbecue fixings (lots of different meats, good variety of vegetables, lots of different sauces, etc.). They also had a very nice selection of other foods: spaghetti, roast beef, desserts, seafood, etc. And of course, being Mongolian barbecue, it’s all you can eat.
I don’t remember how much it was, but it was definitely a much better deal than the Ploughman.