Kooks Restaurant (Danshui)

Hey everybody just thought I’d mention that there is a new Foreign owned restaurant in Danshui called Kooks. It serves many western dishes like burgers and fries with handmade beef patties! Also they have Panini bread sandwiches and also pitas and the bread they use is really nice. I’ve met many locals and foreigners (including many of my own customers) who have already found the place and really enjoyed it. My wife and I have been there twice and enjoyed the food both times. I had a really nice pineapply sweet burger and my wife had an indian type wrap which was good as well. So just telling you all if your in the Danshui Area check it out if you have a chance. Its just off into an alley on Ying Juan st. ( The popular walking street opposite the MRT by the big mcdonalds. ) Good food and great people. The Canadian owner Liam and his wife are great hosts and you all should pop buy for a burger and a beer if you 're in the Danshui area.

It all sounds great except for that bit. What is that part all about lol. They do have other kinds of burgers?

A burger with pineapple is called a “Hawaiian” Burger in some restaurants.

recipes.howstuffworks.com/hawaii … recipe.htm

Hawaiian burgers are great. There was a place opened up in Shilin about 6 years ago that made one of the best burgers ever. Unfortunately they never got enough customers (save for me).

The Hawaiian Burger was actually great! They also had the bacon burger and a cheese burger. I believe they also had a blue cheese burger as well. I took a couple of staff members over for lunch the other day and they liked the burgers as well. I ordered the homemade Falafel because i’d never tried it. It was fantastic and i’m not even a vegetarian. It was served in a really nice pita bread with some nice fries on the side and actually I had some homemade ceasar on the side as well. All the food is great. Check it out!

I may!

I went to Kooks recently and ordered a burger …I’m not sure which one it was, I think it was just the standard burger as I wasn’t that hungry.

It was one of the best burgers I’ve had in Taiwan…and it was huge too.

The meat patty was about 2 or 3 times the thickness of the average burger. It was perfectly cooked, had a delicious taste & texture and was very juicy (the finger lickin’ juices running down your chin type of juicy), on the side were a huge amount of fries…I ordered the set meal that included a side salad and a drink.

the burger was excellent, I forget the price, but thought it was good value for money, I’ll definitely eat there again.

the only suggestion would be to have a brand of beer or two on special for cheap-assed drunks like me.

Here’s the address, ph number and directions

Kooks

No. 12, Lane 18, Ren-ai St., Danshui

02 26256161

Walk up Yingduan St (this main shopping street/night market is directly opposite the MRT station and next to the gas station) about 300 metres, turn right at “Watsons” drug store, after about 40 metres this lane forks into two, take the left fork…follow this lane around for about 300 metres and Kooks is on the right hand side.( I think that’s right? I’ve only been there once, so please check with the restaurant when you ring for a reservation)

another way to get there is walk up Shifu street (which is parallel and on the right hand side of Yingduan Street…“86” coffee shop is on the corner of this street) for about 400 metres and turn left opposite the betel nut stand and Kooks is on the left hand side less than 100 metres down this lane.

[quote=“taiboxes”]Here’s the address, ph number and directions

Kooks

No. 12, Lane 18, Ren’ai St., Danshui

02 26256161

Walk up Yingduan St (this main shopping street/night market is directly opposite the MRT station and next to the gas station) about 300 metres, turn right at “Watsons” drug store, after about 40 metres this lane forks into two, take the left fork…follow this lane around for about [color=#FF4000]300 metres [/color]and Kooks is on the right hand side.( I think that’s right? I’ve only been there once, so please check with the restaurant when you ring for a reservation)

another way to get there is walk up Shifu street (which is parallel and on the right hand side of Yingduan Street…“86” coffee shop is on the corner of this street) for about 400 metres and turn left opposite the betel nut stand and Kooks is on the left hand side less than 100 metres down this lane.[/quote]

More like 100 meters. Also, on the lane you pass first a small, partially concealed temple, and then the Danshui Water Authority, also on your left. The alley curves right. They are closed on Mondays. The burgers are about 200 - 250, I believe, including a salad (very good), fries (not bad!) and a bevvie, which includes Dad’s Root Beer and tasty Americanos. They also have a load of interesting stuff to read and some art on the walls. I like the place.

it would be nice for Kooks to open earlier on Sat and Sun morns for brunch with a breakfast menu …as there really isn’t anywhere to go for a Western style breakfast in Danshui (like Grandma Nitties, Jakes etc) that I know of.

Hi everyone! This is Liam from [color=#BF0000]KOOKS[/color], in Danshui. We really want to thank Eddy for starting this thread for us! Eddy and Jo were our first customers the day we opened and have done a lot to welcome us to the Danshui restaurant community.Thanks guys! Also, big thanks to everyone else that has posted about us so far. [color=#BF0000]KOOKS[/color] opened two and a half months ago and its been a crazy time so everyone’s support has been great.

A little about our restaurant. We are about five minutes walk from the Danshui MRT. Taiboxes’ directions are great and I think I might mess it up so scroll up and check them out. All of our food is handmade daily from scratch including our sauces and dressings. We make our own yogurt and our bread is baked for us by a European chef. We don’t use any processed cheese and all our oils are non-transfat. Our prices for full meals range from 140nt to 280nt.

Currently, we serve burgers, wraps, pitas, paninis, salads, and soups, Our hamburgers are huge and juicy and made from New Zealand lean ground beef. As well as our regular burger and the pineapple burger, we also have a caesar burger, a blue cheese burger, a bacon burger, and our extreme which comes dangerously close to a half pound of beef! Our wraps include indian tikkas (beef or chicken), falafel, tuna , meatball, and chicken caesar. Our hot panini sandwiches,which can be switched to a ciabatta upon request, include black pepper beef, smoked salmon, turkey , a three cheeser, ham ,and more. We have caesar, greek, and garden salads. For drinks we have the usual suspects plus Dad’s rootbeer, milkshakes, yogurt smoothies, and herbal teas. We also serve several beers including Boddington’s and Duvel as well as lots of harder stuff.So come for a meal,stay for a few drinks and no worries as we’re an easy stumble back to the MRT.

Our menu is constantly growing and suggestions are more than welcome. Things we plan to add in the near future are pasta, curries, and breakfast all day. Oh yeah, if you’re not a bread person I forgot to mention that most of our meat dishes and the falafel are also served as a rice platter with our spiced rice and salad.

Thanks for taking the time to read our belated introduction and we look forward to seeing you in Danshui. call us if you have any questions.

The Kooks crew,
Liam, Emma,and Sandy
(02) 2625-6161

It would be nice to have the hours of operation posted.

I’m not sure when their closing time is, but I’m pretty sure they are open Tuesday to Sunday from 12 noon until closing.

Hey everyone, I forgot to post our opening and closing times. As of this week our hours are Tuesday through Thursday 11 till 11. And Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11 to whenever the last customer leaves, usually well after midnight. Also ,we plan on opening for breakfast on the weekend as soon as possible. As well the next week should see some new additions to the menu so come in and check it out. Thanks for the reminder that I forgot to post our hours and we hope to see you in Danshui soon.

Liam

Just a quick report from my recent 2 visits:

“Blue Moon Burger” = Best Burger I have had in my life.

Okay, now some words for explanation: I am not a fan of burgers, and so far what I can compare to is basically only McDonald’s, Burger King, and some US west coast restaurants. The meat of this burger probably will be too soft and too strongly spiced for people who like “standard” burgers, and the bread is not the strange steamed stuff that McDonalds etc. seem to use, but, instead, is nice and on the crispy side.

I can really recommend this place. Nice decorated interior (a bit artsy), some good beers, good value for the money. And all that in Danshui :slight_smile:

I wish I could see a map, because I know I would never find it.

When I read that, I immediately thought In-N-Out. If you think this place beats In-N-Out, then I’m definitely there. :lick:

Beware: I am from Germany, I don’t know jack… about hamburgers :smiley:

I wish I’d remembered about this place last night. My wife and I went to Eddy’s for dinner, only to discover that this time his restaurant was so overcrowded and understaffed that food would take at least an hour to arrive. (I haven’t seen that many foreigners in one place since the last Forumosa happy hour I attended.) Though we were happy to see that business is good, we were really hungry and so left without waiting.

We wandered the streets and back alleys of Danshui, hoping to find real Western food and not the usual tiěbǎn niúpái with Taiwanese characteristics. We ended up with sān bǎo fàn. Oh well.

And, yeah, a map would help.

Hmmm… According to my girlfriend the address in chinese would be 淡水鎮仁愛街18巷12號

This is where google thinks that is:

http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=de&geocode=&q=%E6%B7%A1%E6%B0%B4%E9%8E%AE%E4%BB%81%E6%84%9B%E8%A1%9718%E5%B7%B712%E8%99%9F&sll=25.056017,121.609576&sspn=0.013626,0.018539&ie=UTF8&z=17&iwloc=A

But actually I think the description given above is much more useful:

  • Walk into the “market” street across the Danshui MRT
  • turn right at “Watsons” drug store
  • after about 40 metres this lane forks into two, take the left fork
  • follow this lane and Kooks is on the right hand side.