Does anyone know of any shops in Taipei that carry a good variety of cheeses - brie, camembert, stilton, gorgonzola, and perhaps a selection of more obscure cheeses?
Try the supermarket at the Breeze Center (Fu-Xing South Road / Civic Boulevard).
Do a search on here as well, I am sure this topic was discussed once before.
Jasons at 101 has a good range, Breeze, the Tienmu delis and also the basement of the newer Mitsukoshi (sp?) in Xin Yi district/Warner Village.
Chris,
Are you in Taipei now?
If so, may I suggest that you go to Breeze, Jason’s in 101, supermarkets in Mituskoshi, Tesco, Costco, etc. (all the places mentione above) and you will probably find many–if not all–of the cheeses you mentioned. Even most Wellcome’s now carry feta, gouda, and so on.
If you are wondering about beer (availability of Belgians, microwbres, Germans, etc.), then Breeze, Jason’s, Costco, et al. are your best bets. Same for wine, though there are probably some other places (Reve) in Tianmu to check out.
Your question about where to find cheese seems to fall in the same category about where to find Thai, Cajun, etc. cooking ingredients. Many of the things you may be looking for can probably be found in the above places.
It’s good to be prepared and to know before you arrive, but I would just say go to any of the above supermarkets after you get to Taipei and you will find a wide assortment of spices, cheeses, deli meats, coffees, organic foods, etc.
If you are already in Taipei, then I suggest that you head over to the Breeze supermarket and see what they have.
Happy cooking and eating.
Hello Chris,
try G and G in Tianmu, no. 6-1 lane 14, zhong shan north road, sec.7. They have all the cheese you mentioned in your post and a lot more and it is not prepacked as in the supermarkets They will cut it in slices for you.
SAMC
Neither Breeze, Jason’s, nor the one in the basement of the Far Eastern Plaza prepack their cheese, either – its real cheeses, cut to order deli-style.
No, but I’ll be there in a couple months.
Thanks to everyone for their great suggestions! Last time I lived in Taiwan (1996), the only place I knew with a selection of cheese was Florida Bakery, and the selection wan’t very good.
I think Welcome Supermarket does stuff like this now. When I went to the store on Yangmingshan near the Cultural University last week, they had an entire deli section. Prices were by the 100g so I assume they’re slicing to order.
They also had lots of imported snacks at fairly reasonable prices too, yum!
No, but I’ll be there in a couple months.
Thanks to everyone for their great suggestions! Last time I lived in Taiwan (1996), the only place I knew with a selection of cheese was Florida Bakery, and the selection wan’t very good.[/quote]
1996, hahaha…Taipei has changed quite a lot since then. Much more livable with more parks and shopping areas sidewalks and of course so many more cheese and beer choices, etc. Gets better each year.
If I am not looking for exotic cheeses, but something simple, sliced, that has at least a partial DNA link to a cow, would any of the normal supermarkets carry it? If so, what might the brand name and type be?
I’ve tried a few pre-packaged offerings from Wellcome, etc. and they all seem to be chemical ooze.
Thanks,
Seeker4
seeker4 wrote: “If I am not looking for exotic cheeses, but something simple, sliced, that has at least a partial DNA link to a cow, would any of the normal supermarkets carry it? If so, what might the brand name and type be? I’ve tried a few pre-packaged offerings from Wellcome, etc. and they all seem to be chemical ooze.”
Yeah, all the prepackaged slices are crap. Costco sells giant packs of sliced cheddar, though. I recommend you just have the deli’s slice for you - it doesn’t take long.
Aside from the ones other posters have mentioned, RTMart also has a cheese deli which does custom slicing, although you’ll need either Mandarin ability or some pretty good sign language (point; handchopping; write down how many gms.) and some patience, at least in the evenings when it’s frustrating to get someone to come to the cheese counter to help you. The selection is okay, but not as nice as the other places mentioned above.
Used to be, you could only get good cheese in Tianmu. Much better now.
Hmm, it might not be the best, at least not after the first try, but has anyone ever considered making cheese yourself? It’s a highly milk-consuming affair, but you know where that cheese comes from and can create your own flavours.
I should mention that it’s also time-consuming, but you don’t have to stand next to it all the time.
[color=#008040]Mod note: We now have a thread on making your own cottage cheese here, including the closely related queso blanco here. --DB[/color]
Yes, yes i did. I still make some kind of cottage/fresh white cheese and yog(h)urt.
Making other hard or soft cheeses is kind of difficult in Taiwan. The weather you know.
I even make fresh goat cheese once in while, from real goat milk.
I also have ( in my fridge) and can come by most common cheeses on the market, not by slice but by pack or wheel. And … for good prices.
Does anyone know where I can find haloumi (Sp?) ?
The supermarket on the south side of Hsin-yi Rd. between the Hsinsheng S. Rd. Intersection and the Yungkang St entrance has it.
I thought Costco had a reasonable selection of cheeses.
I started this thread to promote a new cheese shop that’s near my office, in the hope that it’ll:
a) stay open (the space has been home to a Rose House, a spa, and a restaurant in the last few years)
b) maintain its lower prices
It’s been years since you had to limit yourself to canned cheese or plastic slices as this thread suggests:
[Cheese in a can
But prices at Jason’s and the Breeze Center tend to be higher than at the newly opened Mr Cheese.
I’ll get a list together next time I drop by, but I had a very tasty mature cheddar for NT$100/100g. While the selection might not be as wide as at the Breeze, that might improve.
Mr Cheese is near the NE corner of Fuxing/Mingsheng. It’s next door to the Starbucks.
That price sounds about average – I believe it’s what I paid a week or two ago at City Super for real cloth-wrapped cheddar. But I’ll pop into “your” store nevertheless, in the spirit of helping to keep it open for you.
It could be on the way to my office. You don’t happen to know if he makes sandwiches to go, do you?
And I wonder if it’s the same Mr. Cheese that had a shop in Tienmu several years ago, and later, another in the basement of Eslite on Dunhua S. Rd.? He was very knowledgeable about his cheese.
They’ve got a space with long wooden tables. I asked last week what it was for, and was told they’ll be making panini. I had a look in on the way by at lunchtime, but the windows were too steamed up to see in. Not sure if it was a bevvy of happy panini eaters or shenanigans.
Panini with real cheese = my new evening snack, in that case. Thanks for the heads up.