Where you get the most bang for your $

Cuisine Greater Taipei Restaurants
1

This is my personal list complied over the last year living in Taipei.

  1. The Diner
    [The Diner
    thediner.com.tw/

Everyone loves it, yeah it’s a bit loud at times with families and on weekends it can be hard to get a table for brunch but it’s by far my favorite place to eat in Taipei. The prices are more than reasonable the food tastey and the staff friendly. The all day breakfast is great for hangovers.

Negatives: the all you can drink coffee sucks IMO.

  1. Sababa
    [Sababa Pita Bar

Best flafel in Taipei and one of the better ones I’ve tasted anywhere. I could spend hours talking with George about the perfect pita bread, yougert drinks or their new soups. I have yet to taste something on their menu that I didn’t like. I’ve never been there for lunch and have heard they get crowded during lunchtime but in the evenings you can always get a table there.

Negatives: Closes at 9pm everyday, not open on Sundays and oh yeah I always end up eating too much and going home with a stomach ache.

  1. Mary Jane Pizza
    [Mary Jane Pizza
    maryjanepizza.com/

My personal favorite pizza place in Taipei and for others who are used to American style thin crust pizza. The lunch special consisting of soup/salad, pepperoni/vegetable pizza and ice tea had me coming back every week. It didn’t hurt that it was only NT$180. The owner is friendly and everyone speaks English.

Negatives: Closed on Mondays and it’s hard to get a table for dinner sometimes.

  1. Bongos
    [Bongos (closed)
    altonsworld.com/Bongos/

Once upon a time my favorite place to eat in Taipei, then they got popular and it became impossible to get a table for dinner without reservation. Then half the staff quit and the food was never the same afterwards. These days the burgers are still great but the salad is limp and disappointing. An ok place for lunch or for buying books.

Negatives: Just not the same as it used to be, way too crowded at dinner time. The salad is crap lately.

  1. Mamm Goz
    [Mamm Goz - Bistro Breton (closed)

A great place to eat if you don’t care about money and love french food. The owners are very friendly people and the area is pretty posh. I can’t add much more than what I said before [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/mamm-goz-bistro-breton-closed/31923/12

Negatives: Pretty pricey.

  1. JB’s Bar and Restaurant
    [JB's Bar and Restaurant - the "chat" thread
    jbs-taipei.com/ (website seems to be down but this is what’s linked from the ad on f.com)

The food is made with the highest quality ingredient money can buy, the atmosphere is great and you can’t leave Taipei without trying the stout or sitting in one of their booths. The owner is usually by the bar and he really knows his stuff. It’s hard to have a bad evening in JB that is until the bill comes. You can easily spend NT$1000/person eating dinner and having a few drinks.

Negatives: Again price.

  1. Carnegie’s
    forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=16208 [edit: put a better link]
    carnegiestaipei.net/food/ [edit: how the heck did I miss this link the first time]

The second most overrated place in Taipei. As much as I love ladies night at Carnegie’s or how friendly their staff is I can’t get away from the mediocracy of the food, combine that with their prices and I don’t know how anyone can choose to go there instead of the diner.

Negatives: Price, mediocre food and brunch is availble only on weekends.

  1. Grandma Nitti’s
    [Grandma Nitti's Kitchen (it's back)

The most overrated place in Taipei. I’ve never disliked a place as much as this place. Everytime I went there I felt ripped off and unhappy, why did I go there you ask ? Because they had this cucumber sauce that was great and I couldn’t walk to the diner. I could go on and on but I just spent 10 minutes finding that thread and realized everyone else hates the place too so nevermind.

Negatives: Can’t find a single good thing to say about the damn place except the tazriki sauce.

I left off Alleycat because while I personally don’t like the food there all of my european friends rave about it and say it’s as good as any pizza they get in europe.

2

Grandma Nitti’s was great back in the day, when it was a hole in the wall in the alley behind the Technology Building. Now, fuggeddaboudit.

3

[quote=“Chris”][quote=“snafu”]
8. Grandma Nitti’s
[Grandma Nitti's Kitchen (it's back)

The most overrated place in Taipei. I’ve never disliked a place as much as this place. Everytime I went there I felt ripped off and unhappy, why did I go there you ask ? Because they had this cucumber sauce that was great and I couldn’t walk to the diner. I could go on and on but I just spent 10 minutes finding that thread and realized everyone else hates the place too so nevermind.

Negatives: Can’t find a single good thing to say about the damn place except the tazriki sauce.
[/quote]

Grandma Nitti’s was great back in the day, when it was a hole in the wall in the alley behind the Technology Building. Now, fuggeddaboudit.[/quote]

When was the day? It sucked 12 years ago.

4

Good thread :slight_smile: Thanks for the reviews

Im dying for a big unhealthy burger with fries. And none of that Mc Donalds rubbish…

Cant wait to get to Taipei next week and do the rounds

5

When was the day? It sucked 12 years ago.[/quote]

It was pretty good 16 years ago! :wink:

6

I get the most bang for my $ at local restaurants that have great Chinese food for about $200 per person. Most Western restaurants are overpriced. At the ones that offer top quality or something unique, I don’t mind so much, although I’ll still eat at them less often than local places. But the sad thing is that there are too many that are mediocre and overpriced.

7

I get the most bang for the xintaibi at local noodle joints and night markets. Bowl of noodles and a xiaocai for about $100.

8

I get more bang for my buck at Doner Kebab than at Friday’s.

9

I thought about that, I should have mentioned that I was talking about western places. I love the xiaolombbao place in Shi-Da, those little dumpligns rock. And so does the thai bbq guy, both of them feed me dinner for less than NT$100. But there are so many noodle/dumpling/… stand there just wasn’t a way to rate them and heck I wouldn’t be able to tell anyone how to get to my favorite place nor what it’s called. I skipped the chains too, I think everyone knows what to expect from Friday/Chili/Outback,… Doner kabab is pretty tastey though I had no idea they had one of those in warner village.

10

I get the most bang for my buck at the $199 bbq place on JingCheng just south of TaiZhongGang in Taichung. All you can eat for $199 plus sometimes they have great beer specials.

11

Thanks, Snafu!

Quite useful even though I have never been to any one of the places on your list. I shall certainly give The Diner a try next time I’m in the capital.

I noticed The Tavern is not on your list. Is it because you haven’t been or because it doesn’t qualify for the list for whatever reason? Just asking (and you don’t have to answer :slight_smile: ) because I go there quite often since it’s close to the TWTC and its exhibition halls where I seem to spend most of my time nowadays.

12

Thanks for posting your opinion, although I would naturally have to respectfully disagree with regard to food quality. Our menu tends to focus more on heartier European dishes and steaks rather than burgers and fries and by definition command a higher price due to the higher cost of ingredients etc. We don’t offer the cheapest burger in town but neither do we have the most expensive steaks but we do at least offer the choice. In terms of value; our prices are reasonable and when combined with no service charge and member discounts for those with a card, they are very reasonable indeed. However, value is not always about price: it is about offering a product that whatever the price charged leaves the customer with a sense of satisfaction. The degree of satisfaction felt over and above the price charged is a better measure of value in my opinion. What is expensive to some may not be to others. If one were to spend more than one’s ordinary budgetry limitations and one is satisfied, then that too represents value. That goes to the core raison d’etre of what those in the restaurant business strive to achieve. In your case though it seems that we have failed to measure up to your expectations and I would like to know why. We are also located in a different area than most of those you listed and this is also why we do not offer brunch during the week. Instead we offer a comprehensive lunch menu (12 fixed items and three daily specials) with all dishes (including starter, soft drink, main course and tea or coffee afterwards) under NT$500. The principle customer demographic in this case is the professionals that work in the many offices around here. To offer brunch as well would put incredible strain on the kitchen. It is also nice to have some differentiation at the weekends.

Returning to the “mediocracy” (this sounds like a political system with sub-par politicians at the helm) that you feel characterizes our food, perhaps you could PM me with more details as to what you have had and when and what it is that you dislike specifically. There is clearly a disparity between your expectation(s) and what is delivered. If you could elaborate more on this to me perhaps I could help narrow the gap.

Anyway, I do welcome comments, good and bad (I prefer the former :slight_smile: ) and while yours above seem to represent a minority on these boards, they do help us re-focus and keep hold of the ball rather than dropping it.

You also posted a link to the ‘chat’ thread which contains many inanities (mostly from Fred Smith :smiling_imp: ). Perhaps a link to the Food & Service thread would be a fairer indication of opinion on quality etc.

forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=16208

It took a while but even the highly discerning sandman was won over…

Regards,

Bob Marshall
General Manager

13

My favourite places which are most 100 dollars in a taxi from my house in XinYi because I’m too lazy for 200 dollar taxi rides to ShiDa.

When I first got here, Grandma Nittis was a great Sunday place. I lived in Panchiao and my flatmates and I would travel in just for the breakfasts and the great atmosphere. You could sit on the terrace with cups of refillable coffee and there would always be someone you knew. Five years ago, there just weren’t that many high quality Western food places in Taipei. They had feta cheese and mayo and bacon. :astonished: which was amazing for us poor Panchiao-ers with our school lunches and cabbagey buffets, the rest of the week.

OK. My list. In no particular order because we all have different food moods. My main criteria for value when buying Western food is if I could have made it better myself, I feel ripped off… (Possibly a completely logic-free criterion)

Also important is if the staff don’t look confused or dismissive when I say I have a peanut allergy.

  1. Carnegies. Great value, yummy food. Steak and kidney pie is my favourite. Am working my way through the menu.
  2. Alleycats. Pizza, tastes like the cheap stuff I got from street stalls in Montpellier. (A great compliment, not an insult)
  3. The XinJiang bbq place on TunHua lane 160, the one with the goldfish pond and have to sit on the floor. Lamb on sticks, venison.
  4. The curry place in the foodcourt in A4 ShinKong Mitsukoshi next to Eslite bookstore. Chicken lababdar and a super friendly handsome Indian guy to recommend things.
  5. Cafe India, the dark side of the moon. Really good and extensive curry menu.
  6. New York bagel. It is rubbish but it is open 24 hours and the staff are nice and it is next to my office and I conduct most of my operations from there.
  7. HongKan dimsum place. All over Taipei. Shrimpballsshrimpballsshrimpballs.

Missing: authentic good quality Thai place.

RIP: The Frying Scotsman

14

Hi Buttercup,

Have you got the address for the “Dunhua Lane 160” place you mention?

Ta,

M

15

No.

16

Ok, for those of you who need specifics:

新疆野宴 (xīnjiāng yěyàn)
﹣a really good bbq place.

No 25, lane 160, Tunhua S. Road section 1. It’s about
5 minutes walk from the Chunghsiao E Rd/Tunhua intersection.

Chinese address:

新疆野宴
敦化南路1段160巷25號
(02) 8771-8001

Website: new25.net/
map: new25.net/subpage/location/map_B.jpg

17

I think the most delicious dumplings, rice, and vegetables that are a stupendous bang for your buck can be found at the Din_Tai_Fung, I like to call it the famous dumpling place.

www.dintaifung.com.tw

18

df

19

‘Bang for your buck’ makes me think of Soi Cowboy.

20

Will you be here all week? How is the veal? :wink: