Jean-Paul Hévin - Taiwan, Taipei 101 Branch

Taiwan is famous for its local food, let it be shaved ice, stinky tofu, pork chop rice, beef noodles, and the list goes on. But that's not just it. Visitors around the world flocked into Taiwan not only for its traditional charm, but also for its growing international vibe.

Taipei 101, the fairly new landmark of Taiwan since 2004 sits in the heart of Taiwan's capital Taipei. Besides offices and financial institutions, a big portion of Taipei 101 is designed as shopping area, food court, and restaurants.

Well-known fashion brands flocked into this building including Louise Vuitton and Burberry. Fancy restaurants spread across the floors. Even renowned French chocolatier Jean-Paul Hévin has set an oversea branch here on the 4th floor.

In fact, this is the 2nd store here in Taiwan, which shows the market potential of this little island.

Cold drinks menu -

Hot chocolate and tea menu -

High tea set menu -

How much I wish we have one here in California, not just the Jean-Paul Hévin store, but also its quality dessert selections.

Salad and sandwiches -

Other savory items and hot chocolate selections  -

I only tried a few sweet desserts this time and would like to test out their savory dishes next time. The aroma of baked crust and creamy cheese lingered around our table a couple times, and it surely smelled tempting. Their mini pizza with crunchy crust will be on the to-eat-list during my next visit to Taiwan.

Small dessert set menu -

Macaron menu -

My raspberry flavored hot chocolate -

Jean-Paul Hévin has a series of hot chocolate - matcha, raspberry, and original. The menu states that its hot chocolate was rewarded the first place under the hot chocolate category in Paris by "Le Figaro" in France.

Dense chocolate aroma with a slight touch of bitterness. The only thing I would pick on would be its tiny portion plus hefty price. But oh well, it was so good! 

Mazaltov set -

White cheese cake and chantilly two flavors (chocolate and raspberry).

The cheese cake is light and fluffy. However, if you're looking for stronger cheese flavor then this might not be your best option.

In the other hand, chantilly, or whipped cream, is very flavorful. I can be careless about the extra flavor added on top, just the whipped cream along goes a long way. The chantilly compliments the cake by providing that creaminess to the slightly sourish scent from the cheese.

Epicure set -

Vanilla flavored dark chocolate ganache with almond biscuit and matcha flavored chantilly.

Supposedly this set comes with one macaron. However, since it's around Chinese New Year so they substituted the macaron with a chocolate decorated with a Chinese letter "fu," meaning good things and happiness.

Overall experience wasn't too bad. The hot chocolate and chantilly are both delicious and worth coming for again. Atmosphere-wise, this open spaced branch is located in the center of the floor, which means little privacy for the customers. Some people do like this type of vibe, enjoying a few bites of luscious treats while people-watching at the same time.

One other note, this place can get pretty pricey, the high tea set is about $56 U.S. for 2 people. The dessert set I had there was about $15 U.S. not including the hot chocolate.

Official website (France, French):
http://www.jeanpaulhevin.com

Official website (Taiwan, Chinese):
http://www.jphevin.com.tw/

Jean-Paul Hévin (Taiwan, Taipei 101)
Number 45, Shi Fu Road, Xin-Yi Area, Taipei, Taiwan
(Shopping Center, 4th Floor)

台北市信義區市府路45號(購物中心4樓)
011-886-(02)-8101-8152

Taipei 101 Official Website:
http://www.taipei-101.com.tw/

Afternoon Tea Addict - Taiwan, Taipei

While most of the people are having fun drinking during traveling,
I'm sipping my cup of tea with accompanying snacks,
Call me a weirdo, maybe an aged person...
Somehow tea interests me more than alcohol...
(P.S. I do drink liquor occasionally..either with food or...being forced in some ways...)

So I figured I'd better put up a small post with some of the tea places I've went to during my one month trip to Taiwan, Taipei,
Therefore, my afternoon tea journey begins~

Coffee Alley 咖啡弄-

Pretty popular place in east area,

I guess location-wise is one of its biggest advantages,

Besides that, Coffee Alley also serves some snack items such as waffles and brownie,

However, the waffles only taste mediocre.
In addition to that, Coffee Alley can get very crowded during busy hours, especially during weekends.

http://www.coffee-alley.com.tw/Home/Welcome.html
Locations and store numbers are listed on the bottom of their homepage.

Frog Coffee 蛙咖啡-

Unlike Coffee Alley, Frog Coffee is quite and spacious,
Free wireless service is also provided in the store so you can spend the whole afternoon sipping tea and surfing the web.

Frog Coffee also provides a special "parking area" for bicycles outside the restaurant,
You can hang the bikes on the wooden wall, neato.

http://cafe.frogfree.com/index.html
Locations and store numbers are listed on the website.

Smith & Hsu-

This is the hardcore place for afternoon tea,
Smith & Hsu has a wide selection of tea ranging from Asian oolong tea to European herbal tea.

Before selecting tea flavors, you even get a sample of nearly all the selections they have,
The purpose is for you to "smell" the tea leaves first before making the final decision-

One special note here,
Their scone is superb! After one bite and you'll know what I'm talking about-

It is so buttery, if pairing up with honey, imported butter, and mint tea,
Man....that's heaven...wait...!...that should be a food paradise!

http://www.smithandhsu.com/en/intro.php
Locations and store numbers are listed on the website.
Reservation highly recommended since they only have few tables inside the store.

Room for Dessert-

Cute tea pot-

Most of their dessert plates are decorated with cocoa powder,
I think the quality is pretty good for the price they charge, which is about $7 U.S. for a combination of dessert and tea.

Room for Dessert

Number 15, Alley 187, Section 1, Dun Hua South Road, Taipei, Taiwan

敦化南路一段187巷15號

02-2711-2465

Paul-

An expensive place with growing popularity despite the current economic downturn,

Probably a look into an interesting financial status among the customers dining at Paul.
I guess the rich people are not as hard hitted by the crisis compared to the majority of the residents in Taipei.

Tea-

Quiche-

Paul sells expensive bread and pastries,

When it first opened in Taipei, the place was famous for its imported bread loaves,

Yes you heard me, imported, all the way from France,

The most expensive loaf can costs up to $18 or more.

Strawberry millefeuille-

So does the taste worth the price?

I seriously think it's overrated,

Some bloggers have been to the stores in France and said the flavor is slightly different compared to the ones in Taiwan,

Can't blame Paul for that...after all, some ingredients, even the weather can be a factor of the taste,

However, their price really is not so wallet-friendly.

http://www.paul.fr/index.php

After comparing a few tea places, which one is my favorite?

I'll have to give it to Smith & Hsu,

The service was good, the scone was wonderful,

And most importantly, their wide selection of tea plus pairing notes,

Highly recommended.

One drawback though, they limit your tea sipping time to 2 hours,
Well, don't know about you, but 2 hours is good enough for me.