Copyright © Dinosaurs are 짱
Design by Dzignine
2015/06/30

Taiwan Travel Diary #19: Modern Toilet in Ximen


Hey everyone~
Today i will tell you about a very...special restaurant here in Taipei.
Maybe you already guessed right from the photo above.
Let me introduce to you:

Modern Toilet



So usually I'd give you a description on how to get there but Ximending can be super confusing if you don't know your way around, even with a description.
I'd say the easiest way to get there is to just take the subway to Ximen station (blue line) and then take a Taxi. Otherwise you will probably get lost especially if it is your first time in Ximen.
Even i still get lost occasionally, even though i have been there quite a few times already.

So here's the address:
: 2F., No.7, Lane 50, Sining S. Rd., Wanhua District, Taipei City

Modern Toilets website also has a small map on how to find it, if you're walking there.
There's also another branch in Shilin. Apparantly the waiters wear bathrobes there, so i gotta pay a visit there too sometime.


The restaurant is on the 2nd and 3rd floor, and the staircase greets you with adorable poo drawings.
As well as a golden toilet.


The menu is in form of poo as well. Here are some photos of the english version:


The prices are alright, especially if you decide to get a set that includes a free drink and ice-cream.


I ordered a Sichuan spicy hotpot and it tasted really good.
Before i went i read a lot of reviews from other people saying that the food tastes horrible, but my hotpot was fine. A short warning though, it IS really spicy. Really, really spicy.
Which is exactly the flavour that i like so I was happy with my meal choice.


The free drink that you get with your set is either green tea or black tea (you can choose), and it's fully unsweetened so it might taste a bit bitter if you're not used to unsweetened tea.


Isn't the tiny star fishcake adorable?


Here are some photos of the interior. The tables have bowls with piles of platic poo underneath (very appetizing, yes)


You sit on actual toilets, which is pretty funny but not very comfortable.


It's quite difficult to find the actual restrooms there, since everything looks like a restroom.
(the actual restrooms are on the left side of the blue banner)



And to top off this very unique dining experience, here's a photo of our included dessert.
Chocolate ice-cream:



That's it for today, hopefully you enjoyed this post.
Have you ever been to a theme restaurant like this one? or would you like to go?
Tell me in the comments below


Love,  Lydia
2015/06/17

Taiwan Travel Diary #18: Ningxia nightmarket




Hey everyone~ this will be a really short blog post, but with lots of foodporn involved.
So a while a go, I visited Ningxia nightmarket, and there's lots of delicious food to try.
I didn't take too many photos since it was quite crowded, but let me tell you how to get there first:

寧夏夜市
Take the red line to Shuanglian Station.
Get out of exit #1
Head west down Minsheng road until you hit Ningxia road.
In case you can't find it, ask others for help . If you don't speak chinese just show them the chinese name above and they'll most likely will still help you find it ^^

Onto the food~


The first thing we ate were delicious steamed dumplings, only around 50NTD for a serving.
One thing that makes Ningxia quite special , even though it's one of the smaller nightmarkets in Taipei is the fact that almost all food stalls have seats available.
Yay for being able to sit down while enjoying your food!



The next snack we got was this fried baozi and wow was it delicious. As you can see by the model above, it has shrimps and eggs and more seafood inside instead of the usual meat filling.


Our next snack was not even Taiwanese, oops.
Okonomiyaki~


I really like Okonomiyyaki, and this one tasted great. 
We shared all the dishes to be able to try more, and this portion is perfect for two people.


Those are, unfortunately, already all the photos I took at Ningxia.
But here's some more foodporn, this time from Gongguan:



These pastries are usually pretty famous in Yilan, and so, so delicious.
Normally there's a long queue in front of this stall, but at the time I went there with my roommate we were lucky enough to not have to wait at all.


It's filled with spring onions and has a light peppery taste, super delicious snack!


We also got some Tapioca shaved ice there.
The shaved ice was actually vanilla flavoured, instead of the normal milk flavour which was a nice surprise.



That's it for today, sorry that this post is so short. Next time I visit Ningxia nightmarket I'll take more photos. Hope you enjoyed it.
Which snack looks the most delicious? Tell me in the comments below.

Love, Lydia



2015/06/11

Taiwan Travel Diary #17: Taipei 101 and Longshan Temple




Hey everyone~
I'm so late with updating my blog posts that I accidentally switched them around ;-;
This one was supposed to be finished before my post about Shida nightmarket...oops. So much for organizing.
Anyways~
About a month ago I joined my Korean classmate and her friend on a trip to Taipei 101 and Longshan temple.


If you want to go all the way up to the 93rd floor to have a nice view over Taipei you need to pay 500NTD as an entrance fee. Most of Taipei 101 holds business rooms, so security is tight there and you can only enter the building if you have a ticket for the viewing plattform...or, you avoid that expensive fee like we did.

So here's a small trick: You can also enter Taipei 101 and go up to the 35th floor if you make a reservation for the Starbucks there. You can make that reservation online, and then enter the building and call their Starbucks. One of the workers will come get you, and you can go up to the 35th floor with them.

Obviously you will have to buy something there, but hey, where else can you drink your Starbucks coffee with such a nice view in front of you?



We first got some cakes there.


And frappuccinos.


Because it was Frappuccino Happy Hour, we got 5 drinks for the 3 of us.


 Afterwards we headed over to Taipeis famous Longshan temple.


It was pretty nice and quiet there, most people were praying.








Right next to the temple is another one of Taipeis famous nightmarkets:
Huaxi nightmarket.




I didn't like this nightmarkeet too much though, there weren't that many interesting looking dishes to be tried.


We tried oyster omelette there for the first time, and I gotta admit , i don't like it too much.
It just feels too...glibbery, too soft.



There's one thing this nightmarket is famous for: snake blood alley.
Yes you can actually drink snake blood there. And eat other things..we didn't try any of that, but they had snakes there for sure.



So that's it for today, hope you enjoyed this post.
Did you visit Taipei 101 and Longshan temple before, and if not, would you like to?

Love, Lydia 



2015/06/08

Taiwan Travel Diary #16: Shida nightmarket


Hey everyone~
Today I'll show you one of the nightmarkets in Taipei that is, surprisingly, not mainly famous for it's food.

Shida nightmarket (師大夜市)



How to get there:


Take subway line #3 (Green Line) to Taipower Building Station. 
Get out of exit 3, turn right twice and then you should reach Shida Road (師大路)
The market is along that road.


Shida nightmarket is named after the second best university in Taiwan, Taiwan National Normal University (called "Shida" ). Therefore it mostly caters to university students, and most of the stalls there sell fashionable, affordable clothes.


A lot of the shops sell "japanese" or "korean" style clothing. Which was probably bought in Wufenpu, but most clothes here are sold as "imported" from Korea or Japan in order to sell them more expensively. Thus, a lot of the stores include Korean in their names,



One store I really like there is Glad King:


The owner designs a lot of the items there himself, and they're pretty hilarious. I bought a T-shirt from them once, and it was pretty expensive (600NTD) but unique.
A lot of the designs feature Alpacas, such as Alpaca minions, or Captain Alpaca.












After shopping, my friends and I were quite hungry so we headed over to Ximen to get some food.
We ate Mango Bingsu first, but as I was still hungry I got some Udon afterwards.



That's it for today, hope you enjoyed this post~
Would you go shopping at Shida nightmarket?
Tell me in the comments below! :D

Love, Lydia