Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea at Madam Rose in Dongqu.  We walked in to find an incredibly beautiful antique interior surrounding us--as if we walked into a different era!  The downstairs was closed for renovation so we were brought up to the second floor for our tea time. 

Our cozy little room for six.  Comfy antique sofas for us to lounge in.  

View from the bottom. 

The most amazing part of this experience; everything was served on Versace china.  Intricate detailing on each piece.  However, if you somehow break a tea cup set, you'll end up owing the restaurant $800 for each. 

Our afternoon tea sampler.  Little bits and pieces for us to sample everything!  Starting from the bottom with savory finger foods, working our way to the top with mini desserts and fruits. 

Fresh raisin scone with Madam Rose jam, mini smoked chicken wrap, mini sandwich, baked quiche, and what I'm guessing is pate on top of a butter cracker.  Should've paid more attention to the menu! 

Madam Rose iced fruit tea. 

Love the winged handle detailing and decorated tea pot. 

Vanilla earl grey milk tea.  

Tuna salad and waffle.  Interesting combination that tasted heavenly.  The waffle looked a little overdone but it was actually cooked to perfection! Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, paired perfectly with the chilled tuna salad and lettuce.  

Same as above but with smoked chicken salad. 

Mini almond macaron.  Note the plate in the back!  Such gorgeous detailing. 

Not sure what this dessert was called but I feel like I see it everywhere.  The consistency inside was similar to a bread pudding, moist and airy.  

Custard pudding with mango sauce. 

Assorted mixture of fruits consisting of pineapple, guava, grape, dragon fruit, and watermelon. 

Dinner time--my first time trying the not-fried version of stinky tofu, which is supposedly even more potent than its' fried counterpart.  I can't say it's the last time I'll ever have this but let's just say I probably won't have it again for a long time x__x

Can't get enough of Mister Donut!! It still amazes me how they can get a donut to be so delicious and chewy. 

The local Taiwanese version of KFC.  Drumstick and fried Taiwanese sticky rice.  

Passing by the natural hot springs on our way to the movie theater.  Steamy! 

My love again.  Original glazed donuts and iced matcha milk tea. 

Movie snacks for four!  Caramel corn, Mister Donut, hot dog with Caesar sauce and cheese, iced coffees and a Coke.  Yum! I looove eating while watching movies :D 

Me third wheeling in this picture.  

Dinner downstairs at the food court in Shin Kong San Yue.  Bolognese, corn chowder, and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.  

Updating the blog while snacking on hot pepper flavored tiedan from our trip to Tamsui.  They're something along the lines of hard boiled, marinated quail eggs. 

Tamsui Daytrip.

Took a semi-spontaneous day trip to Tamsui!  Just a couple stations down the red line and we were there.  A very scenic journey along the way--a big difference from the regular Taipei city I've been seeing every day.  There were actually fields and GREEN! scenery out the MRT windows while we were traveling alongside the Tamsui River. 

Right outside the Tamsui metro station.  Already seeming a lot more spacious than the rest of Taipei & much prettier than I had imagined. 

A cute dessert shop in the MRT station. 

Creme filled coy fish pastries.  Original and matcha flavored. 

Just to show how many people were here on a Saturday.  This entire park was filled with tourists and locals alike.  We even saw some aboriginals!

A very talented young musician singing traditional Taiwanese songs. 

Us with a part of the Tamsui River behind us.  We got there right before the sunset. 

Part of the dock that led straight down into the water. 

The beginning of a LONG string of street food adventures.  Our first stop--corn dogs with brush on sauces. 

The basket of quail eggs he was cracking into the skillet. 

Mini corndog. 

With a red sausage! This definitely tasted very different from the American corndogs we're used to. 

One of the many game shops along the River. 

Waited in a long line for this so we assumed it would be good.  And it was! Plain sweetened black tea.  1000cc (EXTRA large) for $25NT!

Beef wrapped green onion stand. 

Delicious lamb skewers with Mongolian spices.  3 for $100NT.

Candy coated tomatoes, strawberries and blueberries. 

Whilst trying my first candy coated tomato.  Went with the tomato since it's supposedly the original one that came out first.  A very interesting combination of savory, sweet, and crunchiness from the candy shell. 

Mini sausages. 

Looking back towards the place we started from.  We pretty much ate our way through this street, and we weren't even all the way through yet.

Ginormous cone of green milk tea frozen yogurt. 

Walking over to the night market side of Tamsui.  Very packed!

Spongebob themed pastries on a stick.  Didn't seem rather appetizing at the moment. 

Green onion pancake with egg, cheese and corn.  Especially good at this stand! 

Takoyaki and lemon flavored frog eggs.  Kidding, they're some kind of drink add-in that I can't be too sure of what it actually is.  

One of the many boats waiting on the dock along the Tamsui River. 

Fried milk.  Seemed a little strange but we gave it a try and it ended up being very delicious.  A soft fried shell with a sweet, creamy filling.  

At a famous scallop stand. 

We chose a basil pesto topping on ours.  The first bite was so-so and the second bite was delicious.  Go figure?

We ended up leaving Tamsui around 7:30pm which gave us more time to explore elsewhere.  So we decided to revisit Qsquare after our failed first attempt!  This is a look up from the 2nd floor.  

The view from the escalator down to the third floor.  Gorgeous.  Almost too gorgeous to be in a shopping mall! 

Disney + macarons?  Am I dreaming?

Nope these are definitely real. One of the cutest desserts I've seen so far. 

And then we passed the macaron case and I couldn't resist. 

Our second time trying a blueberry cheese macaron, at a different shop.  Still delicious but very different from the one at ATT4Fun. 

Conclusion of the day--Extra spicy beef noodle ramen and watching Transformers for the first time.  I can't believe I didn't watch it when it came out in theaters!  Amazing movie.