Kiwi Gourmet Burgers (KGB)

Nearest MRT Station: 捷運台電大樓 (Taipower Building) Take exit 3, turn right and cross the street. Take a right, walk about 50 meters and take the second street on your left.

Information: Every once in a while you want to eat a big, juicy burger, and you don’t want to have that disgusting guilty feeling that you get after eating McDonalds or Burger King. For those people there is a nice, small burger place hidden in an alley near Taipower Building MRT station. The menu holds a variety of options including beef, chicken, lamb and vegetarian burgers. All burgers are accompanied by either french fries or a small salad. They have a few wild creations on the menu that are certainly worth a try, but even for the less adventurous among us there is plenty of choice. Go for a traditional cheeseburger or try the Kiwi Burger with pineapple, beetroot and egg. The burgers are served without sauce so the ingredients keep their natural flavors, but you can, of course, put some sauce on them. If you don’t fancy a burger, you can always go for one of the delicious salads to which you can add grilled chicken or a lentil patty. Sarah is a big fan of these, and I have to say that they have a surprisingly refreshing taste. I didn’t like their milkshakes too much. The taste of the banana milkshake was quite plain and not really sweet either. If you happen to still be hungry after the burger, try one of their warm brownies with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. Those really make my belly happy.

Rating: Good burger and salad place for a decent price. Expect to pay around NTD 300. During the weekdays there is a daily burger special so keep an eye out for those. The service, however, is so-so.

Categories: Restaurants

Kushi Bar

Kushi Bar: Izakaya

Nearest MRT Station: Kushi Bar is located between Zhongxiao Fuxing Station and Zhongxiao Dunhua Station. Click on ‘location’ to see the exact address or check their website to find out about their other locations.

Information: Kushi bar is a popular Japanese izakaya (sort of bar that also sells tasty food) in Taipei so it is recommended to make a reservation, especially if you are planning to go there on a Friday or Saturday. Although we had made a reservation it turned out we had gone to the wrong restaurant from this chain. One of the waiters hailed a taxi for us, explained the driver where it was and he also paid the taxi fare for us. Great service!
The restaurant was really cozy and has long wooden tables and bar seats. We were seated at the bar and had a good view of the kitchen. There are a lot of dishes on the menu and many grilled meat options also have a more luxurious option in the form of better quality meat. There is no need to order all your food in one go. So we picked a few dishes that looked appealing, while keeping an eye on the grill in front of us to see if anything else looked good. The first round consisted of a yakitori assortment (literally grilled chicken); chicken breast, chicken neck, wings and heart. In addition, we had some grilled beef and kimchi. All of the meat was incredibly tender and really tasty; just what one would expect of a grill restaurant. We noticed that the service wasn’t as great after ordering again. The dishes took way longer to arrive; most likely due to it being really busy. We had some fish and vegetables (fried) that were both nice, but when we were about to leave some more dishes we had ordered suddenly arrived. I guess we had just totally forgotten about them as it is sometimes quite difficult to keep track of all the small dishes you’ve ordered. Overall, I would say that it is really authentic and it really felt like I was back in Japan.

  

Rating: Delicious, but also very pricy. Expect to spend at least 800 dollars per person and this only includes one not too expensive drink. If you don’t order one of the bigger dishes (yakisoba or a donburi) your stomach might not be too satisfied. Best thing of the night for me was the foie gras with beef on a stick.

Categories: Restaurants