Kaffee Amadeus

 

Profile

Address: 台北市市府路45號4樓
                 No. 45, Shi Fu Rd 4F, Sinyi District
Phone #: 02-8101-7625
Business Hours: 10:00~22:00 (Guesstimation)
Website: http://www.kaffeeamadeus.com/

Price Range:   $$$

Accepts Credit Cards: yes

Attire: casual

Good for kids: yes

Take out: yes
Waiter Service: yes
Outdoor seating:  no
Alcohol: yes

Rating

Food Quality: 3 out of 5
Decor:  4 out of 5
Service: 3.5 out of 5
Overall: 3.5 out of 5
Recommendation: Comfortable but Pricey Coffee Shop

Review

Kaffe Amadeus is an Austrian style coffee shop offering various beverages, meals, and desserts hailing from a Viennese influence. The name Amadeus pays homage to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who is a cultural icon of the Classical era in Vienna. However, the store models its dining space over the Baroque period in Viennese history and thus results in a lovely and splendid area to enjoy a cup of Viennese Coffee over some Apple Strudel. This is a popular spot for foreigners to take a break from meandering around the Taipei 101.


Since it was my first time dining here, I felt that I needed to start off with something they would recommend. It seemed like the 360 NT Afternoon Tea set should be the way to go to try out this place. I was deathly wrong, and I ended up with an experience that was not as good as I would have liked. If I ever go again I will order a la cart, asking them to add less frothy milk to the Viennese Coffee Melange and try an Apple Strudel or something more Viennese than what I got. The Afternoon Tea set costs 360 NT, and comes with a coffee of choice, 3 "Viennese Cookies", and a cake of choice. I chose the Truffle Layered Cake because it was the most popular item according to the server. They have about 4 servers buzzing around the dining space taking orders, busting tables, and bringing the food. The service is pretty good here, but they don't have a very smooth operation because there isn't a dedicated hostess so it is quite confusing how to to get seated. Especially since the area is so spread out as it is in the 101 location.

Here is the Vienna Melange paired with 3 Viennese Cookies. I was not a big fan of these cookies because they were semisoft and chewy, and not so aromatic. They didn't have that loose crunchiness that I prefer in my shortbread cookies. These tasted as if they have been sitting out for a while, collected the humidity of the Taiwanese air. They weren't compeletly soft like a snickerdoodle, nor were they crunchy/chewy. The flavor of the dough itself wasn't sweet enough, and I would have prefered Pillsbury Sugar Cookies at this point. I do not recommend getting the Tea set because these 3 cookies are a waste of NT. The coffee itself was nothing that special. Half of it was viennese coffee, and the other half was frothy milk. I did not like that it was mostly froth, and I despaired because this Vienna Melange was the only item that was not espresso based, I would just prefer it straight if possible. Or a 3:1 coffee to milk ratio.

hat

This Truffle Cake was not bad, and it went well with the coffee. It was too much for me to handle on my own because I kind of get sick of the extremely rich chocolate after a few bites. I pretty much could not enjoy it fully after eating half of the cake but trudged my way through the cake just so I was overtly wasteful (I only took two or three bites out of each cookie). I guess I could have seen this coming since I am not so big on desserts to begin with. I can handle icecream, jello, and such, but when it comes to cake I am just not that interested.

However, although the food here is only mediocre in my opinion, I think the dining space and the service compensates for that shortcoming. This really is a comfortable place to sit down and relax in a velvety booth as an intermission to further shopping. The dining space is styled in the Baroque sense, and gives it an air of elegance that you can condone whatever is placed in front of you. I don't think it is too fair to judge this place on this one afternoon set, but I will have to come back and try their apple strudel, ice cream, and other beverages before I can raise the food rating for this place. I would prefer Starbucks Drip over their Viennese Coffee, and even Starbucks cookies tastes better than theirs. I don't strongly recommend making a trip to this place, but if you are already in the 101 and don't feel like walking too far for coffee...Kaffe Amadeus is not a bad option.