The Chicken Rice Shop 齊客來

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The Chicken Rice Shop is a chain store serving Hainanese Chicken and other south east asian fare with around 60 shops in locations in malaysia, singapore, the phillipines, and Taiwan. Their Hainanese Chicken is made with a hundred year old recipe containing 16 types of Herbs and spices. The Chicken Rice Shop is on the alleyway with JBSD Tofu and Go Go Pasta near the Zhong Xiao Dun Hwa MRT. Their Hainanese Chicken is very tender flavorful and a big portion at a very fair price (around 350 NT per person). This is kind of a family style restaraunt and not that good for dining solo. Grab a friend and try this place out if you're craving some Hainanese Chicken.

Address: 台北市敦化南路一段233巷19號
                 No. 19, Lane 233, Section 1, Dūnhuà South Rd, Daan District

Phone #: 02-2751-5342
Business Hours: 11:30-14:30, 17:30-22:30
Website: http://www.thechickenriceshop.com.tw/

Accepts Credit Cards: yes
Price Range:   $$$

Attire: casual

Good for kids: yes

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

Rating

Food Quality: 4 out of 5
Decor:  3.5 out of 5
Service: 3.5 out of 5
Overall: 3.67 out of 5
Recommendation: Great Hainanese Chicken

Review

Dazzling Thai Cafe

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Dazzling Thai Cafe is a spin-off from the popular Dazzling Cafe Restaurants, but they serve Thai food instead of general "western" food minus the honey toast. They still offer a selection of their popular well concocted drinks. You will generally spend about 500 NT a person to eat here, as their entrees are around 280 NT each. If you are lucky you can get their two person meal set that rings in at 980 NT, but I do not recommend it because the food is not that amazing. This place offers average "modern thai" food that is neither amazing or disgusting. The decor and service is unmistakably dazzling.

Address:  台灣台北市松山區復興南路一段39號
                 No. 39, Section 1, FùXìng South Rd, Songshan District
Phone #: 02-8773-9229
Business Hours: 11:00-9:30
Website: Dazzling Thai Cafe Facebook Page

Price Range:   $$$

Accepts Credit Cards: yes
Attire: casual

Good for kids: yes

Take out: yes
Waiter Service: yes
Outdoor seating:  yes
Alcohol: yes

Rating

Food Quality: 3 out of 5
Decor:  4 out of 5
Service: 4 out of 5
Overall: 3.67 out of 5
Recommendation: Average "Modern Thai" food in dazzling setting.

Review

Celestial Clay Jar 天罎

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Address: 台北市敦化南路一段295巷16號
                No. 16, Lane 295, Section 1, DūnHuà South Rd, Daan District
Phone #: 02-2709-6916
Business Hours: 11:30-21:30
Website: http://www.975.tw/

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: 3.5 out of 5
Decor:  3 out of 5
Service: 4 out of 5
Overall: 3.5 out of 5
Recommendation: Cheap late night eat, but not good.

Review

Celestial Clay Jar is a very traditionalesque chinese restaurant that offers many slowly cooked items from their special earthen cookware. They pride themselves in being very health conscious, and so their dishes are flavored just enough, but not overly oily and heavy. The average price of a dish is 250 NT, so you will probably spend about 500 NT a person here. The service staff seemed very friendly and recommended what they thought was the most poular dishes without feeling like they are pressuring you to purchase the most expensive items. Also, the server we had was very attentive to our needs and courteous in accomodating us. This is a very interesting place to dine especially for those who might want to try a light meal that is not flavorless.

Tokyo Sakaba 東京酒場

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Address: 高雄市五福三路152號
                No. 152, WǔFú 3rd Rd, Kaohsiung City
Phone #: 07-282-0818
Business Hours: 17:00-05:00
Website: N/A

Price Range:   $$

Accepts Credit Cards: yes

Attire: casual

Good for kids: yes

Take out: yes
Waiter Service: yes
Outdoor seating:  yes
Alcohol: yes

Rating

Food Quality: 2.5 out of 5
Decor:  3 out of 5
Service: 2.5 out of 5
Overall: 2.7 out of 5
Recommendation: Cheap late night eat, but not good.

Review

The Love River in Kaohsiung City is a very scenic and leisurely spot enjoy an evening stroll. Among the many dining options around this area, there is this 3 story building that radiates itself over its competitors on the riverside. Tokyo Sakaba is a 100 NT taiwanese stir fry restaurant that has a pretty stocked alcohol list, sake in particular. Most of the famaliar items from those "beer station", "hot stir fry" restaurants are offered here, but they are not very good renditions in comparison to the better establishments that exist in Taipei. Try some other restaurant if you are in the area because this place is more like a last resort.

Shin Yeh 欣葉

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Address: 台灣台北大安忠孝東路四段112號2F
                 No. 112 2F, Section 4, ZhōngXiào East Rd, Daan District
Phone #: 02-2752-9299
Business Hours: 11:00-15:00, 17:00-22:30
Website: http://www.shinyeh.com.tw/taiwan.asp.asp

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: 4 out of 5
Decor:  3.5 out of 5
Service: 3.5 out of 5
Overall: 3.67 out of 5
Recommendation: Upscale Traditional Taiwanese Restaurant

Review

Shin Yeh is a popular upscale Taiwanese Restaurant offering premium traditional Taiwanese fare in a comfortable surrounding with speedy service. Most of the dishes are around 400 NT, so you can probably get by with 600 NT per person. There are three other locations with the best one supposedly being the original location. The location in the East District is really packed and if you go without a reservation you will probably need to wait about 40 minutes until you can get a table, so call ahead to shorten your wait. If you want to try out this highly rated, high quality Taiwanese fare at a more traditional Taiwanese setting, pay Shin Yeh a visit.

Onion Flower 蔥花- OUT OF BUSINESS

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Address: 台灣台北大安忠孝東路四段201號2F
                 No. 201 2F, Section 4, ZhōngXiào East Rd, Daan District
Phone #: 02-2778-8712
Business Hours: 11:30-15:00, 17:00-23:00
Website: http://www.shinyeh.com.tw/taiwan_f.asp
                https://www.facebook.com/shinyeh.table#!/shinyeh.table

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: 4.5 out of 5
Decor:  4 out of 5
Service: 4.5 out of 5
Overall: 4.3 out of 5
Recommendation: Youthful Taiwanese Cuisine with Excellent Service
Review

Shin Yeh is a very well known restaurant that started out as an 11 table restaurant in northern Taipei, which then branched out into several locations and opened other types of restaurants such as Curry Champ and a Japanese Buffet. Onion Flower is a restaurant opened under the Shin Yeh brand that brings Taiwanese Cuisine to the public in a very vibrant and youthful way. Their food owns the well known quality and taste Shin Yeh has to offer, but also is given a more modern twist and eccentric naming. What impressed me the most about this place is that their service staff was very attentive to us and detail oriented. The price is around 500 a person for a extremely filling meal. Great Taiwanese food combined with modern Chinese dining space and excellent service is a recipe for a satisfying and enjoyable meal.

Shanghai Shanghai 紅豆食府

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Address: 台北市忠孝東路四段45號11樓
                No. 45, Section 4, ZhōngXiào East Rd, Daan District
Phone #: 02-2778-1088
Business Hours: 11:00-14:30, 17:00-21:30

Website: http://www.shanghaishanghai.com.tw/

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: 4 out of 5
Decor:  4 out of 5
Service: 4 out of 5
Overall: 4 out of 5
Recommendation: Good Shanghainese Cuisine in Modern Dining Space

Review

"Shanghai Shanghai" is an upper-mid level restaraunt that offers authentic Shanghainese Cuisine from its multiple locations in Taipei. "Shanghai Shanghai" offers an extensive menu with classic dishes like Dong Puo Pork and Wu Xi Ribs. For those who don't know or can't decide, they also have recommended family set meals where you get appetizers, dishes, soup and dessert for a price of $2550 NT for 3 people. They also provide lunch sets for 450 NT a person. In terms of their a la carte menu, most dishes average around 450 NT, but seafood and beef items tend to cost more. "Shanghai Shanghai" offers a classy Chinese family dining experience with a family friendly price tag.

Chao Fare Collective 潮品集

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Address: 台北市忠孝東路四段172號
                No. 172, Section 4, ZhōngXiào East Rd, Da-an District
Phone #: 02-2772-2687-9
Business Hours: Sun-Thurs: 11:30 – 14:30, 17:30 – 21:00
·                           Fri-Sat: 11:00 – 15:00, 17:30 – 21:00

Website: http://www.sanwant.com/

Price Range:   $$$$
Accepts Credit Cards: yes

Attire: semicasual

Good for kids: yes

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

Rating

Food Quality: 4 out of 5
Decor:  4 out of 5
Service: 5 out of 5
Overall: 4.3 out of 5
Recommendation: Upscale Chao Zhou Restaurant
Review

The Chao Fare Collective inside the San Want Hotel on Zhong Xiao East Rd is an upscale Chinese restaurant featuring the regional cuisine of Chao Zhou. Although part of the menu seems to be cantonese dim sum, most items in the front of the menu claim to be Chao Zhou cuisine. Chao Zhou Cuisine seems to be a little less salty and not so heavy. Also, it seems like most of the dishes have a sweet quality in them. The set meals all consist of shark fin soup, appetizers, entree, and a dessert starting from 980 NT. However, from now til 5/31/2011, you can try their all you can eat 880 NT per person special anniversary menu to try this restaurant out for a cheaper price. This special menu applied only to dinner hours only. Check this place out before this promotion is over.

Abundant Delicacy Brasserie 鼎珍坊

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Address: 台北市復興南路一段219巷1號1樓
　　　　No. 1, Lane 219, Section 1, FùXìng South Rd, Da-an District
Phone #: 02-2781-2518
Business Hours: 11:30~14:30, 17:30~21:30

Website: N/A

Price Range:   $$$
Accepts Credit Cards: no

Attire: semicasual

Good for kids: yes

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

Rating

Food Quality: 4 out of 5
Decor:  3.5 out of 5
Service: 4.5 out of 5
Overall: 4 out of 5
Recommendation: Quality Cantonese Food

Review

In the East District lies a quite popular Cantonese Food restaurant called Abundant Delicacy Brasserie (Ding鼎Jen珍Fang坊). They serve a wide assortment of Cantonese food from fried rice and pork legs to abalone dishes. The food seemed to be slightly oily, but the items are not generally too salty or spicy. Each dish is fairly expensive, all above 300NT per dish, and can go upwards to around 1500 NT for items like roast duck or seafood. They seem to have had a lot of celebrities eat at their restaurant, and their quality cooking is well known in this area. If you have some money to spend on pricier cantonese fare. Remember to bring more people with you because this restaurants seems to be more fitting for large groups.

Beautiful Garden 美觀園

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Address: 台北市萬華區峨嵋街36號
　　　　No. 36, ÉMéi St, Wanhua District Taipei City
Phone #:  02-2331-7000

Website: N/A

Price Range:   $$$
Accepts Credit Cards: idk

Attire: casual

Good for kids: yes

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

Rating

Food Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Decor:  3 out of 5
Service: 3 out of 5
Overall: 3.16 out of 5
Recommendation: Old-school Taiwanese-Japanese Fare
Review
Beautiful Garden is an old school Japanese restaurant located in the heart of Xi Men Ding. They have been open since 1946, which is when the first generation owner learned his craft from a Japanese chef who was around during the time Taiwan was a Japanese colony. Although the restaurant has passed hands to the new generation, their menu items are made in the spirit of their ancestors. Their sashimi is cut very thick and meaty. It is not a good entry level place for sashimi virgins, because their cuts make each bite undeniably fishy. The menu items can be very cheap with set meals for under 300, but if you want to splurge and get sashimi or rare nigiri like sea urchin, then your bill can rack up to the size of your belly. I think an average person can be satiated for under 1000 NT. This is the right place to try traditional Taiwanese-Japanese Fusion. I would not recommend this place for delicate Japanese food, but would guide hearty eaters towards this place. The decor and service are subpar, since they are super busy and don't have the time to remodel. However, bring your non-picky tourists here to get a feel of old-school fare and enjoy the bustling Xi Men Ding while you are at it.

Ten-Thousand Three 萬三

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Address:   高雄市旗津區中洲二路179之11號
                   No. 179-11, ZhōngZhōu 2nd Rd, Kaohsiung City

Phone #:  N/A
Website: N/A

Price Range:   $$

Accepts Credit Cards: no

Take out: yes

Waiter Service: no

Outdoor seating:  yes

Alcohol: no

Rating

Food Quality: 3 out of 5

Decor:  2 out of 5

Service: 2 out of 5

Overall: 2.33 out of 5

Recommendation: Very Cheap Seafood

Review

Southern Taiwan is filled with many delicious local delicacies and traditional Taiwanese snacks. Also, in the harbor city of Kaohsiung, seafood is a very popular fare. In the island of Ci Jin, there is a popular seafood restaurant called Ten-Thousand Three. It is usually very packed because of their extremely low prices. Each dish is around 100 NT, with the exception of some more expensive items maybe costing 50 NT more. The food is not gourmet, nor are the ingredients the freshest and cleanest. I would not recommend this place if it is your first and possibly only trip to the island, but it is noteworthy that it pleases the crowd that is on a budget.

Ninja 忍者

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Address:   台北市松山區市民大道四段129號
　　　　  No. 129, Section 4, ShìMín Blvd, Songshan District, Taipei                  

Phone #:  02-2577-3300
Website: http://www.ninja-tw.com/
Price Range:   $$$$

Accepts Credit Cards: yes

Attire: casual

Good for kids: no

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

Rating

Food Quality: 4 out of 5
Decor:  5 out of 5
Service: 5 out of 5
Overall: 4.67 out of 5
Recommendation: Entertaining Ninja Themed Japanese Restaurant
Review
Tired of the same old boring Japanese food places with similar food and uninspiring ambience? Go to Ninja! This ninja-themed Japanese Restaurant will revolutionize your Japanese Cuisine experience. Is the food great? No, but its actually pretty good. The price per person and presentation sure makes up for the fact that Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto isn't preparing your monkfish tableside. For about 600 NT per person, you can have a unique dining experience in Taipei with all the smoke and mirrors alongside your sashimi. Each plate is sure to inspire awe and WTFness. Tourists should give this place a gander, and locals could seriously use some time relaxing at this joint. Even though they say the meal is 600 NT per person, ration in some alcohol and service fee for about 1000 NT per person. You are truly eating the decor, service, and atmosphere when you enter. Click "read more" to see how amazing this place is!

Concelebration Low-Rise 北平同慶樓

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Address:    台北市敦化南路二段168號

                  No 168 Section 2, DūnHuà South Rd, Da-an District

Phone #:    02-2739-6611

Website: http://www.latour.com.tw/cgi/advt/tongchin/index.htm

Price Range:   $$

Accepts Credit Cards: yes

Attire: casual

Good for kids: no

Take out: yes

Waiter Service: yes

Outdoor seating:  no

Alcohol: yes

Rating

Food Quality: 4 out of 5

Decor:  3.5 out of 5

Service: 4 out of 5

Overall: 3.8 out of 5

Recommendation: Fairly good family style meals.

Review
Concelebration Low-Rise is a restaurant featuring northern Chinese cuisine. They serve family style meals with dishes ranging from 150-1100. The price is dependant on how well you want to eat. They have a wide menu offering  flour-based foods, clay pot stews, and stir fried dishes. Sadly, I did not try the Roast Duck Three Ways, which costs around  1100 NT. That dish should be the iconic dish of the place, as Concelebration Low-Rise specifically represents Beijing cuisine. This is a good restaurant for a family style meal. Their dishes use fresh ingredients, and the sauces used were not too heavy. The clientele are mostly locals, so you can be assured that you are getting decent food at a fair price.