Hello Kitty Cafe - Taipei, Taiwan

I have to admit, I like Hello Kitty. I know I'm a bit too old but I don't care. Heck if Hello Kitty was a real person (er cat?) she'd be the same age as me! I don't buy a great deal of HK things (in fact I have hardly any) but I really enjoy looking at HK things in stores and when I heard a new cafe had just opened in Taipei I had to go there! What were the chances that I was in Taipei at the same time? Of course I couldn't miss this opportunity!

First of all, let me backtrack a bit. When I went to Taiwan in Feb '05, my cousin (10 years older, on my mother's side) took us to Danshui and we ate at a HK cafe. It was really nice and cosy, and the food/tea there was delicious. I was dying to get back there. This time, I took my other cousin (6 years younger, on my father's side) back to Danshui and show her this great cafe. Well, we got there and were sorely disappointed to discover it does not exist anymore! Boohoo. Downstairs there is still a HK gift store, the upstairs cafe has now turned into a Japanese toy store. Hmm..

Anyway, here is a pic of the cute house-shaped cake we had at the cafe back in 2005.



And here is a selection of pics I took of the NEW Taipei HK cafe. More can be found in my Flickr photos (click any of the photos in the right hand column on this page).













This cafe opened on 18th January, 2008. I was giddy with excitement when I finally arrived there. I was so proud of myself I had just come from the Core Pacific City Living Mall and managed to read lots and lots bus signs (all with traditional Chinese characters) and figure out which bus I could take to get me there. There was only one bus that could get me there and luckily I didn't have to wait long for it.

I was very disappointed when told I'd have to wait at least 1.5 hours for a seat! There were already lots of people waiting and apparently you should book. I was so disappointed, I left empty handed and didn't even buy anything to take away :(

I did spend a while in there taking photos though (LOL). I absolutely loved the decor. My sister will tell you that growing up I was obsessed with pink and everything in my bedroom had to be pink or white so this interior was like my dream bedroom... (sigh).

Please book before you go otherwise you will have to wait hours. This cafe is very popular!


Hello Kitty Sweets

台北市大安路一段90號

90 Da'An Road, Taipei, Taiwan

(Da'An Road is across the road and perpendicular to the big Sogo department store on 45 Zhongxiao East Road (Sec. 4)).

Ph: (02) 2711-1132

Our sixth month wedding anniversary...

Last night we celebrated our 6th month anniversary. We were to-ing and fro-ing about which restaurant to go to. It is always so hard to choose because they are just SO many here! We were going to go to a fancy one but it was raining and a bit horrible so we decided just to go to a cheapish one, more like a cafe, serving Western-style dishes. We already have their menu in a home delivery booklet so we knew the types of dishes they had and it seemed to have good reviews online.

We decided to go to Wagas on Huaihai Rd (not the one in the picture)

As soon as we walked in I was really happy because 1) it did not reek of smoke (in fact the whole place was non-smoking, a rarity and a treasure in China!) 2) there were lots of people on laptops (free wireless?) and it just reminded me so much of home. The only thing that gave it away that we were in China was the bilingual menu and all Chinese staff.

There were 4 people with laptops and 2 of them had macs (a fairly high ratio I would say!) that made me feel like it was even more like 'home' haha.

I was very impressed and humbled when a guy sitting next to us, typing on his Mac laptop, was speaking to the waitress in fluent Mandarin. But not only was it fluent, it was quite complicated business-like jargon. I actually didn't even really know what he was saying as it was far beyond my level of comprehension. In that precise moment I felt ashamed and embarrassed that I, with my Chinese background, and him with his American or wherever (Western country) background could speak such great Mandarin! (and not to mention read and type it too).

What better way to console myself than going across the road to the Pacific department store (gotta love the 10pm closing time every night) and going shoe shopping! It was packed as usual and the sales are so great. Eg 50% off then another 20% off. And beautiful soft leather, both inner and upper. My size is also right in the middle of the range and very common (whereas in Australia I can hardly ever buy anything because they just don't make my size or have sold out of it). They were 890 RMB (AU$140) down to 350 RMB ($55) which is freakin' expensive for China but the quality is so good, and leather so soft, like Italian shoes.

Oh btw the food was absolutely scrumptious and now I have read more from the site I just posted, I had a good reason why it felt so much like 'home'. Because the manager is Chinese Australian and there is definitely the Australian connection there... :)