Harmful Substance, DEHP Found in Taiwan's Bubble Tea

All of us was suprised when we got to know that most of the bottled drinks in Taiwan is cotaminated by the so called industrial used toxic material, DEHP. According to The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cited reports that DEHP was illegally added to some food products in Taiwan to improve its emulsification.

Report says that FDA is currently monitoring high-risk products from Taiwan (sports drinks, fruit juices and soft drinks) to ensure that they are safe for customers. High doses of DEHP or to repeated exposure can lead to testicular defects, fertility problems and toxicity to kidneys.

Meantime, in Chatime Malaysia website, it also release a notice mentioning that they are taking precaution measures on the ingredients and they also have temporily delisted the Pasion Fruit drink series from their menu. The rest of the series are safe for consumption according to the website. You can view the notice from here http://http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=203484093028909&set=a.141454669231852.22597.141195309257788&type=1&ref=nf

This post serves a notice to all visitors that visits my blog. Hopefully this issue can be resolved soon. Will update the blog again if any latest news.

Taiwan Snacks - Yummy!

I considered our 8 days trip to Taipei in April was a sinful yet satisfied food fiest trip. Almost everyday we go to explore foods and snacks no matter where we go. Apart from the famous bubble tea and chicken chop, we also found our favourite fast food chain, MOS burger in Taipei. Seems like they dominant in Taipei compared to other fast food chains like KFC and McD.

Anyway for this post, i would like to share some of the snacks that we tried at Taipei. It is just part of them. At times we are too eager to try the food till forgotten to snap any picture. =)

1) A simple & hygienic way to store plastic spoons. Just press down and a spoon will come out.

2) A wide block of 'kuih". Not sure the name. Tasted like 'shui kuih" in Singapore or carrot cake. Eat together with their home-made sweet sauce.

3) Fried Hisnchu Rice Vermicelli with some stewed meat topping. Yummy. Hsinchu is famous with their rice vermicelli with it's springy taste.

4) Instant hot pot. Common scene at Taipei. Available in all 7-11 stores and food courts.

5) Shilin Chicken Chop - Long queue. Worth to try.

6) Fried Oyster with Egg. Different from the one in Malaysia. With some sauce on top of it.

Gong Cha - Another Taiwanese Bubble Tea

During our shopping at The Garden over the weekend, we came across the newly opened Gong Cha that is located at 2nd floor. We decided to give it a try.

The cafe enviroment was neat and table with seats are provided for Gong Cha customer to enjoy their drinks. We ordered the most basic drink at the counter, the Milk Tea with Pearl (RM 5.90). Like Chatime, we can choose the sugar level (regular, 50% sweetness, 30% little sugar and 0% no sugar). Additional toppings will be charged separately.


Compared to Chatime, Chatime has more varities in their menu and taste is almost the same except for their pearls. I prefer pearls from Chatime as they serve bigger size pearls.
Nevertheless, it is worth to give a try at Gong Cha after a tired shopping at The Gardens. They also have an outlets at SS15. For more details, you can visit their website at (http://www.gong-cha.com.my/)

Chatime - Taiwan Bubble Tea

We got addicted with bubble tea when we first drank it at Taipei during our trip. We ended almost a cup of bubble tea daily during the few days stay at Taipei. After back to KL, we constantly search for cafe that serves the authentic bubble tea that has the same flavour or just close to the taste that we had back in Taipei.

We came across Chatime for the first time when we are at Pavillion for movie. Chatime was just located opposite of the GSC cinema in Pavillion and is having a good business. Therefore, we decided to give it a try. Chatime is actually a franchise from Taiwan that have various franchise outlets around the world. Bubble tea at Chatime is different from the one that we normally see in our pasar malam. Every of it ingredients are directly import from Taiwan and serves an aunthentic taste of bubble tea (similar taste that we drank at Taipei).

Highly recommended drinks at Chatime: Pearl Milk Tea & Taiwan Plum Ice. Dont forget to ask for pearls. =). Price ranges from RM 5.90. Additional RM 1 for pearls and other toppings.

Currently they have outlets at Pavillion, Sunway Pyramid, The Gardens, SS2 Mall and etc. You can login to their website for more information (www.chatime.com.my).Do drop by their outlets and try their Peal Bubble tea.

Taipei Top 5 Must Visit - National Palace Museum

I used to have the perception that "museum" is a a boring place where one could see the artifacts as in vases, paintings and etc. That's what came across my mind too when my partner told me that National Palace Museum is one of the "must visit" at Taipei too.

It is said that National Palace Museum is one of the largest collection of ancient Chinese artifacts. The collection encompasses over 8,000 years of Chinese history from the Neolithic age to the late Qing Dynasty [Wikipedia]. Most of the collection are high quality pieces collected by China's ancient emperors including the famous Emperor Qian Long.

We got to know that the Museum is open to public for FREE on every Saturday evening (5pm-8.30pm). Thus we grab this opportunity to visit the musuem before our visit to nearby Shilin Night Market (stay tuned for next post). There are many artifacts to see in the 3 floors museum and we couldn't manage to go through all the floors. Every items are very interesting and each with detailed descriptions. Vistors can opt to get an audio device from the counter that comes with pre-recorded explainations on each artifacts. The "must visit" artifact in the museum is the most famous 3 Tressure of the Museum.

According to Wikipedia, the 3 Tressures has been chosen by the public as the most important item in the museum's entire collection. Due to the photograpghy is prohibited in the museum, i uploaded the 2 Tressures images (got from web) that we managed to visit.

The Jadeite Cabbage

The Meat-shaped Stone

To get to National Palace Museum, take MRT to Shilin Station. From Shilin Station, take bus R30 (Red 30) / 255 / 304 to the museum.

For more information, feel free to visit their official website www.npm.gov.tw/en/home.htm

KLM - Charity Tulip Sale 2011

KLM used to import fresh tulips from Netherlands annually for sale as charity event. We got to know that they are selling the tulips at Sg. Wang a day earlier and we decided to drop by to buy some tulips for our mother since tomorrow is Mother's Day. According to KLM, the tulip sale will be channelled to young cancer patients through the Children’s Cancer Fund (CCF) at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC. Therefore it is a meaningful event and same time we can get something special for our mum. =)
KLM is flying in 3,000 freshly plucked tulips according to their official website and this year’s highlight will be 300 stalks of the unique Tulipa ‘Black Hero’. The tulips are sold at RM5 per stalk, while the price of the limited edition ‘Black Hero’ will be RM10 per stalk. The sale start at 11am onwards and we reached Sg. Wang about 11.15am. The queue was long when we reached and we waited for 1.5hours before our turn to get the tulips. There are various colors and different spesis of tulips available for sale today.

Taipei Top 5 Must Visit - Hello Kitty Cafe

Taipei indeed a great place for food and shopping. In fact is on par with Hong Kong & Japan. Initially i bought a ticket to Japan from our local budget airline with plan to enjoy the Sakura season which i have waited for long time. But the plan was cancelled when Fukushima was landed with serious earthquake and later follow by radiation issue. To cut the story short, i changed my plan to Taipei instead.

Hello Kitty Cafe is one of the "must visit" place when you are in Taipei. This entire pink themed cafe was decorated with Hello Kitty icon. Once enter the cafe, you will amazed with the Hello Kitty dessert that was displayed at the dessert corner. We went there for lunch that day and we ordered the set lunch of the day which comprise a choice of salad, appetizer, soup & bun, main course, dessert & a drink. It is advisable to make a reservation for a table before dine in as we saw people queuing up for tables.

Hello Kitty Dessert

Although i'm not a Hello Kitty fans, i was amazed with the cafe interior as well as the food served. Food taste is good and was carefully decorated with Hello Kitty icon. Do drop by the cafe when you are at Taipei.

Baked Escargot with Cheese. Yummy!

Main Course Spaghetti with White Wine & Kelp

Hello Kitty Caramel Pudding

You can visit their website for more details (http://www.hellokittysweets.com.tw/). Opening hours:11.30am - 10.00pm. Price: Minimum spending of NT 300 for each person.

New Chapter

It's been quite some time since my last post in 2009. Many thing has happenned and changed during this 2 years. Now only i realise that to run a blog is not easy. One need to be discipline and creative to update their blog from time to time.

Out of sudden today, i thought of my blog which i have abandoned for quite some time. Suddenly i have the rush to update the blog. I just got back from Taipei trip and i shall update in my blog some of the delicacy that i have eaten during the trip and also interesting places that i have visited.

Stay tuned!