Taiwan just moved to Downtown 

Sometimes you need to step out of your daily grind and experience something new, something unique and something absolutely organic. That’s what we did tonight at the menu tasting for Taipei D’ao Teahouse Restaurant & Cafe. Offering indulgent Taiwanese cuisine with a health factor imbibed in their ingredients and style of cooking, this restaurant is a hidden gem.
Owner Felice extended her warm hospitality and led us on a wonderful Taiwanese culinary journey, sharing some of her well kept trade secrets and healthy tips. Her enthusiasm, friendly attitude and passion for food are worth their weight in gold.

Detox Water – Preparing 52 different concoctions for 52 weeks of the year, the detox water at Taipei Dao Teahouse Restaurant & Cafe is a miraculous surprise. From weight loss and detoxifying your system to giving you a younger looking skin and silkier hair, Felice has it all. The detox for this week is recommended for improved digestion keeping in line with Ramadan.
Featuring a base of brown germinated rice – for its Vitamin B complex, this flavorful cooler contains pieces of Chinese yam – used in Chinese medicine for its anti-aging properties, celery, kale, grapefruit, strawberry and grapes. Felice insists that the ingredients be soaked for at least 5 hours if not overnight, which is why this complimentary drink is served only if booked a day in advance.
It’s cold and refreshing while also offering anti-oxidants that are meant to activate enzymes in your body. Make sure you drink this before your food arrives though!

Garlic Golden Tofu Cubes – I have to be honest, I have never really ordered a tofu dish before, and I had a pretty bad experience with soy milk a long time back, so I was not really sure whether I should look forward to trying out this soy version of cheese.
But well, well, after popping in one of these, I ran out of words to describe the utter deliciousness of this starter. Extremely light and fresh, these tofu cubes were lightly stir-fried and flavored with aromatic garlic and garnished with spring onion and spicy red chilies. The cubes were served with a house special chili oil dip, pickled cucumbers and fragrant soy sauce.
Just so you know, the Taipei Dao Teahouse Restaurant & Café houses their own deli where you can purchase a variety of authentic organic Taiwanese cuisine essentials including tea, grains, deep sea salt, oil, vinegar, condiments & sauces, and a lot more. They also have a lovely in-house bakery that dishes out tasty delights and healthy treats from muffins and cakes to gluten-free pastries.

Osmanthus Tea Vegetarian Dumplings – Its almost unfair to go to a Taiwanese restaurant and not have these. Conceptualized in a teahouse environment, these dim sums at Taipei Dao Teahouse Restaurant & Café exuded their own tea brilliance. Infused with Osmanthus Oolong tea, these slimy dumplings were stuffed with a combination of pok choy, mushrooms, bamboo shoot, sesame oil and dried tofu. Not your regular dumpling filling, isn’t it?
Needless to say, these organically made healthy dim sums were extremely tender and the filling was exceptionally flavorful. Plus they were presented in a wonderful brown thatch steamer basket, and if you know me, perfect presentation always adds brownie points wherever I eat.
Apart from these, their dumpling menu also features other exo-tea-c variations like Green Tea Prawn Chives Dumplings and Jasmine Tea Chicken Shu Mai. Definitely going back to try them all!

Chin Hsuan Tea Seafood Rolled in Tofu Skin – Another example of ‘miss-it-and-you’ll-regret-it’ dish, these fried dim sums at Taipei Dao Teahouse Restaurant & Café came with their own set of unique flavors. These spring rolls, as they are commonly known, featured a mixture of prawns, celery, leek and coriander that was fused with Chin Hsuan Oolong tea and rolled in a deliciously light and flaky tofu skin. Extremely crispy on the outside, the tofu skin added an appetizing layer.
Thanks to the brilliance of polyphenol and antioxidant enriched tea-seed oil, that is used in most of the cooking, even though these dim sums were deep fried, there was no greasiness to them. The prawns were a perfect combination of crunchy and tender – just the way I love them, and the interesting vegetable stuffing made the spring rolls all the more appealing.
You could also opt for Dragon Well Tea chicken or vegetable spring rolls and experiment with a different tea flavor.

Forever Young Yam – Aptly named, this dish contained all the elements required to keep you looking young and healthy. From the exotic Chinese yam and anti-oxidant goji berries, to the classic carrots, beans, baby corn and mushrooms, everything in this dish had its own unique flavor that stood out on its own without owerpowering the other ingredients.
Traditionally used in Chinese medicine, the yam from the region comes packed with anti-aging goodness. This hero ingredient of the dish features a generous quantity of glyco-protein which makes it sticky. When consumed, this protein creates a protective layer lining the walls of your stomach and intestines, preventing harmful chemicals from being absorbed into your bloodstream. Now that’s some real good stuff, both, in terms of knowledge and food, isn’t it?
What made me fall in love with this dish were the diamond shaped slices of ginger that dotted the veggies. Their crunchy texture and aromatic flavor took the dish to a whole new level.

Mixed 5 Grains Rice – How would you like a serving of rice that’s absolutely guilt-free? Keeping in line with their concept and the traditional Chinese roots, Taipei Dao Teahouse Restaurant & Café ensure they have an abundant supply of grains to feed the stomach, yet without any unhealthy effects. All their grains are imported from Taiwan, and they have a strict policy of no white rice. So much so, that the brown rice they use is specially germinated which makes the grain more active and beneficial for your system.
Thanks to their no MSG policy and the use of pure Pacific Ocean sea salt that comes from a depth of 662 meters, you don’t have to worry about consuming harmful chemicals and pollutants that often adulterate the best of foods. In addition to grains, this version of fried-rice also contains the basics of carrots, lettuce, egg and spring onion.
The portions at Taipei Dao are extremely generous and the prices so pocket-friendly, it makes the perfect choice for a large gathering over good food and amidst a pleasant atmosphere.

Stir-fried Tofu with Ham – Vegetarian? No problem! This creatively crafted stir fry at Taipei Dao Teahouse Restaurant & Café makes the use of veg ham, or soy ham to replace the actual meat. It combines shredded tofu, onions and spring onions along with the “ham” in a deliciously savory soy sauce base. We already know about their tea-seed oil, which is twice as good as the best olive oil available. And when it comes to their condiments, there is no doubt they have the freshest, most organic ingredients at hand, sourced from the most authentic suppliers.
And let me assure you, the soy ham tasted just like the meaty counterpart. I honestly wouldn’t have guessed the difference had I not been told about it. Although it might have given my vegetarian bestie something new to experience; and possibly a new something to go back for!
Did you know? Felice is so passionate about the food offered at Taipei Dao, she believes in being involved at every level. Infact, she and her husband, go on an ingredient search quite a few times every year to source the best produce from around the world for her restaurant. Now that kind of dedication shows how much care and love is put into the food you are served.

Salted Crispy Pepper Chicken – The name says it all, doesn’t it? But this is not your usual fried chicken that’s covered with grease and stuffed with hormones. And the difference is reflected in the ingredients as well as the taste.
You know I love chicken, so its only fair that I had something with lots of chicken in it. And not just any chicken, because Taipei Dao Teahouse Restaurant & Café uses free-range chicken, that’s not injected with any kind of harmful hormones. So instead of adding extra fat to your body, the sole purpose of this dish is to allow you to experience the unique salt and pepper flavors from the heart of Taiwan. What’s more, this deep fried chicken is not coated with the usual corn flour. It is infact coated in sweet potato flour which contains no starch, no colors, no additives and no preservatives. This makes the chicken crust so much more crunchy. Now that’s a whole lot of healthy, organic stuff in one bite, isn’t it?
Garnished with two of my favorite ingredients – fried basil and spicy red chilies, the chicken was served with paprika and white pepper powder for that extra spicy kick.

This lovely shot of rice vinegar at the end of the main course serves the same purpose that the detox water did at the beginning of the meal.
Diluted in cold water, it has a strong tangy albeit refreshing taste and is meant to replace bodily enzymes.
The deli at Taipei Dao Teahouse Restaurant and Cafe stocks a variety of these organic vinegar including the likes of apple, lavender, rosemary, lime and plum vinegar.

Nothing’s complete without a sweet ending, and who could possibly say no to a choco lava cake, right? This deliciously creamy lava cake had all the elements that made it perfect – the soft and scrumptious outer layer, the oozing melted chocolate within and the pairing with a scoop of ice cream. This decadent organic cake was made with sweet potato flour, Swiss dark chocolate and organic palm sugar, which brought down the guilt quotient considerably.
The ice cream wasn’t just a simple vanilla, it was infact one of their signatures – pomelo, and tasted right out of a 5 star hotel kitchen. The sweet yet absolutely lightweight ice cream was made in-house without using any white sugar.
If you are in for something new and exciting, Taipei Dao Teahouse Restaurant & Café also serves exotic sorbets made from ingredients like capsicum, spinach and beetroot. It has taken them over 3 years of experimenting with flavors to come up with 5 delicious vegetable variants for their sorbets.
Apart from ice creams, you can also try out cakes and pastries made at their in-house bakery which include pineapple cake, red bean muffin, gluten free desserts and more. Plus, they are all made with 100% whole wheat and organic palm sugar without any additives.