May 2013 Update

Hello Everyone,

With my busy schedule, I have not posted in a few weeks.  I have since prepared a list of new blogs, including a handful remaining from my Taiwan Trip.  I will be posting several more posts later this month, and many more over the summer months, so please keep checking back for more of my interesting travel experience blogs!

Edward C.

Bravo Beer Restaurant, Great Food & Drink! - Belgian Beer; Leuven, Belgium; Flemish; Lambic Beer; Banqiao, Taiwan; Hookah.

In one of my previous blogs, I mentioned Belgian beer and the variety of glassware designed to optimize the taste and enjoyment of each specific beer produced by the brew masters.  Please see my blog link as follows:

http://letssoarwitheagles.blogspot.com/2013/01/my-top-10-vacation-destinations-around.html

In my career, I worked for a Belgian High Technology years ago and I had the luxury of traveling to Belgium many times, up to 4 times a year or more.  I flew into Brussels and rented a car to drive to a beautiful old town called Leuven in the Flemish region (North) of Belgium.   

Belgium Map - Courtesy of ezilon.com

As a side note, when driving in the northern Flemish half of Belgium, all street and interstate signs are in Flemish language.  However, as soon as you cross into the Southern portion of the country which speaks French, all the signs are in French.  So, if you do not know how to write both the Flemish version and French version of the cities, towns, streets, and sites, you will have a little difficulty navigating in Belgium.  By the way, Flemish is a Belgian Dutch language of Flanders, the Northern part of Belgium.  In this Region, their are multiple Flemish dialects. For Example the Flemish Region City of Brussels is Brussel in Belgian Dutch and Bruxelles in French.  And the French city of Arlon in southern Belgium is Aarlen in Belgian Dutch and Arlon in French.

Leuven, Belgium Town Hall and Central Square - Courtesy of Wikipedia

According to Wikipedia, “the earliest mention of Leuven ("Loven") is from 891, when a Viking army was defeated by the Frankish King Arnulf of Carinthia. According to city legend, its red-white-red colors depict the blood-stained shores of the river Dijle after this battle.  Situated beside this river, and near to the stronghold of the Dukes of Brabant, Leuven became, between the 11th and 14th centuries, the most important center of trade in the duchy."

 

"A token of its former importance as a center of cloth manufacture is reflected in the typical Leuven linen cloth, and even today, many shops sell high quality linen cloth items” especially lace doilies.

Example of a Lace Doily which Leuven, Belgium is famous for - Photo Courtesy of the internet

"In the 15th century, a new golden era began with the founding of the by-now largest and oldest university in the Low Countries, the Catholic University of Leuven, in 1425.  In the 18th century, Leuven became even more important as a result of the flourishing of its brewery, now named AB InBev, whose flagship beer, Stella Artois, is brewed in Leuven and sold in many countries throughout the world.  Leuven is the worldwide headquarters of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest beer company in the world. InBev's Stella Artois brewery and main offices dominate the entire north-eastern part of the town, between the railway station and the canal to Mechelen."  

"Nowadays Leuven is a real "student city", as during the academic year most citizens in its center are students.  The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven; University of Leuven) is the oldest Catholic university still in existence in the world, and the largest university in Belgium.  Leuven sports one of the liveliest bar scenes in Belgium. It boasts the "longest bar" in Europe, the Old Market, and dozens of bars and cafés crammed into a central square in Leuven."

Now I hope  you can understand the connection to Belgian Beer and Leuven!  I drank beer in almost all of these pubs surrounding the central square in Leuven where I acquired my real taste for and enjoyment of Belgian Beer.

In the US, you can find some Belgian Beer, (like the brand Stella Artois), in stores and bars.  There are also specialty bars/restaurants that carry a handful (maybe 10 to 15 different) of different Belgian beers, but the selection is limited.  One such restaurant is BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse, a definte favorite of mine.

Well, to my surprise, I found a restaurant/pub in Taiwan called Bravo Beer that only sells Belgian Beer!!  Not just a few varieties, but at any given time, they sell almost 130 to 200 different Belgian beers (both bottle and draft) in each of their locations!!

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I arranged a lunch with a large group of friends at Bravo Beer’s Banqiao, Taiwan restaurant located in the HSR/MRT train station in Banqiao.   

Night view of Banqiao Station - Photo is Courtesy of Wikipedia

Front Entrance of Bravo Beer's 2nd floor restaurant

A Display at Bravo Beer showing some of the brands they sell.  These empty bottles are displayedall around their restaurant.

More empty beers on display

They actually have two restaurants here, one in the main station, bottom floor outside area, and another in the Global Building, second floor.  We ate at the second floor location and visited the other just for pictures before we headed home on the MRT.  Bravo Beer started at this location with only 3 employees and has been successful since their inception 6 years ago.  They now have five (5) restaurants/pubs and one beer hall.

The Bravo Beer restaurant menu is both interesting and many dishes are quite authentic Belgian.  While in Brussels and Leuven, many pubs sold Belgian Pizza.  All are smaller personal pizza’s in the 6” to 10” range with crisp thin crust, and delicious sauces, cheeses, meats and other ingredients, including a raw egg cooked in the center.  Bravo Beer pizzas are quite similar in quality, taste and ingredients to real Belgian pizza.  We tried three of their pizzas varieties.   

 

 

 

We also had dishes including, appetizers, mussels, beef, lamb, two pasta dishes, European sausage, shrimp, chicken, shish kabob, and more!  The photos below are certain to “wet” your appetite to visit a Bravo Beer restaurant.  Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

We were very fortunate to meet the owners Cherry Yu and Simon Lee at the restaurant, and to have them sit down and have a beer with us during our lunch. 

The Owners of Bravo Beer, Cherry Yu and Simon Lee

 

Now the Beer……  Below are pictures of just some of the great beers we drank with some very special glasses designed just for the beers we drank.  Please note: Belgian beer has a high alcohol content of 4% to 8% or more.  

This location has about 130 different beers available to their customers, mostly in bottles, and a few great ones on draft.  I was pleasantly surprised that they carry many abbey and Trapist monk beers in their selection as well as an incredible selection of fruit beers.   Below are just two of their main coolers for their beer.

Close up of some of the beers they sell

Close up of some of the beers they sell

Close up of some of the beers they sell

Most Belgian fruit beers are the lambic style with almost no “head”.     

A berry flavored lambic style beer.  One of many flavors and brands offered at Bravo Beer.

They also sell large bottles of beer, in the “wine bottle and magnum bottle” sizes.  These range up to $1000TWD per bottle (~$30 USD) .  For our group, we decided to try a Gulden Draak beer, 

..........and a “sour” beer , Liefmans Gounenband Beer.  Now this is a very different beer and one I have never tried before.

Liefmans Gounenband Beer 8% Alcohol by Volume (ABV) Flanders Old Brown Beer

is also known as a “Provision Beer” or an aged Strong Belgian Brown Ale.

This beer is a balance of oak and sour to create one of the world’s most complex beers,

& has been brewed over 330 years, since 1679.

I started out with a unique Satan Red Ale.  Please note that some of these beers I only had a small glass or taste, while others I enjoyed the entire bottle!!!!

I next tried a Chimay Red and Chimay Blue.   

Then I had a Dorval Amber and a then a draft Hoegaarden Blond Ale.   

One of my favorites when I visited Belgium was the Leffe Blond Ale.  So, I then sampled the Leffe Blond.  (They also sell a very comparable Afflingem Blond Ale.  I'll try that one next time)  

Needless to say, I was in Belgian Beer HEAVEN!!!!

 

Belgian Beers we drank with special glasses for different beers

Some of the different beers we tasted

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Their second location in Banqiao offers an area to enjoy their offerings inside and out. 

Bravo's Beer's second location at Banqiao Station.  Customers ordering on the spacious patio.

Their patio on a nice spring day in Banqiao

A view of the Banqiao District's, New Taipei City Hall from Bravo Beer's patio

 A street level view of the Banqiao District's, New Taipei City Hall - Courtesy of Wikipedia

One special experience that they offer at this Bravo Beer restaurant location is to use a non-tobacco/nicotine Hookah.  (I think they may even use beer instead of water! Please do not take my word as I did not have time to try this.)  If you are interested in trying their Hookah, just ask.

Bravo Beer's Hookah ------> COOL!

The Hookah originated somewhere in the 16^th century or so in the India or Persian Empire.  I am told it was designed to “filter” tobacco smoke through water to “purify” the tobacco smoke. 

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Well if you like delicious European style food (some with a Taiwan twist), and great tasting Belgian Beer, this is certainly a place I would recommend as a must visit restaurant.   Bravo Beer certainly brought back special memories of my many trips to Belgium and if you have not been to Belgium before, Bravo Beer will certainly create some special food and beer tasting memories for you two!

Enjoy, and as always, “Drink in Moderation” and if you do drink, be safe, and take the Taipei MRT or a taxi home or back to your hotel.

Edward C.

Mita Italian Restaurant and Bakery, A typical weekend in the LinGuang MRT area of Taipei City

I am now back in the USA and will try to catch up on my blogs from Taiwan.

I stayed 5 months in a nice condo rental just minutes from the LinGuang MRT Stop on the Wenhu (Brown Line) MRT line.  

This area surrounding the LinGuang MRT station in Taipei is like so many small communities or neighborhoods in this metropolitan area of Taipei City and New Taipei City of over 6.5 million people. So many people make their living selling their own prepared or cooked food in the streets, market areas, or on the first floor of their home along the street.  Of course, many others have other types of commercial business also on the first floor of their homes in the same areas.  At meal times the streets get crowded with people looking for a place to eat their favorite local Taiwanese food, or to purchase and take it home to eat or share with their family. 

Most of these neighborhoods have local streets or alleys used exclusively as a day or night market selling a wide variety of food and products. 

This is approaching the LinGuang station.  We stayed at one of the brown high rise buildings in the "Left Center

The LinGuang weekend market has more than 100 “stalls” with people selling nuts, vegetables, fruits, raw meat, fresh seafood, prepared food, bagged food and snacks and so much more.  Rain or shine, from just before noon to about 2pm, these alleys are packed with people walking from vendor to vendor, buying or sometimes sampling the “wares”.   

This main weekend market goes on for blocks!

Leaving the Weekend Market and walking to Mita Pasta

My favorite local restaurant near Mita, for "POT STICKERS" & great price at ONLY $5 NT (US $0.16) each

Occasionally a car, small delivery truck, or mopeds “worm” their way slowly down the alley.  The prices for most of the product sold in these markets are much less than in super markets or local grocery stores.  

Adjacent to this weekend market are a few local streets that are packed with small stores such as drug stores and restaurants serving local and more. 

One of my very favorite restaurants in this area is Mita Pasta and the attached Mita Bakery. 

 

First the Mita Pasta Restaurant.

This local neighborhood restaurant seats about 50 people or so and is clean and inviting.  

One view of part of the restaurant

The staff is great and well trained, and Jacky is especially attentive to all of his clients including me.   Jacky can be seen trotting back and forth when he is busy, and his English is good enough to communicate with anyone speaking English.  More about Jackie’s great service later, now the menu and food.

Jacky taking an order

The menu is not extensive, but every meal I tried was very tasteful, and one of the better local places to eat Italian food in Taipei.  I have eaten here about 15 times or so and have tried many of the dishes on the menu including the Garlic & Oil, the White Cream, Traditional Tomato, and Pesto sauce & pasta entrees.  Their baked dishes, Risotto and fried appetizers are also better than average.  

The Menu

My favorite meal is their traditional spaghetti with tomato vegetable sauce.  Adding meat or seafood is also an excellent choice, but the beef with basil is so very tender sliced thin that I highly recommend this choice.

 

A Great value at $68 NT - Soup, Salad, Bread, Drink, and the desert (in photo below)

Can you tell how much I loved the Pumpkin soup????

The spaghetti sauce is delicious!

Not a big serving size, but Very big on taste!

The entrees are very generous servings and quite filing for a price of $98 NT (New Taiwan) dollars to $288 NT dollars (from less than $3.00 USD to about $7.00 USD).  You cannot find a great tasting Spaghetti meal in the US for $3.00.  (Even a large can of terrible tasting canned spaghetti costs more!)   

But the best deal is to upgrade your meal for $68 NT dollars (a little more than $2.00 USD).  For this upgrade you receive four (4) items worth over $200 NT dollars First is a great salad with a choice of 4 dressings and my favorite is the yogurt dressing with passion fruit….simply awesome.  Second best choice is their Japanese dressing that is better than anyone I have bought in a store.  Next is a soup choice of Beef or Pumpkin.  Both are tasty, but the pumpkin is by far the best choice.  Next is a selection of four deserts, and the Crème Brulee is wonderful.  Finally you can chose from 8 different drinks from Tea, Coffee, Hot chocolate, Iced Coffee, or one of three delicious and refreshing Iced Fruit Teas (Cumquat, Chamomile with Pomelo Green Tea, and Peach with Melon Green Tea).

Mita Pasta is a very nice neighborhood Italian restaurant, with excellent service, great food, generous servings, and a great value when you upgrade your meal.  If you stop buy ask for Jacky and tell him I said hello!

Now the Mita Bakery!

As I stated in a few of my earlier blogs, there are many hundreds of fine local bakeries scattered all around Taipei.  They abound with fresh baked breads, cookies, cakes, muffins, pastries, buns, rolls, sandwiches, and more.  They make most or all of their fresh baked goodies on the premisis.

Many of the variety of sandwiches are actually buns stuffed with meet such as wieners, hams, and more along with cheeses, corn, and other vegetables,  just great for a snack or light meal on the run. 

The selection of breads are a delightful variety compared with the US, and include such combinations as cheese & nuts, fruit and nuts, multi-grain with seeds such as sesame, sunflower, pine nuts, garlic, etc. 

 

   

 

After tasting a nutty cranberry and strawberry bread at Mita’s Pasta Restaurant in my first few weeks in Taipei, we have been back almost 3 or 4 times a month buying their backed goodies.   One of my many favorites is their cranberry coconut twisted roll (about 10-12 inches long) full of taste and satisfying sweetness.   

 

We also like their cheese roll which is about 16” long, and so very soft.  It has a rich cheese and buttery taste that goes along very well with their Pasta dishes (as does their garlic bread) that I often by to go.  The pictures below were taken just a few weeks ago, and show some of their wonderful offerings.   Stop by often as the baked goods variety change almost daily.

Edward C.