#Pink and #Undecided's Taiwan Trip : Good Cho's

Hellowww hellowww!

After so long we're finally back with our Taiwan Trip post! Sorry for the very long delay, i don't even know who to blame anymore *LOL*. Most likely me this time (this is #Pink btw), been to busy with my social life and travel to even resize pictures, hence not being able to prep for this blog entry. Fret not, it's approaching the end of our trip already *sobs*, there are probably 3 more posts after this to wrap the entire trip posts up :D.

This was our sixth day in Taiwan but only the second full day in Taipei (because we went to Hualien on the third and fourth day. Check out the entry before this here if you haven't already :p) and #Undecided's friend (also her boss' daughter, actually!), Ashley had the day fully planned out for us, months before we even flew to Taiwan! More about the full plan later (because we i took too many pictures in this first place so we're going to write about the rest of the day on a separate entry), but on the two options she gave us (yes, she made an itinerary and all! Wonderful host, that one!) they all started with one thing : a brunch in Good Cho's (click here for a detailed information on the place)

Hello and welcome to Good Cho's! I absolutely love my Zara dress *important* LOL.

Before we go into details about Good Cho's, let's backtrack a little bit, shall we? We got a free breakfast here in Inhouse Hotel (no breakfast provided in Cityinn Hotel) so being the total glutton (not to mention kiasu as well), we had to have breakfast first!

Small but cosy breakfast area in Inhouse Hotel

Inhouse Hotel's located smacked in the heart of Ximending, btw

#Undecided, as always, looking happy when she sees food in front of her
Eh the pork something something was so good, I had double serving of those LOL.

Unusual selection of food were available, including this soy-sauce pig trotters (i think it's pig trotter, anyway. I don't eat that kind of things so i'm not too sure)

Much plainer plate hunny got for me. Yes, i am spoilt and annoying, i don't even get my own breakfasts in hotels most of the time

Remember i told you Taiwan's all about cutesy stuffs?

Even the sugar sticks caught my eyes. But then again, i found sugar  packets in Pisa, Italy to be cute as well so maybe it's my thing..)

So anyway, right after breakfast (not so smart of us you know, knowing we were having brunch with Ashley and her hubby LOL) we dashed to Good Cho's. Oh this is #Undecided, btw! Decided to take a cab and finally managed to take a good look around Taipei (without rushing here and there hahaha). Here are some photos #Pink snapped along the way.

Some government building

Taipei 101 from afar.. And yes, the sun was THAT bright!

And finally - with some difficulty - the uncle (the taxi driver I mean) dropped us by the side of the road saying (in Mandarin obvi), "you can walk to the place, it's just around THAT corner". So we did.. We did get lost.. LOL. Apparently the uncle didn't know where Good Cho's was!! He just pointed to some random direction, grabbed our money, and didn't even bother.. And after being spoilt by such good and helpful taxi drivers for 2 days in Hualien, this was an unpleasant jolt back to reality for us LOL. So anyway, hubby tried finding the way and apparently Good Cho's was NOWHERE near the sidewalk we were dropped at by the uncle, damn him! LOL.

We had to cross the street and then walked some more distance (yes, accompanied by the scorching hot sun) and finally...

 

Good Cho's!!! What a cute little joint, right...

Notice how rustic and vintage looking the whole place is? That's because it's an old military families village and it's a preserved site. Other than Good Cho's there are ice cream joint, a mini museum/information center-more about that later. There's also a weekly Sunday market but since we went there not on Sunday, it was pretty deserted. More about the Sunday market you can read in this blog

Found this place that looks like a kindergarten or a day care but too small to be one (and deserted), so i don't really know what that really is! It's probably a model for one??? If anyone knows please leave a comment!

Artworks by little kiddies

#Pink and #Undecided being silly...
And if it's not apparent, we were trying to copy whatever that red dolly was doing LOL.

This is what i found as soon as we entered Good Cho's (it's a cafe slash lifestyle store!) :

Old refrigerator used as a display! #Undecided's hubby totally photo-bombed me there zzz

So clever, eh?

Ice cream joint, that #Undecided's hubby immediately visited after brunch

The store was super charming

Their specialty : bagels! In case you're interested to visit, keep in mind most cafes in Taiwan has a minimum spending, and usually they'd have a much better value-for-money set menus so look out for them

Seems like they are selling EVERYTHING here, sandal and bag section? Nothing fancy though haha

The biggest, and my fave section : bath and body care hahaha, whatever's got to do with beauty...

Boss Re and hunny being silly too

There was a placate in this little dining room where we had out brunch at explaining about the building's origin. I'm guessing this was really the family's old dining room! Not sure about the props though, most probably replicas

Boss Re, clearly still not 100% awake *LOL*

Even the lamps were so unique with the china bowl shades

That's #Undecided+hubby with Ashley+her hubby!

Strong sunlight from our side of the table *LOL* had to duck to prevent a totally face-less photo

And finally... our drinks arrived...

Judging from the looks of it, it's iced coffee something..

Love the artwork!

Iced chocolate. Must have been hubby's LOL.

Minimum artwork LOL.

This was Boss Re's, I believe... That's cassava at the bottom. Tasted like kolak to me LOL. What's kolak? It's Indonesian drink, google it :)

On 2nd thought... This must have been hubby's iced chocolate...

Yes yes, judging by the shaved chocolate... This must have been the iced chocolate and the previous drink was hmmm... iced coffee?! Oh well...

Errrrr.....

Errrr........... #Pink, help!!
Errr, errrr... It's been 5 months, i also cannot remember! I am bad with remembering foods and drinks as it is, but i actually think this was YOUR drink, #Undecided!

Simple syrup in a cute little container that reminds me so much of the jelly I used to love when I was a kid.

Ah the memory... LOL... Must buy jelly this weekend!

Cutlery inside of a jug.

Yummy soup. Very rich and creamy. Loved it!
Boss Re's elder daughter accidentally knocked her soup over! Clumsiness alert! Sounds like Jie Jie (hey, they called us sister, not our fault!) #Pink and #Undecided!

As i mentioned earlier, their specialties are bagels. I was still very full after breakfast, decided to just split whatever hunny wanted and he got his. It's a... duck something something bagel (told ya i'm bad at food blogging)

It was very nice and interesting, but i am honestly not a bagel kind of person. Hunny loved it though!

I think this is #Undecided's

Totally spilled to the brim with veggies

I think #Undecided's not much of a bagel person either since she could barely remember that THIS was her meal. Really good food would be etched in her memory forever hahaha
I'm pretty sure it was mine, #Pink... What I remember most from this dish? The baby corn LOL...

This was Ashley's hubby's plate, he noticed me acting all "blogger mode on" and kindly shove me his plate so i can take a picture of it

I gotta remark Good Cho's efforts at plating, everything looks so good, right?

Ashley's (i hope i don't mixed people's food up, but i might...)! Btw, Ashley's one of our reader too, the first thing she said to me was "I know you from the blog" and followed with "Wait, what? What?" after #Undecided started talking about Baby Boy. She gave me an incredulous look "YOU have a son?". LOL.

This is Boss Re's wife's order (i think)

Looked so thick *suddenly feeling queasy. Sorry, i act pregnant whenever i'm having my period. Same symptoms*, and it WAS thick because i remember her leaving a huge chunk of the middle (it was omelette? Another stab in the dark here)

Some of the set menus came with a dessert. This one's sort of a pudding made of (i'm writing this based on memory and very limited knowledge when it comes to culinary, don't mind me if you think i'm spewing rubbish. I might be) coconut milk with bits of sticky rice on the bottom.
I believe your so-called-rubbish is actually correct, #Pink! Some blogger we are hahahaha...

Thick and creamy. It wasn't bad, and it reminded me of a local (Indonesian) dessert that i cannot put my hand on until now
Errr... jenang?!

Errr... #Undecided's muffin?
Blueberry muffin to be exact...

I was seriously really worried when they began taking down the wall decor and start posing with them, scared one of the waiters would arrive and threw us out!

Pretty sure i made hunny posed *LOL*. They were genuinely browsing through that section though. I was tempted to get something there *like a, errr lip balm :p) but Ashley stopped me hahahaha she said everything's overpriced there and i should shop somewhere else :p
Never knew my hair looks this fab being tied up like that from this point of view. You're welcome, readers LOL :D

Super cute packaging, yes? I almost feel like buying it just based on the packaging!
Should have tilted my head to the side so you can see my tied up hair again LOL (someone stop my nonsense, quick!)

Closer look to what I was holding

We then returned to the faux kindergarten to camwhore.

Tiara can answer the question!

"Say what, Ma'am?!"
I just realized how BURNT hunny was! A testimony of how cruel Taiwan's sun back then! He's back to his fair coloring in a few weeks, obvi

I then realized that hubby was missing. And where he was?!

Went to buy ice cream, obvi... Hahahahaha...

We weren't acting cute. It was so bright, we had to cover our eyes LOL.

Us with Taipei 101 on the background. LOVE this pic :)

One of the unused stall for Sunday market beckoned to be used as a prop...

Love the little shops. I wonder what they sell...

Another, closer view of Taipei 101, our next destination!

There was this air-conditioned errr... museum?! I repeat, AIR-CONDITIONED!! It was so nice to step inside!
I'm not sure it's a museum (if it is then it's a mini one, super tiny!), i think it's one of the preserved old military village house being used as kinda tourist information/model house of the olden time. Complete with old furniture and stories of the lifestyle back then

They even had mock-food people in this village used to have. I gotta give props to Taiwanese food model makers, they all look so real! (same goes for the ones found in C.K.S Memorial Hall's Museum)

There was a clear sign: "NO PICTURE", but #Pink being #Pink...
LOL, i just thought "But why not???" It's such an interesting place (i'm totally into museums and cultures!) and clearly not many people knows about it, i'm just helping to make it better known!

Olden time's class room model

Tisk tisk tisk...
#Undecided's totally jealous for not being in the pictures :p!

So interesting! I am thankful i live in present day though! I'm so not into these old stuffs *LOL* (i mean, i love to see them and read the stories behind them, but i prefer modern stuffs for myself!)

And that marks the end of our visit to Good Cho's and the buildings near to it! Very recommended place to visit! And i wanna thank Ashley again for picking the tab (you really shouldn't have, i'm so embarrassed!) and please let me return your kindness next time you're in Surabaya and not too busy with work! 

I already told you before that Ashley made two choices for us to pick on where we wanted to go next, it was either Jiufen or Tamsui. Jiufen seems to be a very interesting place, but we would need to climb high stairs, in the middle of super HOT summer! And we had kids with us as well, so we chose the other option (Tamsui), but i really hope i can go back to Taiwan sometime soon (i cannot repeat this enough, during cooler weather please!) and then i'd really love to go to Jiufen!

Before Tamsui, we went to the Taipei 101 (the former tallest building in the world) because i think it's one of the must visit place for tourists (?) in Taiwan and also because it has a mall inside so we can escape the scorching sun for a bit! Will tell you a lot more about Taipei 101 and Tamsui on the next entry, please stay tune!

#Pink and #Undecided