Day 5 - Ximending Shopping & Massage
Ximending Shopping & Massage
Teppanyaki Omakase
We decided to take it easy on our last day in Taipei, as we had a hectic itinerary ahead of us. There were plenty to explore in Ximending where we were staying, we got some food, shopping, and a nice relaxing massage, then met up with our dear friend Patty for an amazing Teppanyaki dinner. This was a special treat… not cheap, but totally worth it!
Ximending Shopping & Massage
Ximending is good during the day as well as at night. The Red House is a popular landmark and there are plenty of shops nearby for a nice stroll. Between food, massage and shopping, we really enjoyed a nice relaxing day to wrap up our stay in Taipei!
If you want to do some serious shopping for snacks, clothes, toiletry and even liquor (Kavalan whiskey, anyone?), look for a larger “hypermarket” that’s bigger than the typical supermarkets. These are usually multi-stories with a parking lot at the bottom, a food court floor, and several floors of shopping ranging from appliances to groceries and everything in between. We visited Carrefour Guilin Store, which was the closest hypermarket within walking distance to our vacation rental.
There are a few famous food places to try out in Ximending. The fried chicken stand is really good if you don’t mind the wait. 老天祿滷味 is popular and there are two store locations around here, with people lining up before the store even opens. It was only a few minutes wait for us though. The food is sold at room temperature. We tried a bunch of stuff, felt it was good but not worth the hype. 阿宗麵線 four rice noodle is also super popular, and this was certainly worth the wait in our opinion. The rice noodle bowl is packed with flavor, it just tasted so good!
As for massages, there are plenty of choices near Ximending, and we did a lot of research and review, only to learn afterwards that they all share masseuses. The masseuses are contractors on call, and when you visit a massage place, they just call in the masseuses they’re contracted with. Because of this, it helps to make reservations, because the masseuses aren’t just waiting at the spa. If you have a preference on male or female, make it clear when you make a reservation or when you first show up and they’re calling available masseuses. We got 30min foot massage plus 60min full body massage and it was heavenly!
A tip on massages: If you only get a foot massage, it’s done at the shared space. If you get a combo foot and body massage, you get both in the private room, they just do one after another while you’re lying down. Also, get the oil massage, otherwise they do massage over the shirt and it doesn’t feel as good.
Teppanyaki
I consider our friend Patty to be a food connoisseur and she graciously offered to take us to one of her favorite restaurants. There are plenty of teppanyaki places in Taiwan, most of them are fairly casual with similar dishes where you choose your protein and get side dishes such as rice, soup, cabbage and bean sprouts. I love those! This particular teppanyaki place is completely different. Every dish is super delicate and a unique creation of this restaurant, and the chef patiently explains the ingredients and preparation of each dish as he served them. It was not cheap, but a great value as a similar experience in the U.S. would easily cost over $300 per person. It’s omakase style, with options to upgrade certain dishes as you eat, but we found the regular dishes to be amazing already. Reservation is definitely required here and they take full payment at time of reservation, and it gets booked up fast, so plan ahead! Note: It’s got an ambiguous store front in a small residential street so it’s hard to find, but trust google maps and it’ll take you there.