We decided to visit Maokong 猫空 on the third day to catch a glimpse of Taiwan's outskirt.
Matt and Aison suggested that because they said they wanna discover truly nature and take a fresh air out of the busy city.
We set off quite late from the city after our lunch at Fei Qian Wu 肥前屋; you can refer back the link at here, many details about Fei Qian Wu are on that post.
Btw, Maokong located in Wenshan District of Taipei, and stays at the top of the mountain.
The place is surrounded by hills, which contains numerous local villages, and also widely known as the most scenic spot in Taipei to drink quality locally grown tea.
Continue to read and find out more about Maokong in this post....
Just like the ordinary tourists, taking snapshots everywhere. :)
Once we arrived at MRT Taipei Zoo Station, we took Maokong Gondola 猫空缆车 scenic cable car up to the mountain.
The ticket costs only TWD50 each way for one person.
The line up for the Maokong Gondola appeared to be quite long, I think it's because this is the best way to reach Maokong.
Two types of Maokong Gondola are available; one is the standard cabin, and another one is crystal cabin.
Though both tickets cost the same, but the crystal cabin required longer queue; so we didn't go for it.
The Maokong Gondola is modern and very well maintained.
A standard cabin can take up up to 6-8 people, it's lucky that we don't need to share it with other people.
Perfectly happy and comfortable with our ride! :)
The Gondola experience almost like going to the Genting Highland, only the distance is longer to Maokong.
Also, it provides a better breathtaking views of the mountains, hills and houses too! :)
When you get to the top mountain, there is a food market street which selling variety of local snack foods.
Green, green everywhere!
We gave a try on the Big Teapot Tea大茶壶 after we felt we had enough walks up to the hill.
We thought of stayed there a while, but ended up chatting, mingling, and drinking tea for more than 2 hours because it was raining heavily outside. :(
Anyway, we had so much fun together at the tea house.
Drinking tea over drinking coffee in Taipei. :)
Hmmm....it's difficult to say if Maokong is a worthwhile place to visit.
I find MaoKong is more like a place for nature and tea lovers.
It's an attraction to see natural wonders of Taiwan because there are many tea plantations and tea houses over there.
It's a nice place to casually walk around, take pictures, enjoy fresh air, and drink tea.
If you like nature, this can be a nice place for you.
Btw, if you have enough time, you can also visit Taipei Zoo, which located just next to Maokong.
Btw, if you have enough time, you can also visit Taipei Zoo, which located just next to Maokong.
We took a taxi from Maokong to the dinner place at a Taiwanese steamboat restaurant.
Though Taiwan is well known for various street snack food, steamboat in Taiwan still worth a try too.
XinDian Hotpot 辛殿麻辣火鍋 was recommended by a Taiwanese friend of Matt, and all of us were very impressed and enjoyed the food very much.
Xindian Hotpot has two outlets; one located at Songjiang Road, and the one we went is located at Songshou Road.
I feel like everything in the restaurant is more than a restaurant.
The interior looks very different with the steamboat restaurants in Malaysia; like having dim lights, and playing English pop songs as background music.
It also provides the best friendly atmosphere with clean setting, exceptional furniture, and comfort to the customers.
After being seated, the waiter brought a standard pot of Yin Yang soup 鸳鸯汤, with Spicy Mala Soup 麻辣汤 and Pork Ribs Soup 猪骨汤.
The Spicy Mala Soup tastes similar like the Sichuan Spicy Soup which is way too spicy and causes a numbing sensation in my mouth.
Yet, the Pork Ribs Soup is very tasty as it has a touch of sweetness that is very pleasing.
The buffet costs TWD598 per person for dinner and TWD498 per person for lunch.
All drinks are included in the price, such as coffee, hot tea, ice lemon tea, juices and soft drinks (coke and sprites).
Here's the sauce station where you can make your own steamboat dipping sauces.
More than 10 different sauces are served on the table like chili sauce, soya sauce, sesame oil, dry chili sauce, peanut sauce, spring onions etc.
I am not very good in making a good dipping sauce for my steamboat, great to have Chef Chuen to make his own recipe for me! #lol
The restaurant has more than one particular meat to order, which is about 12 different choices.
Also, some meats are imported all the way from USA and New Zealand.
For instance, American Beef Fillet, New Zealand Lamb, American Angus Beef, New Zealand Premium Rib Eye etc.
We ordered some seafood include clams, Oysters, salted squid, and scallops.
I love all the fresh mushrooms on the menu, like pleurotus, flammulina, white mushroom, and organic black fungus.
Some special handmade features from Xindian, such as duck meat balls, cheese balls, squid balls, prawn balls, and dumplings.
Vegetables are the perfect match for steamboat!
Everything were very fresh and the quality of the ingredients were really worth the price we paid for.
The ordering process was pretty fast and we did not wait long for the food to be served; except the sliced pork which we have waited quite a bit.
After the meal, we were not only getting the desserts from it's menu like Tiramisu, Chocolate cake; they also serve free flow of Haagen Dazs and Movenpick ice-cream.
Seriously, I really wish to have extra room in my tummy to stuff all desserts in!
I would definitely highly recommended this steamboat place for all steamboat lovers!
It's worth a visit even though you are coming all the way here just for a meal.
All worth your money!
I'm going to end today's post at here and will continue to blog about my Taipei trip at next post, so remember to stay tuned ya！
Lovessss!
Xindian Hotpot 辛殿麻辣火鍋
台北市信義區松壽路12號 ATT4FUN 1樓
Tel: 02-2722-7667
Opening hours: Mon - Fri 1130am - 4pm, 5pm - 130am, Sat - Sun 1130pm - 130am