Seems like a recent theme is baked goods so i figured i'd continue on with it. Pictured is what is probably my favorite bakery in Taiwan. Taiwan has a ton of bakeries. Although they are not so similar with those of the west.
First they don't make new breads in the morning, rather they make it around 5pm. So when people finish work they can pick up freshly baked goods. I can see the logic in that, but still hard to understand why they don't have fresh bread available in the morning when everybody gets up and is on their way to work. Since it's a time when people are in a hurry and need something they can eat on the commute.
Another big difference is what is actually made. Over 70% of the baked goods have one or more kinds of meat in them. It's not just sandwiches, but various other kinds of breads and pastries stuffed or topped with meat. Also there isn't a wide variety of just plain breads. There is sliced bread, but that's usually it. Some places can have french bread but usually that is infused with something else.
There are sweets, but as mentioned yesterday they usually have red bean in them. Also there are not really any danishes, bagels, cookies, or muffins. They do have cakes, but there must be a law in Taiwan that cakes must have at least three different kinds of fruit in them. I've actually heard that without fruit a cake is "boring." Then again they have never had the joy of having a soft moist cake that melts in your mouth, and when I take them to have that, they cries tears of joy. Or perhaps tears from it being "too sweet." Sigh...
Over the past few years though, there have been a few more western style bakeries in Taiwan. They don't stray too far from the general Taiwanese tastes. You won't find all the comfort foods of home, but you do have a bit of a wider selection. I cried about Costco discontinuing their cinnamon buns, well this bakery actually has the best cinnamon buns in the country. Then again it's one of only two bakeries in the country that even sell cinnamon buns, but the quality is still remarkably high.
The only drawback of this bakery is that it's only located in department stores and shopping malls (and hospitals, but i'll explain this at a later time). Meaning I can't just pop down to the local shop to get those cinnamon buns. Or perhaps that's what makes them so special.
