Chili House Restaurant, Ximendi, Metro Mall, Nova, Shabu Shabu - Day 3 of Taiwan Trip

The day started off with lunch at Chili House Restaurant. As the name suggests they specialize in spicy foods. My aunt thought it'd be interesting to try out since it was one of her favorite restaurants. To those who wish to go there, you HAVE to make reservations in order to be seated in a reasonable amount of time. Some of the dishes I tried included: breaded pork rib with sweet potatoe, spicy wontons, duck egg fried tofu, sour pork with sesame seed bun, and an coconut jello dessert (that was on the house). I have to say that this was definitely an interesting place to eat. Food was good as well as the atmosphere. I'd highly recommend it.

Next stop was Ximendi with my friends. According to my aunt this is a shopping area for "younger" people and she was right. When we got off the MRT stop, we were greeted with a pool of youngsters out shopping. I most of the stuff was clothing of all types and I'm sure it was a treat for the ladies. Not as much food or street vendors here since most aren't allowed to be there. Still a cool place and there are even multi-level malls within some of the buildings. Some are hard to spot since they blended in so well with the other buildings. An interesting store we found was Daiso Japan, which specialized in selling Japanese stuff. Apparently Taiwanese people really love Japanese stuff and this store is everything Japan. Also, everything is $39 NT, which makes it a hair over a dollar.

We tried the Metro Mall next to Taipei Main Station. For those who do not know what a metro mall is, it is basically a mall underground where the MRT stations are. There was a variety of different shops around from food to office supplies to various clothing stores. There was also an arcade towards the middle which was kinda cool. Overall not a bad place to spend some time, though I definitely would not spend a whole day here. Got a lot of walking done though :)

When we got out of the Metro Mall, we then hit up the Nova store next to Taipei Main Station. Apparently it is a big retail chain that specializes in computer and related hardware. There were literally floors of vendors selling mostly computer related stuff with a good mix of general electronics. However, what I learned is that Nova tends to be slightly overpriced because it is a retail chain. Guang Hua, which I will visit later, apparently sells the same electronics at a cheaper price.

To wrap up the day I ate shabu shabu with my friends. We tried a small joint that I can't even recall the name to. However since the place was not that tasty it isn't a great loss.

As always, check out my Flickr album for more pics.