June 26, 2012

Shake House

Address: Lane 96, Wēnzhōu St, Daan District
Telephone: Not listed
Hours: Not listed
Price: $$


If you want to go to Shake House, you're going to have to trust me... at least a little. Almost no information about Shake House exists in English. It's Chinese name is 雪可屋 and if you put these characters into a search engine, you'll get a few results. But if you want an English review, you've come to the right place.


Directly across the street from Cafe Bastille's Wēnzhōu location and down the street from Kitchen 66, Shake House is reminiscent of a 1920s vintage European coffeehouse. The faded chairs, terracotta pot light covers, wooden floors, vinyl records, smell of roasting coffee, and natural sunlight make Shake House a trendy coffeehouse that's quite popular with students from nearby National Taiwan University.
The drink selection consists of espresso coffee, estate-grown coffee, tea, smoothies, and Belgian and Taiwanese beers. I ordered a hot Vienna coffee ($120 NT) and looked over the food menu again in case something caught my eye. The food menu is quite sparse, but there's a lot of variety. Everything from popcorn ($65 NT), French toast ($45 NT), chocolate muffins ($45 NT), and spicy fried tofu ($45 NT) to shrimp fried rice + soup ($80 NT), spaghetti ($70 NT), and chicken curry rice + soup ($90 NT). I decided I'd wait and see if I felt like a Triple Karmaliet beer ($150 NT) and some food later.

As I read, I couldn't help but notice a university boy staring at me. I flashed him a quick smile and he strode over. "Excuse me, are you Pamela?" he asked. "Uhh, no." So eloquent. The American girl a couple tables down jumped up and waved him over. No big deal ... until another university guy asked me if I was Tiffany 20 minutes later. I think it's because of its location to Taida but Shake House is swarming with language exchange partners. 

The Vienna coffee was delicious and just the extra kick of caffeine I needed. I liked the traditional sprinkling of chocolate on top of the whipped cream, and the proportion of whipped cream to espresso was good. Whilst contemplating a Triple Karmaliet, I noticed the noise level in Shake House was a bit too much for my liking, so I paid my tab and left.

 

I would most definitely go back to Shake House. I would get there before noon, snag a window seat, and work on whatever-it-is before the uni students arrive. The menu is in both English and Chinese, there's no service charge, and you can use the Wi-fi from Cafe Bastille across the road. Check out the Shake House website

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