Large crispy grilled cheese sandwiches dripping with butter.

Entrance:

I was walking up 9th Avenue, trying to decide at which of the many restaurants I could get a quick late lunch, when I saw “Say Cheese!” in big orange and yellow letters and was immediately won over by the name alone. Mmm cheeese!
Say Cheese is a small store that specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches. Square tables for 2 line the brick walls right up to the kitchen in the back.

Mama’s Special combo $6.50
bowl of tomato soup (normally $3 for a cup) and basic grilled cheese (normally $4.25)

To start off, we got the soup of the day, Tomato & Cheddar. The soup was really hot, a bit thin and watery (I had anticipated a thick and creamy soup) but very smooth on the tongue. It was pretty addicting, and tasted like a liquid spaghetti or pizza! Tomato sauce and cheese flavors and a smooth lightly creamy starchiness that reminded me of pasta.

Basic grilled cheese with provolone.

A basic grilled cheese, just like the name suggests. Melted stringy provolone cheese between 2 large crispy slices of sourdough bread. They make the grilled cheese here really buttery.
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This quiet little street is parallel to Yong Kang St, famous for Ice Monster and Din Tai Fung. Alleycat’s serves crispy thin crust pizza that sends you far away from Taipei! ***Cash Only***

Entrance:

Small red entrance which leads down to a basement restaurant.

Interior:

Red walls, dark wood tables, black leather seats and a sleek bar along one wall. Even the menu was red text on black, a big no no for eye comfort! At 7pm it was pretty empty but it began filling up at around 8. Lazy blues music played in the background and only half of the diners and workers were Asian.

Italian Garden NT$120
Crispy Romaine and Quartered Fresh Tomato Tossed in our Homemade Vinaigrette Dressing

A basic salad of crispy lettuce and tomatoes with balsamic vinaigrette and some herby seeds (maybe mustard?).

Garlic, Herb, and Olive Oil Pizza Crust NT$120
Our Fresh Pizza Dough Baked Until Crisp, Sprinkled with Italian Herbs and Fresh Crushed Garlic, then Drizzled with Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Very airy, thin, light, and crispy, almost exactly like a saltine cracker! Topped with a ton of garlic and oregano and comes with a very thick and creamy parmesan cheesy garlic dip.
It was really fun to eat at first, but with time and the strong air conditioning, the light crispy cracker turned harder and staler by the minute. Once it had become fully chewy and we had eaten about half of it, the garlic became overwhelmingly spicy and we had to flip it over and pick at the back side, namely the still crunchy bubbles on the crust. Eat and finish this as soon as it arrives before it’s too late!
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Pricey Mexican food.

Entrance:

Very casual, and dark smallish space with 2 rows of tables and a bar. No music that night. They have a pretty large menu including large seafood and vegetarian sections.

Regular (12 oz.) frozen margaritas $10.00 each.
Chocolate (left) and Pineapple flavors.

Mi Nidito boasts over 25 flavors of margaritas, so of course I had to try one! From the swirly shape and the speed at which they were served, I think the frozen margaritas were ready-made like slushees. The two margaritas we ordered were from the flavors section, and were simply flavored syrups topped with the margarita slushee. I was a little sad that my margarita was just a plain margarita on top of syrup. They also have a long list of mixed margaritas which may be more creative. The frozen margarita itself was very strong, and tasted almost like pure Jose Cuervo. The chocolate syrup sweetened and helped the bite (which I don’t like) of the tequila, and the pineapple tasted like a pina colada with some coconut flavors.

Crispy chips and spicy chunky salsa.


Spicy Bean Vegetable Burrito $15.95
Mi Nidito’s incredible shell piled high with garden fresh mixed green crisp lettuce topped with grilled garden fresh vegetables, pinto beans, chick peas, onions, tomatoes, hot & sweet peppers, cilantro, sour cream guacamole & muenster cheese

One big burrito (wheat tortilla?) filled with plain grilled crunchy broccoli, carrots, peppers, zucchini and other veggies, topped with medium spicy salsa. Mexican rice, standard guacamole and sour cream, a cold chickpea cilantro salad, and lots of mushy beans served on the side. The burrito was huge, but filled with tasteless grilled veggies. I would have preferred the rice and beans to be wrapped inside the burrito which would have given some flavor to the veggies and tortilla. Instead, I had to eat everything separately as you can’t fit much on a fork! I also don’t remember much cheese, if there was any at all.
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