Since we occasionally hire a scooter with Go Share, it’s been easier to explore Taipei areas that are far from the MRT stations. It’s allowed us to discover some awesome places that we never knew existed.
One such discovery is a restaurant called Take a Moment which we found by accident when looking for a place to eat in Wanhua District.
Once we entered, we immediately felt a friendly and unpretentious vibe that was unlike most other typical restaurants. The owner, John, welcomed us in and explained the concept he’s going for of being at a friend’s house where you can go to chill and eat whole food as well as comfort food – or as he puts it, “80% healthy and 20% guilty”.
| Table of Contents
1. About the Restaurant |
There’s no 10% service fee charged here, however, you’re expected to get your cutlery yourself, as well as to put your finished dishes away to a designated ‘dirty washing’ area when you’re done.
Come to think of it – many restaurants expect that from customers, and they still charge the 10% service fee…
It’s really easy to feel relaxed here as we found John very approachable and interesting to chat with about literally anything while he prepared our food out in the open by the counter.
Two friendly cats live here. Ban Ban is a shy boy that prefers to keep out of the way most of the time. As for Shā táng, she’ll come to say hello, but don’t worry, she won’t bother you too much unless you’re giving her some attention.
We just couldn’t get enough of these adorable, furry little monsters as we are cat lovers. John told us he has a cute little dog, but we didn’t get to see him as he was at his friend’s house for the day.
What We Ordered
There isn’t a paper menu at Take a Moment since everything that gets served depends on what ingredients are available on the day.
Due to this, John will write the daily menu on his blackboard each day.
After checking out the blackboard, this is what we got:
Our Drinks
Handmade Jam Sparkling Water – cold ($140)
We had the option of choosing raspberry jam or strawberry jam – we ended up going for raspberry jam this time since we recently got back from strawberry picking in Neihu.
We had to mix the jam in with the chilled sparkling water which didn’t end up being too sweet.
Not only was this drink simple and creative, but it was also refreshing and healthy.
Organic Herbal Tea – hot ($140)
We also ordered the hot herbal tea of 100% dried hibiscus flowers. When it arrived, John suggested we let it brew for around 5 minutes before pouring it into our glasses to achieve the best taste from this tea.
It tasted enjoyably sweet – similar to that of cranberries as it’s rich in vitamin C. We enjoyed drinking this tea throughout our time at Take a Moment as it lasted another refill.
Loofah with clams ($135)
This soup comes as a simple combination that works for your taste buds.
We didn’t know what to expect at first, but the saltiness of the clams went very well with the mild and slightly sweet loofah.
This was the soup of the day, so it’s likely to be different each day, unfortunately. That said, we do wonder what creative ideas would be available each day.
4 kinds of Cheeses Pizza ($360)
Next, we ordered a pizza. Pizzas are only available on weekends, but lucky for us, we visited on a Saturday.
You can ask John to customize the cheese on the pizza (depending on what he has on the day). As for us, we went for was shown on the blackboard – 4 kinds of cheeses which he recommends to eat in a particular order due to the different levels of strengths: Ricotta -> Normantal -> red cheddar -> Gorgonzola.
We didn’t doubt his suggestion and went for it – and we’re glad we did! The cheeses and the tomato purée were all bursting with rich flavors that couldn’t have gone better on the thin and soft crust.
Sous-Vide Steak Donburi ($280)
We ordered the small bowl since we tend to try many different foods and share them so we don’t get too full.
The vegetables were exactly how we like them, warm, fresh, and crispy with no oil at all as they seem to have been lightly grilled.
The beef is a flat iron steak that tasted juicy and flavorful. We felt the beef was slightly tender but easy to eat.
Overall, this bowl made a delicious combination of flavors from vegetables and beef. Perhaps on this occasion, we should have gotten the large bowl as it was such a pleasure to eat this healthy meal of protein and vitamins.
Fruit Yogurt ($220)
Along came our healthy dessert, a bowl bursting with a generous amount of fresh fruits, nuts, and oats. It was no surprise that the bowl felt heavy when we lifted it.
Hidden halfway to the bottom was the slightly sweet and creamy yogurt that took us a little while.
The fruit yogurt dessert was the last of what we ordered as it made a satisfying finish to our meal.
The Menu
This was the menu of what was available to us on the day we visited:
Worth visiting?
If you’re able to make it to Take A Moment, either by taxi, car, or scooter, then we’d say it’s well worth checking them out. The restaurant is quite small, but it gives you the laid-back feeling of dining in your friend’s kitchen which is super relaxing.
As for the food, we loved the idea of the meals and desserts being “80% healthy and 20% guilty” since his menu is strongly based on being health-oriented and super delicious.
In terms of the prices we paid for the food on this visit, we felt the prices were pretty good value for money considering the good quality and generous amounts we were served.
Will we go back?
We’d already made plans to go back. We’d love to try the Signature Tiramisu so we’ve already made plans to go back for it!
Take a MomentHours: Telephone: 02 2332 2229 Reach them on Social Media: Facebook: Take A Moment 暇以食日 Instagram: amomentforfood English address: No. 47號, Zhangtai Street, Wanhua District, Taipei City, 10874 Chinese address: 10874台北市萬華區長泰街47號 |
🗓️ Updated: April, 2021 – Taipei.Expats
