双福食品 [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: 双福食品 (Shuangfu Food)

Address: No. 150 Minsheng West Road, Datong District, Taipei

Website: n/a

Style: Chinese

Price: $$ 

Quite a contrast from Shun Chen less than a block away, this bakery has none of the cram-packed coziness and commercial gimmicks of the former. Instead, it comes across as especially empty. Is it the fact the bakery itself is so big in comparison to the number of customers (at the time one, that being myself) and staff (for the most part none, but she came out eventually...)? Is it the total silence? Is it the pathetic amount of baked goods, pushed into one corner onto any leftover trays, that simply can't compete with the number of shelves and sheer vastness of the space? Whatever it was, I had the distinct impression - and that almost immediately upon entering - that this bakery, with its outdated chicness, has seen better days. 

For me to not have picked a baked good is rather telling, but I noted they had a quite the selection of cream cakes/rolls and I hadn't yet tried this triangular layered cream cake ($38; another bakery I went to with English labels called it a honey cake), so this was my chance. The first thing I thought of when seeing this cake slice is those crust-less stacked sandwiches Taiwanese people seem to love (why..... x_x), so it's not a good first impression. Buttered white bread sandwiches. But it was better than I imagined: the delicately flavoured sponge cake was moist and fluffy and the cream broke it up nicely; I liked that it was barely there so it didn't feel like a cream cake. I liked it! 

Rating: ***