Double Harmony [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Double Harmony (二和珍)
Address: No. 308, Kangding Road, Wanhua District, Taipei
Website: facebook
Style: Chinese
Price: $-$$

Having spent almost two months in Taiwan, I had the chance to try a lot of bakeries - and when I say a lot, I mean it - and yet no bakery transported me back to Chinatown the way Double Harmony did. It's hard to explain what made it different from all the other no frills, old school bakeries I encountered. Was it the dated decor? The uncomfortably friendly, super pushy service? All that red? Nevertheless, despite being somewhat removed from the more traveller-friendly areas of the city (unless you count it's on a pretty seedy street near Longshan Temple), it does have that touristy vibe. That can be explained by workers running after each customer and trying to sell them big gift boxes of pineapple cake, even when the bakery does have one wall of the tight shop dedicated to well-priced sweet and savoury buns.

This was actually one of the few bakeries on the Cake Tour where I gave minus points for in-store experience. Put as kindly as possible, I was cheated out of $20 and only realized once I was walking down the street, wondering why I'd paid so much for two items. The worker was trying her utmost to feed me samples and I refused each time until I thought I'd better take one purely out of politeness - were they not free samples? And the frustrating thing about it was that I felt so pressured to get a pineapple cake that I got only one out of politeness as well; it was weeks until my departure date (which was later moved back even further) so I didn't need any souvenirs or gifts. I was so mad!

Anyways, what is more frustrating is that their pineapple buns ($20) are some of the best. They're as classic as it gets with that somewhat greasy (in a good way), flaky exterior that has just the right crunch to it. Inside, it's soft without being too cottony. It's so hard to find anyone making them like this anymore.

Despite kind of being forced into the purchase, the pineapple cake with preserved yolk ($35) was good. The dough had just the right cookie-like texture with a good amount of filling in the middle so that you could appreciate the taste of both. How that turned into $75 was beyond me, but I paid while eating that one sample and wasn't paying attention.... Would have recommended it under normal circumstances: -1 star for the experience.

Rating: **