Caldo Cafe 2: Finding a perfect dessert in Taipei
Caldo Cafe 2 is the place where every hot&sweet lover has to visit at least once every month.
Foreigner folks won’t let me lie; in Taiwan is hard to find a nice place to eat the desserts we are used to.
It may be a cultural thing —maybe its just the exact way that most Taiwanese cooks follow recipes— but over here, the desserts appeal more to the eye than to our palate.
Then one run into Caldo Café 2 and we cannot only but retrieve every and one of the words that I just said.
Contrasting with the fusions and pretentious mixtures that seem to be a trend among the most re-known Taiwanese chefs, Caldo Cafe’s desserts are more simple and classic, but they all have a very special ingredient: passion.
When you get into the place your sense of smell awakes and reminds you to all those places you left behind in your country if you are foreigner or, those you knew in another western country if you are Taiwanese. The place is neat, sharp and receives one and each consumer with a very honest warning: Your order is unique, and therefore it might take from 20–30 minutes to get ready.
Now, this is a regular rule no matter if the place is packed or if it just started working; every single order takes its own time to be made delicious, and that is why the place is getting more and more crowded since its opening little bit than one month ago… Caldo Cafe has no cold desserts nor “CTRL+C-CTRL+V”-kind-of-dishes.
For those who have read most of the nonsenses that I write about, this topic might seem a little bit out of place. However, after three years living in Taiwan my desperate need of good sweets made me wanting to share with everyone here and around the Island my experience in this amazing place.
The kitchen is under the commands of Bear, owner and Sui-Chef of the place. He was not that busy the day we stopped by so he joined our table and talk to us for a while.
Bear explained every little detail about the nature of his culinary creations remarking some special features every time the dishes he prepared for us came to the table.
While eating, Bear described his long way in the coffee/sweets business. Even though I got distracted among the beautiful parade of treats and their respective scents, I could realize about one truth about Bear: He does not only speaks about desserts with a lot of passion; he uses that same passion as an ingredient to cook every time he is in the kitchen.
First stop: The Apple Pie
Bear found about his desserts’ passion when he was studying accounting in college, he says. Way before his graduation, he developed a coffee addiction and needed not another reason to find a job in that field. Interested about the art of making coffee, he asked to his boss for an opportunity to learn how to prepare the best coffee. His boss accepted and awarded his interest with a daily cup of coffee and a slice of cheese pie, the combo that made him fall in love with the warm desserts and the good drinks full of caffeine.
As he talks about his experience, the first order arrives in our table. The apple pie looks spectacular and taste even better than it looks. Taiwanese or not, the client connects with the sweet in front of him confirming a universal truth: love at first sight does exist.
One sweet bite… one fruity bite… the pie is just perfect. Still, Bear asked us not to eat too much because two more of his specalities were on its way to meet us.
Going back to his talk, Bear reveals that his passion pushed him to follow the steps and advices from a good friend of his. This guy –born in Malaysia— opened Bear eyes and took him with him to his country. Bear left behind his manager position in the first Italian-Styled coffee placed in Taiwan in order to start a long way that will encourage him to open his very own Cafe Ole, a project that signified the very basic foundation of what now we call Caldo Cafe.
Second stop: The Soufflé
Being some years in Malaysia made him very happy and helped him to earn important experience, but his family needed him back and so he did. On his early 30's, Bear had no clue about what was he going to do with his life or what kind of job he would like to have, however, he held tight to his dream and rented a small place in Taipei City. He did not open a coffee place there, but instead he used it as a storage place, and made of it his dreaming cave: the place where he would imagine himself doing what he does nowadays. Back at those days he met a couple from Macau, and became really good friend with them. They had a dessert place in Macau but were missing the coffee-making skills, so they made a trade and Bear ended up teaching them the art of making coffee in exchange of dessert-cooking classes.
The waitress interrupts our talking and Bear eyes start sparkling of excitement. It is very interesting to see him talking and admiring every dish that is being cooked under his direction; it is like seeing someone falling in love once and again. Before we eat the piece of art in front of us, Bear observes it to-detail and smiles after confirming that is well done. Immediately turns to us and tells us how to eat it: “grab your spoon and get a little bit from the middle. Taste the original flavor and then you can pour the syrup next to it on it… not too much, now eat it”.
His face is expecting a reaction. The soufflé tastes amazing: it is fluffy but firm, sweet but consistent… a true delicacy. He gets pleased when he realizes that we are smiling and eating non-stop. Then he goes back to his story.
When he finished his training in Macao, Bear partnered with a famous singer from Malaysia and opened a cafe gourmet together. Bear shows excitement while telling the story and, even though the time has flied since, his heart still races when he recalls his first day on duty.
Third stop: The Hot Cakes filled with Ricotta Cheese
When asking him about his planes now that he has two Caldo Cafes working, Bear does not hesitate to answer his next goal: open one more restaurant with his brother and team up bringing all his sweet experience with him.
“My brother already works as a VGM in a steak house. Our plan is to mix our flavors and delivering a whole culinary experience”, he says.
Even though he is quite busy during the day –because Caldo Cafe 2 opens from 11AM to 10PM— he still shows enough energy to split his talent in three different places.
The hot cakes finally got to our table. They are very thick but spongey. The sides are tanned in butter and the ricotta cheese scent comes out from every pore of the bread. This time we asked banana slices on the side, but there are more options.
The palate just applauds the hot cake.
As a drink I ordered a cold chocolate.
That’s when I realized about the secret in the Caldo Cafe growing success: their ingredients are of very high quality. I noticed little pieces of true chocolate in my drink, instead of the so popular powder that you can find everywhere.
Actually, the ingredient topic was the last part in our conversation.
“We are not trying to do cheap things.” he says. “We want to do things right. My intention when opening Caldo Cafe is to share with people all the delicatessens I have had the opportunity to try while traveling. Even though most of the flavors were discovered when I used to go to Japan very often, there are many other details found in many other countries. That is what I want to share with Taiwanese and foreigners through Caldo Cafe… all of the experiences I had the chance to live for the past years”.
Finally, Bear invites to all of those hot-dessert lovers to visit his shop. “We try to give our 100% in every sweet we prepare. To cook this kind of food has allowed me to meet many many friends, different cultures and do what I love as a living, even the profits are not that high” says laughing.
When we put down the forks, Bear excused himself from the table, took his apron and went back to the kitchen while saying: There are many orders to be done”.
Smiling, he said goodbye and invited us to go back to Caldo Cafe.
I am not trying to evaluate any place but, if this was one of those publications, I would give Caldo Cafe five stars with no doubt.
In conclusion: Caldo Cafe is unique on its nature just like every dish you can find there.
Links
Address
- 復興南路一段190巷16–1號 (Map)
Reservations
- 02 27218895
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Emmanuel is a freelancer journalist who writes about his experiences in Taiwan in both English and Spanish. He also collaborates with Blink Ent., by writing short film’s scripts and TV Sketches and develops other personal writing projects. You can find more about his work in the following links.
https://www.facebook.com/EmmanuelBlinkEnt
