We are again back with tea-time-themed post! This time we would like to review a cafe with a unique concept of Japanese phenomenon termed ‘zakka‘, cute and attractive style. While the term does give out unfamiliar aura, just ease yourself with simply description of a cute and homey feeling designed cafe. I bet local Taipei cafe-spotting regulars would most probably recognize this place as it has been in operation since 2006 to-date.

It has grown steadily until current total 6 branches serving its loyal customers (sad to hear one of its branch, Zhongxiao Store (忠孝店), has been closed since end of last month). Well, we are not so into cute-themed-cafe but of course we should try this “old-player” out, right?

We finally dropped by this cafe on a weekday evening without reservation. As our prediction, we easily managed to grab some seats – moreover there was only one table occupied beside ours. I guess weekdays are not their best business times as we found out the staff are reluctant to work, they are all flocked in the kitchen at the back of the cafe. We even needed to take a peek there to have someone attend to us.

After we had the menu in hands, we decided to opt for two different meals: one “light” high-tea set and one “heavy” meal, as I convinced my partner we should as well dig in their specialty – British High Tea Set (英式下午茶). Of course I would be happy to try their other “look-appealing” waffle dishes, but my partner is definitely against cross-dining (my own term of having meal at its inappropriate time – in this case having tea-time for dinner  ), hence our another choice was from their list of set meal below, Oregon beef baked rice (奧勒岡鄉村牛肉焗烤飯) which came with a bowl of cream soup.

Heavy meal list

Oregon beef baked rice

Cream soup

British high-tea set

..scones, jelly, cheesecake, pastry

Creme brulee

We also ordered each a beverage to complete our meals, hot caramel-flavored tea (牛奶焦糖茶) from Hediard for me and iced cranberry soda (蔓越莓蘇打) for him.

Hediard caramel-flavored tea

Cranberry soda

Taste-wise in our opinion was acceptable, but can’t be considered special. Combined with quite a cozy ambience and reasonable price tag, HANA cafe can be your option to spend some hang-out time with your friends!