The Best Cafes In Taipei's Shida District

As one of the most famous neighborhoods for grabbing a bite to eat, Shida is teeming with small cafes that offer everything from delectable desserts to the finest coffees in the city. But with so many to choose from, picking one can be a somewhat daunting task. So with that in mind here are seven of the best cafes one of the coolest neighborhoods in Taipei has to offer.

1. Cafe Kuroshio

Cafe, Dessert Shop, Coffee

This cozy little cafe has an excellent rotating menu of delicious desserts. The staff are super friendly and they stay open quite late, but really it’s the desserts that most people go here for. Every weekend they roll out something new so it’s a great place to go for that end of the working week treat. The atmosphere is quite relaxed and laid back as you’d expect and there are a few comfy seats if you’re lucky enough to nab them.

2. Pica Pica

Cafe, Pastry Shop, Coffee

A popular haunt for both students and office workers looking for a moment’s peace and quiet, Pica Pica is a small coffee shop that boasts a good range of coffees. There are also some really tasty sweets on the menu that are dangerously delicious. Watch your waistline at this place. The decor is very relaxing and there are plenty of power outlets for recharging your phone after all those photos of your cake.

3. Rebirth Cafe

Cafe, Restaurant, Coffee Shop, Coffee, Pastries

One of the most laid back venues in the city, Rebirth Cafe is the kind of place where you walk in for a coffee and leave having made friends with the staff and owner. It’s a wonderfully quirky little place that does a great line in bread and cakes and has a really good menu. Some might call it a restaurant (it says so on their Facebook page) but there’s so much of a homely cafe atmosphere about the place that you could easily sit for hours over one coffee.

5. Elsewhere Cafe

Cafe, Coffee, Pastries

If you like your art and design then this cafe is a 10 minute walk from Shida Road. The place is nicely decorated and they have the standard menu of high quality coffees, cakes, and tarts that you expect in any Taipei cafe. What makes this place notable though is the huge range of design and art-related books that they sell making it a sort of bookstore/cafe hybrid. And it totally works.

6. Minimal Cafe

Cafe, Coffee, Vegetarian

A very quiet cafe that is a must cat lovers. While many cafes in Taipei have a cat, not that many boast eight of them. The cats here are well behaved and tend to just lie around the place not bothering customers at all. There’s a good selection of coffees and some pretty decent light meals available but you’ll keep coming back to this place for the cats.

7. Nom Nom

Cafe, Restaurant, Asian

This is a very nice little cafe that is full of bright natural daylight. This makes it a great place to study or read a book. The menu is pretty good with some unusual sounding brunch options such as ‘Girl Friends’ and ‘Happy Bunny’ but it’s the nice atmosphere and the big windows that make it a place worth coming back to on a sunny afternoon.

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