Heaven Is a Place in Taipei

Wherever I am in the world you can guarantee that I'll be searching for the best desserts and holy wow, I really hit the jackpot in Taipei. Vegan Heaven started out in Jiaoxi, a small town about an hour away from Taipei, but recently expanded to include a location in the capital. This has been a great move for two reasons, firstly it means that more locals and travellers can sample their delicious world class baked goods and secondly more people get to meet Li, the baker and business owner behind Vegan Heaven. Li's infectiously cheerful personality really made my day every time I visited the store and her passion for baking means that she's really invested in getting her product line spot on. 

Now I've eaten at a lot of bakeries during my travels so the first thing that struck me when I walked into Vegan Heaven was that there was almost nothing there that I'd seen in a vegan bakery case before.

Night Market Eats in Keelung, Taiwan

There are a few super cool things about stopping in one place for a while. Firstly, you get to know it well; you know where the best desserts are at and how to get from point A to point B quickly, you become familiar with the quirky customs and rules that seemed baffling on day one and you get to inhabit that fun middle ground between travelling and living somewhere. Secondly, if you befriend enough vegan travellers online / in real life some of them are bound to be passing through and you can hang out. This happened most recently with Jhenn (of mac & cheese supper club fame) here in Taipei and prior to that with Cici in Bangkok. Thirdly, if you're lucky and put in a little effort on social media you get to meet the vegans that live in your chosen town or city. If the place you decide to spend some time is Taipei you'll quickly realise that everyone is ridiculously friendly and will invite you to birthday dinners, insist on ordering lunch for you from their favourite place and if you're really lucky they'll take you on an epic night market tour.

Saturday night saw me meeting up with fellow travel blogger and Instagrammer Stephie of The Caffeinated Vegan and her partner James for an evening of walking, talking and eating our way around Keelung's bustling night market. Because Taipei is fast becoming a must visit destination for all kinds of travellers but especially foodies and vegans, Jhenn, aka The Vegan Ronin, and Sam from Indefinite Adventures came along for an evening of adventure-eating too.

Vegan in Taipei

I've been in Taipei for two weeks now and I love it now just as much as I did upon first impressions. It's a real foodie city so of course I've been delving into that side of things and it seems that Tiramisu is the hot trend right now. You can get a rice and soy based version at Vegan Heaven, a raw version at The Green ROOM, and a super authentic coffee-full version with the perfect ratio of cake to cream at Soul R Vegan.

You can also grab a piece at Yummy Vegan House in the Beitou district and at the Xindian branch of Loving Hut. I'm sure there are more delicious variations of this Italian dessert to be found in the city and I'm looking forward to stumbling upon them!

Tiramisu aside Soul R Vegan has become one of my favourite spots to visit in the city. They're at the pricier end of the spectrum because of their location in the Da'an area but the combo of delicious desserts, fun flavoured tea lattes and hot frothy soy milk drinks has me well and truly won over.