Brunch at VVG Table

One of the things I miss the most about the States is brunch. Sure, I really like do jiang (that sweet soy drink), sao bing you tao (that fried cruller…thing inside that bread…thing) and dim sum, but sometimes I just want some eggs and iced coffee. And I don’t want to have to wait outdoors for 45 minutes while feeling I’m about to spontaneously combust at The Diner.

So then what a treat it was to discover VVG Table. If you didn’t know, VVG stands for “very, very good,” and yes, it is indeed very very good. Located in a small alley off of Dunhua Road, it is a bit hard to find, but once you do, it’s well worth it. Walking down a quiet residential street, you’ll see a shady porch filled with all manner of comfortable and quirky looking sofas and tables. I imagine it would be quite nice to sit out there on a spring day sipping an iced coffee, but this was July in Taipei, and it was a frillion degrees out, so we opted to sit inside.

I love the ambiance at both the VVG restaurants (there’s a sister restaurant, VVG Bistro, just down the street) – both have such specific personalities to them. At VVG Table, I felt like I’d just stumbled into a French farmhouse. The interior is small and cozy, with some small tables clustered in the middle of the room flanked by long, antique looking wooden tables on both sides. There’re all these details I love – here the bright red candelabras on the long tables, there the vintage suitcases on top on some shelves. I even loved the little containers the sugars are in. Seriously, I wanted to swipe one when no one was looking.


For brunch, the only option is the set meal at NT540. The meal comes with several dishes, but in teeny tiny portions. Being the fat and greedy Americans that we are, my husband and I were initially worried that it wouldn’t be enough food. But the portions ended up being perfect – the small sizes let you savor each bite, knowing that there isn’t that much of it. It also allowed you to sample a lot more without feeling too full. We were first served a tiny cup of passionfruit, pineapple and mint slush. Scooping the slush into our mouths, we were surprised to find that the pineapple, instead of being blended in along with the passionfruit and mint, were instead frozen into little cubes, adding an interesting texture. A refreshing treat on a hot day.


Our set brunch came with homemade raspberry lemonade (more like a slush, actually), scrambled eggs with caviar, a sausage, olive, chickpea and caper dish, squid salad, and a rice cake topped with roe. The eggs were light and fluffy, with the caviar adding just the right hint of saltiness. The sausage, olive, chickpea and caper dish was surprisingly spicy, but with the just right amount of kick to work with the sourness of the olives and capers. My husband liked the rice cake the best. It had some nuts mixed in, so there were lots of interesting textures going on, what with the slight bite of the rice, the crunchy nuts, the silky roe.


I forgot to mention that before our brunch came, we were treated to a plate of fresh bread accompanied by various jams, honey and nutella. The honey was especially good – it’s some kind of special German kind, and you can really tell the difference. It was especially tasty mixed with the nutella.


VVG Table might not be the sort of place you want to go every weekend – it is a bit pricier, but definitely worth it when you want something more than your usual sao bing you tao/do jiang breakfast. Heck, it’s better than your typical bacon and eggs breakfast. So check it out.

VVG Table
ZhongXiao East Road, Lane 40, Alley 181, No. 14
(02) 2775-5120