Dandy Hotel Tianjin Taipei

Found this quirky little place on agoda and have been really impressed by it. Stayed for eight nights and didn't have a bad one. Lots of eccentric little touches like the wire ducks on the staircase and paper butterflies on the walls.

Service was excellent, always helpful and professional, if not overly personable (but that may have been a language thing). I was the only Westerner I saw here for the whole week, so I think they're more accustomed to tourists from the mainland. Still, all staff have good English and were receptive to my attempts at Mandarin.

Location is great, near Zhongshan Station and pretty Zhongshan North Road, and walking distance to Taipei Main Station, from where you can go anywhere. Easy to find too. I didn't get lost once.

Only qualms (and they're super-picky): the bed sheet was too narrow for the bed (which was otherwise excellent) and light comes in under the door all night. Of course, this is easily fixed by placing something across the bottom of the door.

Breakfast is very good - slightly different every day and with plenty of variety. Great coffee machine, and a neat little dining room.

I used the laundry once and it was very easy. Took longer to dry my clothes than the instructions recommended, but that's often the way with clothes dryers.