So the food in Taiwan was unbelievably good- we ate street food almost non-stop everyday, had some awesome dim sum and tried some unique desserts. 1st stop was the original Din Tai Fung- not so different from the one we go to in Singapore- but with a few awesome additions. 1st their potstckers had a fried crispy top layer that connected multiple pot-stickers together. They had scrumptious lamb dumpling, really cool pork siu mai that had a very unusual shape and some neat veggies- spicy cucumbers and pickled cabbage. And of course the chocolate dumplings- dumplings stuffed with molten chocolate lava cake- Bee found his nirvana.
Another famous dish we tried the 1st night were the beef noodles from Yong-Kang- scrumptious beef, fresh noodles and a delicious broth. At Taipei 101 we had some more snacks- really good fruit flavored ice bar- and drinks – a great IPA, cloud bubble tea (ie bubble tea with cotton candy on top- awesome) and pineapple iced tea.
The next day in Jiufen, we started with our tea ceremony/ tasting at a-mei. Oolong tea has a very nice taste – only partially fermented so not too bitter but with more flavor than green tea. The tea snacks were interesting as well dried plum (loved it- brought some back), green tea cake (too much like moon cake- a bit chalky), mochi brown sugar (not good) and both white and black sesame crackers (very tasty).
After that it was time for street food. Jiufen might have had the most diverse collection of street food we tasted in Taiwan- with 3 blocks of shops – most giving out free samples! We tried taro balls – a potato like veggie in a sweet sauce with red beans (good but maybe too sweet), shrimp crackers, almond nougat (yeah we bought some of of those), fried squid from the squid pros (who else would you get squid from?!?), a brown sugar cube digestive and a brown shot of ginger (both too strong) a chocolate pastry bun (ain’t nothing wrong with that) and peach jellies (weird texture). But the winner from Jiufen was a Taiwanese sausage in a bun made out of sticky rice- oh yeah!
Next street food mecca was Shifen- after our hard work decorating our Chinese lantern we were ready to eat- and eat we did! How about vanilla ice cream with peanuts, cilantro wrapped in a soft taco shell- Dad liked this one alot! Then- wash it down with brown sugar pearls milk tea…still hungry- maybe some braised pork rice (another specialty of the region)- then for dessert- our 1st taste of mango shaved ice- a mountain of shaved ice covered with fresh bananas, strawberries, kiwis, melon, and dragon fruit ….. But wait the highlight of food in Shifen was the bbq chicken where they removed the bones and stuffed it with sticky rice- wow! (footnote as a late night snack Mom and Dad had more bubble tea from Presto and Dad tried fried sweet potato balls- really good)
In Pinglin, we focused on tea- a smooth oolong and then a cool honey flavored oolong where the flavor came from the tea leaves trying to build up resistance against an annual attack by cicadas. Then some tea peanut snacks and black or green flavoured tea ice cream – not bad!
Back in Taipei, we had a sit down lunch at Hamlin- one of many tea houses that takes credit for inventing bubble tea- so of course we tried it (both the milk and lemon versions- bubble tea is awesome by the way) – along with kumquat lemon juice. Food was the real star here as Mom enjoyed the 3 cup chicken and Dad, Jay and Bee feasted on hot pot- an Asian form of fondue where you cook the veggies and meat in a flavored broth – lots of mushrooms and greens and even corn on the cob and rose painted fish cakes (odd). Bee of course tried the tomato version- true to his Italian roots- while Dad and Jay did chicken mushroom and beef respectively.
Later on our walk through Dihua street- we found a tea house (ASW) that looked like an old speakeasy – so Mom ordered a tea cocktail ( oolong tea jasmine liquor ), Dad had a lychee flavored beer and the boys had to settle for delicious scones and pineapple mango tea.
Last big push on food was Saturday night – we braved the lines at Raohe street market for pork pepper bun (good but a serious kick), candied strawberries and some of the best xiao long bao we’ve had.
Back in Dongsheng, we found the mecca- Ice Monster- for awesome shaved mango ice (consistency of snow with great fruit flavor) with strawberries! Also tried an orange sorbet with candied lime…we were right next to Din Tai Fung – in a heroic move Mom and Bee ran out of Ice Monster with just seconds to spare to get the last take-out order before they closed…20 more chocolate dumplings! Bee quickly regained his state of inner peace and happiness!
World travelers and serious foodies! Can you guys work on adding some virtual flavor to the sense-ational images you post? We wanna have some of that Bee-nirvana!