Beef No' Guy - coz I'm smooth like that

[基隆廟口夜市] - 世盛一口吃香腸 Keelung Night Market's "One Bite Sausage"

2012-02-11T17:29:00.000-08:00

Out of many so called TV food celebrities out there, no one other than Anthony Bourdain, has had his fill of sausage in virtually every country or episode (save Asia, because there is food other than hot dogs).

Every food loving person will always have something to recommend when visiting some famous night market. At Keelung Temple Mouth Night Market 基隆廟口夜市, it is impossible to eat absolutely everything, or even 50% of what there is to offer, and inevitably someone will ask you to save some room to try something.

So if you are into really tasty high quality sausages and garlic, look no further than this signature stall.
世盛一口吃香腸. Literally "one bite sausage" because each weenie is small enough it fits comfortably in your mouth, whether you are straight, single, married. Of course not all weenies are equal, some are phatter than others. Each weenie runs NT $7 (used to be NT$5 in 2005 prices), and of course a piece of garlic is included. You figure NT$30 ~ US$1. So this is affordable. Even if you are a bit broke ass.

If you live in Southern California, you've probably heard of Sinbala and their sausages. While those are good if not frozen and reheated, the real deal can only be had at a place like this.

Looks a little greasy but devlish sexy right? Bourdain sadly never ate something this good.

Somehow the black pork sausage (chockful of tasty good stuff) eaten with one piece of garlic, is just a wonderous experience. Explosion in the mouth, and of course major stink breath. If only a chunk of raw onion was paired with it in addition! The effect of this, is very similar to eating Singaporean satay skewers (one bite of meat satay, one bite of raw onion). Somehow it all makes sense.

世盛一口吃香腸 (One Bite Sausage Stall)
基隆市 Keelung City (Taipei County)
仁愛區仁三路、愛四路交叉口(第43-1號攤位) Ren Ai District, x 3rd Rd with 4th Rd (stall # 43-1)

[花蓮縣] - 七星柴魚博物館 - Chihsing Tan Katsuo Museum in Hualien county - Holy Smokey Fishy Goodness!

2012-02-04T21:11:00.000-08:00

Some years back I had the pleasure of joining some friends on a road trip that took us first from Taipei to Yilan county, then southward towards Hualien county 花蓮縣. It is truly an amazing oasis on the eastern side of the coast. What surprised me the most was that in the middle of nowhere, next to a rocky beach (no sand) that is supposedly near a military base (and often used for practice), is a museum. Right by the Chising Tan area 七星潭風景區.

Not just any museum, but one dedicated to....katsuoboshi or bonito flakes (鰹節 or かつおぶし in Japanese). Commonly referred by the Taiwanese as 柴魚片, coming from the fish bonito which the locals call 鰹魚. Whoa?! It turns out that every year, there are tons and tons and tons of katsuo harvested off the coast of Hualien, and made into bonito flakes via fermentation and smoking process.
This museum preserves some local history (showcasing the life of local fishermen), food culture, and knowledge, and is a very well known tourist attraction.

No need to give away too much, but make sure you drop by the gift shop for a lot of great fantastic katsuo based goodies, from the typical bonito flakes, bonito flakes seasoned soy sauces, dip sauces, and also Taiwanese snacks made with katsuoboshi (e.g. fish floss made with katsuo). Free samples for some stuff too. It is hard to resist.

And when you're done, don't miss the food section (looks like a canteen with benches and tables), where you can get takoyaki, fishball soup (stock enhanced with bonito flakes), katsuo roe sausage, and a few more.

七星柴魚博物館 Chihsing Tan Katsuo Museum
花蓮縣新城鄉七星街148號 Hualien County, Hsun Chun village, Chihsing Street #148

基隆廟口夜市- 營養三明治 - Keelung Night Market in Taipei County - Can a deep fried sandwich be nutritious?

2012-01-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

基隆廟口夜市- Keelung Night Market, it's like the Las Vegas strip of street food

Let us take a trip back in time....into the archives. One of the greatest things from a food blogging perspective when it comes to reviewing classical night market food, is that the receipes and offerings virtually do not change over time. There is no need to, because these vendors are excellent at what they do, do it well, maintain some level of consistency, and continue to thrive from fans and supporters all around. Which means that other than potentially minor glitches due to changes in quality and seasonality of ingredients, the end product should more or less taste the same!

But with that said, amongst the 200+ food stalls available at Keelung Night Market, this particular stall gets my vote for being the most ridiculous, wackiest, and perhaps a bit out of the box unexpected.

Presenting, the Nutritious Sandwich! 營養三明治

Copycatted and cloned elsewhere many times, but you cannot do any better than coming to this original location where it all started.

Move over banh mi and US$10++ sandwich... this beast of a Taiwanese sandwich will only run NT$50, just a shade over US$1!

The ingredients are pretty simple and straightforward.

Let's start with the bread rolls. They deep fry them first. It looks like Japanese style ebi furai. The outside is mildly crispy and roasty, with a soft inside, but firm enough to hold the mixture of condiments, seasonings, and ingredients.

Ham 火腿, tomatoes 蕃茄, cucumbers 小黃瓜, marinated simmered egg 滷蛋, mayonnaise 蛋黃醬

A Taiwanese symphony in a sandwich

My initial reaction was similar to many out there....yeah WTF?

But after eating it....WOW this is some good stuff. An incredible pairing.

Decent grub to bring on the train too.

Keelung Nutritious Sandwich

營養三明治

Keelung City, Ren-ai District, Rénsān Road, #58 基隆市仁愛區仁三路58號

Taiwan

三訪知味館 Yum's Bistro (part trois) Fremont, CA (USA) - what do turtles, snakes, and lamb have in common?

2012-01-03T17:08:00.000-08:00

Get ready for another exclusive magic show

Wa! Dai Lo, back so soon?

Why yes, why not? :-) After all, it is not like there are a lot of good solid traditional and old style authentic, non Americanized Cantonese places around. And plus this is not Hong Kong where you have a gazillion selections of really top notch food establishments...you take what you can get, but you don't want to settle for less. And with that in mind, it is not difficult to find Cantonese customers in here, some who travel across the bay, upwards of 45 minutes, just to have some of the best food in town.

We don't have Tak Lung or Luk Yu (both spectacular restaurants that preserve classical Cantonese cuisine) in the USA. But I will gladly settle for Yum's Bistro.

Let's get a few things in order first....this restaurant is quite small. It can hold maybe 4 to 5 medium sized to large tables (maybe 3 to 4 tables of ten maximum) and then roughly a handful of 5 tables that seat at most four per, and a few that seat only two. There is a small seafood tank with mostly crabs, a few lobsters, and perhaps a fish or two....and the kitchen is perhaps even smaller in scale, no more than 2 to 4 burners on the stove, one assistant in the kitchen, and the master chef Boson Yum 任旋 does the rest.

Such a small output, yet some of the best food in town comes out from his kitchen. How does he do that?

With that said, you could be looking at a minimum of two hours for dinner, and you need to set your expectations accordingly. If you want speed and efficiency, there are a few HK cafes 茶餐廳 within 20 minutes drive that will satisfy your food booty call. Good things come to those who wait patiently!

And bring at least 4 people or more, this is the only downside and rule to being able to sample as many dishes as possible. Much like a game of mahjong, 三缺一 or "three players, missing one", but here it's the reality is at least one more player is required. In addition to being able to sample more delicious food, sharing the taste and delight of good food (with family and friends) is an imperative experience.

Yes Master Yum in short is perhaps the local God of Stir Fry 鑊氣廚神 and a serious expert with seafood and classical receipes. In addition to various gigs as executive chef across a number of famous local high end seafood restaurants (as well as chef gigs in Chinese restaurants in Japan and Indonesia), his earliest humble beginnings include a chef gig at a place called 小欖公 in Hong Kong (not sure if it was an association or club) possibly during the late 1970s, and it was a place specializing in 鄉土菜 (rustic/village style cuisine). Bold, up to date, yet classical traditional? It's all there.

Menu? We don't need no stinkin' menu! But they recently revised it. And it is prettier and a lot more western friendly now. At least read it first :-)

How about the white board? Slightly new additions for November, including the seasonal old style lamb brisket claypot 古法羊腩煲, perfect for winter time.

The chef's recommended specials page on the menu, no pre-order required. This is for people who are new to the restaurant and are not afraid to be a little more adventurous.

The "soy sauce king" lobster is another not to be missed item. Chef Yum kicks so much ass with his wok! Hmmm Pan fried oysters with Hairy Melon...doesn't sound very appetizing, but this should be good considering oyster omlette/pancakes that are not Taiwanese are hard to find around here.

Hmmm typhoon shelter style fried intestines? I thought typhoon shelter was based on seafood themed items? Here you also see Deep Fried salted egg yolk pumpkin (kabocha) slices, another dish Hakka Restaurant in San Francisco made famous (chef Li and chef Yum used to work together at 南海魚村 in SF!). Sour plum pork knuckle pot is another tasty dish.

Deep fried baby squab (even though Chinese characters say roasted) 紅燒乳鴿 is excellent here, where chef Yum pretty much recreates that 1980s Hong Kong flavor (Shatin to be exact), nobody in SF Bay Area does squab better than Yum's.

Still can't decide? Or don't want to be bothered with choices and just eat? Have a group of at least 4 ready to mahjong the food away? Then the various banquet set menus will handle your worries. Reservations and pre-ordering in advance required of course.

YAWN, you didn't come here to read this standard stuff did you? Certainly not the chef's top A+ game.

I'm sure you didn't come here to read my review of their Yangzhou Fried Rice (which I'm sure is great with lots of wok hay), or that their XO sauce seafood ho fun noodles is spectacular, or that the sweet and sour pork will send you home oinking like the proverbial slob. But I will say that his vegetarian thick noodles 羅漢齋撈粗麵 is excellent, even better than Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club's version in the 1980s.

For those who want a taste of the VIP stuff in subsequent visits, but don't know enough Cantonese or Hong Kong food knowledge, can find new thrills with the updated menu, which will enable and empower you further!

Find this page of the menu:

Here's a modest start, some classic soups and dishes for pre-order so you can feel like you're eating at a private kitchen!

This page was previously an inkjet printout only in Chinese....now translated in English with clear prices and part of the menu. I'm confident these are all really good (particularly duck gizzard with watercress and dried scallop chicken soup). Now if this is your first time pre-ordering dishes, I suggest you start here. One soup, one specialty bird (chicken or duck).Yum's crispy skin sticky rice stuffed chicken 脆皮糯米雞 was covered previously here, but if you have not eaten it yet, it is an excellent introduction to classic retro-Cantonese. Allow at least 2 days or more in advance so the chef can prepare the feast for you. While Yum's version should not be compared to Luk Yu Tea House in Hong Kong, you will likely not find a better version elsewhere in California.

Now turn to the back page of the menu for the true private kitchen style food (pre-order + reservation required, again, allow a few days) that can be a lot harder to find elsewhere (and if you do, likely lesser quality and way more expensive).

Master Yum essentially took a set of dishes he felt best represented the private kitchen experience, compiled them into an easy ordering format on the menu (many put together based on dishes he made for his regular customers), and is now making them a whole lot easier for others who are ready to take dinners to the next level, and thus eat like royalty without having to fly back to Hong Kong. There is no pretentiousness or snobbery here, just solid good food, at an affordable price. Just bear in mind that pacing can be slow, so budget 2 to 2.5 hours for dinner at the very least. Take the time to enjoy, because good things come to those who wait.

We've seen some of these dishes before here, like 賽螃蟹 (crab meat with egg white) that Koi Palace in Daly City also has (but probably way more expensive).

I really didn't know what to expect this cold winter night, since a close relative had already pre-ordered the entire menu. And he let the chef decide. Cantonese omakase?

Unfortunately some of the handwriting to me was not quite legible, so we'll do the best we can!

A few items were changed last minute, such as the black pepper spicy crab, and the stir fried glutinous rice

Leave it to the Master chef to come up with something so out of the box like this!

The first dish is basically the roasted (re: deep fried) squab meat wrapped with spring roll and deep fried. There also also pieces of the wings and the thighs (as well as the head). This is a slight variation of his "paper wrapped" squab (紙包鴿) but instead of that approach he's using spring rolls (乳鴿春卷). His house made XO sauce was offered that we used for dipping, which was the perfect companion. An excellent starter to a taste of the private kitchen style dining.

House made XO sauce 自家製 XO醬. This man should sell jars of them!!

Next up, special snake soup (Tai Shi Snake Broth With Fish Maw 花膠太史蛇羹)

Crunchy bits and condiments for the snake broth

Who would have thought that there would be delicious snake soup in California USA?!

Relax folks, there is nothing scary about snake soup. It tastes more like....chicken! Well not really, it is closer to the smoothness and texture of eel. There is quite a bit of material in here, although let's not compare this with Hong Kong. The snake is not fresh meat, but frozen from Texas (rattlesnake variety), but prepared with a very high level of care. Mushrooms, fish maw, snake, chicken slivers, and a very strong dried citrus peel 陳皮 presence that gave the soup its needed boost. As it was quite cold outside, a few sips of this soup really warmed us up very quickly. This is an excellent example of replicating an old world receipe, using new world ingredients (well frozen snake isn't exactly at the top of the list....but it worked!) .

For those interested Tai Shi Snake Broth With Fish Maw 花膠太史蛇羹, is now offered as nightly seasonal item. It works out to be a little over US$9 per person....cheaper per person if you get a larger sized portion that will feed 6 or more people. I dare anyone to find me a restaurant in California (or USA for that matter) that is doing something like this. Koi Palace? Forget about it.

Collard green with geoduck (蘭度如意炒象拔蚌)

This is actually a variation of the private kitchen menu item (collard green with lobster). Except it's not collard green, but gai lan 芥蘭 / Chinese brocoli, and geoduck 象拔蚌 is used in place of lobster. Crunchy veg, light crispy clam with real good flavor, and woodear 木耳, combined with the skills of the stir fry god, and this dish was just screaming of pure enjoyment.

The stir fry god spread his powerful heat everywhere, sealing in flavor. So tasty.

孔雀肉多士拼煙肉象拔蚌 (squab toast and bacon wrapped geoduck)

Whoa! More fried goodies! The chef was actually not done with the previous squab course, and decided to play some more. The five pieces near the center are fried white bread toast with minced squab meat (like a paste), emulating Cantonese style shrimp toast 蝦多士. The deep fried goodies at the end, I believe were made with the ribbons and other portions of the geoduck clam that were not used in the previous dish, wrapped with bacon and deep fried. Crazy delicious! There you have it...creativity of using everything. And I wasn't done with hand clapping yet!

The next dish kind of stopped my hand from clapping, but only because it was too weird for me....but it was actually quite good if you don't think about it.

古法燉山瑞煲跟苗

(old style stewed Wattle necked soft shelled turtle claypot with large pea sprouts)

Totally unexpected. I've had turtle before in Hong Kong but was scarred as a kid. However I must say Yum's preparation was true to form. The stewed sauces had a lot of depth and flavor, and the fatty gelatinous parts were wonderful....almost like a great pork belly, or pig feet (skin part).

This is the best part of the turtle, very gelatinous.

Master Yum took it a step further, and did a side plain stir fry of large pea sprouts 大豆苗. The idea was to use these leafy greens to dip into the sauces, then consume with rice. Absolutely delightful (just don't think about the ol' turtle there).

The finishing starch: dried scallops salted fish egg white fried rice

鹹魚瑤柱蛋白炒飯

The usual classic for dessert, egg white and almond soup 杏汁蛋白露

Oh yes... what do turtles, lamb, and snakes have in common? They are great winter food items!

Thank you again Master Yum, t'was a fantastic feast of epic proportions.

Yum's Bistro 知味館
4906 Paseo Padre Pkwy
(between Capulet Rd & Deep Creek Rd)
Fremont, CA 94555
Tel: (510)-745-8866

[宜蘭縣] - 國立臺灣傳統藝術 - National Center For Traditional Arts, Yilan county

2011-11-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

Take a Disneyland or Six Flags, Universal Studios kind of theme park.
Kill the cutesy animal themes, remove all kinds of crazy rides and play structures, but replace it with the following:

- a near perfect replica of a Chinese village town setting from the 1800s that include a Chinese opera stage, a temple, an old looking street block of stores that sell various trinkets (including uber old school candies and snacks) that are far beyond touristy rip off junk and yet a marvel to browse

- recreate the old time classic traditions, games, arts, crafts of that period and encase it in and throughout the complex as a means of promoting history and culture of that period.

- use of local produce, wares, skills, and offerings for the souvenir shops.

and you have a real fun and cool place here at Yilan county 宜蘭縣, called the National Center For Traditional Arts.

Getting here is no small feat. It is roughly 1.5 hours drive from Taipei, going through at least 2 to 3 tunnels (one of which is supposedly "the longest tunnel in the world" if you can believe that). Below are a collection of photos and descriptions accumulated over two separate visits about 2 to 3 years ago. If you can make your way here, I highly recommend it. Bring the kids, they will have a blast.

There's just so much to see and enjoy, and of course one cannot miss seeing food and drink everywhere too.

So without further ado:

Entrance for purchasing admission tickets

Right past the entrance, immediately a food cart. Ice cream and peanut rolls! And that's just the beginning

So many traditional goodies, so little time

I fell for the tourist trap and got the mall food court beef noodle soup, not good at all, but this would sell ok in the USA...

Now this lunch set had fried tofu, fried taro balls (with dip sauce and salt+pepper mix) , and a chicken stock with bean sprouts, shallots, cilantro. A bit more localized but nothing to wow over.

If you are a citrus fruit lover, and like Japanese stuff like yuzu, sudachi, mikan, then when in Yilan, you need to have their kumquat lemon 金桔檸檬 (this is basically the kumquat lemonade stand). About NT$50 a cup but it is freakin delicious. You can even get it hot, perfect during winter and soothes the throat.

Fresh egg rolls 蛋捲, with the one in the back a Japanese inspired nori/seaweed flavor.

Oh look, Anthony Bourdain would like this place too! Grilled Taiwanese sausages with red yeast inside! Healthy? :-o

Upon zooming in, it looks like greasefest.

The view from the food court area.

A toy many Taiwanese kids grew up with, Taiwanese yo-yo (no relation to the 16+ year old pop tart by the same name) or 扯鈴. Haven't seen one on X Factor or American Idol yet...

Oh $h!t, they have dragon beard candy! 龍鬍糖 - made fresh in the store at one of the shops along the old street 老街

some of the raw materials for the dragon beard candy

Beard making!

Looks like he's hand pulling noodles eh?

Shaved peanut powder, a vital touch of flavor and texture.

Back on the old street strip.

Uh oh, more old schoolness. Sweet sticky stuff to make more freaky teeth. The stuff on the left is basically a round wheat cracker sandwich (inside is molaasses) on a stick (like a lollipop). As far as the stand on the right?

麥芽酥 (wheat germ pastry) supposedly from the 1930s era

That's gotta be molasses inside.

You might encounter a parade, a very festival one.

Stay for the show, it can be interesting

You're probably thinking this is CandyLand.... here's an old school ginger candy shop

Yeah this is not as sexy looking as Godiva, Jean Paul Hevin, or macarons...but in the 30s this had to do.

Shop specializing in old Chinese puppets.

This dude caught our eye... making works of art with glass and fire. Plus he looks like a Japanese hippie trucker from Tsukiji Fish Market, and a 60s classic DeadHead rocker! RAWK!

After all that fire, he makes stuff like this.

And this.

Two separate visits were not even enough to see absolutely everything.

Website: http://www.ncfta.gov.tw/ncfta_eh/main/index.aspx

National Center For Traditional Arts 國立臺灣傳統藝術
宜蘭縣五結鄉季新村五濱路二段201號
TEL:03-970-5815

[台北市] - 寧夏路夜市 - 古早味紅豆餅 The Making Of Red Bean Cake Footage (Ningxia Road Night Market Taipei)

2011-11-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

Previously covered here, but who cannot resist some real footage? Unearthed a clip I took a few years back of the making of this local old school delicacy.

Gotta love those "finger condoms" cut out from a dishwashing rubber glove on the person doing the cooking and flipping (where the flipping action reminds one of takoyaki 章魚燒).

It's quite unbelieveable that lines continue to form at this stall at Ningxia Road Night Market 寧夏路夜市in Taipei, and this traditional red bean cake 古早味紅豆餅 is arguably better than other versions. On certain nights, expect to wait at least 20 to 25 mins before you can place your order. These delicacies seem similar to those Japanese style dorayaki's 銅鑼燒, except these are not flat pancakes, but shaped almost like.... a Sausage Egg McMuffin! Egg custard (excellent), red bean (woof woof), and taro (whooo hoooo) are quite kick ass and still taste quite decent if you re-heat in a toaster oven the next day. Haven't been able to try the pickled veg and meat version, but I'm sure it is very decent.

寧夏路夜市 (Ningxia Road Night Market, Taipei)
台北市大同區寧夏路(寧夏夜市中段) (Da Tung District, Ningxia Road, about halfway into the main night market).

二訪知味館 Yum's Bistro (2nd visit) Fremont, CA (USA) classic Cantonese at its finest

2011-10-07T14:56:00.000-07:00

Don't let the front entrance, and the fact that it is in a random non-descript strip mall within minutes of a residential block fool you....the master chef here is hardcore. Chef Boson Yum (任旋) is seriously a Cantonese culinary treasure in San Francisco Bay Area.

Previous visit can be found here

For those who don't have an "in" with the chef, and would like to try the more off the beaten path items, might want to look at the Chinese specials board. What's interesting is that it is written in shorthand Chinese, although the chef's mastery is all Cantonese in nature

A combination of properly fused flavors, along with classic rustic styles. Try to find something like this at some snotty upscale seafood restaurant in town.

Or if you want to pre-order certain dishes, but don't know what to get, the restaurant now has a separate "private kitchen specials" menu

There is a $200 soup for 10 called 海中宝. While I have no clue what's in it, they say it contains a mix of seafood (likely the dried usual suspects). The rest of the other soup varieties are rustic and really unusual, and I'm sure requiring a lot of time and effort to prepare ahead of time, ditto for the special stuffed duck and the stir fried sticky rice stuffed chicken (where a whole chicken has its meat and bones removed, the cavity stuffed entirely with stir fried sticky rice....cheap ingredients and really time consuming to do with a silly low profit margin, hence the US$38 price tag, but it is ridiculously cheap compared to the $70 to $80 price you pay at Luk Yu Tea House in Central during dinner) .

Every hipster out there knows what omakase is, in other words, "chef, sock it to me baby!"

If you know the chef well enough like some of his regulars, and have developed a personal relationship with him (perhaps a select few), it can be done here too...he will sock you, and do it really well. Even if you order from the white board, you will not be disappointed.

紙包乳鴿 deep fried edible paper wrapped squab

Roast squab (deep fried actually) is available on the menu. The chef can execute this dish with his hand behind his back and his eyes closed. But repackaging and re-doing this classic, he chose to wrap sliced squab meat, then deep fry it. Well this is technically not like the versions in Hong Kong at the regional Cantonese joints, but still very well executed and unusual.

But that's not all....the chef even made XO sauce to dip this stuff in! After having his XO sauce, you don't want to eat the BS from the imported jars (not even Lee Kum Kee)

自家製XO醬(配紙包鴿) - house made XO sauce for the squab. Top ingredients, freaking awesome

迷你燉節瓜湯 (蟹肉, 火腿絲, 瑤柱, 蘑菇, 鮮蝦) - mini stewed/double boiled soup embedded inside a Chinese melon. Supreme broth with crab meat, shredded Chinese ham, dried scallop, mushrooms, and fresh shrimp.

The amount of effort into making this miniaturized version of the classic winter melon soup, instead using hairy gourd 節瓜 (sometimes known as hairy melon/squash) was greatly appreciated. Other than the aluminum foil, this was a mini extravaganza from top to bottom.

Next one seemed like a blast to the past (village style) and even more amazingly done than Hakka Restaurant in San Francisco.

XO醬炒豬肚仁 (非常爽!!) - XO sauce stir fried pork stomach

Pork stomach may be a little bit hard to stomach for many, but with the right touches, this is a truly comforting delight. The chef doesn't just pick any ordinary pork stomach, and he has to find a very particular cut that yields the right texture. It is said he once made a pork stomach tip 猪肚尖 (where he had to go through 20 pigs to find a portion for the dish) so don't even ask for it....but it is also said that this particular dish 炒豬肚仁 was even better... The crisp and mild crunch factor, coupled with the wok heat and the savory XO sauce, made this a real winner. I hate celery, but couldn't help eat as many as I could from the dish as it tasted so good.

The next one is a banquet classic

海参鹅掌 - sea cucumber and goose webbed feet with mustard greens

I love it....banquet style dish (and high level execution) in a Cantonese bistro! The chef has done thousands of these dishes when he was executive chef at the various SF Bay Area seafood restaurants in the last 20 years, so if it feels like Fook Yuen, ABC Milpitas, South China Seafood Village, HK Flower Lounge Millbrae, there's a reason (he used to work at these seafood restaurants!)

香芒牛柳粒 - mango beef (dope ass good)

This dish is on the specials board, and is a must order. With Mexican mangoes in season, it was time for some good ol' SE Asian style with Cantonese touches fusion. Tender/superior cuts of cubed steak with an end result that was sweet and sour, but not the Americanized version you are used to. The natural sweetness all came from the mango. You like Vietnamese style Bò lúc lắc (Shaking beef) with the Maggi sauce flavoring? This is even better...

And finally, what's a dinner at the crab (and lobster) specialist without a crab dish?

賽螃蟹 - Shanghai style stir fried crab with egg whites 2 way (the other way is salt and pepper fried crab)

It is said that Empress Dowager Cixi 慈禧太后 from the Qing Dynasty was craving crab one day, and being in landlocked Beijing had its challenges to procuring live fresh seafood (especially so last minute). The Imperial Chef came up with a solution by stir frying egg whites with some fish, and provided some black vinegar dipping sauce. She loved it to bits and became a royal hit. Then supposedly this dish made its way to Shanghai and the rest is 賽螃蟹 history.

Now here's the funny part... whoever started this trend by taking the 賽螃蟹 has dish, but adding REAL CRAB, is in a way taking the piss. Upscaling a dish that was orginally meant to have no crab (by virtue of geographic location) and changing it into something else.

Koi Palace in Daly City (the other restaurant that has this on the menu), but if the cards are right, you can also get this in similar quality right here. Out of the box, and really delicious. Don't let it get cold though, won't taste as good.

And yes....I was socked real good, till I was socked out.

In the words of the Terminator.... I'LL BE BAAAAAACK!

Yum's Bistro 知味館
4906 Paseo Padre Pkwy
(between Capulet Rd & Deep Creek Rd)
Fremont, CA 94555
Tel: (510)-745-8866

[台北] - Taiwan Storyland Museum 台灣故事館

2011-04-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest things about Taiwan is their dedication to cultural preservation. Not just with food, but also life as it was back your parents and grandparents days. Enter Taiwan Storyland Museum 台灣故事館, a place that sort of lets you be a kid again (but at the same time, not).

It is essentially a large basement level recreated to look like...1950s era Taiwan. It's a great place for kids to explore (especially on rainy days) although the price of admission is not cheap.

Interesting enough, some of the initial planning activites for the annual Taipei Beef Noodle Soup Festival for 2009, began at one of the recreated 1950s era classrooms, right in the basement of Storyland museum.

In some ways the mood of this basement reminds me of the basement of the Yokohama Ramen Museum, a re-creation of the past. However this museum is mostly about the visuals, and not very much about the food, which will get a brief mention later.

Re-creation of the street games kids used to play, for a small price of course.

Outside a replica ice cream and iced desserts shoppe

Iced desserts shoppe

Taiwanese James Bond's ladykiller set of wheels

Old movie poster. Taiwanese James Bond? Taiwanese Sean Connery?

Did Taiwanese James Bond have one of these gizmos?

OK enough browsing, time for an old school snack at the re-created shoppe

There were a few snack items to try, but we had free coupon for their signature item Mien Cha 麵茶...and as we were cheap, that's how we rolled.

Taiwanese old school, almost oatmeal like, called mien cha 麵茶. Original flavor

Black sesame Mien cha 麵茶.

Insert "Disney didn't get royalities" joke here

They don't make movies like they used to....

Old skool ice cream vendor

Old movie theater's relics.

Taiwan Storyland Museum 台灣故事館

No. 50, Section 1, ZhōngXiào West Rd, Jhongjheng District
Taipei City
02-2388-7158
Website: http://www.taiwanstoryland.com.tw/

[基隆] - 基隆廟口夜市- 天一香肉羹順 Tien Yi Hsiang - the pork rice of legends at Keelung Night Market

2011-04-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

On some of the other internet foodie boards, one food geek question commonly asked is "how far would you travel to get your fix of something?". And then people say they'll drive upwards of 2 to 3 hours here for a little bitta this, or fly to Japan just for the weekend and back. If not driving 8 to 9 hours from Northern to Southern California for superior Japanese, Taiwanese, and perhaps regional Chinese food.

But in Taiwan, no matter the duration, a pilgrimage to the culinary delights of the streets is a must. Ignore the weight gain that may occur during the visit, just walk as much of it off, and starve yourself coming home because whatever equivalent you will have back home (if you are visiting from abroad) will likely suck.

The signature item here is misleading....it's not necessarily the pork potage soup 肉羹 as the stall name suggests, but the holy minced stewed pork belly rice, Lou Rou Fan 魯肉飯 . While this dish is not as sexy looking as Hainan Chicken Rice, it can also be a very personal bowl. Some might like it more than others, or others may have a different favorite.

It's a small snack portion, allowing you to sample other things like their signature meat stew soup, yoh doufu (fried stuffed tofu with a delicious thick broth sauce), and absolutely not to be missed, their steamed bamboo shoots that are super sweet and paired with a very interesting mildly spicy orange looking sauce that contains no orange.

It is quite amazing that the founder of this stall is actually the daughter of Mr Wu, who owns

http://beefnoguy.blogspot.com/2010/10/wus-ding-bien-dzuo-91-year-old-shop-in.html

Surely there are better options for minced pork rice (e.g. Formosa Chang) in Taipei city, but in Keelung Night Market it is hard not to pass up on this satisfying place.

天一香肉羹順 (Tien Yi Hsiang) at Keelung Night Market
基隆市仁愛區仁三路31號 Keelung city, Ren Ai district, Ren Shan Rd #31
02 2428 3027 ‎

[南加州- 羅蘭崗] 臭豆腐大王 - The Royalty of SKANK in Rowland Heights, Southern California

2011-03-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

Whoa, did GOOGLE open up in Rowland Heights before Mountain View?

A bootleg Chinese version?

Naw...none of that sort. Don't let that GOOGLE looking logo fool you.
It translates to the phonetic pronounciation of FORMOSA.

Oh yes....old school. The great eats of Taiwan, old school classics, right at Formosa. But also right in.... Dynasty Plaza? Identity crisis?

So Google (not Formosa), lists this place as Tofu King. Non Chinese speakers might call this restaurant "Dynasty Plaza" out of confusion. But the locals? It is the King of Stinky Tofu 臭豆腐大王. Try finding this kind of shop in Northern California, I dare you.

"No MSG" in English, "This store does not have MSG" in Chinese....so they do not use it in/on the restaurant? It's like a Confucian mystery. But yes I really think they don't!

Old school basically means, "we don't invest in gimmicky upscale digs and decor", "we do things OUR way, screw you if you don't like it", "the food speaks for itself", etc.

The storefront is really small, maybe 3 tables on the inside with several tables outside. All Chinese menu plastered on the walls, and a separate laminated menu double sided with English.

This place is run by a very friendly older guy owner who we heard speaking Taiwanese (Ming nan yu / Hokkien) to an adjacent table. Seems like a family business on top of that as well.

They have two kinds of fried tofu, the regular one (stinky signature), and one called 一口吃 (one bite), which I assume is bite sized. The waiter explained that the latter was designed for non Taiwanese eaters who basically cannot stand the taste nor smell of the original stinky tofu.

We got one order of their signature stinky tofu to share. Three giant pieces of deep fried goodness that at least to me did not stink that bad. Came with the obligatory chili sauce in the corner, spicy pickled cabbage (Taiwanese kimchi if you will but different) or pao tsai 泡菜, and a small pool of sauce at the bottom. When I took in a bite, and savored in the flavors and textures, it really did remind me of the stinky tofu I had in Taipei night markets (Shihlin 士林 and Lir Hua in Yongho township 樂華). Not oily or greasy at all, with a nice toasty crunch on the outside, and a perfect inside. The stinky tofu they used had a very different texture than other places....here they appear to use freeze dried tofu (commonly used in hot pots to absorb broth and quite delicious), where the interior is chewier and denser. While the 泡菜 could have been better (unusually sweet and not terribly spicy), the whole combo was excellent.

Their stinky tofu does smell, but it doesn't smell that bad. I've smelt worse. For hardcore skank stink fans, you might need to look elsewhere if skank (scent) is more important, but for a taste of home (if Formosa island is yours) look no further.

A-tsai/A-choy came with some minced pork on top (rou zhou) on top. The pork was a tad bit too salty.

Their Gong Yuan Hao sour plum drink 公園號酸梅湯 is named after a very famous sour plum drink shop in Taipei with over 50 years of history, and was the best rendition I've had in California to date. I wish I could have purchased a bucket to bring home. Extremely refreshing, and sadly not enough to last the 8 hour drive back home.

It turns out this place has a few additional killer moves.

We picked up some frozen goodness to go

Hsin Chu style meatballs (新竹貢丸)

Fuzhou fishballs (福州魚丸)

Pork and cabbage dumplings

and had them at home after the long drive (in our own ice chest of course).

Fantastic, all of them.

Bouncy chewy meatballs, tasted virtually like the kind from the local market in Yongho township. The Fuzhou fishballs were excellent too, especially the juicy soft porky interior. Lovely pork and cabbage dumplings that surpassed even the best dumpling restaurants in NorCal, with a homey taste to boot.

What is it about pork in SoCal? You guys grow better swine?

Apparently this eatery's next best seller is their minced pork rice, of which the owner claims he goes through 5 pig's worth a week. He also relies on no advertising and word of mouth just spreads amongst the Taiwanese community, and gets a lot of visitors from Northern California as well.

I was very amazed at how this man's eatery was able to replicate the flavors of Taiwan, a feat that I practically gave up hope on in Northern California. No wonder why so many Taiwanese expats in NorCal are willing to brave the drive to SoCal to eat the good stuff.

LA may have the smog and Hollywood nitwits, but they sure have San Francisco Bay Area beat in Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese food. This place is a stellar (yet simple and humble) example that one man and his small pop shop can recreate the flavors of Taiwan. Can we clone him and his shop up in Northern California PLEASE?

(Stinky) Tofu King - 臭豆腐大王
18414 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 964-6250

[台北] - 饒河街夜市 150年山東麻油店 - Rao He Night Market's 150 year old Shandong Sesame Oil shop

2011-01-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

(pic by fm4715/魯獅)

Ahh yes, the age old classic question...."if I visit Taiwan, what food items should I buy that I can bring back?" Your luggage space is limited and there are so many possibilities. Surely you don't want to occupy it with beef noodle or oyster omlette flavored potato chips. Dried cured mullet roe 烏魚子(Taiwanese bottarga) and dried noodles? Quality tea from 王德傳? Flavorful organic longan honey? Dried snack goodness? Sure. But what else?

If you have a cooking and kitchen fetish that includes fine oils, why not get something....super old school, fragrant, and quality?

Look no further than this 150+ year old shop in Rao He Night Market 饒河街夜市, known as Shandong Mayoh 山東麻油店.

(pic by fm4715/魯獅)

This small storefront is so easy to miss and ignore. When you're cruising this semi touristy night market for great snackage, buying sesame oil is probably the last thing on your mind. It's not a tapioca milk or bottled tea that you can drink while downing a pepper pork roasted bun, or a skewer of something.

(pic by 莊琇閔 of udn)

This shop has been around since 1859, so yes...152 years and counting. Ownership has been passed down to the 4th generation, a 74 ish year old guy named 陳朝進 who took over the reins of the business from his father at age 30. When you have a solid product or two that is your only specialty, passed down the generations, and the method of production basically remains unchanged, it has got to be pretty darn good and consistent.

So apparently the current owner Mr Chen had dreams of his own, that he wanted to be a boxer at a young age. After enlisting in the military to try his hand at professional fighting, he learned quickly that he couldn't make a living out of knuckles and punches despite grandma telling him "Doooood, sesame oil is our family life's blood! You can survive via oil!", until he finally gave in, and the rest is history.

Everyday, Mr Chen wakes up at 4 am and begins the process of oil extraction from the raw materials that lasts easily 10 hours or more. While technologies and competitors have advanced to the point of using automated machinery from start to finish, he insists on doing everything the old school way because he believes that will result in a better taste and texture.

So the funny truth about the name of the shop...Shandong Sesame Oil Shop. Mr Chen is 100% Taiwanese and is not even of Shandongnese ancestry. The name Shandong was picked due to the fact that region in China produces some top grade 小磨香油 (which is essentially old school grounded sesame oil, versus 胡麻油 which is pressed) and the name stuck.

The making of this wonderous sesame oil begins with washing the sesame seeds (locally grown in Taiwan), removing the outer shell and unwanted particles (otherwise would result in bitterness), stir frying, air drying, grinding into powder, steaming, and then pressing into oil. Before the days of machinery
the pressing process involved basically caveman style hitting with a wooden club. Now the pressing is done by machine.

Apparently locally grown sesame seeds are harder to come by (due to increasingly difficult conditions to grow and longer time to harvest) and other sesame oil manufacturers have been outsourcing sesame seeds from Thailand, Burma, or other parts of Southeast Asia. But this shop continues to use locally grown seeds, and always has.

Make no mistake about it, this sesame oil is supreme. Definitely better than many other sesame oils that are store bought and imported from Taiwan.

Don't miss the shop's Camellia oil as well (bitter tea oil / 苦茶油)

山東麻油店 (Shandong Sesame Oil Shop)
台北市松山區饒河街84號 (Taipei City, Songshan District, 84 Rao He Street, inside Rao He Night Market)

[北加州矽谷] 陳媽媽家台灣小吃 - Mama Chen Santa Clara, Silicon Valley, California USA

2010-12-30T13:28:00.000-08:00

Back to the USA for a moment. Santa Clara, Northern California, USA to be exact.

This might just be the best Taiwanese restaurant in all of Northern California that perhaps can rival some of the good ones in Southern California.

The general at the helm? A 70+ year old grandma, known as Mama Chen 陳媽媽.

Don't mess with this mama (or grandmama). She may look cute and cuddly, but man, she (and her crew) can cook!!! I've seen her at the restaurant before. Unlike Liang's (or Mama Liang 梁媽媽, a chain in Southern California that has spread to 2 Northern California locations) where Grandma Liang appears to be the only one who really knows how to cook, maybe is really hiding in Taiwan and counting her wealth (from the franchise) while contemplating how many more Mercedes Benz, BMW, Lexus, and real estate to purchase. Mama Chen is a mom and pop type operation (no branches), and yet so much higher quality, albeit a different style. This is another legend where grandma is basically in retirement, but maintained her passion of cooking and wanting to share that joy (while making a living), so lucky for us in the area, this place exists.

So Mama Chen herself is supposedly a veteran of the Taiwanese/Chinese restaurant business. One of the reasons why her food is so ass kicking is because approximately 20 of those cooking experience years were spent in Southern California Taiwanese restaurants. The other reasons are that the food just rocks.... very simple and at times homey tasting, yet minimal use of MSG (based on not feeling thirsty afterwards at all) if any, pretty authentic tasting given the ingredients and skills available. She apparently did a short chef stint when the Tainan restaurant 台南風味小吃 in Cupertino Village (Northern California) opened circa 1996 , but I never recalled that place being stellar at all.

If you are at Mama Chen later than 5:30 pm on certain days (especially weekends), you'll have to sign your name on the waitlist and then the rest is up to the clock. This place fills up so quickly with locals (ie Taiwanese expat community) craving a fix of the homeland. Given that there are virtually no other good options around, this place is pretty much the best in town (with quality and value to boot!).

One of the absolute best dishes is 攪和攪和 (Mix Mix / Jiaohe Jiaohe) , a savory blend of soy sauce simmered/marinated excellence (lu wei / 滷味)
containing dried tofu strips 豆干 (doh gahn), pig's ear (豬耳朵) that tasted very smooth and like beef tendons, and beef tripe (honeycomb/stomach 牛肚). Topped with scallions and cilantro. This dish tasted like it was cooked to order, as it was nice and warm (not refrigerated and not piping hot). The marinade receipe was perfect, not too salty, just the right soy sauce and herb flavors with complexity. Not as beautiful as the stir fried combo 眷村炒滷味 at 72 Beef Noodles in Taipei http://beefnoguy.blogspot.com/2010/02/72-beef-noodles-taipei-im-so-happy-i.html , but for NorCal this is as great as it gets.

This might just be the fugliest looking Taiwanese oyster omlette 蚵仔煎
I've ever seen. While it looks like barf on a plate, it actually tastes quite good. Instead of griddling or grilling (over charcoal) like they do in Taiwan, this looks like it was pan fried. The diluted ketchupy looking sauce is their house receipe, and is a valiant effort despite the poor visuals. The addition of soy sauce paste added that needed savory flavor to the mix. A little more oysters would have helped. Since Ay-Chung / Ocean Harbor cafe in Milpitas is gone (that made a half decent 蚵仔煎), this will have to do for now. Not sure I can afford the US$18 Singaporean style omlette at Shiok in Menlo Park :-o

For the pittance they charge, something like US$5.75 (oh yeah cash only place), you get a humongous portion of chicken leg rice 雞腿飯. No wonder this place is so busy....it appeals to the El Cheapsadores in us! Pickled mustard greens (suan tsai 酸菜)are awesome, probably the best in town (even better than Formosa Bento House in Redwood City). Even the chicken tasted good.

Ahhh yes, Beef Noodle Soup 牛肉麵. Better than a lot of overpriced and poorly executed Japanese style ramen most of the time. Tsing Jiang Tsai 清江菜, thick wide slurpy noodles, excellently cooked beef shank slices (thick but soft and good chunks of tendon), perfect pickled mustard greens (酸菜), and the crucial element that holds it all together, a deep rich flavorful thick beef broth seasoned with herbs and a little pepper (although with a thick layer of non spicy oil or grease on top...wish they would strain it beforehand, but during cold winter nights this actually helps and adds further punch like true Taiwanese soul food...). Also a shade under the $6 mark, and for a cash only place it cannot get better than this.

Had to come back again earlier tonight, as the need for a fix was so great. To start, a tender crispy juicy appetizer of blanched vegetables or tang tsing tsai
燙清菜. The house veg changes depending on what they stock or in season. Tonight it was A-tsai (A 菜, where A = Taiwanese dialect for duck, a large crunchy leafy green that well, used to be fed to the ducks, but eventually people discovered how great it was!). The best part? The magic soy sauce seasoned broth it was cooked in, and a little bit of rou zhao (stewed minced pork 肉燥) that was done excellently....airy, puffy, and light. Wished they put more pork on the veg!

OK the oyster noodle 蚵仔麵線 wasn't stellar, but this is Northern California where the standards are very low, so it was fun to be able to eat this in half decent quality (and quantity to boot). Flavor wise it was a great effort. I'm trying reaaaaaaalllly hard not to compare this to 宏麵線 (let alone Ay-Chung Xiemending...), but can't help it. KC gourmet is so right.... to be able to properly judge a dish, one should at least have had the real thing in the country of origin to have a baseline. Anyway, a little minced garlic could have gone a long way, and perhaps making the broth smokier via katsuobushi (bonito flakes). Whatever they used still worked to some extent...baby oysters (too few), bamboo shoots, cilantro, some pepper, black vinegar. The noodles were the weak link, pretty much the supermarket variety, unlike the thinner fresher tasting ones in Taipei. But in the end, this was still satisfying.

Drum roll please.....gua bao 割包, the original version of the steamed bun pork sandwich (sometimes nicknamed Taiwanese hamburger), before the likes of David Chang, Chairman Bao capitalizing on this classic snack. A good rendition, even though this was a very healthy prep of lean pork. Good mustard greens, a little cilantro, shaved peanut powder. Around the $4 mark for two...can't complain.

Stinky tofu here is not that stinky, more like mildly and briefly annoying.
Oyster noodles looked good but perhaps do not expect the exact replication of Taiwan.

Overall a very solid effort by this retired grandma. Were it not for her, it would be easy to give up hope and settle for extreme mediocrity in the SF Bay Area (or suck it up and drive 8 hours to Southern California for a wider variety of much higher quality Taiwanese....)

Mama Chen 陳媽媽家台灣小吃

5075 Stevens Creek Blvd

Santa Clara, CA 950510

(408) 249-9888

[台北縣永和市] - 世界豆漿大王 - World Soymilk King in Yongho - The Breakfast of Champions

2010-12-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you just want to start, end, or break your day (or night) with a Taiwanese style breakfast. Like dis classic combo of hot soymilk with a carb sandwich (shaobing yohtieo / 燒餅油條). Don't forget to dunk the carb wrap like a donut (or cookie) in the soymilk!

The township of Yongho 永和市 is primarily a residential area with lots of small mom and pop type shops and businesses. Certainly not a foodie destination to say the least. Whatever the local food shops sell, there are places that generally do it better, from oyster pancakes to beef noodles. Even the local night market Lir Hua (樂華) isn't particularly high on the must-eat list (although nice if you are in the area, but certainly not a destination stop).

But if you mention the word (or town) Yongho 永和 to any Taiwanese ex patriot living abroad one thing that will inevitably associate them (similarly to the effect that Din Tai Fung has become the brand name for Xiao Long Bao) is that 永和 goes hand in hand with soy milk 豆漿, or at least 9.9 Taiwanese out of 10 will immediately react and say "oh, 永和豆漿!!". If you live in Yongho, you will probably respond by saying "yeah, WHATEVER clever".

There are a ton of shops in Yongho that sell the good stuff for breakfast. But there is one shop, probably the most famous in the area, that deserves special mention. The shop is now 55 years old, and pretty much operates around the clock (yes open 24 hours!)

The name is World Soymilk King 世界豆漿大王, and is pretty much the landmark of Yongho breakfast. The Din Tai Fung of breakfast maybe, but of course, not Michelin star, and certainly not a date kind of place.

The history of this place is quite amazing. Apparently two former soliders from Mainland China (Shandong province to be exact) moved to Taipei and missed the breakfast food of their homeland (namely the breakfast stuff) and what started out as literally a street vendor/hawker small business eventually blossomed into a shop. It is also interesting to note that initially not many customers embraced the style of breakfast in the early 50s, but eventually that changed. The owner(s) pretty much started their days at 3 am, soaking the soybeans, and by 5 am started to cook the soymilk, so that they can serve their customers by breakfast time (students and adults on their way to work needing a fix).

Need your fix at 3:15 am right now? No problemo. Why at that hour you can even order some Hong Kong style dim sum too... like 蘿蔔糕, 叉燒包, 燒賣 if you crave it. Even xiao long bao at interesting street vendor quality.... but why bother with that one.

Seriously, you just want to stick with the classics.

Soymilk any style or rice milk (mi jang / 米漿)

Shaobing 燒餅 - roasted flatbread with sesame seeds on top, crunchy multi layer pastry shell thingy. Or request this with yoh tieo 油條 to double your starch pleasure. For those who like sweet starch, there's a kind sweetened with molasses 麥芽甜餅 that's quite delectable too.

There's something about World Soymilk King's signature soymilk flavor that is not present with the competition, and frankly an acquired taste. It has a slightly burnt flavor! Well I do not believe it to be burnt, but more so earthy. I don't think anyone has decyphered the secret to this, but I have to admit I did not like it the first time, but having tried it again for the 2nd or 3rd, it started to grow on me. Sometimes a chilled earthy (re: burnt tasting) version can hit the spot! This is what makes their soymilk unique, and not easily copied by the competition. Let's just say I've had truly burnt soymilk before abroad, and it was stuff that you want to throw away. Not so with the Elvis of Breakfast!

Surely there are other breakfast places in Taipei city that are as popular or even arguably equivalent or better, especially those who work downtown.

However you cannot just dismiss Elvis, who really started it all.
Respect.

世界豆漿大王 (World Soymilk King) http://www.soymilk.com.tw/
台北縣永和市永和路二段284號 (Taipei County, Yongho township, Yongho Road, 2nd portion #284)
Tel: 2923-9635

[台北縣] - 永和市 - 宏麵線 - Hom's Oyster Noodles in Yong Ho township, Taipei County. Homina Homina Homina!

2010-12-14T16:01:00.000-08:00

When not in the mood to be satisfied by a bowl of some fatty pork over rice, let alone a simple bowl of beef noodle soup (with hopefully a complex broth), sometimes one would have to resort to the local bowl of noodles that hits the spot without being too filling.

Perhaps the rendition known as 蚵仔麵線 or Er (sometimes pronounced Oh) Ah Mi Sua in Fujian Taiwanese/Min Nan dialect. Fresh baby oysters, a special type of sun dried vermicelli noodle, an intricate simple yet deep secret broth (thickened probably with some cornstarch) with perhaps strong hints of turnip or daikon, katsuoboshi (shaved bonito flakes) to give it that smokey edge, meat bones. Then a little garnish, like chopped cilantro. Toss in some minced garlic, and you're all set.

Oh yeah...don't forget the chopped pork chitterlings/intestines....with a soft chewy casing and a bone marrow like interior! This is when access to a good oyster pancake 蚵仔煎 is somewhat restricted. And Ay Chung 阿宗麵線 is probably too far out of reach (Ay Chung's broth is spectacular, but he doesn't put oysters in his...doh!) http://beefnoguy.blogspot.com/2010/01/ay-chung-xiemending-taipei.html

I'm sure there are other places that do the oyster noodles much much better elsewhere, but it just so happens that this neighborhood vendor, known as "Hom's" (yes, same "Hom" as pretty boy pop idol Wang Li HOM but no relation) is just so down to earth, been in business nearing 30 years and is located at the end of a local market, almost to the point of obscurity, and delivers the bowl in quality, that I have no problems going back everytime.

You will find this vendor in the township of Yong Ho 永和市, virtually at the end of Chu Lin Road market 竹林路市場, touching the residential areas. Right across it is a 24 hour convenience store, and it is not that hard to miss.

NT$30 or pretty much rounded to US$1. So simple, so satisfying and light.
A taste of the streets. A taste of the neighborhood. Delicious fresh baby oysters (fresh off the coast of western middle Taiwan is truly unbeatable), alas not enough in the bowl most of the time. But for now it will have to do.

Don't forget to splash on some black vinegar to seal the deal.

And sometimes I cannot resist ordering this called Yu Su Gunh 魚酥羹, just to have the crispy chips, that are essentially dried fish puffs. The broth unfortunately is not as interesting as the oyster noodle's, and is also thickened with cornstarch. But the fishy chips are amazing.

宏麵線 (Hom's Noodles)
台北縣永和市竹林路225巷64號
Taipei County, Yong Ho Township, Chu Lin Road Alley 225, #64
Tel: 02-89280228

Hours：
Tues - Fri : 8:00-18:00
Sat - Sun : 8:00-14:00

[基隆] - 基隆廟口夜市- 百年吳家鼎邊趖 - Wu's Ding Bien Dzuo (91 year old shop in Keelung Night Market)

2010-10-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

Some say that Keelung (基隆) Night Market was born out of the main temple in the area (hence the term 基隆廟口) when people in the old days would travel like pilgrims to worship.

Eventually worshippers got hungry and needed some food at whatever hours of the day or night, even if they were praying into the wee hours of the morning. Savvy entrepreneurs would set up stalls and stake out a location adjacent to the temple's entrance exterior, and thus the rest they say is history.

One of these entrepreneurs set up a stall called 100 year Wu's Ding Bien Dzuo 百年吳家鼎邊趖. The truth is, they started in 1919, which means in nine more years, and this joint will officially be 100 years old!

You will find this stall in Keelung Night Market, literally adjacent to the temple (I believe it is on the left side). Of course there are one or two competitors nearby, but you really can't go wrong here for a first visit.

They say the original and founder Mr. Wu Tien Fu 吳添福 was one of the greats, not only in being a pioneer in this night market movement, but he had a heart of gold, and was very active in his community. For a man who had no schooling whatsoever, he built success with his bare hands, and even his offspring and family ended up opening different kinds of food stalls nearby, such as the famous 天一香肉羹順 (famous for minced pork rice), opened by Mr Wu's daughter.

And now ownership is into the third generation, who have taken a step further and enabled the franchising of the business. Unfortunately the quality at the Taipei 101 branch food court is not close (let alone no ambience whatsoever).

This 鼎邊趖 is some serious hardcore Chinese indeed, and let me see if I can explain it. "趖" seems to be referring to the slow paced movement (against the side of the pot (金鼎) from boiling. But not just any pot, a 金鼎 looks like this

(although I'm sure Mr Wu didn't really use a gold one )

The cooking process of involves taking some grounded rice in liquid form (sometimes known as rice milk, or mi jiang 米漿) and cooking it to a boil, stirring it so it revolves around the circumference/edges of the pot, while adding water in the process (resulting in a steaming and cooking action).

The result is actually somewhat similar to Cantonese or Chiu Chow ho fun or the "cheong fun" you get at dim sum, but the taste and texture are different.

鼎邊趖 has Fuzhou origins, and doesn't need to be served in soup (although Wu's is) and can be done brothless, or dry stir fried.

What makes Wu's version shine is indeed the broth, that contains

肉羹 - pork potage
蝦仁羹 - shrimp potage
金針 - Lily bulb
香菇 - mushrooms
魷魚 - squid
小魚干 - dried fish
竹筍 - bamboo shoot
金勾蝦 - a kind of local shrimp
高麗菜 - cabbage
蒜頭酥 - shallots
芹菜 - celery

The result is a true wonderland of mixtures, flavors, and textures. The rice noodle roll is but a condiment, but a delicious one at that.

It doesn't look like much, but it is one of true Keelung delicacies (another one strangely, is a hearty sandwich with deep fried bread.... but that's for next time). Just stick with the flagship location and you won't be disappointed.

百年吳家鼎邊趖 (Wu's Ding Bien Dzuo)
基隆廟口攤位編號27-2號 (Keelung Night Market, Stall # 27-2)
Tel: 02-26945750
http://www.100wu.com.tw/

[台北] - 鼎珍坊 - Ding Jen Fong - superb private kitchen style Cantonese

2010-10-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

Ding Jen Fong, or 鼎珍坊, (no relation to Din Tai Fung) specializes in what they call private kitchen Cantonese. It's one of the hotspots in Taipei, and is within easy walking distance to both Zhongxiao Road Sogo department stores. Since this place rests on prime real estate, prices are not cheap by local standards.

This is probably the best sit down tablecloth Cantonese I've had in Taipei, although the flavors do seem a bit re-adjusted slightly for local tastes.

Nonetheless...

appetizer

vegan goose, mushroom, edamame

pig feet (mild herbal, steamed, very good)

ginger scallion Taiwanese crab with fun si clay pot

Yu Hsiang eggplant (spicy but good)

Lap mei fan clay pot rice, soft juicy but sweet (instead of salty) lap mei. Qing Jiang Tsai veg. Overly sauced rice

Salted fish chicken tofu cubes (with skin) claypot, excellent

Fried chicken (za zi gai)

stir fried pea sprouts

Sa Wor (claypot) chicken soup (NT$1500!!!!! but really good, with napa cabbage, range chicken, and a few others I can't remember)

As this was a privately hosted dinner, I kept the camera in check this time, except for a shot of the soup.

If you go inside, check out the cabinet on the way downstairs to the bathroom.

And if you're a dude, the men's room has a few interesting signs, one of them along the lines of "please step closer to the urinal, your long john is not really that long" :-)

鼎珍坊 Ding Jen Fong, website (only for mail order) http://www.d-jenfood.com/
台北市大安區復興南路一段219巷1號‎ (Taipei City, Da An District, Fuxing South Rd, 1st portion, Alley 219, #1)
(02)-2781-2518‎

[基隆] - 基隆廟口夜市- 紀豬腳原汁專家 Pig Feet Specialist near Keelung Night Market

2010-10-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

Pig Feet Guy here

                            (\____/)
                           / O__O \
                          ( ( (oo) ) )
                           `- . o . - '

I must hand it to the Taiwanese Chinese (and the Germans/Bavarians) who make foot fetish a good thing. I don't mean the freaky creepy designer shoe salesman's problem when he tries to put on some high end designer Italian sandals on Charlotte Yorke in Sex And The City and creams his pants in the process, but swinetastic cuisines and preparations involving pig feet, or trotters.

It is true that when you are in Taipei county alone, you might spend many years trying new places and never come back to the same one, and still have many more to try in your lifetime, and perhaps the next.

So think about that one when you take a car ride 30 to 40 mins outside of Taipei City to Keelung 基隆, namely their night market 基隆廟口夜市. You want to know what "decisions, decisions" means? When you have over 200 food stalls to pick from.

Let me complicate things for you some more.

If you have foot fetish of galactic proportions, and feel like polishing your glittering skin some more (especially you ladie$ who are into the collagen), then Keelung is certainly pig feet heaven, from those who know their ways around the feet to give you that sextra pleasure.

Enter a one of a kind pig feet specialist vendor, known to the locals as 紀豬腳原汁專家. They're off the main strip of the long block of vendors, kind of slightly off the beaten path, but not too far away. Opened in 1964 originally as a street vendor stall (still around), they've made enough moolah to have expanded seating to a building nearby. They are considered young for the night market area that has over 100 years of history.

These guys don't do it like the others (where it is typically stewed with soy sauce and herbs till melt in your mouth tender, that you can find on the main strip). Nobody likes hairy toes (whether on males or females) so they clean up the feet, remove the hairs and do things right. Although it is said they deep fry it first, they ultimately steam for a while (instead of stewing) in their secret receipe clear broth to preserve the original flavor, and there's no MSG or sugar or additives. They take the front leg and feet, and cut it up into 3 portions, so you get the best of everything (especially the tendons in the pig foot, so good).

Since your stomach space is likely limited, bring a friend or two (if you can), get a bowl of signature pig feet (tendon) soup (sweetened with goji berries and red dates), and an order of the original flavor pig feet. Refreshing, sweet, and full of goodness. Maybe it's not as healing and nurturing as Hong Kong's Luk Yu Teahouse Chinese almonds, bok choy, and pork lungs creamy white soup, but it sure hits the spot.

Then save room for the other 200+ things in the area...

紀豬腳原汁專家 (Pig Feet Specialist shop)
基隆市愛四路29號2樓 (含29號前攤位) (Keelung City, 29 Ai Si Rd, 2nd fl)
02-2425-0853
Hours: ~ 3 pm to 2 am

[台北] - 饌王精品牛肉麵 Chuan Wang Gourmet Beef Stew Noodles Taipei

2010-10-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

Along the busy shopping district of Zhongxiao Fuxing in Taipei, where all the celebs and ladies go to blow their cash on clothing, make-up, fashion accessories etc, a man can only tolerate so much of that, spend so much time inside Sogo, with the random snack shop, or the tempting Ten Ren Tea Station, or Rose Records (pricey CDs by the way).

When the clock strikes 12 noon, the inner cavity gut goes "grrrrrrrooowl" and suddenly you need a fix of something.

You look around this stretch of road.

Hmmm... Mickey D's? Nah.

What are those interesting looking indoors restaurants on the 2nd, 3rd floor of this building? Dunno, but you would have to hike up the steps of them office buildings to take a peek....too time consuming.

Sushi? Could be shady....

Street food? Oh noes...you have to duck into the side streets and alleyways, and even those can be a risk taking adventure.

Then you fixate your eyes on a sign that says beef stew noodles 牛肉麵, and suddenly all common sense goes out the door.

It can't be that bad!

Saw this giant sign, and I figured, hey why not. It's somewhere up on the 2nd or was it 3rd floor of this old office building. When I get to the top, there's a sliding door entrance. It looks like a clean fast food joint, tables everywhere and friendly service. So you go up to the cashier, order what you want, and the food is brought to you on a tray.

Too bad I didn't consider the tomato beef noodles...would have tried that.

So I settled for the half beef flank, half tendon combo.

Looks good doesn't it? Well it better be for US$9 (circa NT$270). This was a large, and man I must have overpaid.

Definitely decent, but not the best I've had in town.

4 years later, I look this place up on the net.
They won one of the annual Taipei Beef Noodle Soup Festival competitions, like the #1 most popular beef noodles restaurant in town.

And then I found out that the owners somehow got people to vote for them online, many many many times, just to push themselves to the #1 spot and win. Ayeee yai yai.

饌王精品牛肉麵 (Chuan Wang Gourmet Beef Stew Noodles)
106大安區忠孝東路4段94號2樓 (2F, #94, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Sec.4, Taipei)
Tel: 2-2711-0388

[台北] - 八王子新懷石料理 Hachioji Japanese Cuisine

2010-09-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

This meal was quite a few years ago, when Chen Shui Bian 陳水扁

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Shui_Bian

was president of Taiwan (from 2000 - 2008).

It is said that Taipei's Hachioji restaurant 八王子新懷石料理 was his all-time favorite Japanese restaurant. I'm sure he dreams about it now behind bars.

Don't remember too much about the meal, but it was quite decent. Certainly very different from the mom & pop izakaya types or the high end kappo & sushi dining experiences in town. Very relaxed surroundings and despite the words kaiseki in the restaurant name, seemed more like an upscale yet semi casual mood dining kind of place.

Seemingly Japanese but yet has a Taiwanese influenced slant (with kaiseki touches).

For some reason the restaurant's website is down, but they do have a very extensive menu, covering the basics, as well as elegantly arranged set dinners.

Presentation and quality is certainly no slouch

Combination sashimi platter over a bed of ice. Salmon, hamachi, squid, tuna, julienne mountain yam (yamaimo), and sea urchin (not as sexcellent as Santa Barbara or Mendocino unfortunately), arguably all sourced locally. NT$900 which is roughly US$30...ouch.

Marbled beef slices with some sort of garlic butter mixture on top, white stem of large scallions, resting on a lotus leaf, on top of a square bowl of very very very hot stones (with hot water). The heat from the stones cooks the meat, melts the butter, you roll that sucka up like a joint with the scallion, then dip in the seasoned side of sauce. Good stuff. Light elegant, and good use of butter that didn't make you shameful of being a gluttonous bastard (unlike at Ruth Chris steak house).

Combination vegetable tempura (local interpretation, not the traditional kind), The round thingies are veggie rolls deep fried with cooked salmon inside.

A nice change of pace indeed.

http://www.hachioji.com.tw/

八王子新懷石料理 Hachioji Japanese Cuisine
台北市復興北路276號

Tel: 02-25079900

[台北縣] - 深坑廟口豆腐王水成老店 - Shen Kang Tofu

2010-09-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

There's a chubby bald dude who hosts a program on The Travel Channel, infamous for eating all sorts of bugs, nasty bizzare parts, and the ilk (no it is not Anthony Bourdain). He has no problems eating bee larvae or maggots, or the most vile thing known to mankind.

But the moment he tried a piece of fermented tofu in Taiwan's capital of Stinky Tofu at Shen Kang 深坑, he spits it out (even though the tofu is covered in what looks like green moss and other funky things).

Immediately I lost all respect. It's a piece of fermented bean curd.

On our way to Keelung Night Market, we stopped by the township of Shen Kang 深坑 and marveled at the old streets as well as the numerous vendors.

There's quite a lot of variety, but the most common item we saw was tofu themed things, and of course stinky tofu grilled skewers. Then there were Hakka Taiwanese grass mochi buns with assorted flavors and delicacies.
So we did the tourist/visitor thing. You want some good food? Find the main temple. Historically them hungry monks and pilgrims traveled miles and miles to worship. When they were done, they needed something to eat, and the savvy street food vendors would set up shop in the evenings, and late into the night, to service the traveling religious folk. It is no secret that where-ever there is a big temple, there is usually some good food nearby. Hence the term "by the temple" or "temple's mouth" (miao kao - 廟口).
Thus it is fitting that in the capital of stinky tofu, that the temple mouth's flagship restaurant is none other than a place that specializes in tofu.

Ordered two items which sufficed for a transisent bite before heading northward to Keelung. The tofu soup was like a hot and sour soup (plus the Hong Kong style westlake beef soup) in texture, a little white pepper and it is quite satisfying.

The star of the show is their fried tofu. This is not the stinky version but does have a mild smell to it, yet interestingly fragrant. The dip sauce is similar to soy sauce paste 醬油膏 but seems to be seasoned with a little sesame oil and vinegar. This mixture is pretty much the defacto street food outdoor dining dip sauce, that goes well with boiled meats too (e.g. pork cheeks or the meat connecting the liver).
Probably not a place where you would go out of your way to eat, unless you are a hardcore tofu fan. But if you are in the area, sticking with historically tried and true (with receipes unchanged for 50 years) can be sometimes quite rewarding.

Website: http://liu-chehao.myweb.hinet.net/

深坑廟口豆腐王水成老店 (Shen Kang Tofu, flagship store, by the temple)
台北縣深坑鄉深坑街135號/123號 (Taipei County, Shen Kang suburb, Shen Kang Street #135/#123, adjacent to the temple)
(集順廟口)

[台北] - 長白小館 - Chang Bai Xiao Guan - a taste of the North East

2010-09-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

For those who cannot eat or even look at pork due to personal beliefs, religious reasons, or whatever, please avert your eyes to the following photograph (warning: may cause temporary blindness, foaming at the mouth worse than a rabid dog, impulsive uncontrollable desire for lust, decadence, debauchery, you might rip off your clothes for this.....then again maybe not)

If Las Vegas is sin city for gambling and uhm...riding horses at the Mustang Ranch, then Taiwan is the sin city for fine and not so fine dining. Even the orniest meanest looking street vendor or hole in the wall restaurant is sooooooooooo good it's not even funny.

Almost 5 years ago on a very cold night before leaving the fine city on a plane ride back home, we came here for dinner. Located somewhere near the shopping district (not too far away from Sogo) was 長白小館 (Chang Bai Xiao Guan).

長白, or "long white" literal translation, is named after the Baekdu Mountains bordering between China and North Korea, where you probably don't want to take a vacation during winter. Perhaps long white, refers to the snow capped mountains and land, for long periods of time during the winter months...

But there is something special about NorthEastern cuisine....sour (fermented) cabbage, a main staple preserved veggie of the diet, and of course, copious pork belly slices to keep one's body temp optimal, and ensure that a dude's testes does not integrate or assimilate into his body entirely from the frigid temperatures (they're supposed to hang for a reason).

Oh yes, 酸菜白肉鍋 (sour cabbage pork belly slice hot pot) It's Chang Bai restaurant's signature dish. Some of you might be wondering, where's the sour cabbage?

It's underneath the mondo layer of pork belly slices. They are very rich in flavor, but you don't get that filling or disgusted feeling afterwards. Why? The secret is in the sour fermented cabbage that numbs the fattiness, and makes your stomach feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The fermented cabbage must taste like ass, you will think. Actually no...it's a very mild and refreshing taste, unlike other versions where it's heavier than sauerkraut or as pungent as stinky tofu (or kimchi). This is unlike any other sour cabbage you will have abroad.

Similar to Lin Tung Fong in Taipei, there is a shelf filled with small plates of mostly cold/room temp appetizers. All self help, and to be charged to your tab. A few of these will kick off the bacon hot pot goodness palooza.

Chang Bai (restaurant, in Taipei) is a fine example of specialized regional Chinese cuisine, multiple versions and wide varieties all over the island. A shop over 30 years old and still kicking ass, and keeping people's bellies warm and happy during the colder months of the year.

長白小館 Chang Bai Xiao Guan 　
台北市大安區光復南路240巷53號 (Taipei City, Da An District, Guang Fu S Road, Alley 240, #53)
Tel: 02-2751-3525

[台北市] - 西門町 - 老山東牛肉家常麵店 - Lao Shan Dong Beef Noodles (Xiemending, Taipei City)

2010-08-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

While stumbling and fumbling around the busy fun district of Xiemending some moons ago (somewhere between 2005 to 2007), this place was discovered completely by accident, tucked away into an unassuming commercial/office building that had some shops on the ground level, but if you dived further in, you would find escalators going up and down. This building was actually like a multi story shopping arcade (or mall if you will).

The basement was a bit uninteresting at first. Very few shops, a lot of vacant business spaces and literally a dearth of restaurants save about 3 or 4 places. I recall there being a restaurant that specialized in Taiwanse style fried pork chops that smelled absolutely baconlicious and sorry for the Japanese pun, oink-shii. But the thought of overgrease was a bit daunting for a lunch. The other option was a small counter shop of noodles, northern style won tons (huan duan) in chili oil whose name I forgot. We were thinking of trying this place but decided to hit the restrooms first. However on our way there, just feet away from the entrance to the ladies and mens room, was a table with two employees of that food stall, making and prepping fresh huan duans on the spot. Uhm no thanks, as fresh as your wontons might be....it's all about location, location, location!

So we chanced upon this no brainer called Old Shan Dong or Lao Shan Dong Family (specializing in Beef) Noodle House - 山東牛肉家常麵店, that looked super bright and inviting. This restaurant is over 50 years old and has remained in the same location ever since!

Hand made, rolled, and prepped dumplings in house, de-facto standard. It's the equivalent of watching a sushi chef make nigiri, except this is cheap stuff.

Their specialties? Knife shaved hand made fresh noodles, pork based boiled dumplings (jiaozi), and beef in beef broth with xifen (bean thread vermicelli noodles). This is not a place where you mess around.

27 things on the menu. The signature knife shaved beef noodles ran about US$4.70 for a large, and about $1 less for a small bowl. This is perhaps mid end expensive for Taipei but not as expensive as Lin Tung Fong beef noodles in Taipei.

The appetizers were excellent, particularly the marinated pig's ear slices (that tasted like a cross between bacon and tendon) as well as the strings of seaweed that were crunchy with good vinegar marination and also very heavy in garlic which gave it the needed boost. At $1 per plate, it's a no brainer to kick start the appetite.

As for the signature bowl: the beef was very tender and delicious, and the broth was quite good. I'm hardly a fan of knife shaved noodles but I have to say it was executed very very well. At the time, there were no thinner noodles available, and bean thread version would have been uber soggy.

Dumplings were excellent. Primariliy pork but I believe had cabbage in it. And you know what, they were as excellent as San Tung (on Irving Street in San Francisco), if not better.

A taste of the past, stuck in time. There are arguably a lot better places around town, but for a place that has been around 50+ years, you have to respect that.

老山東牛肉家常麵店 - Lao Shandong Beef Noodles
台北市西寧南路70號 Taipei City, Xi Ning South Rd #70
地下室15 (萬年商業大樓地下室) Mahn Lien building, basement level #15
Tel：02-2389-1216

[台北市] - 寧夏路夜市 - 古早味紅豆餅 traditional red bean cake (Ningxia Road Night Market)

2010-08-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

Ningxia Road Night Market Taipei's best dessert snack shop "Traditional Red Bean Cake". 寧夏路夜市 - 古早味紅豆餅

You won't find any fancy froyo or cupcakes in this night market (thank gawd). But there is one sweet munchie that is on the top of everyone's list and a must try should any of you make it to Ningxia Road Night Market in Taipei City sometime.

"Gu Tsoh Wei Hung Doh Bing" 古早味紅豆餅 - or Old School Flavor Red Bean Cake.

There are at most 2 people inside the stall. Very simple but slightly time consuming operation:

1) Vendor pours secret receipe egg batter into two rows of the cake cast iron grill.

2) When the first row is about halfway done, toppings are placed on top.

3) When the 2nd row is done cooking, vendor takes a metal pick and loosens the contents of each cast. This is the top portion.

4) When the first row is done, vendor loosens it with a pick to get it out

5) Place top "lid" and sandwiches the topping and the bottom half.

Well what can I say. A toasty crispy exterior made of a light egg batter, similar to that of Cantonese eggette snacks or waffles with an ample thick layer of goodness in the middle (whether it's taro, egg custard or red bean paste which are both excellent, or some wacky savory salty preserved veg or a new offering of black sesame paste which I didn't see before), for only US$1.50. Take it home, reheat and it's a quickie snack or breakfast the next morning!
Try not to squeeze to hard, the fillings would burst out.

Egg custard is nice and thick, and surprisingly doesn't taste like butter even though that's the Chinese translation of it. Red bean is sweet, firm, and rich, not like some of the watered down crap at some Asian dessert places in the San Francisco Bay Area.

寧夏路夜市 (Ningxia Road Night Market, Taipei)
台北市大同區寧夏路(寧夏夜市中段) (Da Tung District, Ningxia Road, about halfway into the main night market).

[台北縣永和市] - 樂華夜市樂華米粉湯 Lir Hua night market Mifen Tang/Lu Rou Fan/Er Rou

2010-08-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

Lir Hua Night Market 樂華夜市 has a more down to earth neighborhood feel with slightly more shops than there are eating places, unlike the more famous and touristy food night markets e.g. Shihlin where on weekends they bus in tourists from Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. Thus, you are competiting with these folks just for valuable elbow space and a table at some random yet not so spectacular eatery. And suddenly you feel like a tourist yourself, even if you are just visiting.

Every night market in Taipei serve more or less the same snacks, small eats, local specialties. Some things are more common than others, with varying quality. The key to maximizing your decadently indulgent food orgy snack munching bingefest (with hopefully no purging) at such places, is to quickly identify and be familiar with what the more seemingly popular places are, what they truly specialize in, and to concentrate on those.

In the midst of food vendor stalls and sit down eateries that appear rather random and potentially ho hum is one sit down restaurant that not just dishes the variety and goods out (street food style), but does it so well that it has the full patronage of locals filling up almost all of the foldable stools at the tables. Don't be surprised if you have to wait when you get here.

Almost every rice, rice noodle, regular noodle, bean thread noodle dish you can find at any night market, you can also find here. Their menu sports over 50 items, and arguably more.

The interior is not fancy at all, just white tiled walls with various signs including some excerpts of the menu. Each table has a pad of paper with the menu printed on it in Chinese. The procedure here is simple; you mark off the item you want, quantity, then give it to your server. Disposeable chopsticks are wrapped in plastic, the wooden but circular variety that is arguably a notch better quality than the low brow bleached wood kind made in China that is everywhere. No chairs here, just foldable stools, so get used to it.

No smoking allowed in here. The only alcohol they serve here are 3 kinds of beer (including Taiwan beer which is an aquired taste they say)

Here's what we ordered:

Minced pork with rice (lu rou fan) - One of the more well known Taiwanese street food snacks. Small bowl of rice topped with marinated stewed minced pork. It wasn't the best I had, but not bad for a local rendition.

Steamed pork cheek meat (sai bang rou) - this doesn't qualify to be a nasty bit, but it's one of the best cuts of swine you'll ever have. Served with cilantro, shredded/julienne ginger to give it that extra flavor, and of course the important soy sauce paste with vinegar and garlic that is a must (and elevates this dish to fan-f**king-tastic status)

Smoked shark belly - also with julienne ginger and cilantro. It's really hard to describe this dish properly, except the smoked flavors helped take the fishiness and edge off. Beneath the skin was either fat or collagen, it was quite rich and filling. Served with a side of wasabi paste, so you can make an uber wasabi mud bath with your soy sauce, which would be the best way to enjoy this.

Pork rinds - served in a similar fashion, and with a slightly sweet and sour sauce that was very nice. This was definitely easier to stomach than the smoked shark belly. Not crunchy and not rubbery, and was disturbingly juicy...

Steamed goose - This was a mondo buff goose on steroids! Well maybe it was also big boned. There was meat, but it was a little on the chewy side (not rubbery), but good flavor.

Stir fried vegetable - one can only have so much meat and nasty bits. A juicy, flavorful, garlic stir fried local greens dish is just what the Taiwanese doctor ordered to lessen the guilt of the bingefest (and to make you feel a little better, like ordering a Diet Coke with Three Big Macs and Supersize Fries).

I must say that it was quite a pleasurable experience to go into a neighborhood joint like this. It's not famous or touristy by any means, and while some of the stuff might not be terribly appealing, it is interesting nonetheless.

樂華夜市 - 樂華米粉湯 (Lir Hua Night Market restaurant stall)
台北縣永和市永平路151號 (Taipei County, Yongho Township, Hir Ping Road #151)
Tel：02-29278723

らあめん花月嵐 - Kagetsu Arashi Ramen Taipei Main Station (upstairs Breeze Center)

2010-08-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

Oh Arashi

you're so fine

you're so fine

you blow my mind

Arashi! ARASHI!

Just SICK, absolutely SICK

and DISGUSTING

So DISGUSTINGLY GOOD.

Wait, WTF is Arashi? It's actually Kagetsu Arashi. らあめん花月嵐

I was told there was a place in Taipei City (NOT IN THE USA) that supposedly has some of the best Japanese ramen, which ended up being a consolation afternoon snackeroo after learning that the best Japanese tsukemen in town closed for the New Year.

Enter Kagetsu Arashi ramen, which is actually a popular chain restaurant from Tokyo (http://www.kagetsu.co.jp). There's a location by Narita Airport (Japan) and apparently by expert ramen blogger $tandard$, the Narita location was decent mall food quality (ouch). There are two other locations in Taipei, and this one is upstairs in the Breeze Center food court (a proper sit down restaurant) from Taipei Main Station.

But hands down some of the best ramen I've had so far.

Their signature broth appears to be a shio tonkotsu ramen, so disgustingly creamy and rich, it makes Saint Nizzle ramen in San Mateo an afterthought.

But I ended up checking out their seasonal limited edition offering a while back

just called BLACK

Once you go BLACK you never go BACK. And no I'm not talking about BALACK OBAMA, although I'm sure he'd endorse this BLACK ramen.

Here's what's inside this SICKENINGLY DISGUSTINGLY GOOD bowl.

1) Pure Porcine Porkgasm Bliss of pork bone broth (arguably Taiwanese black pork), as a hybrid shoyu tonkotsu, so rich and so creamy it hurt$ $o good

2) minced garlic pan fried (HELLA garlic) that melts into the soup

3) nice chewy noodles with decent texture

4) digustingly unhealthy FLOATIES, also known as upper (back) side fat of the pig. Doesn't taste like fat but bone marrow for some reason. OINK OINK OINK!!!!

5) Ni-tamago (slow cooked in soy sauce/broth) but sadly overcooked

6) Good chewy menma (bamboo shoots)

7) Piece of nori (yummay)

8) two pieces of porktastic perfectly stewed chashu that is nicely marbled

9) and finally to make it BLACK, delectable kuro mayu (black sesame oil) drizzled on top (like R.Kelly doing a number on a girl)

All this for NT$190, or a few shades over US$6!!!! You can't touch dis, Kuro Ramen @ Maruichi Mountain View....

They have a small pot of self help kim chi. No cabbage here, just spicy chives. Soooo spicy it caused instant hiccups...very potent stuff. Plus several self help special sauces and seasonings for your own application.

Best of all? Crush it yourself garlic cloves. To add more HELLA garlic to your ramen....

In addition to the signature ramen and BLACK ramen...
they seem to have this new seasonal offering called Aka Oni (red demon/ghost) which is supposedly a spicy aka (red) miso flavor.

Also highly recommend but did not try, teppan yaki meshi or cha han. Fried rice on a cast iron skillet. You can add additional bits to kick things up a notch (like butter). Think Benihana style teppan fried rice, but DIY at the table. Even the plastic display behind glass looked so good I wanted to eat it.

The Black Ramen I had around 2 to 3 pm that day. Less than four hours later, I blew out my belt buckle and had a grilled unagi over rice (unaju) dinner at

肥前屋 http://beefnoguy.blogspot.com/2010/01/hizen-ya-taipei-spectacular-unagi-over.html

followed by an extra large sized tapioca milk tea as a late night drink.

Guess what the combo of greasy, fatty, unagi, and milk did? LOL you don't want to know...

But was it worth it?

HELL YES!

One more thing. A surefire sign of authentic ramen is that AFTER you eat the bowl of noodles, you sweat like a muddafugga. As if you engaged in hot monkey love. Kagetsu Arashi was like hot sweaty funky monkey sex.

None of the San Francisco Bay Area ramen places made me sweat after eating. Maybe Daikokuya in LA did but then again it was 108 F that labor day weekend in 2007 when I went....so didn't count. So what's up with that?

A fairly recent visit a year ago, the Black ramen was no longer offered. But one of their broths that had fish and meat bones in it, in addition to shaved bonito flakes, was out of this world. They skimped quite a bit on the chashu unfortunately. There may be better ramen spots, but this place is quite excellent otherwise.

This one is supposed to be their best seller. Pork front trotter bone broth with a ton of garlic.

Kagetsu Arashi Ramen [らあめん花月嵐拉麵」
Taipei Main Station, Breeze Center, 2nd FL
台北車站微風台北車站2樓

[台北] - 寧夏夜市 - Ningxia Road Night Market Taipei

2010-06-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

I've covered a few very delicious destination vendor stops at Taipei's Ningxia Road Night Market 寧夏夜市, but feel that this place warrants its own writeup. Do not treat this as a comprehensive guide, as the compilation of photos cover the last 2 to 3 years. Vendors come and go, so what you see might not even be there now.

Unless it is some earth shattering event (like a typhoon, or ground splitting earthquake), the night market opens even when it is pouring. When it does rain, the night market association provides cover.

On rainless nights, it's open air time.

Sorry for not blurring ya, missy.

One of the reasons why I love this night market so much is that it is way less touristy than Shihlin. Sure that place is great, but it is overrun by visitors bused (and flown) in from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea (Hong Kongers in particular). The offerings are rather commercialized, and frankly after 3 to 4 visits, it loses its glamor.

Ningxia Road Night Market can be almost defined as the heart of where Taipei city started and evolved some 50+ years ago. True traditional old school flavors, with many receipes preserved for the ages. While it is true that you can enjoy even better food in Tainan (where they say street food is way way better), for Taipei I believe Ningxia is the place to be. At the same time, you can get the old school, along with new school, and of course the tried and true, adding variety to the spice.

You can even find Tainanese staples here, like the Tu Tuoh fish soup.

"Smile Skewers" - grilled seafood and meat on a stick. Pike mackeral, squid etc.

American Corndogs?! WTF? Sooooo out of place.

"Fortune Fried Chicken" - so bold....note the "if it don't taste good, it's on us". Too bad I didn't try.

Teppanyaki.

Saltwater Chicken

Corn on a stick

Sashimi vendor, all fish from Pingtung harbor 東港. Squid, local snapper of some sort, swordfish, tuna

local "hamachi", more local white fish, something that looks like escolar and colored fish eggs.

Pre-made low tech cheap nigiri on the go (from another stall)

Grilled Middle-Eastern/Indian/Pakinstani style skewers

Master Yu's Xiao Long Bao (they have shrimp XLB too, supposedly great)

Fresh lemons and kumquats for honey lemon/honey lemon kumquat juice

Shandong style grilled duck heads. Strange but nothing new really.

Korean style spicy nian gao

Fresh sugar cane juice

Another famous 30+ yr old local oyster omlette shop on Ningxia Road, not part of the night market vendor strip, but a permanent fixture.

Local versions of takoyaki.

Guava

Fresh seafood all over. Cooked anyway you want.

Red bean pancake sandwiches

So many things to eat, so little time...

Ningxia Road Night Market 寧夏夜市
台北市大同區寧夏路 (Taipei City, Datung District, Ningxia Road)

[苗栗縣] - 飛牛牧場 - Miaoli County - Nature's Farm aka "Flying Cow Ranch"

2010-06-10T15:52:00.000-07:00

In the USA, when you think of "farm", you certainly do not think too much in the way of entertainment, let alone a relaxing family getaway coupled with an educational experience. As progressive (or regressive) as the idea of picking your own fruit and berries from the source has become, certain American farms that do offer their resources for educational field trips, are by appointment only and limited to schools for the most part. So what is the public to do?

In Taiwan, the idea of a nature farm is pretty much like going to a theme park. In Miaoli county 苗栗縣, the most famous attraction is Nature's Farm 飛牛牧場 which translates to Flying Cow Ranch. It's a 2+ hour drive southwest of Taipei, past Hsinchu county and on the way you'll pass by Guansi rest stop.

A GPS coupled with printed directions certainly come in handy getting over here. Once you pass the sign, drive up the road.

And you're almost near the entrance once you see the lovely flying cow logo statue to the right.

Park the car and get your bearings. Pick up a few maps as this place is quite big. Hungry? There's the Red Barn restaurant.

Your admission ticket includes a coupon that you can redeem for a cup of fresh milk or yogurt drink, all made on the premise of course and all natural.

The milk is so tasty (ditto for the yogurt drink) it's not funny. If this stuff tastes amazing, I can only imagine what fresh Hokkaido milk tastes like...

Oh yes, the Red Barn restaurant. Miso hungry. Time to get some grub.

A very relaxed yet modern decor. The menu is more western slanted, but they say the best dish to get here is the hotpot.

Yup, got your typical veggie fixin's here and some animal protein essentials. At least three to four kinds of leafy greens, corn on the cob, slices of pork belly, enoki mushrooms, shrimp. There was more but I can't remember now.

Oh yes the signature hot pot broth of MILK. As strange as it sounds, it's actually milk mixed in with some sort of base broth. Once you put the ingredients in there, the whole thing flows together. It's actually quite good and a lot healthier than some greasy numbing spice thing that will blow your o-ring out.

OK everyone got a dessert. Check this out, they say it's a Japanese invention. Hmmm it looks like a brown egg in shell. But what's that tube inside? What's that toothpick for?? Oh man, you prick a hole and this milk tea latte flavored pudding oozes out.

For most of us, it looks rather gross. One can only imagine the filthy thoughts going on in your mind if you are seeing and eating something like this for the first time. Is it an egg? Is it a balloon or a condom?? What's that twirly looking discharge?? But the taste and texture is quite unbelievable and delicious! At some point the pudding oozes out very very slow, so you can either take matters into your own hands by poking more holes, or just puncture the whole thing together (but the taste and texture will be different if you do that).

After lunch, a nice stroll down the hill to see the rest of the farm. Unfortunately it was raining during our visit.

Get up close and personal with the sheep and goats! No pellet food for sale here, just little packets of grass

Sure you can pay NT$10 for a small pack of grass, but look around on the ground, lots of grass near the fences (dropped by other visitors), so go cheap on this.

Check the schedule near the sheep petting section for demos on milking a cow

as well as feeding times for calfs. Watch these little fellas finish drinking a whole bottle of mama's milk within mere seconds!

Then up the hill is where you can see the mountain goats (don't get too close, they'll get into fights and scare you), and at the top is the bunny hutch. A favorite for the kids.

They will be so happy to see you. Even more so if you pay NT$10 to feed them some yam leaves!

Keep your eyes out on the funny bunny. The one on the left looks like a puppy with long ears.

Or this dude who looks like a Panda.

Back to the gift and snack shop, you'll find more milk based goods. Like their signature Flying Cow milk pudding.

Or the less popular red bean matcha yogurt.

Liked that funky egg shaped pudding that oozed out like bodily fluid or discharged? Take it home with ya!

The milk ice cream has got to be amazing...

And there's a non food gift shop nearby too.

Highly recommend for those visiting Miaoli County.

Website: http://www.flyingcow.com.tw/

飛牛牧場 - Nature's Farm
苗栗縣通霄鎮166號 (Miaoli county, Tung Xiao Jun #166)

[永和] - 北平致美樓 - Beiping Zimei Restaurant, Yongho Township

2010-05-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

The average person in Taiwan would normally wolf down some bowl of starch based goodness, with or without broth, for lunch. Maybe a side dish or two. Perhaps a drink to go to signal the return back to daily paid slavery. Others might get something that's portable and hand held, whether it be a sandwich, or some buntastic orgasmic explosive delish contraption.

So what is the definition of an OVERKILL yet delicious lunch? When relatives decide to get together, and just so happens it is one of those special occasions when you are visiting. And they go all out pimp on you and order a 2+ hour banquet meal consisting of courses in the teens, yet when you learn what the price tag is, it might even cost upwards of HALF of what you might pay in the Golden state also known as Cah-Lee-Fo'-Nee-Ah. Quite the bargain indeed.

Zimei 致美 or loosely translating to "heading towards beauty or perfection", is a Northern Chinese style restaurant (Beiping 北平) that offers a variety of fare, including Peking Duck, in house made dumplings, sour cabbage hotpot, amongst a myriad of other things I can't remember because I almost passed out from all the good food. It is located in Yongho 永和 city (yeah famous for ahem...soymilk and quite possibly nothing else for those on the outside looking in)

Anthony Bourdain was so proud when he was visiting Tokyo on No Reservations that in the last segment, it was as if he was boasting, yet complaining, that he ate a 15 course (nigiri) meal in 20 minutes at Sukiyabashi Jiro in Ginza.

Well unfortunately he has yet to go to Taiwan at a banquet like this, FOR LUNCH, and eat 18 courses, each plate serving at least 10 to 12 people (WITH EXTRA LEFTOVER TO SPARE), in 2 to 3 hours. Beat that mofo!

Zimei would be considered above average in Taiwan (and supremely excellent by NorCal standards), but just too expensive for the average collared worker to partake in.

Our table had (only based on the photos and a few things that I barely remember):

- Lao Beijing (Old Beijing) brand of sour plum drink. Insanely addictive and very appetizing...went well with the meal. Sooooo good. Can't find it in supermarkets :-9

- appetizer of drunken chicken (Shanghainese style steamed chicken at room temperature marinated in herbs and Chinese wine) with Taiwanese sausage (a very local touch)

-Broccoli with....I can't even remember! Sea cucumber?

- Peking duck (skin with a bit of meat), thick white tipped scallions with in house rolled roasty near perfect crepe skin (made and roasted in house, ditto with the tian mien jiang sauce). The duck is considered average by some local bloggers! Dang my standards must suck over there.

- a humongous Beijing style hotpot filled with sour cabbage, broth, shrimp on shell, pork belly, gong wan (Hakka Taiwanese pork meatball), tong ho (green leafy veg), mushrooms, and possibly 4 to 5 more things in there

- finely minced shrimp with slices of crispy fried dough stick (yoh tieo). You can eat this as is, or scoop it into a lettuce cup, eaten like a taco. Very tasty. Liou's House in Milpitas offers this (maybe as a pre-order item) but probably more expensive.

-beautiful Northern style pork and delicately sliced mixed veg steamed dumpling, almost like a siu mai but different.

-For dessert, everyone got fresh orange slices and a peanut mochi dumpling thingy that was quite good, but by the time you bite into it, you are already passing out from the food coma.

This is only like a third of what I had listed, there were MORE dishes I didn't mention or photograph!

If you're visiting and experiencing one of these banquets (or a more pimp and extravagant wedding banquet) for the first time, it's quite a novelty and an interesting experience. But if you were a local resident or staying there for over a month, and had to eat one of these banquet type meals two to three times a week (or even ONCE a week), you'd rather do some Kate Moss style binging and purging.

But Zimei was quite a pleasant experience. Unbelieveably affordable. If only we could have more skilled chefs like the ones at Zimei open up restaurants in Ca Lee Fo Nee Ah.

永和北平致美樓 (Yongho Beiping Zimei Restaurant)
台北縣永和市竹林路73-1號 (Taipei County, Yongho Township, Chulin Road 73-1)
02-8928-7971
Hours: 11 am to 3 pm, dinner 5 pm to 9 pm

北二高關西休息站 (Guansi Freeway Rest Stop)

2010-05-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

When you think "freeway rest stop" like in California on the interstates, "pit stop", "free willy", "shaking the weasel", "taking a slash", or even "taking a dump", as well as America's favorite corporate fast food and restaurant chains, all come to mind. Of course some pull off the freeway at such rest stops to sleep/nap, stretch out, before going back on the long haul.

So what do they do in Taiwan (and apparently in Japan?) They kick it up a notch. Some even make it a DESTINATION STOP. Yes... drive something like an hour or more outside of Taipei, just to come to a place like Guansi rest stop 關西休息站 near Hsin Chu. Not only is it a rest stop/pit stop, but it is also a pseudo one stop shop. In fact, savvy business types have decided to set up shop at places like these to offer interesting regional delicacies. Of course you can also get your latte's and supermarket snacks.

Some parts on the inside look like a shopping mall. Does your typical American rest stop or vista point have something like this?

Japanese style and influenced dessert cakes, kind of like a mix between a Cantonese egg puff and a Japanese sponge cake. This was the only photo I was able to take before the vendor kindly requested that I didn't (wow even in the middle of nowhere??)

Don't miss the pickled peanuts, snacks, and interesting delicacies (including spicy dried shrimp snack).

The supermarket offers hot bien dang/bentos, including stir fried rice noodles (mifen) and oden.

Don't miss regional delicacies like Danshui's fish puff chips (previously only available in Danshui), which you cannot buy at Welcome/Ding Hao or the bigger chains, insanely good (even with a lil' MSG). Good stuff this is.

Indian/Pakistani/Middle Eastern grilled meat wraps at night markets

2010-05-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

One of the joys of Taiwanese night markets is that some will feature vendors that offer local versions of grilled Middle Eastern/Pakistani/Indian style skewered meats, and usually made into a pseudo burrito with a really fresh (kneaded, tossed, and grilled to order) wrap skin (roti) that's so delicious. Even a run of the mill typical and perhaps considered average stall like this, is way better than a lot of the crap served in the USA.

I can't for the life of me remember where this stall was located. And it was quite decent. Some skewered meat wrap and fresh grilled dough skin stalls are run by immigrants from their native countries, and a few are either owned or run by locals like this one. Either way, it's a fun side twist if you're bored of local street food. While some stalls don't serve pork (especially if Middle Eastern/Islamic in nature), there are some that do. But most of the time you will find beef, chicken, and lamb offered.

There's something enjoyable about seeing this stuff grilled, usually to order, right in front of you. Secret sauce, secret marinade, secret spice. So good.

No this dude is not making pizza, but he rolls the dough in front of you as you place your order, tosses it up in the air a few times, then lays the roti on top of the dome shaped grill to ensure an even roast. What a far cry from going to an Indian restaurant in the US, not seeing this type of action....who knows what goes on in those kitchens!

Less than $4. My local so called hipster Indian taco/burrito truck can't even pull this one off.

[台北] - 奉茶 (Tea Serving) - 霜乳奶茶 (Cream Top Milk Tea)

2010-05-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

Rao He Night Market location

Good bobba, tapioca milk tea, pearl milk tea, bubble tea (etc) can be found just about anywhere in Taipei. If you are a major cheapskate (or even a local), you would think NT$70 for a Ten Ren Tea Station drink from a trendy mall basement food court is a blatant rip-off, when you can get a perfectly decent tea drink for NT$30 to $40.

奉茶 or Tea Serving is a fairly new chain that started showing up around 2008 or so. One of their signature offerings is called 霜乳奶茶. It's a cup of rich and flavorful black tea with a thick creamy foamy layer put on top. The cream texture is out of this world, and is rich and sweet (so you probably don't want to have something super greasy before that, and your internal pipes will thank you for that). You can sip it separately with the tea, or mix it in together. The cream has a Hokkaido milk flavor to it, and is unlike anything else I've had.

As of now, I'm sure this drink is no longer interesting. But it's always fun to get. I hear that 85C in Irvine (California) offers a version of this.

霜乳奶茶

[台北] 一心日本料理 Ishin Nihon Ryori Taipei

2010-05-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

Ishin 一心, or in kanji "one heart", is a fine example of a Japanese restaurant in Taipei where Japanese people would go eat, versus Taiwanese Japanese places that caters primarily to most of the locals and their tastebuds. This was a pretty popular place a few years ago, but with so many other places like it in the area, I'm not sure how they are faring these days.

But this is not to say that Ishin is enitrely hardcore, far from it, it is actually a mom and pop type operation, run by a chef husband who spends most of his time between the kitchen and the counter area where he does all the sashimi slicing, and the wife or okamisan who interacts with customers, assists them with ordering and anything else in between.

Ishin is also one of multiple restaurants in the immediate area that services local Japanese, expatriates, and those who are on business, travel, or working for the goverment/diplomats, in addition to those with like minded tastes, who need to relax, unwind after work, social with fellow employees or important clients, or even just hang out with friends. I suppose you can say it has an izakaya feel to it, but absolutely nothing like the trendy fusiony places in the Silicon Valley (Northern California)
Ishin like most other intimate small humble restaurants, require advanced reservations in order to be guaranteed spots at this 24 seater place. Similar to virtually all Japanese food businesses in Taipei (including food retail places), photography is prohibited of the food and generally of the premises, but the okamisan was gracious enough to allow me to photograph the exterior and interior as no other customers were present at the time. (I looked this place up in google.com.tw search....lots of bloggers took quick snapshots with their smaller cameras and smartphones! Guess it's not easy to stealth with a giant SLR)

Once you go past the sliding entrance door, you need to remove your shoes and place them on the shelf adjacent to the shelf that contains numerous bottles of sake (now isn't that a weird juxaposition of alcohol and smelly stinky feet!)

The menu in memory, breaks down into the following categories (in no particular order)

Appetizers

nabemono 鍋物 - hot pot

agemono 揚物 - deep fried items

yakimono 焼物 - grilled items

tempura (anago and kisu tempura I believe were available)

and one or two more categories I cannot remember.

Be sure to check the specials menu, which is a fine sheet of paper listing the items entirely in Chinese (kanji) which you read from top to bottom. Of note, but was not ordered, were grilled tuna chin (lower section) at NT$690, aji no nambanzuke 南蛮漬.

The Okamisan was one of the most friendliest, patient, and gracious
hosts I've ever encountered. She is very fluent in Mandarin (for obvious reasons) and her husband speaks a little bit. I'm told he drives frequently 30 to 60 minutes north into the port of Keelung (north coast of Taipei) to hand pick the freshest fish for cooking as well as sashimi (why raise costs by importing similar fish from Japan?)

We had:

1) Combination sashimi - local maguro, salmon, tako, hamachi with an additional order of scallops and uni, which 3 small lobes of it averaged US$8, not cheap. But it was all very great quality and fresh. Kudos to the chef using as much local seafood as possible, even if limited compared to other parts of the world.

2) Stewed potato with pork, carrots, and cabbage. The sauce/broth soaked into the potato, very nice. Could this be a version of niku jaga?

3) Hokkaido style nabe (hot pot) with salmon, cabbage, carrot, and bean thread vermicelli noodle in white and red miso base mix. Very hearty and warming in cold weather.

4) Julienne Japanese Mountain Yam (yamaimo) appetizer. This was supposed to be yamaimo and okura, but I only saw yamaimo. Served with wasabi on the side. Excellent.

5) Chicken karaage - mind blowingly good. Crispy sexy crunchy toasty flavorful skin, with really juicy chicken meat on the inside.

6) Charcoal grilled saba shio (saba shioyaki) - a little bit fishy, but was very nicely done.

7) Okinawa style Goya Champuru - arguably using Taiwanese local mountain bitter melon (not bitter at all compared to the stuff in the US). Stir fried with pork (belly?), tofu, eggs, soy sauce. Super homey and delicious dish, no surprise it appealed to Chinese tastebuds as well. Went well with rice, one of the highlights of the meal.

This was a very high quality, simple yet homey food, pretty low key, and definitely intimate, warming, and great vibe kind of place (as a result of the warmth of our okami-san). Service was a tad bit spotty when it got really busy, but that's understandable. Great use of local and imported ingredients to make something that I would guess is not that far off from Japan.

一心日本料理 (Ishin Nihon Ryori)
台北市中正區中山北路1段121巷36-1號 (Zhongzhen District, Zhongshan North Rd, 1st portion, 121 Alley #36-1).

Tel: (02)- 2560-5801
6 pm to 12 pm (Closed Sundays)

[中壢] - 劉媽媽客家菜包 - Liu Mama Hakka veggie buns from Zhongli

2010-05-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

Liu Mama's Hakka Buns?

Some of you dirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrty minded folk might be thinking that I'm about to discuss body part curvature belonging to some random Taiwanese MILF or older mom......but sorry to disappoint. It's neither booty, badonkadonk, nor breasasists (like David Alan Grier used to say on Living Color to refer to mellifluous mounds of mammalia)....but Hakka Taiwanese veggie buns made with a mochi-like texture (glutinous sticky rice) of many flavors (and contents), a truely specialized and indigenous specialty that is integral to the local food culture.

I have never stepped foot in Liu Mama's store, which I read is located in Zhongli city, Taoyuen County (the next county that's SW of Taipei county, an hour or so away from Taipei downtown is best guess) which is also where the international airport is located. Interestingly that is almost synonymous to Narita airport being an hour+ outside of Tokyo. Fortuately I have had the pleasure of trying these buns thanks to someone who bought them there, drove an hour into Taipei so that they can be enjoyed.

Gotta love the Hello Kitty clear bags they use for small orders...

Liu Mama's (or Mama Liu for proper English juxtaposition) is open 24 hours, a successful family run business, and has developed an insanely strong local following for their Hakka Taiwanese veggie buns which are all hand made from scratch. One of the main ingredients is a dark green plant (and can arguably be thought of as leafy green blades of grass) known as "ngeh bahn" in Hakkanese dialect, that is mixed in with sticky rice and molded until it reaches the consistency of....you guessed it, MOCHI. Taiwanese people are just as crazy about their mochi (muo shu in Mandarin). This is almost parallel to certain types of wagashi/mochi in Japan that are naturally green for the same reason (except those are sweet).

So what goes inside this Hakkanese Bun? Liu Mama's sells one easily x2 the size of a cha shiu bao for a measly NT$20 or roughly US$0.60. They come in different colors too, and for example a purple one is made with purple mountain yam, and a yellow one may be due to a local variety of sweet potato.

The best one of the lot? It might be the standard white one with shredded daikon, preserved veg, baby dried shrimp, and maybe a wee bit of minced pork inside. Latter samples had strong white pepper presence which can be a bit overwhelming.

This is extremely hardcore and regional. It might be way too Chinesey, Hakkanesey, and Taiwanesey combined for some, but if you're the type of person who never turns down a good bun, likes mochi, and comfort Asian food, then maybe this might just be the right package to sample.

If you ever find yourself in Zhongli, this is supposed to be a "must try" item. The problem is that each one is quite filling, whether it is a salty one, or a sweet version for dessert. Any more than that during a week and you may get sick of it quite quickly.

These also quite gooey and naturally, sticky, to the touch. It's best to eat these warm to hot, as the flavors do disappear quick when they are left to cool to room temperature. These also are very tempting to do the high school boy prank of throwing something gooey, wet, and sloppy against the bathroom walls and see if they stick (how many of you tried clumping some toilet tissue together, run under tap water, and tossed that sucka like a baseball to see who would make a bigger splash?) It's tempting to do that baseball pitch or curveball with these sticky buns, but it's literally an epicurean faux pas!

There are many other businesses that sell these kind of buns all over Taiwan, and arguably locals may have other favorite places. However LMM's is the one of the most famous and well known.

But yeah Liu Mama be da ho. She's also pimpin' her bunz on yootoob

劉媽媽菜包 Liu Mama's Hakka Veggie Buns
桃園縣中壢市中正路268號‎ (Tao Yuen county, Zhongli City, Zhongzhen Rd #268)
03-422-5226‎

[台北] - 西門町老天祿 Lao Tien Lu (Xiemending) - soy sauce simmered snack heaven

2010-04-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

Located in the trendy and always fun Xiementing District 西門町 of Taipei City is one of the most famous soy sauce marinated snack shops called Lao Tien Lu 老天祿.

This is a must visit and if you are willing, a must try. They have quite an interesting background, as the company was originally located in Shanghai. The establishment of the Taipei location was the doing of then 12 year old Mr Chai, who apprenticed with his elder siblings when LTL was based in Shanghai and at the time offered tea cakes and snacks, as well as their signature product line of marinated eats (lou wei 滷味‎), where all items are first marinated in soy sauce and herbs of upwards of 14+ kinds then steamed/simmered, and served hot or in the case of LTL, cold). Around the time of WWII (1949) he fled to Taiwan and built the business there from scratch, with the knowledge of his apprenticeship. The business moved a few times, and Mr Chai's most devasting loss was the great fire of 1966 that burnt down literally all of Xiementing, destroying everything he built. Fortunately with the help of investors the business returned 5 years later and has settled down ever since.

While you can find packaged snacks and Chinese style sweets, everyone comes here for the marinated animal parts. Everything is marinated to sell the same day, so you won't get yesterday's today.

14 spices and Chinese herbs, soy sauce goes into the marination, then simmered, and refrigerated to seal in the juices.

Choose from

-duck tongue (best seller)

-duck wing

-duck feet

-duck gizzard

-duck heart

-intestines

-chicken wing

-chicken feet

-chicken gizzard

-chicken neck

-chicken thigh

-chicken liver

-pork trotter tendon

-several tofu variants

-a vegan (tofu) version of chicken gizzard

-marinated duck egg

-rice cake with blood (of either pork or bird, not sure)

Probably not as many Japanese tourists at this place, but an overwhelming number of Hong Kong visitors flock here.

It turns out that LTL's soy sauce marinated small bites are the darlings of mondo Hong Kong pop and movie stars, including megastar Andy Lau (who in the legendary Infernal Affairs movie dranks quite a few Hong Kong Milk Teas) Caveat, the pictures of Andy Lau inside LTL (posted around the store) were arguably taken during the 1980s or early 1990s.

Gotta give LTL credit for still using the imagery of pop stars via old photos as endorsement.

When it rains, it pours inside

Chicken feet

Pig trotter tendons

Dried marinated tofu

Duck tongues (including the connector parts!) signature bestseller

Website: http://www.laotienlu.com.tw/

老天祿滷味‎ (Lao Tien Lu Marinated Eats)
台北市萬華區武昌街二段55號‎ (Taipei City, Wanhua District, Muchang St 2nd portion, #55)
02-2361-5588‎

[基隆] - 三兄弟豆腐花 - Three Brothers Tofu Fa chain shop (Keelung Night Market) Taipei county

2010-04-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

This dessert shoppe is purely reserved for when you are almost done for the evening and you want to end it on a sweet but light note, and there's like no froyo or cupcakes to be found in the area, so put on yo A$N hardcore schweet hat.

OK for this particular dessert shop, you have to get out of Taipei City. Like 30 to 40 mins drive or cab ride costing you NT$1000 or about US$30. You can also take the train from Taipei of course.

Transportation is a bit high to get to Keelung 基隆 (where you want to hit up Keelung Miao Kao Night Market 基隆廟口夜市 for its oh...200++ food stalls) and the best seafood by the north coast, but it is worth it.

Keelung's famous dessert shop is called Sahm Shung Dee Dou Hwa 三兄弟豆腐花, or 3 Brothers Tofu Custard Specialty shop. They have about 12 other locations, but you only want to go to the flagship store in Keelung which has been around since 1975 as a pushcart vendor then expanded years later into a storefront. The Shihlin branch I visited once was not up to snuff.

The three brothers are not related at all by blood. In fact they are 3 famous ingredients, or condiments rather, to accompany the tofu custard.

1) Taro root 芋頭 (pictured above and below appear to be di gua 地瓜 or sweet potato, sorry didn't see any taro lying around to be photographed...)

2) Lotus seed 蓮子 (like a big ass but sweet chickpea, as pictured in the background above)

3) Fun Yuan 粉圓, like the tapioca from your bobba tea shop, but smooth light, floury, and more importantly fresh as hell and not made from dried packaged kind.

No matter how late in the day this place hits the spot with its light delicious and sweet natural flavors.

A simple cold (with ice) tofu custard with cooked peanuts

Tons of variety here. The menu is fairly straightforward. Pick either

a) tofu custard with your choice of topping (then hot or cold which is with additional ice)

b) Tapioca with your choice of topping

c) pairing of taro and lotus seed with whatever you want

d) any combination of a, b, c with choice of topping

e) new offerings like mixed fruit with ice cream made from local fresh Taiwanese fruit

f) yaki mochi (Taiwanese style) with grounded peanuts and other yummy stuff.

g) too many others I can't remember

Pretty sure that even late into the night like 1 am to 3 am, this place is still packed or at least busy. It is a great place to take shelter during the rainy season as most of Keelung's night market stalls are outdoors.

三兄弟豆腐花 3 Brothers Tofu Fa (flagship store)
基隆市仁愛區愛四路26號 Keelung City, Ren Ai District, Ai Si Rd #26
(02)-2427-3911

波的多紅燒牛肉麵薯片 Beef Noodle Soup flavored potato chips

2010-04-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

If there are "beef and potatoes in butter" flavored potato chips from Hokkaido, shoyu ramen potato chips as limited offerings in Japan, why not Taiwanese style spicy beef noodle soup potato chips?

Available at most local Taiwanese supermarkets, including Welcome (24 hours), some convenience stores.

Look for 波的多紅燒牛肉麵. The chips I recall are kind of like American Ruffles in texture, but it's the flavoring/seasoning. Perhaps it is the kind used in instant beef noodle soup packages, but hell it tastes good, all the way down to the spice!

There is also a 蚵仔煎 (oyster omlette) flavor that's also quite surreal in flavor. And strangely does taste almost like the real thing (including the nori powder that elevates the flavor)!

The company that makes these chips is located in Taichung.

波的多紅燒牛肉麵薯片

[永和] 樂華夜市鮮芋仙 Meet Fresh (Yongho branch) - or should it be Feet Mresh?

2010-04-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

Meet Fresh 鮮芋仙 is a fairly new chain restaurant specializing in old style/old flavor desserts, with the theme ingredient being taro. This particular branch is located in Yongho 永和 Township inside Lir Hua Night Market 樂華夜市.

There's a lot of supposed old school style desserts and the ilk. Given their namesake, it should have been a no brainer to order taro. Unfortunately I didn't get their signature offering, and everything else sampled was less than stellar.

The website claims a couple founded the business and insisted on making their taro ball dumplings from scratch and all by hand. I'm sure the first location did very well, but for some reason this branch by Yong Ho's Lir Hua Night Market isn't up ta snuff.

Cream top tea in a nice little mug. The mug was actually the best part. There are chains that do this deconstructed cream tea a lot better.

Yea yea, I know, never order tofu fa from a vendor that does not specialize in it. But I wasn't feelin' taro. Better than what we can get in the USA easily, but for Taipei this was a flopperdoo.

If memory serves, this was fun yuan (fresh tapioca) with grass jelly and di gua (sweet potato/Taiwanese yam). Another lackluster version, although the tapioca easily blew away the dehydrated stuff in the US called "boba".

Perhaps other chains execute better, but this was one a doooooozy....

Meet Fresh website: http://www.meetfresh.com.tw/
鮮芋仙
234台北縣永和市永平路160號‎ (234 Tapei County, Yong Ho township, Yong Ping Road 160)
02-3233-0779‎

[永和] - 樂華夜市大漢草原新疆羊肉串 Xinjiang style Da Han Lamb Skewers at Lir Hua Night Market in Yong Ho

2010-04-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

Every time I visit Taipei, a trip to the neigborhood night market in 永和 township, Lir Hua Night Market 樂華夜市 is inevitable. It's not a super foodie destination by any means, but it has that great local atmosphere and of course, not visited heavily (or at all) by foreign tourists. There are also lots of shops selling non brand name and brand name clone type wares, clothing, lots of cheap trinkets, and a few fun things for the kids (including a pet vendor that sets up a giant tub of mini feeder fish for kids to play fishing games on busy days). Definitely one of the slightly more family friendly places.

There's not a lot that I would recommend here, but this stall called Da Han (full name is Da Han grassy fields) 大漢草原 caught my eye. They specialize in Xinjian style lamb skewers 新疆羊肉串. I'm sure there are other places that do this even better, and perhaps this isn't even near the best what the night market has to offer, but this certainly did not disappoint.

Da Han at Lir Hua Night Market appears to be the flagship stall, and they have operations in Rao He night market as well. According to the website, the owner of Da Han had a nostalgic craving for the lamb skewer, and personally flew over to Xin Jiang to apprentice the art of lamb grilling on skewer from a master. The rest is history...

The prices are quite reasonable, about NT$12 or US$0.40 a skewer. Choose between the signature lamb, beef, pork, chicken, and something that is called soft bone (lamb cartilage?) Since Xinjiang is heavily inhabited by Islamic Chinese, pork is nothing something on the menu, but this is in Taiwan so one must adapt.

It's really easy. Pick the # of skewers you want, specify type of meat, and how spicy you want it. They are then grilled to order. The smell alone while you wait, is a major tease in itself. I only had a chance to try two lamb skewers, and it was quite amazing. It's like yakitori, but cheaper. The amount of meat on each stick is not a lot, but cooked to perfection, and the various spices and salt really bring it all together.

Oh yeah. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa gooooooooooood!

Website: http://www.dahan168.url.tw/

大漢草原新疆羊肉串 (Da Han Grass Fields Xinjiang Lamb Skewer Stall)
永和樂華夜市 (located inside Lir Hua Night Market in Yong Ho Township)
(02)29569733

[台北] - 寧夏夜市- 排骨酥 popcorn porkchops at Ningxia Road Night Market Taipei

2010-04-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

Sure you've had popcorn chicken, popcorn shrimp and whatever deep fried little morsels.

But have you had popcorn porkchops? And mostly boneless at that too? This stuff will surely make Colonel Sanders give up the buck buck for a night in trade for some oink oink...

For a measly shade less than US$1.50 or NT$50, you get a paper bag of marinated and deep fried boneless popcorn porkchops, or Pai Gu Su 排骨酥 at this vendor with the same name as the offering, in Ningxia Road Night Market 寧夏夜市. (Disclaimer, this was circa Dec 08, I am not sure if this vendor is still around). Double that cost for a bigger bag. There's red vinegar flavor and a five spice flavor. Both are equally sexcellent and Crazy Sexy Cool in their own way.

Makes for a great movie snack too. This is what a good little popcorn porkchop should be like!

Somewhere inside
寧夏夜市 (Ningxia Road Night Market)

[台北] - 士林夜市 - 大上海生煎包 - Shihlin Night Market - Da shanghai Shen Jian Bao - Da Bestest

2010-04-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

OK let's step out of the USA for a few minutes here, and imagine you are on a plane to Taipei, then find yourself on the MRT subway getting off Jientan station to the largest night market in the area, Shihlin Night Market.

You walk along the perimeter until you find the Yang Ming 陽明 movie theater, and you'll find a few Shanghai Shen Jian Bao 生煎包 vendors (think xiao long bao, but a soft mahn toh doughy white bun exterior, pan fried over an iron grill with an incredible amount of juicy porktastic goodness inside). But there is one that I would say, trumps them all, and the stall is called Da (as in , "big") Shanghai Shen Jian Bao 大上海生煎包.

There is an open area room at the back of the stall, where uniformed staff are preparing the ingredients, namely the dough for the buns and the sexy ass meat mixture of seasoned porcine piggy pleasure.

Grilled right on the spot as demand warrants.

You as the cu$tomer, have two choices. You ask for either "tsai bao" 菜包 (veggie bun) for NT$10 per (that's like US$0.33), or "rou bao" 肉包for NT$12 per, and indicate the amount. Pay, and you'll get your quantity shoved into a plastic bag (like the kind at your local supermarket to hold fruit). Then mosey over to the left and add condiments at your pleasure. Highly recommended is a few scoops of their spicy oily yet integral to the experience chili sauce, which elevates this insanely delicious thingy to greate$t height$.

Two buns are really not enough, you should savor a minimum of three, but not too many as you have so many other eating choices.

The pork meatball inside has a ton of flavor (moist enough) but does not spooze out soup, unlike Shanghai Flavor Shop in Sunnyvale California that not only has a sexy meatball but a feckload of soup inside. If you are the kind of person who adheres to the philosophy that a bragworthy meat bun (be it xiao long bao, shen jian bao, or beef pancake in hockey puck form) that the "soup" should be in the form of the filling's natural juices, versus a piece of aspic/gelatin or gelatinized broth inserted separately) then this vendor will fulfill your dreams.

Sure you can likely find cheap and fulfilling Shen Jian Bao at Shih Da night market, and while I have yet to do a taste test, this might just be one of the better bets at Shihlin Night Market.

Let's have some BTV karaoke, that's Bao TV

大上海生煎包‎ (Da Shanghai Shen Jian Bao)
台北市士林區文林路101巷口 Shihlin District, Wenlin Road #101 (alley mouth)
(士林夜市陽明戲院隔壁巷子進去約走一分鐘左邊的攤販)‎ - walk about 1 minute by the right side of Yang Ming movie theater, it will be on the left.
02-2881-6929‎

[台北] - 寧夏夜市鬍鬚張 Formosa Chang - best MTV commercials ever

2010-04-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

In America, we have restaurants that represent the finest of commercialized dumbed down cuisine to those who want either an introduction to a type of cuisine, or those who just eat the shizzle up and consume like your average target market that don't have the means to either learn, or just no other choices due to geographical location.

Look no further than Taco Bell, Chipotle, Chevy's for "authentic Mexican" if you want La Raza to roll their eyes, Panda Express for "authentic Chinese" or ahem, PF Chang's (PFC) if you want to see even more squintier eyes of disdain by native Chinese, Taiwanese, and last but not least, tell a native Singaporean that SF Bay Area's (or Atlanta's) Straits Cafe is da bomb diggidy.

The fact is, I wouldn't mind so much if someone upscaled street food with fancy decor, so long as the food kept its original root$ with a flair (whether it be re-inventing, innovation, or fu$ion done right). However this fails to be the norm in the US. And what we end up is douchified comfort food.

Enter Formosa Chang, a very successful chain in Taipei. Perhaps Tawian's answer to PF Chang, but absolutely not related at all.

Sometime in 1960, Mr Chang Yun Chuan set up an outdoors food stall on Mingshin West Road that sold various small bowls and plates of food.

His minced pork rice that was of uncompromising quality that made him very busy and rich, so busy to the point that they say he slept 3 to 4 hours each night, had no time to shave, and thus grew a beard. Locals nicknamed him HuSooChang (hence the Chinese name of FC) or Bearded Chang. He continued to innovate and improve upon his operation and offerings while insisting on quality, taste, service, and providing a hygienic environment.

Chang's philsophy extended to "I will serve if if I will eat it also"

Years later the business became so successful it became a chain of about 20 locations.

website: http://www.fmsc.com.tw/

In 1999 FC got ISO 9002 certification (similar to Little Sheep Mongolian Hotpot, a measurement of success and quality) and eventually many other awards.

Each sit down restaurant (in nice moderately upscale digs) also offers a take out counter adjacent to the restaurant for quick ordering and pickup.

They even have those cardboard American Chinese restaurant takeout boxes!

Still the same food and offerings, basically very typical and authentic non touristy Taiwanese food like

-Jianzi (beef flank dish)
-Hailu Shuanpin (what looks to be fried yuba roll and roast pork)
-Zhujiao (stewed pig's trotter)
-Tipang (stewed pork hock)
-A cai (A-choy, local green veg)
-Sunsi Lu (stewed bamboo shoots)
-Jirou fan (chicken rice)

-Lu Rou Fan (minced pork belly rice) - signature item. at the Ningxia Night Market location, you can see a fake plastic "statue" in earnest dedication to the signature dish and that made Formo$a Chang a rich man.

- soups including bitter melon and spare ribs

Prices are higher than eating at the street food stalls, but apparently the quality is really good. Japanese and foreign visitors can easily partake in authentic fare in a comfortable environment that even locals go to, without having to eat at the stalls (not all of them are exactly prim and proper clean). I missed out this time round so archiving this one in case I end up eating at Chang's (not PF, or PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT).

There may be one minor gripe for those in the know

Formosa Chang's logo design is a bit sketchy...

It looks like someone ripped off Nigo's BAPE for logo and image design...

Note the name "Pizza Cut Five" on top. Could there have been an indirect reference to the Japanese group "Pizzicato Five"?

Seems to be a collaboration to help sell FC swag, branding, design, and uhm fashion.

You have to check this shit out that PC5 is doing to promote FC

What a marketing monster!

Formosa Chang (鬍鬚張)
台北市大同區寧夏路62號‎ - Taipei City Datung District, Ningxia Road #62
02-2558-9489‎

[台北] 公館 - 墾丁蛋蛋ㄉㄨㄞ奶 Fresh Tapioca with Milk in Taipei Gonguan

2010-04-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

Every time I go visit Taipei, a visit to the 公館 (Gong Guan) area is inevitable. It's right across the bridge from Yong Ho township, and right across the street from Taipei's #1 university (NTU). In addition to having lots of small mom and pop type retail stores and shops (with the inevitable chains of 7-Eleven, Happy Family convenience stores, at least one Starbucks), there's a myriad to almost endless amount of average to very decent food, best of all very affordable. We've all been starving students at one point, so good quality food on the cheap is a must. Unfortunately for the most part, your typical American university or college town food isn't exactly cheap in comparison, but good thing for NTU students, if you are willing to walk, you can get good grub and drink. So don't be a stupid NTU student and eat on campus, where at the student union there's a Burger King and a localized Korean place that doesn't look entirely interesting.

Ahhh beverages....tons of places that serve to go teas, milk tea drinks. The best known name brand is Ten Ren Tea Station (which of course blows away anything in California North or South), but you're looking at NT$70 for a kickass cuppa lemon kumquat green tea (cheap by California standards, PRICEY for local).

Enter this joint called 墾丁蛋蛋ㄉㄨㄞ奶, pronounced Kenting Daan Daan "dwai" Nai. I'm not so sure about the "dwai" part as that's some serious Boh Poh MoFo shizzle I never learned.

This is actually Taipei's only branch of a family business that started off in Kenting (the southern end of Taiwan).

Here's the kicker, they do not use or add any tea in their drinks. It's all milk.

But not just any milk. They use Lin Feng Yin brand, which locally is known for being all natural and rich in flavor. I've tasted this from a local Welcome supermarket (Ding Hao) and it's super smooth and creamy (even low fat version). Pretty much puts our US organic milk to shame (even the Horizon's and whatevers).

So every successful business has a beginning, and in the Chinese food culture, when you're blogging or doing a documentary/program, you have to begin with a sappy story as to its humble beginnings and struggles.

This is taken directly from their brochure, and hopefully I didn't F it up with the translation.

"In early summer 2001, a loving mother who worried about her little boy's nutritional intake containing too much in the way of artificial ingredients (food coloring, flavoring, sweeteners) and who also suffered poor health from eating not so healthy herself, came up with a beverage idea to not only be nutritionally healthy for her son, but also delicious. She borrowed an idea from her grandmother on a receipe regarding black (brown) sugar (unprocessed), and thus 墾丁蛋蛋ㄉㄨㄞ奶 was born."

The tapioca they use is freshly made every day and after cooking it, is never left sitting out more than 2 hours. Anything older than that, is tossed out and replaced with a new batch. Or so they claim.

And the great thing is, it's true, and you can taste it.

All drinks are NT$30 or about US$1. It's unbeatable, delicious, fresh, and quite an unusual combination that works.

Fresh quality milk makes the basis of most of the drinks with your choice of black sugar tapioca, grass jelly, and/or green (mung) beans. You can also opt to have the milk as a latte (with coffee), or if you are lactose intolerant, they offer a lemon juice base option.

墾丁蛋蛋ㄉㄨㄞ奶 (Kenting Daan Daan "dwai" nai)
台北市中正區汀州路三段165號 Taipei City, Zhongzhen District, Dingzhou Road, 3rd portion #165

[桃園機場] - 寶島晶華 - Taiwanese Cuisine and Snacks (sit down restaurant) Taipei airport)

2010-04-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

For those who have departed from Taipei International Airport (actually located in Taoyuen), might remember that upstairs on one side beyond the Rose Records CD store, used to be a food court that sold sandwiches, a Starbucks stand, a noodle and dumplings stand, and a xiaolongbao and snack stand.

Well fast forward to late 2009, all that is GONE.

It appears that the Jing Hua corporation (that also owns some exquisite hotels) and apparently has a very upscale almost kaiseki like Taiwanese restaurant inside the National Palace Museum, has an outpost at the airport, basically replacing what I described in the first paragraph.

I didn't take photos but you can see pictures here:

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/ru-wen/article?mid=25839&prev=25896&next=25787

Picked up a takeout menu, so you can have some idea of what prices and varieties to expect

Xiao Long Bao - NT$220 for 7
Formosa Beef Noodle - NT$250 (what looks like 3 slices of beef, two stalks of veg, and sides of whole marinated egg, and two mini sides)
Tendon and Beef Noodle Soup - NT$290
Hualien Dumpling Noodle Soup - NT$220
Braised Beef Soup with Thin Noodle - NT$260
Braised Beef Soup with Dumpling - NT$250
Chicken Noodle Soup with Sides - NT$250
Vegetarian Noodle Soup - NT$200
Chicken Leg with Rice (Bento) or Noodle (soup included) - NT$250
Pork Chop with rice or noodle (soup included) - NT$250
Curry chicken with rice (soup included) - NT$250
Egg and Beef in Sauce on Rice (soup included) - NT$250 (looks slightly Cantonese-ish)
Egg and Shrimp in Sauce on Rice (soup included) - NT$250
Minced Pork Rice with boiled veg and served with soup - NT$150
Preserved Egg and Pork Congee - NT$170 (definitely Cantonese)
Egg and Beef Congee - NT$170
Formosa Cold Noodles with Bamboo and Pork Bone soup - NT$200
Boiled Water Spinach - NT$80 (kung xin tsai)
Boiled Bean Sprout - NT$80
Boiled Spinach - NT$80
Boiled Green Cabbage - NT$80 (Tsing Jiang Tsai)
Dried Mountain Yam and Pork Rib Soup - NT$150
Chicken Soup (yuen zhong ji tang) - NT$150
Club sandwich - NT$280
Spaghetti with meat sauce - NT$280
Chef's Salad - NT$280
Ground Beef Burger (6 oz) - NT$320

Drinks ranging from NT$60 to $85
Blck Tea, Jasmine Tea, Oolong Tea, Passionfruit tea, Plum tea, Lemon Tea, Grapefruit tea, Chrysanthemum Puer tea, lemon juice with jelly, milk tea, bubble tea, american coffee, latte...

NT$120 juice and milk driinks
Papaya milk, banana milk, watermelon with aloe, kiki orange juice, lemon juice, mango juice, mixed fruit juice, and various smoothies

Alcohol
NT$150 for budweiser, corona, heineken, asahi, kirin

Taiwan local beer - NT$180

This might be the only half decent option in the airport before going through security (after that you're on your own). Of course you're better off stuffing yourself silly before arriving at the airport, or bring some food with you (beverages need to be consumed before going through customs...)

Mister Donut Taipei

2010-04-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

Ahhh nothing like finding a pretty boy idol type from Japan to promote your then latest offering. These pics were probably taken 2 to 3 years ago, so you may not find this limited edition seasonal kind of offering.

Why is it that a dirty old man who looks like a pseudo grandpa popeye, wearing the classic yellow raincoat who could potentially be a total perv exhibitionist chode extraordinare, is the logo of a company pimping the signature Japanese style cream puffs, be soooo popular in the SF Bay Area amongst Asian foodie fetishists (of the dessert variety), when this was hip in Japan and Hong Kong 10 years ago, and is now considered blasse over there? (remember cream puff is a French like dessert so the pronounciation in French is aptly, BLAH-SAY)

This needs to be imported into the San Francisco Bay Area ASAP and PRONTO, and kick the Bearded Dirty Papa in da ballsac, and to the curb. (For reference, there is a Beard Papa Cream Puff location upstairs from the Taipei Main Station).

Anyhoo, one of the greatest fast snack dessert food fads spreading across Taipei in the past 3 to 4 years is a company called Mister Donut, which strangely started off in the USA back in 1956 to compete against Dunkin Donuts (we'll get to that one later...) and someone in Japan bought the license to franchise MD in Japan and Asia.

Creative styles of green tea (matcha) themed donuts.

Many years later, some Taiwanese conglomerate imported the Japanese side of the MD franchise to open up franchises in Taipei. This was an absolute smashing success, as it introduced an originally American snack with a Japanese take and spin, offered and taylored to local Taiwanese tastebuds.

Website: http://www.misterdonut.com.tw/

The variety offered is stunning. They even carry ponti's, which kind of look like Baby Einstein Caterpillar teething rings for infants, round circles put together to form an almost octagonal shape, with a hollow center. The latest ponti and donut offerings are quite amazing (yes NEW flavors introduced when they can and often too!), where they even fusionize it with matcha (powdered green tea) with red bean paste interior! The green tea with red bean ponti was definitely a highlight of my last visit.

The best part is that all of Mister Donut Taipei's offerings (and arguably virtually identical to Mister Donut Japan) were rich in flavor yet light on the palette and stomach. They even have 5 grain and whole wheat donuts for the health conscious! Nothing overly sweet, very natural tasting. After eating even upwards of two or more, you don't end up feeling like an overweight pot bellied American couch potato (unlike Krispy Kreme that is not only too rich and sweet, but lethal in so many forms).

I honestly believe that Krispy Kreme would FLOP in Taiwan, if they cloned the exact US receipes. Why? For a country that has an extremely heavy snack culture, like Singapore, a single Krispy donut might mean taking away the valuable appetite or stomach space (from a calorific perspective) for potentially even tastier eats, for the average citizen who eats more than 5 meals (or bites) per day. That's pretty hardcore!

And get this. Dunkin Donuts is available in Taipei! I don't know who opened the DD franchise there, but whoever came up with that, did so to compete with Mister Donut Taipei.

I did walk into a local Dunkin Donuts, and was expecting to find the kind of shit eaten by police officers, stereotyped in various forms of media. Instead I found offerings very similar to Mister Donut! Daaaaaaaaayum.

So yeah, Mister Donut Taipei. Cheap, plenty of variety, light on the lips and also the hips. Sexiest donuts that even Japanese celebrities are endorsing for whatever yen and free donuts are paid to them!

Numerous locations around Taipei city, although check the website in case they come and go.

[台北] - 上閤屋日本料理 - Jogoya Seafood Buffet (Taipei)

2010-03-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

Jogoya 上閤屋 is a buffet that specializes in Japanese cuisine and seafood, and is exclusively a chain in the Taipei area with at least 3 locations and one in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. It is said that a conglomerate (Formosa group?) that owns hotels runs Jogoya, as well as a local shabu shabu chain Kolewa. Makes sense because they have the funds to get resources, training, and food in bulk at lower cost.

This particular location is in the area where Taipei 101, Warner Village (movie theater complex), and the multiple J-dept store Mitsukoshi buildings are. As a result buffet prices are a tad bit higher than others. To give you an idea, lunch here comes to about US$21, $25 for dinner. And you come here for late night snack too, they close at 2:30 am.....On weekends and public holidays you are given a 2 hour time limit to finish. But what mortal is able to spend more than 2 hours at a buffet?

When you walk in, and explore the area, the only thoughts that come to your mind are:

OMG WAFOF!!!!!!! (OH MY GOD WHAT A F*CKLOAD OF FOOD).

Especially for 20 bucks!!!

Fresh seafood, steamed or fried to order!

The selections here are SCARY. So much food, so little time (2 hours that is) Todai and other Bay Area Asian buffet owners, please fly to Taipei and eat here, then SUCK AND SWALLOW IT. And take notes and learn what a REAL Asian buffet should be!

After taking quite a few pix, I was then told by Jogoya employees that I was not allowed (lots of Japanese food business owners don't want you to "steal" ideas for the competition, such is life).
Glad I got away with whatever I could!

Hakka style salted pork

Cakes and desserts galore

More and more cakes

Sayori or needlefish, steamed to order (don't worry they have it for sashimi too!)

California bass!!

Dobinmushi and Chawanmushi

Taiwanese fruit

More fruit

Dragon fruit

Cantonese Turtle Jello too...

Yes, alkie bevs are included in the price! Red wine and Tsing Tao too!

Various grilled fish

From what I remember (and I'm sure I missed out a ton of stuff)

Sashimi section: needlefish (sayori), hamachi, escolar (super white fish), kajiki (swordfish), salmon, mirugai, scallops, some sort of local clam, oysters on halfshell, and what looked like a Kyoto style prep of saba embedded in a kazunoko like yellow fish egg! Nearby was yamamomo (mountain peach) but the locals call it Yang Mei (a plum variant).

Also various sushi rolls but did not touch those. Inari with black bean, kimchi, and ikura versions were seen nearby.

A made to order handroll section - crispy as hell nori, then choose from toppings - "matsuba" Japanese crab meat, sake marinated ikura, J-mayo (like kewpie), tobiko, local aspargus, peanut powder, rice, shredded lettuce. Specify whether you want rice or lettuce.

Whole fish steamed or deep fried to order (including needlefish)

dim sum section - Steamed to order XLB. Decent but these mofo's were quite big. Canto dim sum offerings were chicken feet, fried daikon cake, cha shiu bao.

Beverages (yes included in the price! SUCK this Todai and friends) - OJ, soft drinks, SIX kinds of tea leaves/bags, icee slush drinks, RED WINE, Tsing Tao Beer, cocktails (self pour)

4 kinds of ice cream. I heard they used to stock HAAGEN DAAZ, but switched to something low tech recently (when I went, bastards!)

Nabemono section: self help mini hot pot with Chinese herbal broth and veggies, a clay pot that had uhmmm...sesame oil rooster testicles (a local specialty) which they aptly label as hip fruit (ie the "fruits" by the hip, get it?), supposedly contains tons of collagen and great for ladies skin (I bet you can easily find and get women to eat this over swallowing for their men or performing fellatio for that matter)

Agemono section: lots of lesser interesting deep fried and tempura style offerings from fish, meat, to veggies

Yakimono section: grilled to order beef, chicken, pork slices and more mounds of meat.

steam table section: of note were local small crab (with tons of meat inside the head), steamed abalone (canned?), and more seafood. And that f**king rooster cock ballsac stuff shows up again in sesame oil sauce at the steamtables....damn it's everywhere!

ACYE Dobinmushi and chawanmushi. Not high end quality but hey!!!

Veggies - pick from a variety of local vegetables, stir fried to order and brought to your table

8 kinds of local fruit offerings at the fruit bar: honeydew, dragonfruit, starfruit, oranges, tomato

Dessert section - 4+ flavors of cheesecake, 4+ flavors of mousse cake (eg green tea, kiwi, strawberry, mocha etc). On the opposite end of the restaurant were green tea jello, and the Cantonese hardcore black jello (made with real turtle)...

Out of the three buffets I've been to in Taipei (Wasabi in Taipei 101, Hsin Yeh across from Taipei Train Station, and Jogoya), Jogoya easiliy wins hands down. All of them cost about the same, and competition is fierce. The one who offers the most at the best quality for the least wins.

Feeling stuffed afterwards? No problem, tons of shops and places to walk around in the area to burn it off, until the next eating adventure.

Apparently gluttony is not one of the sins in Taiwan...

Website: http://www.jogoya.com.tw/

Taipei locations:

台北市信義區松壽路22號 - 02-8789-5678 (Xinyi District, Song Sau Rd #22)

台北市大安區大安路一段170號 - 02-2325-5255 (Da An District, Da An Rd 1st portion #170)

[台北] - 寧夏夜市賴記雞蛋蚵仔煎 Lai's range chicken egg oyster omlette (Ningxia Road Night Market)

2010-03-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

One of the most well known and common $taple$ of Taiwane$e $treet $nack$ is the oyster omlette 蚵仔煎.

For a mea$ly two George Wa$hington$, or NT$60 (arguably a tad bit cheaper elsewhere) you can get some natural viagra that is fresh and gives you a giant boner, I'm talking about appetite for more oral fixings that the food vendors have to offer.

Lai's is located in the outer edge of Taipei City's Ningxia Road Night Market 寧夏夜市 where this market is well known for a long block of nothing but the finest of street food. More importantly this market is one of the least touristy joints (unlike the overcrowded Shih Lin Night Market with elbow to elbow crowds), practically no shops, and a high concentration of vendors that adhere to one philosophy, keeping tradition alive by preserving the original ancient/old school flavors and receipes from 30 to 50 years ago.

Lai's is a fine example of local street cuisine. They've been around 30 years and their signature oyster omlette is still their strongest seller. NT$60 or about 2 bucks gets you a perfectly well done dish.

It is said that Lu Gang 鹿港 (a seaside town with a port) in Changhua County is the birthplace of the oyster omlette in Taiwan, brought over by Fujianese immigrants from China. They use no eggs in their receipe and a ton of basil. The addition of eggs seems to be more of a Taipei variation (no basil in this version).

The kitchen is outdoors, with some nearby stools and tables, and a separate indoor section for those who prefer to be off the street.

Lai's Range Chicken Egg Oyster Omlette rundown:

-Fresh baby oysters (Er Ah 蚵仔) native to Taiwan (probably from by the coastal waters near south central west side)

-Free range chicken eggs

-Tung ho 茼蒿 (Garland chrysanthemum) also a great veg to use with hotpots

- in house made special red sauce (like a light ketchup with some savory, sweet, and sour)

- potato or yam starch to thicken, it's a tad bit gooey texture, so native Japanese who like the "neba neba" (sticky) (and I mean things like natto you sick minded folks) will find some comforting similarity.

All this grilled on top of a high heat metal surface.

The whole combination just blends together so well.

The clear broth baby oyster soup is great too.

The atmosphere is incredible, with locals and like minded street food lovers around you. It's all very simple, but yet ridiculously impossible to recreate abroad for some reason.

賴雞蛋蚵仔煎 (Lai's Chicken Egg Oyster Omlette by Ningxia Road Night Market)
台北市大同區民生西路198之22號 (Taipei City, Datong District, Mingshen West Rd, 198 by #22)
(Tel) 02-2555-0381
(Hours) 15:00-2:00(隔週二休 closed Tuesdays)

There's actually another 30+ year old place nearby that's quite famous and here's a pic of the storefront for those curious. Until next time....

[礁溪-宜蘭縣] - 鵝肉郎海鮮 Goose Guy Seafood (Jiaosi, Yilan County)

2010-03-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

HONK HONK!!

Nope, not Hooters.

It's Goose.

One weekend we were on the road and driven to the eastern coast of Taiwan, of Yi Lan county, in the town of Jiao Si 礁溪. The area is known for mostly farming, local specialties / cuisine, hot spring spas.

Our gracious host settled on a restaurant for our evening meal called Er Rou Lang Seafood Restaurant 鵝肉郎海鮮, which loosely means Goose Meat Guy. Turned out to be a very popular restaurant with locals and visitors and in a way similar to Goose City in Taipei City

We didn't have goose that night at Goose Guy. Our host took care of ordering and everything was as delicious as can be

Salmon Sashimi (local Taiwanese salmon) - big thick meaty slices, just barely defrosted. Very common appetizer for sashimi (in addition to raw prawns or raw local swordfish). Soy sauce and wasabi mud bath mix sorely needed of course.

Stir fried noodles - no pix of this, but had hints of sacha sauce in it. Very nice.

Boiled/steamed local shrimp - Cantonese seafood restaurants would serve a dipping sauce of seasoned soy sauce with chili peppers or jalapenos for a dish like this. All we could use was unfortunately the soy sauce and wasabi. The shrimp was a lot tastier than the salmon.

Hollow stem veg stir fried (kung xin cai 空心菜) - Sure you can get this at any Chinese restaurant, but this version is locally grown and irrigated with hot springs water! The taste and texture is unlike anything else I've had.

Chuan Chi 川七 veg stir fried with dried fishlings - A great unique local veg and also grown and irrigated with hot springs water in Yi Lan county. Darker green hue, leafy stem, and juicy with a nice crisp. Unbeatable flavor

sea snail/conch type thingy stir fry - with Yi Lan scallions (the equivalent of Tokyo Negi or really really really large green onions), basil, soy sauce, some seasonings. Great toothsome bounce on the sea creature, and the scallions were wonderful too.

This place maybe a sit down restaurant, but it is not upscale by any means. It is definitely pricier than street food, but you are getting quality.

Again, very typical local food to have after some R&R at the hot spring spa places. Probably more enjoyable with some alcohol if you choose.

Fresh vegetables of the day

Live lobster in tanks

礁溪鵝肉郎海鮮 (Goose Guy Seafood)
礁溪鄉信義路29號1樓 (Jiaosi - Xinyi Road #29, 1st FL, Yilan County)
03-988-4438

[台北]- 胡同燒肉夜食 Hutong Yakiniku Taipei

2010-03-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

Izakaya's 居酒屋 are the rage everywhere now and you can't avoid them. Taiwan has taken izakaya's to the next level, by mixing in other elements, including yakiniku, as well as top notch service and making the customer experience a top priority (which lots of restaurant in the US fail to do so). They've even redefined izakaya's, the word itself, by removing the "alcohol" character in the word and basically calling it "Ju Ler Wu" 居樂屋or iza-happiness-ya and implementing it!

Hutong is a very hip and relatively new (less than 2 year old) eatery that mixes the best of izakaya style atmosphere, top notch service with knowledgeabke and energetic/passionate/update staff, with the elements of Japanese style Korean BBQ that the owner claims is a revival of old school Beijing style BBQ. What makes this place different from its surrounding competition is the fact that it is like a grilling school, the staff tries to educate without intruding, the art of charcoal grilling thinly sliced pieces of the finest cuts of meat. To top it off, this place offers a local flavor twist that caters to the pickiest of Taiwanese eaters who want nothing but the best.

We arrived at Hutong at 6 pm and were the first ones there. They provided lockers to store bags and jackets/coats to help alleviate your outer shells smelling like BBQ grill smoke. Such a fine attention to detail and care! Who wants to smell like smoked meat coming out of the restaurant? The counter was the best place to be, as we could see everything that was going on and interact with the staff. The owner hired and trained his staff so well. Superb service and quick to refill on tea, water, drinks, lemon wedges and condiments.

This is not your standard Japanese yakiniku. There's no kim chee/panchan and certainly no dipping sauces except for all you can squeeze lemon wedges. Are they being cocky bastiches? No...all the meats are pre-marinated and seasoned so you don't have to, or they are best enjoyed with lemon juice that you squeeze yourself. It is really that good.

Before the plates of meat arrive, flaming hot grey charcoal with a red firey halo is removed from a storage area that heats them up, placed into a container and placed in front of you, with a grilling net on top. Then the meats arrive and you are ready to go. This is what we had:

thinly sliced beef tongue with tons of green onion on top - what a superb way to start the meal. Very Japanese yakiniku style. Instead of squeezing the lemon over the grilling meat, we did so on our plates. And we had to eat it in one bite. Our waitress/hostess grilled these for us and told us when it was done (it didn't take long). Superb texture and the flavors exploded all over. One of the highlights of the evening.

high end cuts of pork neck meat with sesame seed on top. - Holy cow this was as good as pork belly but without the filling feeling. They recommended that we eat this with lemon juice and minced daikon+onion.

beef belly - thinly sliced marbled beef, it was the highlight of the evening for me. The marination was apparently garlic sesame oil, salt and pepper, but the grilling time was perfect and the fatty oils got pushed out and further enhanced the flavors with the citrus lemon juice.

pork intestine - yep very Taiwanese. And who knew how chewy and smooth this tasted after being charcoal grilled? Turns out the intestines were already cooked and pre-sliced. The grill only served to give it a more smokey flavor, and the inside of the lining tasted like bone marrow of osso bucco. Wow. Even more sublime after the lemon and minced goodness.

baby lobster and butter enoki mushrooms in aluminum foil - first time I've ever seen an entire baby lobster. The meat was all in the tail but after grilling the little guy to pieces, the shell was soft enough to be still crunchy and you could eat the whole thing to get your shot of calcium for the week. The enoki mushroom dish is very izakaya/fusion, something one might get at Tanto in Sunnyvale/San Jose, delicious!

lamb chops - I think they used Australian or New Zealand lamb chops for this. Unbelieveable how this came out. Forget those fancy American or Euro fusion restaurant versions, THIS is how I want to enjoy lamb, over a charcoal grill in Taipei! Came to about US$80 ish for 3 people, which for Taipei is expensive but for us visiting it was a steal. -1 star because while they apparently take credit card, Taiwan is still a cash loving country, sigh. But heck this place rocks so much no earthquake can take it out.

胡同燒肉 Hutong (http://www.hutong.com.tw/)
2776-1575
北市敦化南路一段161巷17號 Taipei City, Dunghua South Rd 1st portion, Alley 161, #17
18:00~24:00

[台北市] - 波記茶餐廳 - Boji Hong Kong Cafe (Taipei)

2010-03-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Boji, or simply Bor's place in translation, was opened by a Hong Kong expat living in Taipei upwards of 6+ years ago when the local market for Cantonese cuisine centered mostly around dim sum (some restaurants offering supposedly less than authentic fare and open upwards of 24 hours!), jook (congee/porridge), and BBQ (cha siu, roast duck etc). Since then many competitors have opened up. I'm told a majority of them have closed, and Boji is one of a few still standing.

Three key aspects and criteria should apply to any HK style cafe worldwide: Variety, Quality, and Value. All three are and can be relative, but VQV is pretty much the golden standard at such places.

Boji definitely does 5 star work in variety, as Bor touts upwards of 17 kinds of drinks, 5 kinds of street food snack items, 10 kinds of sandwiches including French Toast, 9 kinds of HK style snacks, 19 kinds of stir fry, 17 kinds of rice plates, 2 kinds of green veg dishes (haha only TWO), 6 kinds of congee, 12 kinds of instant noodle (soup and stir fry!), Cantonese "old fire" slow cooked soup of the day, 10 kinds of stir fry noodles (egg & rice noodles), 11 kinds of lo mein, 3 kinds of dessert, 4 vegetarian dishes, 6 kinds of curry rice, 5 udon based dishes, 6 dishes with a ham & egg theme, 6 kinds of non slow cooked soups.

The interior looks rather run down and old, and I believe this was entirely on purpose to make it look old school and historical. So in that regard, the owner didn't really have to do much! This included the cracks on the walls at random, chips and wear n' tear around the chairs.

What is cool about the interior is that the owner tips his hat in tribute to 王家衛Wong Ka Wei's films with movie posters for Days of Being Wild and 2046. Coincidentally Days of Being Wild had some scenes filmed inside Queen's Cafe in Hong Kong (also a HK style cafe, but for the anal retentive, it's Shanghainese style Russian food).

Here are the restaurant's supposed specials that claim to represent their best:

*silk stocking milk tea - a mixed leaf blend placed inside a cheese cloth filter in a large tall metal teapot. Hot water is poured in then after straining the liquid is poured back in another teapot with the filter, 4 to 5 times.

*Yin Yang milk tea - red tea at the bottom, coffee is poured in. Add milk and sugar...

*HK style French Toast - peanut butter, add egg, deep fry, add honey and butter

*HK style desserts of stewed milk and egg white, add fresh fruit

*fried pork intestines (for you nasty bit fans) - after cleaning, marinated with honey, white vinegar, red sauce, rock sugar for 12 hours, hang dry for a day and deep fry that muthafugga.

*spam with 2 fried eggs over rice (eggs are cooked halfway) and served with old soy and sugar based special sauce.

*shui gow dumpling Fung Shing style - salted duck egg based dumpling skins, and insides are fresh shrimp, woodear funghi, bamboo.

*XO sauce stir fried instant noodles - doesn't get wackier than this

*satay skewers with Thailand Jasmine rice

*Soup of the day (Cantonese style slow cooked, limited to 30 bowls a day)

Didn't get to try much here, as I ate dinner at Ningxia Night Market before coming here and was already 80% full where most people would stop. But heck I was on vacation, a little more binging never hurt anyone right?

Shared and ordered:

Curry Fishball skewer - ok so this is supposedly one of their specials. Perhaps I'm used to the kind that's not been deep fried first and even so it tasted nothing like my childhood. Thankfully no diarrhea occured after eating this. The curry had mild to virtually no kick. A great effort but for Taipei this was surprisingly disappointing.

HK style silk stock milk tea on ice - I'm not sure what to think of their rendition. It tasted a bit malty at the same time, and well very different than HK style cafes in the San Francisco Bay Area (at least some of the nicer ones). Perhaps it is a flavor I'm not used to, but it certainly was not a 5 let alone 7 leaf blend like at Charles Phan's Out The Door version.

Pineapple bun with butter slab - First of all the bun wasn't fresh out of the oven, it's been sitting for a while (granted not baked, but reheated to order). The sugary top crust was not golden brown but more of a dark red hue that wasn't as visually appealing. The amount of butter they put inside was absolutely criminal (way too thick) which luckily did help improve the enjoyment of its consumption a wee bit more. The thickness however didn't help as not all of the butter melted like it should in concept.

If this is the best Taipei has to offer, it is definitely a very low standard indeed. Not bad but not great.

Perhaps there are better selections off the menu. Alas this once again proves that solid Cantonese (or HK style western) is actually quite rare in Taipei.

波記茶餐廳 (Boji Hong Kong style Cafe)

北市延吉街70巷8號 - Taipei City, Ting Ji Street Alley 70, #8 (near Zhongxiao E Rd 4th portion
02-87731913

[台北市] - 寧夏夜市牛媽媽 - Ningxia Road Night Market: Beef Mama Taipei

2010-03-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

Finally a place where I think Anthony Bourdain might like if he were to visit Taipei! Yes, a place that also dishes up the nasty bits! And it isn't in one of the more super touristy places either, but a night market that has a lot of history, in addition to preserving the cultures and traditions of what the locals like to eat in terms of classical no nonsense street food.

All you hard core Asians will love this place too.

Especially Koreans and Singaporeans!

Located about halfway through the Ningxia Road Night Market 寧夏夜市, somewhere on the left side of the enclosure is a vendor that specializes primarily in beef and beef parts, and dirt cheap and might tasty too, called Beef Mama 牛媽媽. They've been around quite some time and are now at the 2nd generation of family ownership. My dining partner in crime told me this place is a fine example of old school (1950s era) Taipei street cuisine, where it all started.

It would be nice if we could transplant a beef specialist street food stall like this...

Beef Mama also uses A LOT of Sa Cha (or sacha) sauce 沙茶醬 to kick up the flavors multiple notches. WIKI has a small entry on this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa_cha_sauce

If this is not your bag, stay away. Sa Cha is sometimes confused with satay, which has similar flavors but are in fact very different.

Gasp.... pig? Well apparently they also specialize in Kung Rou Fan. It's not on the beef themed wall menu though.

Sa Cha sauce can be purchased at any Bay Area Chinese supermarket. Make sure when you buy one to try at home for cooking or hot pot, get the brand that has a cow or red bull on it, and made in Taiwan. That's the best quality you can get. Similar to the WIKI picture.

Honeycomb tripe (stomach) soup - NT$80

Beef "hip" soup - NT$50 (if I remember correctly, "hip" is a nice way of saying the testes, the Mandarin naming is "Yau Gwor" or fruit of the hips, how ELEGANT, more so than calling chicken feet Phoenix Claws in dim sum... screw the feet, go for da BALLSAC!)

Beef liver soup - NT$50
Beef heart soup - NT$50
Lamb meat soup (no nasty bits) - NT$50
Beef tripe soup (see other picture) - NT$50
Stir fried heart valves - NT$110
Sacha sauce stir fried bone marrow - NT$150
Sacha sauce stir fried beef brains - NT$110
Sacha sauce stir fried honeycomb tripe (stomach) - NT$110
Sacha sauce stir fried (beef) testes - NT$110
Sacha sauce stir fried beef heart - NT$110
Sacha sauce stir fried beef liver - NT$110
Sacha sauce stir fried beef (non nasty bits) - NT$90
Sacha sauce stir fried lamb - NT$90
Sacha sauce stir fried beef with noodles - NT$80

The beef tripe soup was insanely homey good.

A light but flavorful clear broth, obviously cooked for a long time with a lot of material, including the tripe. The julienne slices of ginger added a very nice and fine touch to the flavors. Included on the side was some soy sauce paste dipping sauce seasoned with vinegar and garlic, to dip the sexcellent tripe pieces in which added to the enjoyment a beefillion fold. Interestingly the tripe wasn't really the stomach lining or anything. It actually tasted like high quality beef with a lot of tendons and ligaments in it. You would have thought this was a cut near the rib eye or something!

The hollow stem veg (kung shin tsai) stir fried with lamb slices in sa cha sauce was incredibly good also.
Crispy stems, bursting with juice, flavor. A non gamey lamb with all the energy from the wok, made this a great body warmer from the cold and super wet winter during my visit.

Sa Cha stir fried noodles, other people's orders.....

Didn't try the balls(ac), the hearts and the brains.

I'll let Dorothy eat those on her way to find the Whizzer of Oz.

台北市大同區寧夏路50號前﹝牛媽媽攤位﹞Taipei City Datong District, Ningxia Road #50 (Beef Mama stall)

0935-545005

[永和市] 永和樂華夜市拉茶攤 - Yongho Township, Stretch/Pulled Tea stand Lir Hua Night Market

2010-03-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

This stall showed up at the neighborhood Yongho Township's Lir Hua Night Market 永和樂華夜市over a year ago.

The idea is taken from Singaporean/Malaysian style "stretch" or pulled tea aka Teh Tarik. The young budding business owners took the idea a step further and incorporated several tea flavors and milk teas in the lineup, including

-Hong Kong style milk tea
-Okinawan milk tea with black (re: brown) sugar
-Indian style milk tea
-Hong Kong style lemon tea

and one or two other flavors I do not recall.

The ordering process is very simple. Pick which one you want, and a wicked demo begins (as shown on the youtube clip above).

The drink is then poured into a mini non porous plastic bag pouch (that strangely resembles American trash bags), its tip tied with a string and a straw inserted. The mixture includes ice, and you drink from it. The cost was roughly NT$30 or so which is literally US$1.

The HK style lemon tea was newly introduced during my 2nd visit in Dec 09 and I have to say it was quite horrid.

The Okinawan milk tea with black sugar was much better, not too sweet, and you could still taste a little bit of tea.

Other than that you are pretty much paying NT$30 to watch some young kid demonstrate his tarik/pulling skills and your iced tea in a trash bag. Oh yeah.

永和樂華夜市拉茶攤
Yong Ho's Lir Hua Night Market, pulled/stretch tea stand
Yong Ho township, Taipei City

[ 台北市] - 寧夏夜市李家香無刺虱目魚 Li Jia Hsiang boneless milkfish cuisine (Ningxia Road Night Market)

2010-03-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

Right next door to Formosa Chang in Taipei City at Ningxia Road Night Market 寧夏夜市
is a proper sit down restaurant called Li Jia Hsiang 李家香, or loosely, "Lee's Home is Fragrant".

But what is Li cookin' that got the locals jonesin'?

One Fish
Two Fish
Boney Fish
Milk Fish (OK let's not go there)

They specialize in the cuisine of "Shir Mo Yue" (in Mandarin) 虱目魚. Also known as Milk Fish in English, Chanos Chanos (Latin), Milchfisch (Germany), Bangus (Phillipines), Badeng (Indonesia), Sabahii (Japan), Bandang (Malaysia), Cá Máng (Vietnam), and last but not least Awa-Awa (Hawaii).

It's one of those "you haven't eaten like a local until you've had this" kind of dish.

Milk Fish / Shir Mo Yue is plentiful around the south western island of Taiwan, and it is said that the Dutch (who were the early occupiers of Formosa, now Taiwan) brought with them the milk fish farming methods
to Taiwan. When Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong or Tei Seiko according to Japanese) kicked the Dutch out of Taiwan circa 1662, he apparently was one of the first Chinese nationals (although his mum was Japanese) to have the milk fish and his reaction was: "daaaaaayum bitch, this shit is gooooooooooood! What's the name of this fizzle shizzle?" And the locals eventually came up with a name, "it's Shir Mo Yue, my man!"

So anyway, Shir Mo Yue or Milk Fish, is also a Tainan staple. The locals there would have congee made with this fish as a breakfast item. Milk Fish has a ton of bones, so it is not very pleasant to eat otherwise. Fortunately the Taiwanese over time have developed a technique to debone the fish, well at least get rid of the major ones. I dare not say their knife technique is anywhere near as good as the Japanese are with deboning the super boney hamo eel, but now there are many restaurants that specialize in "boneless" milkfish cuisine 無刺虱目魚, like Li Jia Hsiang, that can be enjoyed as far north into Taipei.

The best part of the milk fish? It's da BELLY. Rich in all sorts of goodness (omega 3, etc etc). The fish is virtually never eaten raw locally.

The grilled filet looks like a butterfly, served with a wedge of lemon. It's the local version of shioyaki, where the center part is the belly PHAT goodness. This one you want to eat as your very first bite, as it is quite filling.

Milk fish soup of any sort is not cooked for very long, and this is a local style. The idea is to preserve the natural flavors of the fish, with the only ingredients to enhance are ginger slices and pinches of salt. To some the fish may be a bit fishy, but rest assured it is how it tastes, and not fishy in a bad way.

Li Jiang Hsiang also serves it Shanghainese style, with vinegar and sugar, as well as a stewed version with soy sauce (the Japanese parallel to this would be nitsuke).

Other uses of the fish:

Fish skin
Fish ball (made with paste of the ground meat)
Fish belly noodles

Want some non fish items to go with it? They do the plain ol' minced pork rice, and it is of a very decent standard.

李家香無刺虱目魚 (Li Jia Hsiang)
北市大同區寧夏路60號 (Taipei City, Datong District, Ningxia Rd #60)

02-2559-6604

[台北市] - 火車頭鐵路便當 Taiwan Dinkey Railway Bento (Taiwanese style Eki-Bento) chain shop

2010-03-10T11:13:00.000-08:00

When some people need to take a short break from work, they may go out for a walk to get some sun and fresh air (especially if you work indoors and sit down a lot). Or they may hang out with friends for a quick espresso at some fancy coffee joint and get a la-tay, with or without cigarettes (espcially if your arse is on the line). Some might hide in their offices (if you are not in a cubicle), plaster cardboard on the windows, and take a long nap. Arguably there are some who like to get high during work and secretly bring crack, dope, shrooms, and use them during breaktime. Next thing you know they're your boss or high up in the ranks of the company ladder.

And there are those who like to sit in the toilet stall. Some delight in reading a book, newspaper, or surf the net if you have a wireless connection. Me? Sometimes I go through my wallet and see what kind of junk I accumulated. In this case I found a business card with a printed menu I kept as a souvenir during my trip to Taipei, which leads us to our next review.

People who grew up in Taiwan might remember that old style flavor of bento meal boxes sold only at train stations (known as eki-bento in Japan), that you could take to eat on the train (coal buring engines too). This is arguably a Japanese tradition and influence that perhaps found its way to Taiwan during and after WWII, except the train station (railway) bentos have seasonings and ingredients that cater strictly to Taiwanese tastes. Homesick Taiwanese ex-patriots in the USA will surely remember this old flavor, including certain instant noodles that you eat right out of the bag without cooking them (e.g. the Prince brand of cruncy instant noodle snacks).

Enter Taiwan (spelling Tawain on their business card) Dinkey Railway Bento, with 3 locations throughout Taipei county. They set up one shop where I went some years ago, in the heart of downtown Taipei on Nanyang Street where there are many tutoring centers (bu-shi ban) for afterschool high school (and college) students, and tons and tons of places for cheap eats. Needless to say, there are a lot of budget and demanding gourmets as a result. You can't bullshit the people here.

Nanyang street location (not sure if is still around). Quite a few selections beyond the standard pork chop and chicken leg, including katsu (breaded fried items). There's a help yourself side konbu sauce (spicy or original) too.

The upstairs seating area is modeled to kinda/sorta look like the inside of a train, or somewhere in a train station. Not the cleanest space, and if you are lucky there's maybe a small box of tissues. Bring your own drink, or you can get a free fruit juice carton packet that comes with the purchase of any bento.

Each bento at TDRB is a humble but decent sized portion, with the most expensive one under US$3, and the cheapest one a tad bit over US$2.

I actually tried two bentos, one with chicken thigh leg, and the other with pork chop. The pork chop was supreme, really beating out any version in SF Bay Area and even parts of Southern California where there is arguably the highest concentration of Taiwanese expats and restaurants. There were also some marinated peanuts, 2 scoops worth of rice, one whole soy sauce and spices marinated egg (like a tea egg but no tea flavor), one piece of marinated tofu (tofu gan) and some preserved vegetables. While I never tried or had the opportunity to eat at a train station in Taiwan, just based on the flavor I'd say this was pretty damn authentic, and best of all CHEAP eats.

Other bentos on the menu include "Hokkaido style fish sticks", shrimp steak (probably a variation of ebi-furai), fried fish steak, fried calamari, minced marinated ground pork.

This is a fine shining example of a business that at least for me successfully re-creates an old flavor for many grown ups. You probably won't be able to eat this everyday as you would get sick of it, though should you find yourself in Taipei, this is an interesting experience.

This is a chain, I do not have an updated address, sorry.

[台北] - 大學口胡椒餅 - Mouth of University's Pepper Pork Bun - Gonguan Taipei (near NTU)

2010-03-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

If I could re-live my life again, maybe in some alternate reality or universe (like in the comic book world), I wanna be either an exchange or foreign student of Taipei University.

Why? Only because of all the cheap good sexcellent food right across the street! Nearby is Gonguan District, home to many bookshops, coffee places, local businesses, and cheap quick fast, goooooooood eats.

Sure you can go to a presitigious university like Berkeley and dine on the great (and some former) places like Bongo Burger, Intermezzo, Ethiopian, some Korean Bear place, sub par but cheap mall style food court mixed eats, but the food just won't compare.

But there are a few shall we say hiccups in the area. Not bad, not great, but just enough to hit the spot.

And one of them is a place called Da Hshir Koh Hu Jiao Bing 大學口胡椒餅, or University Corner Fuzhou style Pork Pepper Bun.

This is unfortunately nowhere near as good as the Fuzhou Pork Pepper Bun that originated out of Rao He night market (and has another branch at Shihlin and arguably somewhere downtown Taipei).

http://beefnoguy.blogspot.com/2010/01/fuzhou-style-pork-pepper-roasted-bun.html

But they do offer more than one version

These guys operate just against the wall of the side of a building!

The grill in which they make the buns.

They do deliveries. Flavors include curry lamb, beef, pork, and chicken.

You line up, place your order. I believe it costs the same as the competition, NT$50 (under US$2) and they go into their makeshift charcoal powered pseudo tandoori oven, and scoop out one of these roasted buns, put it in a paper bag.

Then you eat with a lot more care than a McScalding coffee (worthy of a McLawsuit but these guys won't McGiveaF**k if you Mcburn yourself).

The outside was indeed nice and toasty and roasty. Pictured is the pork version.

After a first few bites you see the really juicy and moist insides, and sure enough a ton of white pepper smothered in the marinated ground pork, just sufficient scallions. A ton of juices (and grease) inside. The marinated pork is a nice hue of dark brown. But when you eat that top layer away, towards the center, the pork is looking a lot lighter, and in some cases just a shade of pink away from looking fully cooked (although I'm sure it is fully cooked). Then some weird taste of sweet and sour, as if they used Worcester sauce....WTF? The exterior is doused with sesame seeds that after roasting does give the outside layer a very nice well rounded flavor.

The outside is decent but the inside is only good until you get towards the inner middle.

So sad to say and for once, been there, done that.

There are way better food stalls in the area and elsewhere, and with literally hundreds of thousands of eating places to choose from, I have less than a lifetime to try new things.

On to the next adventure....

大學口胡椒餅 (Mouth of University's Pepper Pork Bun)

台北市大安區羅斯福路三段335號‎ (Da An District, Roosevelt Road 3rd portion #335)

Tel: 02-2363-2181‎

[新竹縣] - 春上布丁蛋糕 - Chunsun Pudding Sponge Cake from Hsinchu

2010-03-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

Oh why oh why is it so freakin difficult to find a nicely done cake?

I don't mean the western styles that you can hop into Whole Foods, Safeway, Costco etc and get your sugar overload.

Japanese style soft sponge cakes....., even the Sheng Kee's, Sogo's of Northern California are generally a big fat fail. :-/. While I like certain Hong Kong style bakeries (e.g. Kee Wah), it's out of the way and not even the same thing. Unfortunately the best Japanese style bakery is Satura, which is 1) too expensive and 2) closer to French/Cali style in nature for their offerings.

This is where Taiwanese bakeries in Taiwan make the perfect match....localized but yet amazingly delicious and light.

Anyhoo, someone was super kind during our last Taipei trip to have his friend pick up a Chunsun Pudding Cake 春上布丁蛋糕 for us. From the little I know, this shop has been around for some time and specializes in this delectable sponge cake which for some reason they call it "pudding cake". I suppose it does have the texture of really really good Asian style milk pudding.

We tried the regular flavor and also a chocolate one. Both were SEXCELLENT.

You'd think something like this is readily available in Northern California and should at least taste as good.

But I guess not.

春上布丁蛋糕 Chunsun Cake
新竹縣竹北市文興路二段98號 (Hsin Chu county, Chubei city, Wen Hsin Rd 2nd portion #98)
(03) 6577-222

Website: http://www.chunsun-cake.com/home.html

(文興路二段和嘉豐十一路交叉路口)
**新竹竹北六家高鐵站步行8-10分鐘

[台北] - 寧夏夜市-蛋黃芋餅 - Ningxia Road Night Market Taipei - deep fried bun (taro, duck yolk, pork floss)

2010-02-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

So here at another new favorite night market of mine, called Ningxia Road Night Market 寧夏夜市(in Taipei City), it is said that Taipei started right here at this spot. It might not be the oldest night market in all of Taiwan, but this place certainly has a lot of local appeal and seems way less touristy than the overly crowded Shihlin Night Market.

In addition Ningxia Road Night Market is apparently famous for vendors who manage to keep some uber old school flavors (in Mandarin, Goo Dsao Wei - 古早味) alive through the years. Some are new vendors who successfully replicated those flavors, and some have been around 30 years or more.

So what's this Fried Taro cake thang? It's a snack bite offered by one vendor on the main strip of Ningxia Road Night Market. The sign is blue with white Chinese letters, on the right as you walk in from the entrance. It's easy to walk by and make it an afterthought, but it's really something you don't want to miss and try out.

There are two versions actually at this one unique vendor stall (no chairs, just get to go). The first is what they called Dan Hwang Yu Bing 蛋黃芋餅 (egg yolk taro cake), and the second one appears to be without the egg yolk, with a flakey exterior layer. Both are deep fried of course.

The first one costs a bit under US$0.70 and the other is US$0.50. Of course the locals buy these in bulk, whereas you the visitor are well advised to try the egg yolk version once before you gobble them down like Pac Man.

4 to 4.5 stars for this killer snack. Here's a rundown of the stall behind the scenes:

1) Cooked duck egg yolks. Note the bright red almost crimson kyrptonite like colors. Yes this will weaken you by destroying your cholestrol levels, in addition to the deep frying, but who cares! You're on holiday yes? Look at how beautiful they pile it up, like a mountain!

2) A mountainous pile of pork floss, or shaved dried pork 肉鬆 (rou song). Tons of flavor, these things go virtually with anything, from rice to porridge, to bread and sandwiches, to even sushi and handrolls if you must.

Vendor person basically takes 1) and smothers it in 2). Then takes a scooper to obtain the right amount of taro dough, then rolls 1 and 2 together inside.

Then this simple delicious muthafugga is DEEP FRIED, allowed to cool and excess oil to drip out, then bagged into paper and sold.

The exterior is roasty toasty, but the insides have a near mochi like chewiness to it. The yolk gives it a mild salty kick, and the pork floss yields the additional sweet and almost crunchy like texture. Even if you wait 5 to 10 mins after buying it before eating, it is STILL a piping hot piece of delicious fried taro ass.

For those watching their figure, might just want to have only one or two at the most (and save room for other kinds of gluttony). There's a whole lot more stuff to eat. Good thing the road is long so you can do a lot of walking to help burn some of that taro ass off.

寧夏夜市蛋黃芋餅 (Ningxia Road Night Market, Deep Fried Egg Yolk Taro Bun)
台北市寧夏夜市(寧夏路與民生西路交叉口) - Ningxia Road x Mingshen West Rd
時間：17:00~01:30