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

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

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)

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

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)

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)

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)

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