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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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