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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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)