January 25, 2010 3

Street food (part 1)

//// By in 10: Taipei

Before we had the chance to go to the famous Shilin Night market (entry coming soon), we’ve already been sampling the signature Taiwanese street food here and there because they are easy to find in all the happening area.

street food near Bao-an temple

After sightseeing at the Confucius Temple and Bao-An Temple, we were glad to spot the many street food vendors right next to them because we were hungry and thirsty.

street food near Bao-an temple

We got the regular Taiwanese sausage. Good! The white one is “sticky rice sausage”.

IMG_1520street food near Bao-an temple

This Green Onion cake was incredibly delicious! I was quite surprised how good it was. It’s juicy inside and very flavorful. It warmed us up well.

IMG_1958IMG_1960
Then while we were at Danshui, I saw this cute food stall that sells all kind of fried things on a stick. I got the fried Octopus balls. Great cripsy texture and the Octopus ball got good springy texture.

Tags: , ,

January 21, 2010 2

Tu Hsiao Yueh (Taipei: east district)

//// By in 10: Taipei

du xiao yueOne specialty dish one’s got to try in Taiwan is Tan Tsai noodle, a Taiwanese specialty originated from Tainan (Southern Taiwan). We went to Tu Hsiao Yueh, a famous restaurant that’s been around for more 100 years specializes in this noodle. The branch we went to was located in the happening “east district” neighbourhood with nice decor and sit-down tables. Though it was very crowded so we had to share a big table with other people. At the entrance there’s an “open kitchen” area showing you how they make the noodle (or mimic how it used to be when it was just a food stall off the street).

We got a set menu that came with two bowls of Tan Tsai noodle, 6 small plates and 2 desserts.

du xiao yue
Tainan Tan Tsai Noodles – soup noodle with bean sprouts, shallots, cilantro, vinegar garlic sauce, and is topped with braised and minced pork and fresh shrimp.
It’s simple but delicious! No doubt a great comfort food dish. I liked the minced pork and the texture of the noodle was great.

The set menu came with these small dishes:
du xiao yuedu xiao yue
small clam and asparagus with shrimp

du xiao yue
Fried egg tofu. Good crispy texture and the egg tofu was very soft.

du xiao yuedu xiao yue
Fried fish cakes and grill Milkfish. The grill fish was quite bland. The fish cakes were pretty good.

du xiao yueFor dessert you have the choice of almond tofu or pumpkin with ice. Kind of like gelato? But it wasn’t sweet and the texture was rough and you could taste the ice. Probably should have pick the almond tofu.

It was 700 NT for the whole set for two people, which is about $20 in USD. A reasonably priced meal. And like most restaurant in Taipei, you don’t need to pay tip as it’s included already. It felt great to pay exactly what it says on the menu.

Tu Hsiao Yueh (Branch at Zhongxiao Dunhua Metro stop)
No 12, Alley 8, Lane 216, Sec 4, Chung Hsiao East Road
There’re 2 other locations in Taipei, one in Yongkang street, the other in Zhongshan.

Tags: , ,

January 20, 2010 5

Somebody Cafe (Taipei: Ximending)

//// By in 10: Taipei

There seems to be a cafe culture boom in Taipei in the past decade, as I noticed there’s a large amount of cute and interesting cafes all over the city for people to lounge at and escape to. Some of these cafes are part of a design studio or boutiques, and almost all of them serves meals (mostly pasta, sandwich). While walking around Ximending, we randomly came upon this cute shop+cafe called Somebody Cafe in a small busy alley.

26 creative
You climb a narrow flight of stairs to the 2nd floor to reach a boutique shop and there’s a cafe on the 3rd floor. The boutique sells original design from a design studio called 26 creative. The cafe interior was girly and fairytale like. I found the table a little bit too high for my comfort though.

26 creative
Jon got coffee to fight off jetl ag and I got yuzu tea. Both came with a small plate of cookies. It’s cute that they got cookies in the shape of “2” and “6” (as it’s run by the 26 creative design group). Both of the drinks were pretty good.

26 creative26 creativeThere were all these cute little wooden toys sprinkled around the cafe for you to kill time with. I actually prefer the design of these wooden toys than the design products they sell at the store (like the coffee cup above).

It’s a cute place to rest and spend your afternoon away from the hustle and bustle of Ximending, a town that’s probably too youthful for us.


Somedody Cafe 貳拾陸巷
2F., No.131, Xining S. Rd., Wanhua Dist., Taipei City 108, Taiwan

Tags: ,

January 19, 2010 3

Ya Rou Bian (Taipei: Ximending)

//// By in 10: Taipei

Restaurants blogging from other cities continues on. Jon and I spent 8 days in Taipei on the first week of January. The last time I went to Taipei was when I was a child (10-11 years old or so?). My memory of Taipei was foggy and all I remembered was the bad traffic and ugly cityscape. Now I have a whole new impression on Taipei from this trip and I end up liking this very underrated city a whole lot. Taipei has an interesting culinary scene, it’s known for cheap eat, street food, night market, boba drinks, slush ice…it’s not exactly known for gourmet cuisine. However we did manage to eat very well: from cheap to not-so-cheap, from street corner to a beautiful colonial-era Japanese house up on the mountain surrounded by beautiful scenery.

Since Taiwan isn’t on most Westerners’s travel radar so there’s not much information in the English other than Lonely Planet guide and it’s not very good. I ended up doing most of my research from the internet (there’re lots of Taiwan food blogs) and from Japanese guides (apparently Taiwan is one of the top travel destinations for Japanese).

Ya rou bianYa rou bianYa rou bianRead about Ya Rou Bian (Duck meat slice), a cheap eatery at Ximending specialized in goose meat that’s been around for 50 years. They pride themselves for not having other outlets in the country. The first floor was packed but there’s a spacious second floor with lots of tables. Their menu is very small, there’s only one kind of noodle and their main dish is the goose meat plate which comes with the choice of small or large.

Ya rou bian
Both of us got a bowl of rice noodle (NT 50,about $1.50) . The rice noodle soup came with two slices of the goose meat and the broth was standard Taiwanese flavor, which is light and green onion tasting.

Ya rou bian
We got the small goose plate (NT 150, about $4.60).  The goose slices were pretty tasty. The meat was tender and was a little bit gamier than duck. Though I still prefer the taste and texture of Hong Kong style roasted goose more (with the crispy skin and plum sauce), however, Ya Rou Bian’s goose manage to be not oily at all, unlike most HK’s roasted goose, so that’s a big plus.

A good start for our Taipei trip. Though I’d like to know why the place is called “duck meat slice” instead of “goose meat slice”?

Ya Rou Bian (鸭肉扁)
No.98-2 Yi Section,Zhonghua Road, Taipei, Taiwan

Tags: , , ,

January 14, 2010 2

Zahav (Philadelphia)

//// By in 11: Philadelphia, Favorite Food Entries

While researching for places to go, I found Zahav, a Middle Eastern tapas place. They have a $36 tasting menu, in which you chose one item per categories: Salad/Hummus, Dairy, Meat, Grilled over Coal, and Dessert. Mouth watered already?  You bet! Heavy snowfall couldn’t stop me from walking few blocks.

When I arrived, I had the option to sit either at the bar or the counter seats facing the open kitchen (divided by glass). Thank goodness I chose the later, as the bar area filled up fast and got very packed.

IMG_7751

1st course: Laffa & Hummus. Very good!  I had to resist not overeat this to save my stomach for what’s coming.

IMG_7761IMG_7763

Three color garnish. Spicy~

IMG_7752IMG_7758

1st course: Eight Daily Salad. These small dishes are all very different tasting and flavorful.

IMG_7766

2nd Course from the Dairy section. What a tough choice, as everything sounded so interesting.  Crispy Haloumi – Cypriotic Sheep’s Milk Cheese, Dates & Pine Nuits. Oh my it is SO delicious! The sheep’s milk’e been lightly fried, so it was crispy and chewy. Combined with the dates paste…wow, what a sweet & savory heaven.

IMG_7775

3rd Meat course: Kibbe Naya – Raw Ground Lamb, Bulguri Wheat mixed with  All Spice. Another tough choice as everything in this category sounded so tempting. I went for exotic in the end. The tartar-like lamb was not surprisingly not that musky, as it was spiced with many flavors.

IMG_7777

4th Coals Grilled course: The Farsi – Lamb trio: Leg, Rib & Tongue with Artichokes and Farro. My GOODNESS this is divine!  The leg and rib are perfectly cooked and seasoned, it’s melt in your mouth good and the tongue is very tender. It’s just lamb lovers’ dream comes true. I love the farro too.

IMG_7783

5th Dessert Course: Chocolate Cake with Tehina Frosting and Turkish Coffee Ganache. Taste a bit more normal than it sounds, but still good.

I was blown away by flavors all night, what an enjoyable meal. This is one place I would love go back to Philly for, so I can try the other dishes.

Zahav
237 Saint James Place. Philadelphia, PA 19106-3936

Tags: , ,

Older Posts
Newer Posts