We went to the Shiling night market (the most touristy night market in Taipei), where there is just tons of food. It reminded me of the Minnesota state fair, except with Chinese and Taiwanese food! We have had plenty of bauzi (buns) for breakfast, but we had a twist on them at the night market. The buns were steamed and fried at the same time, so the top cooks from the steam while the bottom gets nice and crispy!
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| baozi (buns with meat inside) that are steamed while the bottoms are lightly fried |
Yesterday, we took the high speed rail to Changhua in central Taiwan with a local guide (Steve's uncle's student) named Ann. She led us to the local eateries. For lunch, we had some fried meatballs. The exterior is made of rice and is thick and sticky. The meatball contained egg, mushroom, scallops, and pork. The meatballs were first steamed ahead of time and then fried at the time we ordered them. These fried meatballs are a local specialty.
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| meatballs post-steam, pre-fry |
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| meatballs after being fried |
We also enjoyed a couple of soups. One had ribs in it (below) while the other was bone marrow soup. It was just broth with very tender bone marrow from the spine of cows.
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| rib soup |
A local specialty that caught on around the world is the wonderful drink of bubble tea. We actually ordered some bubble tea at the store that created the masterpiece. Although I usually like drinking the bubble tea through an over-sized straw in a big plastic cup, but this restaurant served the sweet, milky tea in a classy teapot with dainty teacups. I love bubble tea so much. Two years ago, I realized, "Some people smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. Bubble tea costs maybe as much as a pack of cigarettes." And that is how I tried to justify to myself that I could drink bubble tea every day.
Ann ordered a taro cake. I didn't try it because I was too busy with my beef noodle soup :)
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| taro cake |
Before getting on the train to go back to Taipei, we bought four pieces of cake. I only took a picture of mine and Stephen's. Mine was chocolate mousse. Steve's was awesome: lychee filling with fresh fruit on top and meringue around the edges. Tthe lemony shreds on top added another refreshing element. SO GOOD!
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| pies! |
We also went to a street that had about six or seven sun cake stores in a row. We got to sample all flavors of sun cakes. These cakes are flaky with a sugary, creamy center. We bought about thirty USD of these little cakes: one dozen of the original flavor, one dozen with honey, and a dozen with coconut flakes. Yum yum yum! Ridiculous. I also tasted the most amazing pineapple cakes, but we didn't buy any since we already had four flavors at home.
Finally, we bought some black jelly. The main ingredient is a jello-like substance that is made from grass (
grass jelly). Added to the jelly is sweet taro, tapioca pearls, bubble tea pearls, and condensed milk. Then, for extra yumyum, we poured cream on the top! So sweet and delicious!
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| black jelly with all the sweet yummies |
Today, we had lunch at Taipei 101. The restaurant, Ding Tai Fung, has branches all over. At some locations, the line can be longer than an hour. Needless to say, Ding Tai Fung is absolutely amazing and its popular is totally justified. Even though the food came out in waves, we ordered so much that we had to eat quickly in order to free up space on the table for more plates of buns and other delicacies. Here's a quick sampling!
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| shrimp wontons with a spicy sauce |
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| to eat these, very carefully put on on a spoon. then, bite the tip and slurp out the soup. I ate about 15 of these :) |
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| these look like volcanoes! the shrimp is the lava! we also had some with sticky rice rather than shrimp |
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| my favorite: xiao lon bao. again, slurp the yummy juices! |
