Taipei is a great city in a way that it really has much to offer in terms of sights to see and food to eat. Not to compete with what Manila can offer in terms of cuisine, but Taipei really does have its own identity when it comes to food, never mind that it is heavily influenced by chinese cuisine.
The traditional meal in Taiwan usually consists of 4 bowls - rice, soup, main dish and a vegetable dish. It doesn't matter if it is morning, noon or night, food is always something to behold in this small country, and it also tells of how hardy Taiwanese are and how food really fuels them.
My first day, we went to Hankyu department store to join in the chaos of a Uniqlo store opening. My tripmates were raring for this since Uniqlo is not widely available outside Asia. After the long lines and the not-so-regrettable shopping binge, we settled into the food court, which offers pretty much everything Taiwan.
We had an omelette of something like leeks, finely chopped, and blanched cabbage, with rice and chicken stew in an iron plate. We also had a side order of beef and cabbage stew.
There was literally too much on our plates, it was filling, but it didn't have the heavy fill that we were expecting. The secret, according to my Taiwanese friend, is that they don't usually fry or saute (although you will get much of that from their street foods). This much, and you will have your fill and not be sludgy because of the fat and extenders. None of that on our food. And I think that is healthy and wise. I started to wonder if all traditional Taiwanese food are like these. So we decided to raid the Danshui night market for some traditional street food. We had ah gei and danshui fish balls in soup. The balls are actually a variety of various stuff - mainly pork, fish, bread filled with savory meat, and a mix of pork and fish. The filled bread are like mini siopao. Ah gei is actually bean curd or tofu, stuffed with boiled vermicelli, sealed with a thick fish sauce and doused with chili sauce. I was hesitant to try it. It was really good, AND it also had none of the oil and extenders. I guess traditional Taiwanese food is really healthy.
I wouldn't say the same though for the other fares I saw at the danshui night market - it was a regular parade of deep fried stuff of anything you can think of. I guess, like any other cuisine, Taiwan also has its share of junk food. That probably explains the quietly increasing proliferation of huge Taiwanese men (and some women) in the streets during my trip.
Here are some of their fried food fares:
Taiwanese, like Filipinos, also love their sausages and they have a variety of sausages available, including blood sausage, which is not exotic for us, Filipinos, since we eat every part of the pig, from the tongue to the ears, to the intestines, and yes, even pig blood.
The night market we went to didn't disappoint us - you will find all things fried, boiled, grilled. you name it, they have it.
The following night, we went to a restaurant that one of our taiwanese friends said is really popular. And with good reason, we went there, was given a number and had to wait for an hour before being served - were 64 and 35 was being served. At least, we were able to go around the surrounding community, which was nice and quaint, since the restaurant was in a small residential area at the heart of Taipei.
Their signature dumplings actually has broth inside it and they stuff their dumplings with all kinds of good stuff - minced pork, or shrimp, or even vegetables. We ordered the minced pork, the shrimp and the upo, all with broth inside them. The Taiwanese call it xiaolongbao. We dip it in a combination of shredded ginger, black vinegar and soy sauce. They also have the really cool zucchini in chili sauce, which was both hot and cool at the same time. And of course, we can't resist the dumplings in chili sauce, which was way spicy but not irritatingly hot.
The piece de resistance was their beef noodle soup. Now I am not a regular fan of this soup, because it can turn rancid in no time, but the broth it was served with has a clean meaty taste. I think they had to freeze the soup stock and take out the fat to achieve this. It was very good. And once again, despite the cast that we had more than our fill, it didn't give us a heavy feeling.
Din Tai Fung, the name of the restaurant, in Xinyi Road
Taiwanese water cabbage (like our kangkong but thinner and with smaller leaves),
blanched and served in garlic sauce
I guess I will go back to Taipei, not only for the people, which are nice, the sights, which are nicer, but most especially for the food, good food, that we found in between walking bouts between sights and train stations! Enjoying taiwanese food is the way to end a long walk and mark a good trip.
bigboy promises to get back to you soon with new news! nunus!
The restaurant is a quirky concept by itself - it is so small that it fits only about 5 decent tables inside with a massive bar taking up about a third of the place and a table is set aside with a wooden enclosure for privacy. But what it lacks in space, it more than makes up for in terms of delicious taste.
It surely has an interesting menu - we picked the tubig ni Maria pitcher which is good enough for 3 thirsty big men, like me and my friends. It has ginger, local pipino, it think there is even lemongrass in there, with a lime and an orange slice. It makes up for a really cool, nice refresher and palate cleanser.
They have an open veranda that opens to garden stairs leading to the patio below at the Greenbelt 5 garden. The veranda is actually bigger than the restaurant, so it might be best to stay there if you are with a big group and the weather is cool (and it is usually cool nowadays).
