Food Intelligence

Three reasons I love going to Thailand are pictured.

One of the specialty dishes along the Danshui boardwalk is Age, pronounced Ah-gay (not eye-gay, they may look at you funny, …or not!). Some signs will say Arcade. Because it is like an arcade in your mouth when you eat it. We stopped by this stall for lunch, and had to come back here for dinner because the kids and parents both loved it.

Let’s see, how to describe it. It’s a fried tofu with the insides taken out and substituted with vermicelli noodles and topped with a ground meat/poultry topping. It’s amazing. And cheap. Only thing is, if you get there right when a batch is ready, you’re lucky–especially if there are any left for you. Most likely you’ll need to wait, and it takes about 10-15 minutes for these to cook all the way through. But it’s well worth the wait. Plus you can walk around and order some of the other stuff around, like stinky tofu. Which I think is just a couple stalls down.

Right after you eat Age and before you go eat it again, you can stop by for some candy coated strawberries-and-tomato (Bev says the tomato is gross…not sure why there’s a tomato at the end). And the black dou-hua is nearby as well. Again, limitless possibilities, and if the second floor is open, sit up there because the view is beautiful. Just remember to bring bug spray or you’ll get bit on the face like poor Careese.

Sorry the posts are getting more and more brief. I KNOW if I don’t get through this Taiwan set of pictures that you may not see me post again until next year! Plus, I’m sure I’ll be frequenting these places again this year, so as I refresh myself with the food details, I will add more details to the posts!

Meet Fresh, or Xian Yu Xian, is a dessert chain in Taiwan that I think has cropped up only in the past few years, or maybe it just finally made it up to Taipei lately. Their specialties are taro balls, grass jelly, and dou-hua (bean flower). Teas are also their specialty but I don’t drink so I can’t speak on those. Everything else there is amazing, though. I have tried different combinations, with beans, with yam balls, with tapioca, with a couple scoops of ice cream, with ice, with condensed milk, with various jellies. ALL GOOD.

When you see the menu, there are endless possibilities. Dizzifying. I should have tried a more systematic approach to tackling the entire menu, because I’ve ordered some repeats, but they were good repeats nonetheless. It does, however, set me back on conquering their menu. They have seasonal specials as well. There’s one just across the Westin Taipei, so it’s convenient!

Their site here.

I must blog about this place. Master Hong’s Beef Noodle Soup. Mr. Huang brought me here my first night in Taipei in 2009, and it was an instant hit. First of all, come on, the signs all over the store saying which soups they have won awards for during the Beef Noodle Soup Festivals?! That makes it easy for a first-timer in deciding what to order. And if you didn’t see it all over the walls, they put it on the ordering checklist next to the item in parenthesis. Of course you’ll need to read Chinese. If you don’t, just look for the parenthesis or just point to what’s on the wall.

I can’t seem to recall for the life of me what makes these dumplings green…spinach? Nah, too obvious. I’ll have to ask next time I’m over there. But they were pretty good. The noodles are their specialty here, of course. If you’re into dao-xiao noodles, which are thick noodles, this place will not disappoint. They have thin noodles here as well, but I’m a big noodle fan myself.

Yeah there’s beef tripe in there too. You can get it with just brisket only. I grew up on tripe so it was cool to see it in BNS…usually only see it in Pho. The soup isn’t too oily, and it wasn’t overly crowded. The one we were at had a main level and a basement. Can’t remember which one it was (maybe Zhonghsiao? It was close to my hotel I think!). They have four locations, three in Taipei, one in Keelung.

But wait, there’s more! This place also has the BEST beef jerky known to man. My HAFE buddy Adrian can attest to this as we had some at the top of Mt. Fuji.

American beef jerky is dry and salty. It’s good, don’t get me wrong. Chinese beef jerky is moist. Plenty of flavor. I’m going to have to grab a piece after I’m done with this post. Good thing my mother picked up a few bags for me when she came to visit! Pictured is the Mexico flavor. Ever wonder what Mexico tasted like? Much more amazing than you think…especially if you think Tijuana or Nogales

Look – they even have a website here complete with directions, products, and an order form!!  Order today!  Send one my way as well please.

While conversing with my mother, reminiscing over all the wonderful food we’ve had over the years in Taiwan (and what we can’t eat too much of now…yet still do), she mentioned that the infamous Ice Monster at Yong Kang Street in Taipei had closed. I couldn’t believe it. I had just set this picture aside to write all about how awesome Ice Monster is–really. The store owner saw my pregnant wife and pregnant cousin-in-law (not pregnant by me, by my cousin, sheesh!  Who, I might add, has a beautiful little boy similar age to Ellee here) getting into the long long line, and quickly flagged them to a table, cleared out whoever was waiting there, sat us all down and took our order before everyone else. So that’s a lesson learned for next time you go. Bring someone pregnant. Anyway. Yes. Closed. Because the owners had a divorce, now, Mr. Lo, left to run the store AND pay alimony to his ex-wife, had no other choice but to close shop because he couldn’t do both. He would have had to pay half the store’s revenues to his ex-wife. Ouch.

This was just in the last couple weeks too. Right before Chinese New Year. I’m sure there will be many a disappointed tourists. The owner is thinking of relocating to another place within a few months. Hopefully it will be reopen by summer when I go again! But get this — according to a recent press release (yes, this is big news in Taiwan; Ice Monster is “iconic”), “Realtors have speculated the failure to reopen the Yong Kang location will have a huge impact on local real estate, likely sending property values on YongKang into a downward spiral.” (Emphasis added) Really? One ice shop affecting the whole area? My mother did say that businesses around the area are already suffering due to the Ice Monster closure though. Makes sense. People get to Ice Monster, realize they need to eat something first, so they find a noodle shop around the area, which Yong Kang Street is famous for, or Din Tai Fung (overpriced but the Japanese love it!). I loved the area because it’s right outside the Taipei LDS Temple. Ice Monster was a tangible blessing for temple attendance.

Full English article here.  Chinese press release here.

I knew I should’ve bought an overpriced T-shirt.  But for that price you could’ve bought 3-4 of those desserts up there.  So I did that instead.

Let’s hope the one in Singapore is still open.  Not the same, but come on, there ain’t much left!  We’ll find out next week.

One of my favorite fruits I’ve only found in great abundance in Taiwan. Lian Wu. English term is wax apple. Does have a waxy coat to it, and the crunchiness is almost like celery, but the taste is subtly sweet.

Bev is a mango, papaya, and mangosteen fan. Mango and papaya are amazing in Taiwan. Mango especially at Ice Monster. MMM. But sorry, Lian Wu is my personal favorite. Bev doesn’t agree. Which is fine. More for me. More mango/papaya for her.

And there was peace in the land.

My good friend Brian and I used to joke about eating the Choco Taco all the time back in the high school days. Not sure if we ever ended up actually trying it, but every time we see an advertisement for it we’d share a few laughs. Imagine Beavis and Butthead (yes, grew up with it, and proud), but on a nerdy an intellectual level.

Anyway, imagine my surprise when more than 10 years later, a post on how to make your own Choco Taco surfaces in my news reader. The recipe looks rather simple, and it seems as long as you choose the right book to mold your taco shell, you should be good to go.

Have I tried making it? No. I don’t think I’ve even tried the original. Ha!

Here.  You can try.  Tell me how it goes.  Or tell me how the original was.

Hate getting those pesky fingerprints on your beautiful iPhone’s capacitive touch screen? Too cold to use your fingers on the iPhone? Need to play Taiko Drums but don’t want to use your fingers because you’ll bruise them or you’re a hand model and can’t afford to harm them? Try CJ Snack Sausages. They’re supposed to represent meaty fingers. Just don’t think about that when you eat them. Link to the post of the post here.

Another snapshot of the large fried chicken for size reference. This one has chili powder. Are there chickens this big? Boneless. I don’t want to see what this chicken looked like alive.

I need to share with you some of my staple foods that I absolutely must get every time I go to Taiwan. My mom grew up in Shihlin, so after she moved to the states and had us there, every time we went back to Taipei, there were a few certain places we would always frequent in the area.

Ah-liang’s noodles has the best “o-ah mee-sua” around. Don’t listen to what everyone else says – they’ll tell you to go to Ximending to try a famous place there. But this place here is a classic. Easy to find. You find the temple within the Shihlin Night Market, it’s set up right in front. You tell them what you want, which, really you just say large or small, drop the money on the counter, grab your own change if necessary, and the food comes out to you. Cheap. Delicious. Sign says they’ve been around for 35 years. I guess I’ve been alive for 30 of it. Plus, if it’s not good, I think you’re only out about $1.50 or so. This is the magic of night markets. If by chance you find something that tastes bad, you can go try something else the next stall over, and you’re not out a whole lotta money. Unlike if you walk into a bad restaurant, there goes your night and your karaoke money.

Pao Pao Bing. This is somewhere in between gelato and shaved ice. It mixes shaved ice with thick stuff like peanut butter or…can’t think of any others because that’s what I get all the time. Peanut butter with red beans. Again. Amazing. The old location was actually further outside the “main” night market, but within the last decade, they made a huge food pavilion to house a lot of the food stalls, so this is one store that opened there. It’s convenient since it’s just outside the Jiantan MRT station. The original store is probably still there, just haven’t gone in a while.

The Pao Pao Bing place is also right next to the fried chicken place. How convenient. This place is amazing. The lines get long, so don’t be surprised if you need to wait 15, 20, maybe even 30 minutes. Go with a friend and have him/her grab other food from other stalls while you’re waiting in line. There is so much to try. This fried chicken is the size of a 8.5″ x 11″ paper – folded in half (yeah, sorry to lead you on!). It’s huge. That’s all these guys sell. You can get it with or without chili pepper powder. That’s the only option. Go there early while the oil is “fresh”.

And don’t tell Mr. Huang I sent you. Or that I visited that place.