T2014 Favourite dessert

My favourite dessert eatery in Taiwan is 雙連圓仔湯 (Shuāng lián yuán zǐ tāng) which I have mentioned here. They serve cold and hot desserts with many types of ingredients which one can mix and match. For the full list, please refer to their menu. I always select real taro cubes, lotus seeds and peanuts with ice shavings and no syrup at all as the lotus seeds and taro are sweet.

Some desserts we ordered

Peanuts sweet soup. The peanuts are boiled until they are so soft that they just melt in our mouths.

Peanuts, Lotus Seeds, Taro cubes with ice shavings without any syrup so it is just right for me as I don't like very sweet food. The lotus seeds are very soft too.

Peanuts, lotus seeds and kidney beans with ice shavings without syrup too. One can select other ingredients such as red beans, mung beans, yam paste, white fungus, barley, sweet corn, sago and etc. One can also add milk to the ice shavings.

Prepacked savoury snack.

Greenish in colour

The fillings are shredded radish. I believe this is the Taiwan version of Chu Yap Ban (粗叶粄) which is made from glutinous rice flour and Ramie Leaves (粗叶) for the skin.

A clearer look. Website: http://www.sweetriceball.tw/

T2014 Food Court

In Taipei, the place we stayed in, is very near to the Far Eastern Department Store in Ximending so whenever we have no idea on what to eat for lunch or dinner, we would go to the food court located at the basement of this Department Store to have a simple meal, nothing fancy. There is even McD in this food court.

White bittergourd soup, Tauchu (豆醬, fermented soya bean paste) noodles (dry), water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) and a bowl of peanut tofufa aiyu jelly (愛玉) shaved ice dessert bought from two different stalls in the food court.

A bowl of noodle (mee suah) with water spinach, pork and winter melon bought from another stall.

My quarter bowl of taufufa and aiyu jelly (because we shared one bowl of dessert) and a small plate of dry mee suah mixed with vinegar.

A closer look at the mee suah - so very fine.

T2014 Chun Shui Tang

We took the high speed rail to Taichung from Taipei and walked to Mode Mall (said to be the biggest mall in Taichung) which is nearby to while away some time before going to the night market. As we planned to eat at the night market we just took a bit of food and drinks at the Mall at Chun Shui Tang (春水堂) - they specialise in teas and their tagline is "the origin of pearl milk tea". They have many outlets all over Taiwan and Japan.

Milk Bubble Teas and some snacks to share between us. I can't drink much tea so I just sipped a bit.

Fish cakes

Deep Fried Radish cakes

Close up

Order no.

T2014 Da Jia Yam

The 2nd stall in FengJia Night Market (逢甲夜市) that we went to, is the Da Jia Yam stall (大甲芋頭城) which is located next to the Crispy Tofu eatery.  Da Jia is a district in Tai Chung that produces very tasty taro (yam) so this stall sells that taro with a few different type of ice shavings.

We ordered the taro with red bean shaved ice to share between the two of us. TWD45 which is about MYR5.40 nett. The few pieces of taro on top of the red bean were smooth and tasty.

Store front

The menu.

T2014 Crispy Tofu

From Taipei, we went to Taichung to two famous stalls in the FengJia Night Market (逢甲夜市). From one of them, we bought the following:

Mee Suah and Crispy Stinky Tofu which is not as stinky as those wet ones in my earlier post.

The pieces of tofu were very crispy and covered by pickled cabbage and shredded cucumber. I did not know that they would put so much sauce on the vegetables. I think it will taste better with less sauce.

Mee Suah in gooey broth with "I can't remember what the vegetable was" on top. Piping hot so be careful when eating this.

This eatery only sells 3 food items. Crispy stinky tofu TWD 45 (MYR 5.40), Mee Suah TWD35 (MYR 4.20) and Pickled Cabbage TWD40 (MYR4.80)

The name of this eatery at the night market is 一心素食(Yi Xing). The turnaround is very fast so if there are no available seats, just wait for a short while and you will get a seat soon enough.

T2014 In a lane

The highlight of this meal is the pork knuckle (top). One is supposed to take a piece and to gnaw at the thick skin and little meat that is on it according to my Taiwanese friend. Needless to say I did not eat that dish.

Stinky tofu (left), pickled mustard greens (front) and some greens stir fried with beancurd strips I think.

The eatery is located in this tiny lane. Our Taiwanese friend brought us here and told us locals like the food here especially the pork knuckle. As you can see from the signboards, there are 3 different eateries located here and I can't even remember which one it was.

T2014 Yong Kang Beef Noodle

Each time that I visit Taiwan, I will eat beef noodles. So far I have tried at least 5 eateries and the one I like best is Yong Kang Beef Noodle (永康牛肉麵) at No. 17, Lane 31, Section 2, Jinshan South Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106. The nearest MRT station is Dong Men, take exit 4. Their website is http://beefnoodle-master.com/

We always reach there early at 11 am for lunch to ensure that there is no queue yet. Tourists and locals all like to eat here but the queue moves very fast so one only waits for a short while if there is a queue.

Beef noodle with brisket and tendons with la mian type noodles.

3 side dishes of the many other dishes printed on the menu

Bamboo shoots - slightly spicy. Bamboo shoot is a common dish there that we seldom find here.

Julienned Seaweed or Kelp 

粉蒸排骨- Rice powder steamed pork ribs - slightly spicy. The pork ribs are coated with rice and steamed - very tasty!