Taiwan Food: Part 3: 22 - 23 April 2018

Exchange Rates: NT$10 = MYR1.34; MYR1 = NT$7.46

Day 5: FamilyMart at Taipei H Imperial Hotel (facing south-side of Taipei Main Station)

Shops, including food stalls, open late in Taipei, at about 10:30 am. Although free breakfast was provided by Holo Hostel (same building as Taipei H Imperial Hotel but different floors) where I was staying, I did not go for a full breakfast. 

According to TSC, food was available at FamilyMart 24/7 in Taiwan. He strongly recommended me to try the food here. He said that the food look plain, but it would be excellent. I decided to give it a try before leaving for Tamsui for more food.

The cooked food looked very plain 

It was really good. Savoury with a slight tinge of sweetness, like those of Malaysian food. Rated 8/10

Day 4: Tamsui

Tamsui was not well-known as a tourist spot. However, after watching a Youtube video, I decided to go there because there was street food. However, the food stalls opened really late. Even at 10:30 a.m. some stalls were still closed. I did not buy anything at the stalls along the esplanade, except for a stall selling Taiwan sausage. It took ages for the young lady to prepare it.

Taiwan sausage. Sweet and savoury. Rated 8/10

Day 4: Tamsui Morning Market, Old Street, Tamsui

I was exploring Tamsui morning market when I spotted this stall selling what appeared to be Chinese meat rolls (Lor Bak/ Ngo Hiong). It has always been a favourite food of mine and I was not going to miss it. I did not want to regret it, but I did for not buying more. I bought one roll only.

One of my favorite food - Chinese meat rolls (Lor Bak/ Ngo-Hiong)

That little white piece in the meat roll was crunchy, like jicama. Overall, I love it. Savory with a tinge of sweetness. Rated 8/10

Day 5: Yongkang Street, near MRT Dongmen, Taipei

Finally, I spotted another onion pancake stall. The onion pancake was on my list of food to try, since it has always received favourable comment from foodies. The queue was long, but still, I decided to join in. It seemed to attract mostly tourists.

I went for the original onion pancake, costing NT$25. I gave the vendor NT$50 coin but she did not give me the change.

I was a quite disappointed. I thought it would be very good. Instead, it tasted almost the same as Malaysia's Roti Canai/ Singapore's Paratha, except that it was more flaky. Rated 6/10

It was not Din Tai Fung or Kaochi. I did not see Din Tai Fung original restaurant when I arrived but Kaochi had a short queue of people waiting to enter. Although there was no queue here, the first floor seating area was full. I came here for the Dim Sum.

Full-house. This family of Japanese sat in front of me

Shrimp dumpling. The first piece was okay. Like the Xiaolongbao (steamed soup dumpling), after eating 3 pieces, I felt queasy. I had to dip them in the sauce to be able to finish them, something which I had never done before. Rated 4/10. Is Taiwanese Dim Sum this bad?

The pork bun was slightly better. Savoury. Rated 6/10 

Day 5: Area behind and around Taipei H Imperial Hotel/ Holo Hostel, south of Taipei Main Station

I was still full when evening came. I decided to skip dinner and explore the area behind and around Holo Hostel.

Until today, I still haven't had Taiwan Bubble Milk Tea, an icon of Taiwanese beverage. I did not see one until today. The Bubble Milk Tea was also on my food list.

So when I saw this stand, I went to order the original milk tea. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the drink.

The Bubble Milk Tea stall (N25.04211° E121.51358°)

The Bubble Milk Tea was item 3

Day 6: An alley somewhere near Chia Rong Hostel, north of Taipei Main Station

I wasn't satisfied with the sourish braised beef noodle in Hualien. Maybe, those in Taipei would taste better. I went in search for another bowl of beef noodle.

Location: N25.05011° E121.51622°

The sourish pickled vegetable was not added to the noodle. It was in a container, to be added as desired by customers. Without the sourish taste, the soup tasted better but it was still below my expectation. Rated 6/10

Day 6: Fuyuan Pepper Bun Stall (N25.05020° E121.51558°)

Fuyuan pepper buns is located beside Star Hostel/ Hotel Puri, north of Taipei Main Station. I came to Taipei telling myself that I must have the Fuzhou pepper buns here. Besides the one at Raohe Night Market, this was the other stall that I wanted to visit. It was just about 50 metres from Chia Rong Hostel, my hostel on my first day in Taipei.

Fuyuan pepper buns stall was adjacent to Star Hostel/ Puri Hotel

The pepper buns at Fuyuan tasted more or less the same as the other two pepper bun stalls at Roahe Market. Boiling hot filling, crispy, savoury and juicy. Rated 8/10

Day 6: At a Ramen restaurant somewhere south of Taipei Main Station

Taipei was hot today. I did not have the mood to go out because I did not want to drench myself in sweat and having no place to take a shower. I just wanted to stay in-door at Taipei Main Station, check out the food stalls and take my meals there. However, TSC in an afternoon Wechat with me, told me to get out and try more Taiwanese food, otherwise I would regret not making full use of my remaining few hours in Taipei. He was right. I would not know when I would be returning to Taiwan again. I had better make full use of the remaining hours that I had to explore for more food.

The ramen restaurant

I wanted a taste of Taiwan Ramen to compare with PNG Ramen. I went for the Original Pork Born (sic) Soup ramen.

The pork was very thin, like 2 mm only. The soup was thick, flavourful but it just did not click with my taste-bud. Rated 6/10

Minutes earlier, while exploring the streets for more food, I saw this stand. Since I was live on Wechat with TSC, he told me the buns would be very good. Hence, I bought a piece of each type of bun. 

Later that night at the Taoyuan Airport, I took out the buns to try. I told him they were all with vegetable filling. He examined the photos of the stall again and told me that they were vegetarian buns.

None was good. I would rate them all at 4/10.

Rated 4/10

Rated 4/10

Rated 4/10

I was generally satisfied with the trip to Taiwan, having tried almost all the food that I set out to taste. The only food on my list that I failed to find was Gua Bao (steamed buns with filling) and O-ar Chien (oyster omelette).

Day 5: Along MRT Tamsui-Xinyi Red Line

22 April 2018 (Sunday)

One day, while studying the MRT map to decide where to go, I realised that there were a few places of interest along the MRT Tamsui-Xinyi Red Line. Among them were MRT Station R28 Tamsui for the street food and riverfront, MRT Station R12 Shuanglian for the morning market, MRT Station R07 Dongmen for Yongkang Street street food and lastly, MRT Station R03 Taipei 101/ World Trade Center for Taipei 101.

This morning, I had a very light breakfast provided free by Holo Hostel. It was less than satisfactory. I was out of the hostel by 8:00 a.m. and knowing that it was hopeless to look for breakfast elsewhere, I decided to go to FamilyMart, which TSC said had very tasty food. Right on the ground floor of the hostel was a FamilyMart.

After taking the simple and delicious breakfast at FamilyMart, I walked over to Taipei Main Station to take the MRT to the northern-most station along the Red Line, which was Tamsui. I would begin my day from there and ending it at Taipei 101.

MRT Tamsui Station Exit 1: Tamsui Riverfront and Street Food

There seemed to be only one exit at MRT Tamsui. It led to the street. I was not sure where the river front food street was. While taking photos of the street and the station, I saw the river. The station was between the road and the river.

It was about 9:15 a.m. when I arrived. It was still early. The food stalls were still closed, except for a few here and there which had just started to open but food were still being prepared. The air was cool and the morning was beautiful and nice. I took a leisurely walk along the promenade hoping to find something I like to snack. It was here that I noticed many Muslim women who looked like Malay or Indonesians care-givers with their charges.

Since most of the stalls had still not opened, I took my time to enjoy the scenery. I found a bench to sit, relaxed and took in the refreshing air while waiting for more food stalls to open. At about 10:30 a.m., I walked back to MRT Tamsui Station. Not all stalls had opened. I did not find any interesting snack, except for the sausage stand. 

While approaching the MRT station, I saw many people at the entrance of the street behind the row of shops fronting the river-front. Out of curiosity, I decided to explore this back street. It was while strolling along this street that I saw Tamsui Old Street. I strolled to the Old Street and was happy that it was actually a market street. I also found Ngo Hiong/ Lor Bak (meat roll) here.

MRT Dongmen Station Exit 5: Yongkang Street & Din Tai Fung Restaurant

I did not know about Yongkang Street until I saw a video of this street. It was then that I decided that I should come here too.

On exiting from MRT Dongmen Station Exit 5, I saw small crowds of people at a short distant away in front of the station exit. The famous Din Tai Fung original Dim Sum restaurant was just ahead at the intersection of Xinyi Road/ Yongkang Street. It was at the second lot from the corner shop, Loranzo. Behind Loranzo was KaoChi, the main competitor to Din Tai Fung.

I read on the internet that KaoChi has equally good Dim Sum as Din Tai Fung, but at much cheaper prices. I wanted to go there but instead of going to KaoChi, I went to another Dim Sum shop. I forgot the main competitor's name was KaoChi at that time.

Along Yongkang Street, there were many visitors looking for food. Queues could be seen at KaoChi, the mango smoothie shop, the onion pancake shop, etc. There were of course many other restaurants along this stretch of street.

MRT Taipei 101 Station Exit 1: World Trade Center 

Taipei 101 was not in my original itinerary. However, seeing that it was on the MRT Xinyi-Tamsui Red Line, I decided to change my mind. After all, it was Taipei's most famous landmark.

Exit 1 was at the World Trade Center, which was a separate building from Taipei 101. If you wish to exit close to Taipei 101, then take Exit 5.