羅東夜市 Luodong Night Market @Yilan

While at 羅東 Luodong, we must definitely make a visit to the famous 羅東夜市 Luodong Night Market!

There was a free shuttle service 羅東社區免費觀光巴士 that ran between our minsu, the night market and the train/bus stations, so this was what we took to the night market. We got off at the Police Station stop, and it was just a short walk to the night market.

We got off to a rather poor start with 隆新一串心, where we had a 一串心 Skewer of Chicken/Pig Hearts (NT20) that was cold and not very nice to chew.

We then tried 阿公仔龍鳳腿 next to it, and we had a 龍鳳腿 Chicken Roll (NT20). The queue was not very long, but it took a long time to wait for our food, as the person in charge of making the rolls was also in charge of cooking both the chicken rolls and the popiah, and spent more time fishing out popiah than making the chicken roll, which required flattening of the pig intestine lining net, slapping some minced meat paste on the lining, and rolling it, before deep frying. Is this called 制造假象? Oh well, but the good thing is that we got our chicken roll freshly prepared, and it was tender and flavourful.

As we walked past 原住民山豬肉香腸, we could not help but order a 三星蔥肉串 Meat Skewer with San Xing Onions (NT35). Yilan is supposed to be famous for the fragrant 三星蔥, and during our previous trip, we tried a lousy version at Ningxia Night Market. Now that we were at the region where this spring onion is grown, we wanted to give it another try. The meat skewer was only cooked upon ordering, and we were already salivating as we watched the guy slowly grill all sides of the meat roll with tender loving care. A good 3 minutes later, we had a skewer of juicy meat rolls that we devoured within seconds 😀

As we walked along, the ladies at 平胸妹的脆皮鸡蛋糕 were calling out that they were selling very delicious crispy egg cups. We got a small portion 脆皮鸡蛋糕 Crispy Egg Cups for NT3o, which turned out to be our worst option tonight, as the egg cups were already cold and not really crispy 😦

Next up, we were attracted by calls of made-upon-order grilled omelette at 爆漿玉子燒. By now, we definitely want something freshly made. We ordered the 明太子玉子燒 Mentaiko Flavour (NT70) and waited patiently for our food. Luckily we were a few minutes earlier, for the queue started growing shortly after. Soon, we had a hot a slightly runny omelette with a generous amount of mentaiko toppings. Hot food in cold weather is always a good option!

Continuing along another stretch of stalls, where the crowd was mostly for some famous lamb soup, we opted for some 无骨鳳爪 Boneless Chicken Feet (NT100) at the quiet 阿德师无骨鳳爪. The spicy version was a bit too hot for us, so we settled for the original. I rather like the smoky flavour, but it was just alright. We were unable to find another stall selling this though.

We also passed by some famous卜肉 stall at the intersection of the streets in the night market, where the queue varied from long to ridiculously long, each time we walked by. There were at least another couple of stalls nearby selling the same thing. As this was one of the local delights, we were curious to try it. So, we decided to order from 正宗陳媽媽三星卜肉 next to this popular stall, because it apparently used to be famous, judging from the newspaper clippings at the stall 😛 Each portion was NT100, and we requested for 综合卜肉, Mixture of Original flavour and 紅糟 flavour. The卜肉 was something like tempura meat pieces. We were not sure what meat was used though; the original tasted like tender chicken, while the red one seemed to be firmer, like pork 😛 The meat pieces were deep fried after we ordered, and both flavours were quite juicy. We were quite happy with our purchase, without having to queue.

We were about to exit the night market, when we walked by another 臭薯條 stall. As this stall was near the end of the street, the queue was much shorter here as compared to the one in the middle of all the action. So, we started queueing for it, before realising that this was strips of stinky tofu, and not potato fries 😮 Nonetheless, we opted for the 特調芝士 Cheese Flavour (NT50). We got a fresh batch of stinky tofu, and wow, this was actually quite delicious and not stinky. Perhaps the cheese had overpowered the stinkiness? There was some 酸菜 pickled vegetables, that gave this snack a refreshing twist.

Finally, we got out of the night market and headed to 義豐蔥油派, which was a short walk away. Despite the light drizzle, there was still a short queue waiting for the pie. We ordered 蔥油派加蛋 Scallion Pie with Egg (NT45), and it was so good! How is it good? The pie resembled our roti prata with egg except that it was softer and glazed with a thin layer of sauce. Every bite of the pie was filled with a mixture of flour, scallion and egg that gave it crunch and yet tenderness.

Filled to the brink, we made our way to the bus stop one stop later than the police station stop to catch our free shuttle back to the minsu.