Cafes in Taiwan were relatively more expensive compared to local food options, and since we were no longer young with huge appetites anymore, we only managed to visit 4 cafes during this short 4-day trip.
Note that you are expected to order at least one drink per person or there could be a minimum expenditure per person required at the cafes.
Given the extensive cheap local foods available, we may well end up visiting less cafes in future in Taiwan,
Continue readingWhile waiting for our flight at the Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1 Departure Area, we went to grab a bite.
The tea here was very refreshing, while the 三杯鸡套餐 Three Cup Chicken Rice Set was just alright. The 梅乾菜 (a kind of preserved vegetables made from mustard green) in the 梅乾扣肉套餐 Pork Belly and Hakka Preserved Cabbage Rice Set was really good. I finished one full bowl of white rice with it!
| Contact Location: Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1-3F (Departure Area) [Google Maps] Website: https://www.prioritypass.com/lounges/taiwan/taipei-taoyuan-international/tpe11d-homme-kitchen Hours: 6am – 11pm |
This place was very clean, and seemed like a popular local lunch joint. The noodles (紅燒牛肉麵 Stewed Beef Noodle，牛肉乾拌麵 Dry Beef Noodle) were more to our liking. The beef was also quite good.
The mild heat of the 红油抄手 Spicy Wonton was from pepper rather than the red chili oil that we were used to. The 小菜 干条 was yummy! Texture was a little like noodles and was mixed generously with sesame oil. 猪耳朵 Pig’s Ears was also not bad. Overall a satisfying meal!
| Contact Location: 台北市大同區太原路48巷15號 No.15, Lane 48, Taiyuan Rd, Datong District, Taipei City, Taiwan 103 [Google Maps] Website: Facebook Hours: 10am – 7:30pm (Mon-Fri); 11am – 7:30pm (Sat); 10am – 7pm (Sun) |
A no-frills shop where one could dabao 生煎包 for NT17 each. We tried all 3 versions (韭菜 Chives，高麗菜 Cabbage，鮮肉 Pork) for breakfast. The 韭菜 Chives version wins handsdown!
| Contact Location: 台北中正區羅斯福路一段 No. 59, Section 1, Roosevelt Rd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100 [Google Maps] Hours: 6:30am – 1pm, 4 – 6pm (Mon-Fri); 7:30am –11:30am (Sat) |
This was the second 蔥油餅 Scallion Pancake (NT45) that we tried in this night market, as the first one was so disappointing with barely a hint of scallion.
What attracted us to this stall was the sea of 三星葱 scallion/spring onions (really 蔥海) spread out so generously over the dough. We really like this! (Although afterwards, we read that the sea of scallion was really meant as a gimmick for tourists to take pictures and not exactly used in the dough for consumption. :))
They seemed to have applied a layer of sauce with shallot oil, making it super fragrant. K was very happy with this version.
| Contact Location: 台北市松山區饒河街58號 No. 58, Raohe St, Songshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 105 [Google Maps] Hours: 4:00pm – 11:50pm (Closed on Tue) |
After a rather strenuous hike up and down 象山 Elephant Mountain (the steep stairs were really quite a killer for the knees coming down, especially for my short legs!), our wobbly legs could not take us too far for dinner, and we decided to head back to A13 where we had earlier wanted to check out for lunch, but were too late.
We were unable to reserve seats, and were a bit sad to learn that the queue was at least an hour. Suddenly, they asked the group in front of us if they were willing to 拼桌 share table, which the group declined. The staff turned to us and we nodded our heads vigorously and were ushered in immediately! As we made our way in, we heard the earlier group enquire about sharing table, but there were no more… oops. It was 2 groups of 3 pax sharing a huge table that could fit 10 pax, so there were no concerns of mistaking our orders or eating the wrong item.
Continue readingBeef noodles was another highlight of this trip. This place claimed to be the best beef noodles in Taipei. The meat was really very good, and the beef slices were generously thick. The noodles were of the thick and chewy texture, which we found it a bit too hard for our liking.
The 韭菜饺子 was really awesome! So full of ingredients, and the chives here were really much more fragrant than the ones we have back home. Ms K single-handedly wiped out the 小菜 cucumbers 凉拌瓜. We spent a total of NT580 here.
| Contact Location: 信義區忠孝東路五215巷23號 No. 23, Lane 215, Section 5, Zhongxiao E Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110 [Google Maps] Website: [Facebook] Hours: 10:30am – 9:30pm |
So many braised pork rice to try and we were glad we tried this during our trip!
For mains, we tried 魯肉飯 Braised Pork Rice (NT35 for small), 香菇控肉飯 Stewed Pork Rice with Mushroom (NT115) and 清湯瓜仔肉 Steamed Minced Pork with Pickles in Broth (NT70). As for side dishes, we tried 滷白菜 Braised Cabbage (NT35 for small), 筍絲 Shredded Bamboo Shoot (NT35 for small) and 油豆腐 Fried Tofu (NT15).
The braised sauce hit all the right notes with hubby and the stewed pork was soft and flavourful. This was hubby’s preferred braised pork rice for the trip.
| Contact Location: 108台北市萬華區華西街17之4號, 108 No. 17-4 Lane 108 Huaxi St, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan [Google Maps] Website: [Facebook] [Instagram] Hours: 9:00am – 8:00pm (Closed on Tue) |
First thing off the list when we reached Taipei was 大稻埕魯肉飯! We literally lugged our luggage over to grab dinner.
Ms K really enjoyed the 魯肉飯 Braised Pork Rice here. She said the soy sauce was very fragrant. and we were all wow-ed by the 腿庫飯 Pork Hock Rice. The 白菜滷 Braised White Cabbage was very well-braised too. The NT230 was very worth it!
We were lucky to make it here just before the dinner crowd arrived and didn’t have to queue. By the time we settled down, there was a long queue with quite a few takeaways.
| Contact Location: 台北市大同區長安西路220巷17號 No. 17, Lane 220, Chang’an W Rd, Datong District, Taipei City, Taiwan 103 [Google Maps] Website: [Facebook] [Instagram] Hours: 11:30am – 8pm |
When hubby got the “free ticket” from Cathay (with a SGD 200+ tax), we somehow managed to deconflict and squeezed out a short weekend trip to Hong Kong and we paid like SGD 600 for my ticket -_-“
Chiong-ed home for a quick shower after my night class, we grabbed our backpack and took public transport to the airport where we had a quick supper prior to our red-eye flight. I was so tired that I slept through most of the turbulence, except the part where I kinda got lifted up my seat… the importance of keeping your seat belt on at all times!
This time, we decided to stay at Four Points by Sheraton at Tung Chung, mainly because we wanted to stay nearer to the airport due to our flight timings. It was great that there were free shuttle between the hotel and Tung Chung MTR, as well as between the hotel and the airport! The room was quite nice and we were happy with our stay 🙂
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Eat.Eat.Walk.Walk . 吃吃走走 