Food

Half day trip to 國立國父紀念館 National Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall @Taipei

2016-10-31-15-48-39After a good rest at the hotel, we were off to 國立國父紀念館 National Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall.

Dad was very interested in the galleries and we spent about 3 hours here, catching both the hourly 儀隊交接 exchanging of guards ceremony, as well as the 降旗儀式 flag lowering ceremony at around 5.30pm.

20161031_173942It was our first time catching the flag lowering ceremony, thanks to a local who advised us to stay on, during our chat in the gardens. It was certainly worth staying on for it!

From the gardens, we also had a good view of Taipei 101, as we watched it being lit up as night fell.

By the time we left National Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, it was almost 7pm. Hence, we just went to 北平都一處 Beijing Do It True restaurant directly opposite the memorial hall.

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Categories: Dinner, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Half day trip to Monga 艋舺 @Taipei

2016-10-31-08-56-29Today is 初一 (First day of the Lunar month), and our parents wanted to have vegetarian food and visit a temple in the morning.

The famous 龍山寺 Longshan Temple is one of largest and oldest temples in Taiwan, and quite near our hotel, so this was our top choice. Also, there were other places of interests in this Mengjia (Monga) 艋舺 area, so we figured that we would spend the morning here.

We reached 龍山寺 Longshan Temple around 8.30am, and it was already pretty crowded, with prayers on-going, and the whole temple engulfing in incense smell and chantings of prayers.

Once our parents were done, we went to the 祥光健康美食 Xiang Guang Health Delicious Food across the street, which was highly recommended by the hotel staff when we researched for vegetarian food.

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Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

​南美咖啡 Nanmay Coffee @Taipei

2016-10-30-14-40-25While our parents were resting in the hotel after our 淡水 Tamsui trip, we went for a quick date at a nearby cafe.

南美咖啡 Nanmay Coffee is a 2-storey cafe started in 1956 and was the first to import raw coffee beans to roast them in-house to sell to customers. There were many nostalgic items in the cafe and the whole atmosphere seemed to transport us back to the 60s. Many of the customers were old folks and we seemed to be one of the youngest customers here, haha!

Perhaps their customers came here after visiting the 天后宫媽祖图書舘 Tin Hau Temple opposite.

Anyway, we were seated comfortably on the second floor with a nice view of the temple, and had the following:

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Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

永和豆漿 Yonghe Breakfast Shop @Taipei

2016-10-30-09-36-09There was a small 永和豆漿 Yonghe Breakfast Shop outlet near our place at 早餐街 Breakfast Street (and a more atas looking branch opposite street), so we thought why not have a local breakfast here since our hotel did not provide breakfast, but only some light bites.

There were very limited seats here, and many people were doing take-away. We opted to eat-in, so it was a 15min wait for an assigned table, and the food followed quite quickly after that.

Since we already had some light bites earlier, we shared some 豆浆 Soy Milk (NT$23), 油条 Fried Fritters (NT$17), and 培根蛋餅 Bacon Egg Wrap (NT$33). The food was very typical Taiwan food. Not bad for our first local breakfast in Taipei 🙂

Contact:

  • Location: 台北市中正區漢口街二段30號, No. 30, Section 2, Hankou St, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan (Google Maps)
  • Nearest MRT: Ximen Station 捷運西門站 (Exit 6)
  • Hrs: 5:30am – 2pm
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​A-One 咖啡美食館 A-One Cafe @Taipei

2016-10-29-22-20-33We met up with Mr J after coercing him to come 西門町 Ximending to find us, haha!

We were strolling along the streets looking for a cafe when we chanced upon A-One 咖啡美食館 A-One Cafe.

It is a narrow shop with seats at all half floors. We made our way to the top floor via some steep flight of stairs and got ourselves some hot 拿鐵咖啡 Latte (NT$120) and cold 招牌桔茶 Citron Tea (NT$120).

Drinks were pretty alright, and it was slightly breezy at the rooftop. There were customers smoking at all floors, but luckily it was not too smokey. We liked the cozy atmosphere and had a rather nice time catching up here!

Contact:

  • Location: 台北市萬華區西寧南路50巷1號, No. 1, Lane 50, Xining South Road, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108 (Google Maps)
  • Nearest MRT: Ximen Station 捷運西門站 (Exit 6)
  • Hrs: 11am – 12am
Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , | 1 Comment

​鸭肉扁 Ya Rou Bian @Taipei

2016-10-29-22-23-04We had our super late dinner at 鸭肉扁 Ya Rou Bian, a rather established restaurant commonly featured in guide books. Despite having “duck” as the restaurant name, this place actually specializes in goose meat.

The restaurant underwent a facelift and definitely looked much more modern than when we first tried it in 2009.

The prices also unfortunately went for a lift, with noodles or beehoon going for NT$60 per bowl, NT$300 for a goose leg, and NT$1200~1400 (S$54~63) for half a goose.

The beehoon was the 新竹 style finely thin strands which we like, and the soup was quite flavourful. However, the goose meat was quite tough. Kind of sad that prices went up but standards went down…

Contact:

  • Location: 台北市萬華區中華路一段98之2號, No. 98-2, Section 1, Zhonghua Rd, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108 (Google Maps)
  • Nearest MRT: Ximen Station 捷運西門站 (Take Exit 6)
  • Hrs: 10am – 10pm
Categories: Dinner, Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

​老北京四牌楼涮肉百年老店 Lao Beijing Si Pai Lou Hotpot Restaurant @ 东四 Dongsi, Beijing

2016-10-27-11-55-35Our last meal in Beijing was 涮肉 (typically mutton shabu shabu), and we wanted to try the 老北京铜锅 which is a traditional bronze hotpot with charcoal inside and a trench of water at the rim for shabu-ing the meat.

We found one near our hotel that looked quite traditional (because it’s housed in an old traditionally-looking building which we later realized was what the name of the restaurant 四牌楼 referred to) and had a few customers and has the words 百年老店 (which meant that it was a time-tested brand and literally around for 100 years), so we figured it should not be too bad.

Of course, there were also many restaurants that claimed to be 百年老店 or 老字号 as we had found out in this trip, haha.

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Categories: Beijing, China, Lunch, Travel | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

​沙县小吃 Shaxian Delicacies @Dongcheng District, Beijing

2016-10-26-22-57-55We were still feeling full from our super late and filling lunch, but we wanted to have a little supper before returning to the hotel.

We checked out the eateries near the hotel, and 沙县小吃 Shaxian Delicacies looked rather popular despite being almost 10pm (沙县 Shaxian is a province in 福建 Fujian, though we were not sure if everything served here was of 福建 Fujian origin).

We shared the following:

  • 猪肚汤馄饨 Wonton Soup with Pig’s Stomach (¥16):  This was actually a rather yummy herbal soup! The wonton skin was very thin, and the fillings quite flavorful. The pig’s stomach was very tender and clean, without any odour. If you do not like pig’s stomach, there are a variety of other soups available, but we suspect the base is the same herbal soup.
  • 飘香拌面 Piaoxiang Ban Mian (¥7): Initially hubby ordered 葱油拌面, which is dry noodles tossed with a fragrant oil mixture. The friendly shop owner asked if hubby wanted sesame sauce because that is known as 飘香 (loosely translated to fragrance). I think somehow the owner knew hubby very well, haha. We immediately changed our order and we had a very happy hubby. The sesame sauce was indeed very fragrant, and the noodle was of the right firmness.

What a surprise find! Tummies happy and warmed, we made our way back to the hotel.

Contact:

  • Location: 228 Dongsi North Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, 100007 北京市东城区东四北大街 228号 (Google Map)
  • Directions: Take Subway Line 5 to 张自忠路 Zhangzizhong Road Station (Exit C).
Categories: Beijing, China, Coffee/Tea Break, Intro | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

四季民福 Siji Minfu @Dongcheng District, Beijing

2016-10-26-22-52-46四季民福 Siji Minfu was another highly recommended place to go to for Peking Duck, and there was a relatively new outlet near the East Exit of 故宫博物院 The Palace Museum where one could savour the majestic beauty of the palace while munching on the delectable ducks (if you can get a seat by the window, that is).

It was almost 3pm when we left 故宫博物院 The Palace Museum (6 hours of walking and we still couldn’t finish all the exhibits), and we were starving!

We still had to queue despite the odd hours, but there were snacks available while we waited, so it was not too bad.

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Categories: Beijing, China, Lunch, Travel | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

王府井 Wangfujing @Dongcheng District, Beijing

20161025_17543620161025_172256王府井 Wangfujing is a popular shopping area in Beijing with big shopping malls gathered along the main walking street.

It is also famous for 王府井小吃街 Wangfujing Food Alley, where visitors can show off their bravery by eating all kinds of insect snacks.

There are of course traditional Beijing street foods like 烧烤羊肉串 BBQ lamb sticks, 卤煮 stewed intestines, 冰糖葫芦 sugared candies etc. and souvenirs and toys for kids too. The atmosphere is lively and buzzing with people walking around with food in their hands and looking at toys and souvenirs and just shouting at each other.

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