Taiwan eats (part 1)

I`m not exactly done my Japan series but I got excited about Taiwan because I was thinking about travelling there again a little while ago and all my delicious memories from my Taiwan eats are flooding back.

This was when I visited one of the biggest most popular night markets in Taiwan in Shilin.

Egg cakes

I swear all we did was eat for the 2 hours we were there because my hands were constantly full and couldn`t be bothered to look at any of the clothes are trinkets the shops had to offer.

One of my favorite treats of the night were these little “egg cakes” or at least that’s what the direct translation would be. But basically they pour a lighter version of a pancake batter into a hot iron pan with various shapes and out comes your cake!

They’re a little bit like Japanese taiyaki fish but they have more shape varieties, one stall even had Sanrio characters! How cute!

Milk tea

Even though I’ve never been a fan of originally milk tea because I don’t like black tea, I couldn’t go to Taiwan and not have a cup of milk tea because this is where they originated from. This was definitely the best milk tea I ever had and I actually had ones that were even better throughout my trip!

Water fried dumplings

Another street eat that you need to try in Taiwan are these water fried buns (yet another strange direct translation). They are steamed buns but instead of being steamed, oil gets heated on a large round cast iron pan and the buns get placed onto it. Then at the right time, water gets added and they are covered to produce steam to cook them.

They end up being a cross between a steamed bun and a xiao long bao dumpling (soup dumplings). So you get all the goodness of a dumpling but in a less delicate form because the wrapping around it is much thicker! So delicious!

Stewed meat

My friends decided to get a bowl of stewed innards but I’m not very comfortable with eating such things despite my heritage so I just sat quietly next to them and snapped a photo. They said it was really spicy and was prepared really well though.

Cuttlefish stew

After walking on the main street of the night market, we decided to go to the underground level. Yes, the night market had an underground level to it! This level was basically like a food court and had loads of food. We decided to get stewed squid…which wasn’t very good because it lacked flavor and it was over boiled.

Oyster pancakes

So since we weren’t very fond of it we decided to order an oyster pancake as well. Oyster pancakes are a must eat in Taiwan because this is where they were created! They remind me of Japanese okonomiyaki but without the cabbage. Basically it reminded me of an omelette but with oyster in it? But instead of using flour, they use potato starch so it’s a little chewy, slimy and gelatinous in texture.

Stinky tofu

Last but not least we got some stinky tofu. I’ve actually never tried stinky tofu but my friends said it was a must eat so I reluctantly tried some. I don’t find stinky tofu to be very stinky but I can definitely understand why some people may think that way. It’s hard to describe how it tasted but I actually didn’t mind it.

Hot spring eggs

The next day I went all the way up to the Hot springs. One of the popular foods to get while you`re here are hot spring eggs where apparently the eggs are cooked in hot spring water and are somehow more nutritious…

Now I don`t know if you can tell but there are actually THREE sizes of eggs here! A quail egg, a chicken egg and a goose egg!  I have never seen a goose egg before so I definitely had to try it! It was the size of my cupped hand!

Just look at it! I’m not sure if it’s because it was a goose egg or because it was cooked in supposed hot spring water, but the egg white was chewier than a regular chicken egg in that there was more of a bite to it

Hot spring noodles

On my way down from the mountain, I came across this noodle shop and there was a huge line outside. Being the curious foodie that I am, I decided to walk over to find out what was going on. With my very poor Mandarin, I asked a couple why the restaurant was so hyped. Apparently their noodles are “to die for.” Then what ended up happening was the couple invited me to have a meal with them and didn’t exactly allow me to decline the offer.

I decided to try a bowl of spicy Taiwanese ramen noodles with pork. As you know I don’t really eat red meat but sometimes I do because you don’t always have opportunities like these! This was seriously some of the most delicious noodles I’ve ever had. The broth was oh so flavorful and how could you say no to homemade noodles?

After lunch, the couple insisted that they show me around Beitou so we went all the way there. Yes, at this point you are all probably wondering why I followed two strangers around town. They did not exactly take no for an answer and they seemed nice so I went along with it.

The wife brought me to this restaurant that was located across from a gorgeous harbor. She said that “ah gei” was one of the foods that Beitou is known for so I had to try it.

By now I was already super stuffed but they don’t take no for an answer.

Ah gei tofu

I found out that “ah gei” is a square shaped tofu puff stuffed with crystal noodles and veggies then topped with a sweet sauce. I wasn’t a huge fan of it it was topped with too much sauce too so I didn’t end up finishing it.

Fish balls

She also ordered us these fish balls from the restaurant because they are all handmade here. They were very chewy but had a bite to it at the same time so they were unlike any fish ball I’ve had before. I liked the texture of them and they were also well seasoned with pepper.

The day after that, I met up with my friends again. They brought me to Jiu Feng Old Street.

Glutinous rice pastries

She told me that I had to try these pastries that resemble mochi or nuomici which are basically glutinous rice pastries with a filling in the middle. The fillings came in sweet red bean, sweet green bean, salty red bean and salty green bean varieties. I am used to having the sweeter versions so I decided to go savory and try a salty green bean one instead. I actually ended up liking it quite a bit. While it was salty, it wasn’t overly so to the point that I couldn’t keep eating it. It was like the good kind of salty…like the way salt works on chips or fries.

QQ balls

One of the popular things to have in this city are these pumpkin and taro QQ balls. The dough is made out of glutinous rice flour and potato starch which makes them chewy. They make them fresh in store and you get to watch them make them as you walk into the seating area in the back.

When you order them, you get to choose what type of sweet dessert soup you want and if you want it to be hot or cold. It’s best to have it hot so I went with that and the sweet soup. I decided to have with it was the tri colour bean one so there were red beans, green beans and barley inside it along with little chunks of sweet potato.

The glutinous rice dumplings were super smooth, soft and pillowy. So much so that I wish I could eat them all day long! They remind me of Chinese tong yuen but without the filling in the middle. Although, you can have tong yuen without dumplings too.

Read part two of my adventure here and part three here