I’m back again with more Taiwanese food! After living an entire year in Taiwan, I decided to write about what some of the must try Taiwanese food items to have are! Have a read and see if you want to try some of what Taiwan has to offer!
Dried fish
I got these little fish for my mom the last time I was here and they are commonly used to mix with rice to flavor it and add a little bit of protein.
Nougats
These are another family favorite. More so lil’ bun’s than anyone else’s. They’re pieces of nougat candy! They aren’t anything like the nougat I get back home. They are much softer, creamier and milkier.
Something that’s common in Taiwan are little alley ways with food stalls! They’re usually extremely cheap and offer a variety of Taiwanese foods.
Organ meats
As with much of Asia,eating internal organs is a popular thing to do but it’s not really my thing but it was ordered by my friend anyways so this is how a plate of organs and green beans looks like.
Lo mien noodles
Next we had a plate of lo mien noodles. I’ve actually never had this kind of noodles before and they resembled spaghetti. They were sauted with bell peppers and mushrooms with a soy based sauce.
Goose
Last but not least they got goose because apparently it’s the best one around. I’m not too big of a fan of poultry but I did give it a go. Surprisingly, it’s not as gamey as duck meat.
Chewy tapioca noodles
These noodles are something that I’ve never seen around before. They are made with a type of starch and they are super chewy! It wasn’t the glutinous type of chewy though so they were definitely unique!
The other night my mom’s friend took me out again and we tried a few traditional Taiwanese dishes. Yes, I’ve been eating out a lot and that’s not something I typically do but I’m trying to do it more often because when you’re in a new place, why not try the cuisine right?
Braised egg and tofu
This is one of my favorite Taiwanese appetizers. It’s basically cold soy braised eggs and firm tofu topped with hoisin sauce and green onions.
Apparently this was imitation shark fin? I’m not really sure what it was but it didn’t have much of a flavor to it.
Beef noodle soup
And of course, when in Taiwan you need to get beef noodle soup. I didn’t think it was anything special to be honest but perhaps it’s because I expected more since “Taiwanese beef noodle soup” is supposed to be a national dish!
Fisherman’s wharf
One of the places you have to visit in Taiwan is the fisherman’s wharf at Tamsui. It’s a great place to go for a bike ride and it’s just along the shoreline so it’s absolutely gorgeous.
There you can find lots of olden day traditional snacks and foods
Homemade donuts
My mom’s friend said that this doughnut shop has the best doughnuts so we decided to try some. They were super light and fluffy balls of dough! They weren’t coated with anything so they weren’t sweet either.
Seafood
At the Fisherman’s Wharf, eating seafood is a must so we decided to dine at this restaurant that was right across from the ferry station.
We decided to get garlic sauteed water spinach
And miso flavored steamed mussels topped with green onions. I don’t think that I have ever seen such large mussels in my life!
Last but not least we decided to get sauteed calamari squid. I think squid is one of the more difficult seafood items since it gets tough easily but these were cooked just right!
Din Tai Fung for soup dumplings
I feel like I have been consistently saying when in Taiwan you have to eat this and that but one of the most famous places to eat in Taiwan is Din Tai Fung where everywhere goes for steamed soup dumplings (xiao long bao). We had to wait 1.5 hours for a table!
These are the traditional pork soup dumplings. To be honest I didn’t think they were anything mind blowingly special but The skin was definitely a lot thinner than any soup dumplings I’ve had before.
Next we decided to get the crab roe version. I liked these better and liked the addition of crab in them.
Look at how much filling and soup is in it and even when you pick it up, the thin wrapper is able to support all the weight inside!
According to the restaurant, the perfect dipping sauce ratio is 3:1 rice vinegar to soy sauce base with a few thin ginger strands on top.
Just to try it out we decided to get some of their wontons as well. These we definitely not worth it since they were mediocre but I guess I shouldn’t of expected too much ordering something that the restaurant isn’t known for!
