like the NCAA march madness, every day starting today the battle of the favorite taiwanese foods begins. 1 Braised pork rice (滷肉飯) 2 Gua Bao (割包) 3 Bahtzang (粽子) 4 Beef Noodle Soup (牛肉麵) 5 Bubble Tea (珍珠奶茶) • read … Continue reading March Madness: Taiwanese Food Madness
to save the best for last, a dessert place that is like no other:: SFT juice and ice. it has the most amazing shaved ice. there is only one location and that is in Shilin Market. the first time i came here was with my cousin around 10 years ago and i have been telling everyone who was going to visit Taiwan about this one-of-a-kind ribbon ice. i was so excited to go there again and it was just as amazing as i remembered. between the six of us, we tried five different flavors: green tea ice with red bean, ice with … Continue reading tw: SFT juice and ice
while walking through shi da night market, my niece pointed out an ice cream sandwich shop and after having an amazing ice cream sandwich at The Meatball Shop, i had to try it! co-owner, ivy, grew up in the states loving to bake cookies. when she moved to taiwan for work, she learned that people in taiwan didn’t know cookies could be soft! so she opened up i-baked with a friend in 2009 selling cookies, ice cream sandwiches, brownies, muffin and blondies. the cookies have fun names including: cookie monster, napoleon dynamite, b-nut putter, m-squared, snow white and the seven … Continue reading tw: i-baked
now tea is a staple but is there a way to shake it up? yes, indeed and in taiwan, they do. here comes tea with fresh fruit. oh my! there are a few places that has tea with fruit but this tea serving company serves up tea with fruit better than any other, according to my nieces. her favorite is the tea with mango so i had the iced tea with mango but m had the iced tea with one of the new flavors: grapefruit. i can see why she likes this drink and this place so much – it was SO GOOD! … Continue reading tw: tea with fresh fruit
tea is big in taiwan and while there are many tea places, it’s nice to know a chain that has really good tea. one you can find all over taipei is Ching Shin. it has lots of tea flavors, can be hot and cold, comes in different sizes, and you can choose how sweet you want it to be. i had my favorite jasmine green tea. ahhh … so refreshing! ________________________________________________________________________________ drink tea from Ching Shin in taipei, tw Continue reading tw: Ching Shin tea
when you see a large crowd at a stand in a night market, you know it is worth the wait. at the shi da night market, the crowd waits for Hsu-Ji’s buns. open since 1984 by his parents, mr. hsu continued the business of making these raw-fried buns with thin fermented dough filled will Dongpo’s pork and cabbages. unlike steamed soup dumplings, these dumplings are fried but hot juice still oozes out after you take a bite. oooooh yeah! there is almost always a line at the hsu-ji buns stand but it’s not they are inefficient. in fact they’re are super … Continue reading tw: hsu-ji buns
a fun restaurant my family took us to was an italian vegetarian called Sufood. it is an 8-part set for NT $380 – which is around $14 US. a ridiculously cheap price for the extravagant meal to come! it’s so good and a fun place to bond with family! Appetizers Blueberry & Wild Yam + Sweet Pepper & Lotus + Konjac & Tomatoes Salad Fruit Salad with Yogurt Dressing Vegetable Sticks Bread Rosemary Benolton Soup Italian Vegetable Casserole Milano Pumpkin Soup Pea & Mushroom Cream Soup Burdock and Cashew Nut Soup Main Dish Roasted King Oyster Mushrooms (served with Chinese Yam … Continue reading tw: sufood restaurant
the first banquet we went to when arriving taiwan was at a seafood restaurant and it blew away any american asian banquet i’ve ever been to! this 12-course meal started with: – sashimi over crushed ice, – asian cold cuts, – crab legs, – a meat dish, – then fish, – clam in a leaf boat, – a put of goodness, – fried soft shell crab, – boat of sushi roll and eel, – soup, – then finally dessert each dish was amazing – full of unique flavor. it was hard to resist eating a lot of each and it resulted … Continue reading tw: seafood banquet
one of the most gourmet meals we had in hong kong was at another restaurant my niece recommended: the sweet dynasty – and oh how sweet it was! for the main dishes we had pork congee, noodles with wontons in soup, fried noodles with seafood, deep fried spare ribs with strawberry sauce and fried squid with celery in XO sauce. a notable mentions – my dad said the congee was the best he has ever had. as as for my favorite part of the meal: dessert. the sweet dynasty, as in its name, is known for its tofu pudding and they … Continue reading hk: the sweet dynasty
when i watch the show unwrapped i either am intrigued, feel nostalgic or get cravings. they often talk about foods we grew up with as children, show you how something is made or introduce you to popular foods. so in one episode of unwrapped, they talked about drinks and they included the popular drink that originated from taiwan but made a burst in the states: bubble tea.* introduced as the beverage you drink as well as eat. the original bubble tea is milk tea with chewy, sweet black tapioca pearls and is served with a big straw so you can … Continue reading bubble me boba
in nyc, you know about the infamous soup dumplings of joe’s shanghai. in taiwan, you know of the infamous soup dumplings of din tai fung. no longer just in taiwan — but also in various countries in asia: japan, china, singapore, indonesia, korea, malaysia and hong kong; as well as australia; and one location in the US: california — this little dumpling place didn’t start out as a restaurant. it made its humble beginnings as a cooking oils store in its flagship location in xinyi, taiwan. but after opening its new business as a dumpling house, this restaurant soon became … Continue reading taiwanese soup dumplings
speaking of sweet stuff, my perception of taiwanese desserts aren’t so much cakes and pastries, like in the states. it’s more jelly and ice with the consistency of slippery and chewy. such is the jelly dessert from meet fresh. black grass jelly or white almond tofu. served hot or cold. with peanuts, beans, mochi or plain. with ice cream or shaved ice. with or without creamer. eaten with a spoon or slurped up in a drink. oh the varieties and choices! then there is ice monster, a fruity ice place my niece found. the little dessert stand is open to … Continue reading taiwanese desserts
Palatable Palette 