Saturday, June 2, 2007

TAINAN / KAOHSIUNG

土魠魚羹

土魠魚羹 (tu3 tuo1 yuu2 geng1) is a noodle soup with really thin crunchy rice noodles floating in a thick broth topped with various seafood and fried fish fillets. It's simply delicious and you won't find such good rice noodles anywhere else. Well known dish from southern Taiwan. Also available in Taipei if you look around (see Taipei entry).

Funny ad for a chain in Kaohsiung.

港口土魠魚羹 (台南)
This store has chains all over Taiwan I think.

高雄小吃
List of many places for "small eats" in Kaohsiung.


TAIPEI

All of the restaurants below are recommended. But if you have to ask, I'd recommend the first two restaurants above the others. However, they are both very popular and will need reservations 3 to 4 in advance! (No kidding)

宋廚
This is the place my aunt reserved in advance, famous for their peking duck. Story goes that they happened to have the same name as the big chain 全聚德 in mainland china that also specialized in duck. When 全聚德 expanded their chain out to Taiwan last year, the owner 宋連郎 changed the name to 宋廚.
Link

食養山房
A unique restaurant located on the serene, misty mountainside of 陽明山 just north of Taipei. 食養 serves fusion small plates that combine Taiwanese local ingredients with global preparations (inspired by intricate Chinese/Japanese styles). Open the links below and take a look at the dishes as words can hardly capture the beautiful and tasty foods. The surrounding is also unforgettably one of a kind.

地址:台北市菁山路101巷160號(松園)
電話:02-2862-0078
   02-2862-0079

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/christabelle&article_id=2904993
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/rurus&article_id=2770411

佰菇園
Specializes in mushroom dishes. Mushroom hotpot and many small plates.
Link
[復興店 台北市復興南路2段142號 捷運木柵線大安站對面 2-2700-3671]
[大安店 台北市仁愛路4段71巷17號 捷運板南線忠孝復興站 復興小學對面 2-8773-3160]

鑫鱻生猛
Tasty dishes for 100 NTD. Seafood. 鑫鱻 is pronounced 新鮮
Link
[台北市中山區吉林路254號]

霸味薑母鴨
薑母鴨 is claypot soup with duck and aged ginger. Very healthy for winter time.
Article from Taiwan Talker Magazine
[北投店 台北市北投區中央北路3段13號 捷運淡水線復興崗站 2-2895-5903]
[南港店 台北市南港區忠孝東路6段310號 捷運昆陽線昆陽站 2-2786-1015]

羊肉湯鍋
羊肉爐 (lamb hot pot soup). Lots of praises for this place by word of mouth.
Link
[台北市中山區合江街93巷10號 2-2503-9503]

好吃羊肉爐
Link
[台北市士林區延平北路5段239號 2-2816-4311]

林家蔬菜羊肉爐
Link
[台北市中山區吉林路327號 2-2592-5172]

澎湖魚土魠魚羹 (台北)
See Tainan entry for info on 土魠魚羹.
Drool...
[台北市民生東路二段115巷23號]

貓空茶坊
貓空 is an area in the hills south of Taipei with many tea houses overlooking Taipei night light.
Article from Taiwan Talker Magazine
[台北市文山區指南路三段 捷運木柵線萬芳社區站 轉搭小10路公車]

台北夜市
Oh my god, this site is hilarious! It has computer-generated, simcity-like maps of each nightmarket in Taipei. And you can search for specific cuisines at a given location. Haha, you gotta take a look. Anyway, nightmarkets are in every part of Taipei. Just gotta look up a few busy ones and stop by them along the way.


HUALIEN

Hualien is well known for their 扁食 (wontons), 麻糬 (mochi), 羊羹 (bean cake pastry), and 剝皮辣椒 (peeled green pepper). It's not a big town so all stores are pretty much with 5-10 min walk from each other.

Hualien specializes in 小米麻糬 (aboriginal style mochi, also called "杜倫" in aborigine language), which is made out of grain flour. It is different from the usual 客家 style 糯米麻糬 made out of rice but is every bit as tasty. Each mochi store makes a different variety of flavors -- some use traditional ingredients such as red bean, sesame, and peanut, while others make more experimental flavors like green tea, strawberry, and other fruits -- be sure to try them all. All are freshly made every morning, so you should eat them within a day or two, while the flavors are still fresh!

Article: A few Hualien stores and local foods.
Small listing of businesses in Hualien.



花蓮麻糬 (Hualien mochi)

When in Hualien, you gotta eat mochi. 曾記 and 曾家 are the two well known brands, as is 惠比須. People debate over which one is better. We should debate over how many from each store we can fit in our stomaches. =)

Article: 來去花蓮/吃麻糬 該買「曾記」還是「曾家」

曾記
One of the well-known mochi stores in Hualien.

惠比須 (Ebisu)
Another famous mochi store specializing in 花蓮薯 (Hualien style mochi, made purely of yam). They have been open since 1899 and once made 花蓮薯 to be served to the Japanese emperor.
http://www.ebisu.com.tw/

阿美麻糬
[花蓮市中華路109號 3-8352033]
Another store well-known for its 小米麻糬.



Cookies and Preserved Snacks

豐興餅舖
[花蓮市中華路296之2號 3-8323436]
This local bakery (since 1928) specializes in 唱片餅 ("record" cookies), 小月餅 (moon cakes), and 小米麻糬.

德利豆乾
[花蓮市大禹街6號 3-8339039]
Dried tofu and preserved fruits.



扁食

扁食 is the Taiwanese version of wontons, which in my opinion are pretty much the best wontons in the world. The wonton skins are silky soft but don't break apart in your spoon. The meat is light and flavorful, not too chewy yet not too tender. When we visited 戴記扁食, the four of us ate three bowls each!

戴記扁食
[花蓮市中華路120號]
http://www.poja.com.tw/eat/dump1.htm

液香扁食
[花蓮市信義街42號]
Another very tasty 扁食 shop. Here is someone's comparison of this store and 戴記.