Saturday 28 November 2015
Adele + MSR = drives me crazy!
"Hello, it's me. I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet to go over everything..."
Thursday 26 November 2015
The Impromptu Me!
The year 2015 is ending in another month and here I am, making another impromptu decision. I guess I will have to live with it because it is my belief that I will always enjoy the most out of it despite the panic attacks! Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving!
I always do the opposite and it feels good!
I have missed out a quote yesterday. Here is one to make up for it.
Tuesday 24 November 2015
Monday 23 November 2015
Sunday 22 November 2015
Saturday 21 November 2015
Shilin Night Markert 士林夜市
Although I do not like to be squeezed in a crowd, I also do not want to miss the chance of paying this largest and most popular night market a visit. My initial thought of getting there was to take the metro to Shilin Station but thankfully for my 'in-depth' research, I found out that I should be taking the Red line 2 to Jiantan (劍潭) Station instead. From there, come out from Exit 1. The night market is just diagonally across the road on the left. There would be many people crossing that road so you will definitely not miss it.
I was quite taken aback on the first night I was there. It was probably past 8 p.m. and the human traffic was pretty unbearable for me. I felt like I was packed in a can of sardines. Moving my hands around and watching where I was going were already quite problematic, not to mention taking photographs. I just followed the crowd and moved.
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| Candied Haw in a Stick / Bing Tang Hu Lu / Tang Hu Lu /糖葫蘆 / 糖葫芦 (simplified Chinese) |
As I was moving along, I spotted this stall famous for its Pepper Bun / Hújiāo Bǐng (胡椒餅) at Raohe Street Night Market. The queue would usually snake all the way out of the entrance. Since the stall at Shilin had a shorter queue that night, I decided to try it. I did not wait for long as the queue moved quite quickly. At the same time, the buns were also sold out pretty fast as customers would usually buy more than one. When it was almost my turn to place order, they had to prepare a new tray of buns and then charcoal-baked them. I had to wait for the buns to be out of the oven. That gave me a chance to catch the making of the buns in action. When the freshly baked buns came out from the oven, I bought two and they were pipping hot! It was tough holding the camera and taking pictures of my bun at the same time. As I bit into the crisp of the bun, the juice inside spilled out and got onto my camera and my hands! Ouch! It was really hot! The bun was not at all dry and the juiciness of the meat was still contained in it. It was really delicious! Just take note that the buns are really hot to handle but at the same time, you have really got to eat them hot to get the most out of it.
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| Freshly baked out from the oven! |
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| Turned cold as I brought this back to the hotel |
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| Not as nice and hot but still edible |
As I walked past the stalls, I saw this one below selling barbecue squids so I decided to give it a try since there was no queue. You can find a number of similar stalls in the market and even in Raohe so fear not if you were to miss one. Again, I ate this back at the hotel. It had turned cold and the spices on the squid turned damp with the condensation so it was not as nice. It is always good to eat such food while they are hot. I believe in trying it again.
The following stall was selling Aiyu jelly (愛玉冰) / (愛玉凍), commonly known as ice jelly in Singapore. It is a jelly made from the gel from the seeds of a variety of fig found in Taiwan and East Asian countries of the same climates and latitudes. It is supposed to be cooling and we love to add fruits to the dessert served in a bowl. Over here, they served it in a cup. I bought one and drank it along the way.
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| Lemon-flavoured |
On the second night I went to Shilin Night Market, I ate a feast! First, I managed to find this stall, Prince Cheese (王子起士馬鈴薯) which was selling mashed potato topped with cheese and your choice of ingredients. It was one of the recommended stalls from the Channel 8 programme, Taiwan Taste (就愛台湾味). I tried to look for it on the first night but to no avail. I got lucky on the second night I guess or should I say my genuine mistake led me to the stall? I crossed the junction vertically instead of diagonally and spotted the stall across the road. What luck! Once I got over to the night market side of the road, I made a beeline for the queue. It was around 7p.m. so the queue was short. The staff approached me with the menu and asked what kind of toppings I would like to order. He recommended the combination (王子綜合) and told me that the combination was hot favourite so I ordered that. He gave me an order form which I was supposed to submit when I reached the stall counter. You can choose to dine-in with the tables and chairs provided at the basement area near the stall. Not wanting my snack to turn cold, I opted for dine-in instead of taking it back to the hotel. I was thankful that there were empty seats after I had received my order because I had no one to 'chop' (reserve) seats while I was queuing up. The cheese was pipping hot and topped with lots of ingredients like bacon bits, scallop bits, sliced eggs, corn etc. Just looking at it makes one salivate! The combination of the toppings, the cheese and the mashed potato was just so heavenly delicious! This is a MUST try!
I saw stalls in Raohe selling this but I did not get a chance to try. Since I saw it again at Shilin and I was famished that night, I decided to buy a stick. This stall selling fried milk was near Prince Cheese. Yes, fried milk! I was curious how it was like so I stood by the side and watched for a while and took photographs. Then I went to place my order. I had to wait for new ones to be fried as the customer before me bought what was left. The 阿姨 (aunt), an affectionate term used by the Taiwanese to address some middle-aged or married ladies even though they are not related was very nice. She told me the process of how the fried milk was made but did not divulge the secret ingredients in making them though. When I received my snack, she cautioned that it was hot and told me to be careful while eating it. I thanked her and went to the side to taste my latest food challenge. Not too bad. It was not very sweet and the flavour of the milk just burst and filled in your mouth. I could have bought more sticks but I wanted to reserve space in the stomach for other food. Next time!
I went down to the Shilin Night Market Food Court (士林夜市B1美食區) after eating the Fried Milk. An underground food paradise for foodies to explore.
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| Sticky Tofu |
Having tried the oyster mee sua / oyster vermicelli (蚵仔麵線) at Raohe, it was time for another popular dish in Taiwan, the Oyster Omelette / Er Ah Jian (蚵仔煎). I was searching online for really sumptuous ones and Da Tou Long Oyster Omelette (大头龙蚵仔煎) was recommended by one the bloggers. There were not many customers so after I had placed my order, I managed to get a seat rather quickly. I was still hungry so I had a bowl of braised pork rice (滷肉飯) to go with the omelette. The size of the omelette was as big as my face and I must say the taste was good! I would have ordered another plate if there were sambal chili to go with it.
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| 大头龙蚵仔煎 |
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| Oysters were big! |
Coffin Bread (棺材板) is one of the signature dishes from Tainan. You will get to eat it in different parts of Taiwan now. This snack was on my bucket-list. I was actually looking for another stall but no one was around so I hopped over to this one which seemed popular looking at the number of customers eating and buying. I went in and sat down. The menu was on the table. The staff came forward to ask what I wanted and recommended the combination of various ingredients in one order of Coffin Bread. I took that and also ordered a plate of prawn rolls. The snacks came pretty fast. The lady who served me the food told me to eat each piece of Coffin Bread as a whole to fully savour the snack. Not too bad. I like it but I would like to try more stalls to determine whether there are better Coffin Bread though.
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| A mixture of pork, shrimps, fish, mushrooms and corns spread among four pieces. |
Da Bing Bao Xiao Bing (大餅包小餅) literally means small bun wrapped in big bun. You get to choose the bun flavour first, either salty or sweet. For the sweet flavours, there are peanut (花生), yam / taro (芋頭), black sesame (黑芝麻), coconut (椰子) and red bean (豆沙). Curry (咖哩), spicy (麻辣), pork floss (肉鬆), black pepper (黑胡椒) and original (香酥) are salty flavours. Then one of the staff will write it down on a plastic bag and pass it to the staff preparing the snack. This staff will smash up the crispy small bun, spread the flavour on top and then wrap it in a Chinese wrap. I bought three different flavours to try. Perhaps it's just me but I found them too dry and had a hard time biting into the buns. I do not really know how to appreciate this.
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| All the small buns |
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| Ready to be smashed |
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| Spreading flavour |
And with this cup of fruits, I shall end my food quest in Taipei...at least for this year...
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