Advertisement
Published: March 15th 2012
K- As you may have realized Mark & I are basically just eating our way around the world. We have had some great food experiences in many countries but Taipei, Taiwan has just jumped right to the top of the list. This place lives and breathes food. I managed to eat one of my favorite foods, chinese dumplings, 5 times in 4 days. In fact I seriously over-ate and will always remember Taipei for a slightly uncomfortable feeling and an inability to walk fast.
Taipei is a very modern, clean and calm(ish) City and despite the wintery grey weather we explored the center on foot as we addressed some necessary jobs such as buying me some new shoes (flip flops not being really appropriate for the 6C temperatures to come in S Korea!) and also purchasing the world's most expensive rail passes for Japan. So hideously expensive that I am planning to just sit on the train going up and down Japan and not actually get off just so as to get value from them.
This blog is basically about food but a non-food highlight was our visit to the hot springs in Beitou - a mere 30 minutes
out of Central Taipei on the fantastic Taipei Metro (MRT). I LOVE the MRT. Mark has always accused me of being a secret trainspotter and I guess this proves it but this metro system is just fantastic. Clean, fast, efficient and cheap. Although I am told Seoul's is even better.......I can hardly wait to dig out my anorak and see!
Anyway - back to the hot springs. We elected to go to the public springs which are mixed sex, unlike alot of pools, and also very cheap (about $1.25). They were also great. Quite busy but everyone was so respectful of each others privacy that it did not feel uncomfortable. There are 4 pools ranging from 33C to 45C and we worked our way up the spectrum although the 45C was a challenge. I love my baths hot but this was crazy. After a tough minute up to my neck and feeling like a lobster I smiled bravely at the locals and exited for the cooler 42C pool! Next stop was the icy pool - agony for 5 seconds and then utter bliss followed by a sort of euphoria as the constricting veins (I assume) cut off something or
Xiaolongbao
Michelin starred. other. With slightly dopy smiles we exited the cold pool and then went through the whole circuit again!
Feeling very relaxed we then headed off for - yes, more food! Well, this sitting around can take it out of you. The wonderful MRT took us quickly to Danshui where we spent an hour tasting, amongst other things - fried spring onion pancake, xiaolongbao (pork dumplings which also contain a small amount of broth), candied strawberries and tomatoes (think toffee apple), custard tarts and calamari. After a quick bus trip to look at the Lovers Bridge (OK but not worth a trip on its own - nice as a tag on) we headed off to the Shilin Night Market.
Taipei is famous for its night markets and this is one of the largest. It is huge and packed with people shopping, eating and playing fairground games such as shooting balloons. Our favorite was watching people trying to catch shrimp with mini rods - any successfully caught were then put straight on the BBQ. We wandered around and of course snacked on a few more treats. A favorite was "little sausage wrapped in big sausage" - exactly as it sounds,
Michelin at the Mall!
I wonder what Gordon Ramsey would think of this?! a big sausage (actually made of glutinous rice) with a smaller sausage and corriander (cilantro) and pickles inside. It was much busier than the Longshan night market where we had been the previous night. Longshan did however have a wider range of goods in some ways - a stall full of sex toys being one of them. I was glad I was not having to explain what these were to the very young kids wandering around the stalls (actually not sure I knew what some of them were....!)
The following day was a belated celebration of Mark's 45th birthday - as the cockfight and beer was not deemed sufficient for such a big birthday. It was of course a birthday celebration involving alot of food. For lunch I surprised him by suggesting we went to eat at the Mall at Taipei 101 - the tallest building in the world until 2010 when surpassed by the Burj Khalifa. I am a rubbish shopper and avoid Malls (and also World's tallest buildings) if possible so his suspicions were raised but even he did not suspect that Taipei 101 is also home to a Michelin starred restaurant that specializes in, yes, dumplings!
Little sausage wrapped in big sausage
Seriously, thats it's name. Outer sausage is actually rice sausage but still! Specifically the xiaolongbao that I was now officially addicted to. It is possibly also the only Michelin restaurant we will ever go to with a plastic cartoon dumpling outside- see photo!
The dumplings were fabulous - really delicate dough with just the right amount of filling. They even provide an instruction leaflet to ensure you eat them properly (dip in ginger, soy and vinegar mixture; place in spoon; pierce with chopstick to let out broth; eat). We had 2 steamers as I couldn't promise to share nicely full plus a variety of side dishes and our bill was still less than $30 - not many Michelin restaurants where you can say that!
It was so cloudy that we elected not to go up Taipei 101 so after a bit of light shopping and a stroll around we instead headed off to the 38th Floor cocktail bar of the Shangri-La and spent the $30 it would have cost us to go up the tower on cocktails. Similar view but much more fun. And finally we set off, at Mark's request, to eat proper Peking duck. My research had led me to Dragon Restaurant, a Taipei institution. After an
appetizer of 100 year old eggs (a little weird in appearance but really creamy and lovely and actually only preserved for 100 days) we indulged ourselves properly with a full roast duck accompanied by soft pancakes, spring onion and of course plum / hoisin sauce. Perfectly cooked duck flesh with rendered fat and crispy skin - I felt like a contestant on a Japanese endurance show as I forced down "just one more pancake" much to Mark's mirth (and I suspect a little bit of panic as he saw his extra portions disappearing). Heaven. The bones and remainder of the meat were then turned in to a soup. Mark manfully ate 2 bowls but I refused to waste pancake space on soup so we brought the rest back to the hotel for the next day.
On our final day we were a little less greedy and bravely set out in the rain to Jiufen, a small hill town about 40 minutes from Central Taipei. It is very quaint although mobbed with tourists. Due to the rain we couldn't see the view but we still enjoyed the trip, walking through the tiny streets and warming up in the teashops.
And that was Taipei! Highly recommended if, like us, you like to eat and eat and then have a cheeky snack before eating again! Next stop Seoul.......
Keep scrolling down past the ads to see many more potos.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.092s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0518s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
