Saturday, May 03, 2008

Taiwan: 台北小吃 Taipei delicacies

Warning: Post contains mouthwatering pictures that may cause non-stop drooling. Recommended reading after meal. If drooling persists for an extended period, please keep stuffing yourself with food, lots of fooooood!!

As I previously stressed, Taiwan is a real food heaven and Taipei alone is more than enough to satiate your appetite. I am not sure about those fancy restaurants/cafés but food market/food street is the perfect place to sample Taiwanese local food.

淡水老街 Tamsui Old Street
Arh~~~the famous Tamsui. Learnt about it from those Taiwanese series. This pedestrian shopping area offers a wide selection of local specialties.




I knew there was one thing I came here for....the gigantic ice-cream!!

Seen it a few times in those Taiwanese series and it felt really gratifying having to lay my hands and mouth on it! Muahahaha Only if I have a second stomach, I would have gone for 2nd round




My choice of flavour: Green tea & mango!

九份 Chiufen
It's an old gold mining area also dubbed as little Shanghai due to it's close resemblances of old Shanghai's scenery. I haven't been to Shanghai so can't comment much on that. All I know is, this is the place that you can find a lot of famous Taiwanese munchies and local handcrafts.



Beef noodles soup


BBQ fermented toufu


Squid sausage and BBQ salmon



Spiral potato chips


Traditional fish ball soup


Fish soup


Beancurd with yam balls


士林夜市 Shihlin Night Market
Heaven of food! The place that offers many local delicacies. You would literally drown in there!








Taiwanese giant sausage


Fried fermented toufu

Then, later at night, we were out in 西門丁 to search for food again although we were mainly shopping around experiencing the night life in Taipei. I was particularly looking for the famous 阿宗麵線 (Ah Zhong thin rice noodles).



We walked around and asked around, and eventually found it! And, WOW! I was stunned by the huge crowd standing in front the shop, along the street and even at the front of the next door dumpling restaurant (how pity), eating their hot 阿宗麵線! The queue was incredibly long too!


Finally got my long awaited 阿宗麵線! Happy happy joy joy and joining the crowd along the street slurping away. Very yum! Hehehehe.


Now you can see how I put on 3kg of weight!


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19 comments:

L B said...

OMG! I could not believe such a HUGE ice cream cone exists!!! Hahaha! Almost rude! :-)

Gosh, you're right about all that drooling food too.. Cannot tahan, have to go.. see you, before I drown myself..

Trinity said...

LOL at LB... yeah that ice cream did catch my eyes at the first glance!! And after that... that square satai.. look crunchy.. slurrp... that roti goreng.. waa look salt and tasty..and juicy.. I was screaming when I looked at it and my hubby 'scolded' me.. wakakaka... ahem! *say elegantly* above all... self control

mistipurple said...

the thin noodle nice or not?
since i can only see, i must ask more questions mah.

oceanskies79 said...

I am trying hard not to have my mouth water.... such a Tall ice-cream!

Anonymous said...

How can you be so bad.. always post so many good food from taiwan.. I MUST GO taiwan !!!! Heheheee..

Chen said...

my goodness...
your ice cream is so longggggggggggg
got any incidence the ice cream jatuh when half way makan or not ah? :P
since so long mah.. might be not stable.. LOL

i want to taste all the foood there leh..

Par said...

That ice cream looks like a sword!
I wouldn't be able to walk and eat, I will have to sit down...hehe.

Lovely pictures

Anonymous said...

Food !! I see FOOD...Everywhere.. Haiyo...put on 3 kg oni ar?..If me, aih....mebbe 5 kg lor..

Tracy said...

Doreen... your photo make me feel like going to Taiwan now!!!! So many delicious food to eat!!

Doreen said...

L B:
Hahaha, tell me about it! I was like “WOW” (0.0)!! and double “WOW” (0.0)!! (0.0)!! when I first came across it in Taiwanese tv shows. And when I saw it in person, “WOW” again! (0.0)!! Almost pengsan out of excitement.

Trinity:
That square satay is actually grilled salmon. Emmm…. I should edit my post to add some description.

Haha, didn’t know the food can create such a big reaction out of you. Looks like you’re a food lover too eh? (^_~)

mistipurple:
The thin noodle ar…..NICE! Bely NICE! They put Chinese cooking wine of some sort, and tastes kinda sweet but not overwhelming. The first mouthful was ok for me, like “ok what, average leh, why so famous” But hor, the 2nd and 3rd and the more you eat, you would find it very very nice and yummy.

oceanskies79:
I wonder why Singapore/Malaysia even New Zealand don’t have this kind of ice-cream. Don’t think it is so hard to make, just need a bit of skills to make it taller. It would definitely win the heart of all ice-cream lovers.

keeyit:
Hehehe, soli lah but good things must share share mah right?

Tell you, don’t wait too long, quick quick go to Taiwan. My Taiwanese tour guide told us that the change of their government recently means that Taiwan will very soon open up to all international business and tourism. Currently, there is limited or no trade between China and Taiwan. Chinese also couldn’t go to Taiwan freely in the old government. So, once the flood gate is open (I think it probably already has), imagine what would happen. The whole city will be packed with Chinese tourists, accommodation gets more expensive due to high demand and famous tourist spot will be hard to get to.

Chev:
Hahaha, seems like the ice-cream has stole the show!

It was pretty hard to hold the ice-cream as it was really heavy and unstable. The ice-cream auntie purposely warmed us to hold it straight else the street would have the pleasure. Luckily, the whole ice-cream ended up in our stomach. Hahahaha

Kay:
Haha, good imagination Kay. Indeed it does look like a sword!

With this ice-cream, you really don’t want to walk and eat, too risky. Heheheehe.

eve:
Wah~~~3 kilo still not a lot? I almost break my record leh. I put on 5 kilos in 2 weeks during my first year in NZ!! And that was scary, the face round like those big big “cha siew bao”! No, no, even bigger. Like a “cha siew bao” being dipped in water for overnight! Hahahaha

Doreen said...

tracy:
You too? Wah~~~Taiwan government should pay me some commission in boosting up their tourism. Hehehehe

may said...

hello my dear...

love the photos, the stories, AUTUMN!, the ice cream that looks like a sword, and little sights of Taipei :)

kljs said...

I think I will try to "fly" my way to Taipeh now....
it's too mouth watering.......

http://kennyljs.com/

Lee said...

Hi Doreen, beautiful pictures and the food dishes....out of this world.
Doreen, I noticed you enjoy eating and don't take prisoners where eating is concerned...how do you keep that fabulous figure of yours so sleek, and ahemmm, walk into a lamp pst kind of figure? Ha ha.
I love the cam your Ricky having and your camera.
I love cameras, hope to save some money and get the Nicon DSLR 300 with the 18mm-200mm Nikon lens.
But dare not think of it yet as my wife will kill me, my Apple only a month old, ha ha.
Keep well, Doreen, Lee.

oceanskies79 said...

Hi Doreen, thank you very much for your wishes. I am feeling much better. Thank you once again.

Trinity said...

Lick some more food here.. yumm...

hehehe.. so you suggest me to brag my love letters to my children and grand grand children? aiyoooo... can't be!! Too nuts.. hehehe.. being madly in love to someone who is not my husband-to-be is not something to be proud of.. hahahaha... pssst..hehehe

Doreen said...

may:
Hey Miss Busy! Miss you leh...hehehe

kljs:
You in Taipei already? Hehehe, can help "ta bao" some food?

Doreen said...

u.lee:
Hello Lee! Haha, I don't have any particular method to maintain weight, just that I think I eat many meals but in a small portion only.

Oh, you into photography too? Nikon DSLR 300 is very good I heard, it has many excellent features. Well, I hope to see some of your works in near future. (^_^)

oceanskies79:
Oh glad to hear that you're feeling better now. Keep well ok?

trinity:
Haha, I still think it is ok as long as it happened before your husband. Hahaha :P

eastcoastlife said...

All these Taiwanese snacks are my favourite! I would grow fat whenever I'm in Taiwan and HK, because their food is so yummy! Eat non-stop. haha....

Looks like you did that too .....