Every week involves a steady stream of food, drinks and people. From June 23 – 30, 2012, my Taiwan experiences all took place in the cities of Taipei, Khaosiung and Tainan. Some standout meals and drinks will help to fuel full posts.
June 23, 2012 – San Yuan Hao dates to 1991, featuring wooded picnic tables, an open kitchen, and a subdivided pot for mushrooms, quail eggs, daikon, and spare rib, plus Braised Pork Rice starring fatty ground pork stewed with soy, rice wine and crystal sugar.
June 25, 2012 – Ding Xian, a restaurant situated on the 86th floor of the city’s contemporary Taipei 101 office tower, included dishes like steamed triangle fish with garlic and soy from Chef Lin, which they served in a room lined with peacock feathers.
June 25, 2012 – The original Din Tai Fung is now four stories tall and serves Xiao Long Bao filled with juicy fillings like pork and black truffle, which they source from Italy.
June 26, 2012 – Fu Yuan is a well known restaurant on the ninth floor of Kaohsiung’s Grand Hi-Lai Hotel, dates to 1996 and has a sign in English that simply reads “Taiwanese restaurant.” Chef Wan prepares Taiwanese dishes like Deep Fried Crispy Chicken with medicinal Camellia Oil and fried strips of ginger.
June 27, 2012 – Kuo’s has been open for 40 years in Kaohsiung. The point-and-pay operation features small plates of stewed milkfish with ginger, chicken egg, stewed pork rice and more.
June 27, 2012 – The Guest House, on the top of the Sheraton Taipei Hotel, is well known for soy-forward beef noodle soup with tender short rib and big flaps of tendon.
June 27, 2012 – Eat like a monk at the sprawling Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center, which recently received an upgrade. Their teahouse, in the shadow of the bell tower, has only two options, noodles cooked in soy milk or curry rice. We opted for the former.
June 29, 2012 – Tainan Elisa Lu led us on a tour of her historic city, including a crawl down Guo Hwa Street, which had stalls for rice cake, duck blood, fried eel noodle, mung bean soup and sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaf with stewed pork and dried fish.
June 30, 2012 – My last mission in Taipei involved finding Chang Qing Restaurant, which resides past luxe shops like Louis Vuitton and Gucci on Lane 183, aka an alley. An order of Fried Dumpling came with 20 pieces that became chewier as they cooled.
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