Taipei 2019 Day 05
Our final day in Taipei! We started off the day with a quick breakfast at 西門町柚子早餐屋 . Although it had good reviews, we did not find the food extremely appetising. The best by far was the peanut butter thick toast, but the rest of the meal was quite average. However, this did not dampen our spirit as we decided to change up our plan, being the last day of our stay here in Taipei.
For our lunch plan, we decided to stop by Din Tai Fung. And not any Din Tai Fung, their original store at Xinyi Road, where other bloggers and friends have told us that the standard of the food there is a clear cut better than the other Din Tai Fung branches in Taiwan and Singapore. Somewhat unconvinced, I agreed and we braced for a long wait for our queue to be called.
Luckily, we came before the main bulk of the crowd just 10 minutes later. The estimated waiting time for our meal was 40 minutes, while patrons that came 10 minutes later would have to brace about a 80-100 minute wait for their table.
Once seated, we ordered some standard Din Tai Fung dishes, just to see how they would compare with the ones we know from Singapore branches. The Xiao Long Bao came first, and a notable improvement is how each bao keeps it shape even when picked up with a pair of chopsticks with substantial force. The soup inside is much more flavourful than what I remember from the Singaporean branches, while the texture and flavour of the meat is also slightly better, giving an overall better feeling when the whole bao is intact and explodes in your mouth with the soup flavour!
Next up, some of their dim sum dishes, which were also nice, especially their “siew mai” which looked nothing like normal siew mai. It came with a shrimp on top and folded within the same skin as the Xiao Long Bao. Needless to say, it was delicious. Also similarly surprising was their Pork Chop Fried Rice. There was a definite difference in especially the meat texture and taste. I find that the Pork Chop in the Singaporean branches are alot tougher and less tender, as well as being not as well seasoned as the one that I tried at Xinyi. This was simply excellent.
After lunch, we toured around Xinyi and looked for a place to go before our planned early dinner and later flight back to Singapore. We found a small tech shop where I finally made some good purchases. 2 Computer mouses, one for ZA and one for myself, both at substantial discounts compared to online retailers in Singapore. Afterwards, we headed to a nearby cafe for a quick break.
Drip Coffee, located in the Xinyi district was what we chose. The stand out order here is definitely their Drip Coffee. Also cold-brewed and mixed with a perfect amount of fresh milk and blow-torched lightly on top. Even nicer than the coffee at the Heritage Cafe, it was stronger in taste while smoother, and it was one of our favourite drinks that we had during this trip.
Ashley also had an interesting drink of Raspberry, where they served the “ingredients” in chemical bottles, like you were a mad scientist creating your own beverage.
After our light snack, we burned some time before heading over for dinner at My Guo or My Stove. This was one of my planned restaurants to head to, but without a reservation we hoped that we could find a seat.
By a mad stroke of luck, many reservations that day were cancelled due to Typhoon Hagibis hitting the coast of Japan, and most Japanese customers were forced to cancel their orders on that day. Some of the most famous and delicious dishes were available via order only, but we were able to get them due to this cancellation of reservations!
One of the dishes was a Sesame Chicken with Rice Wine. Before we had something similar with the Three-Cup Chicken, but this was slightly different. The taste profile was more similar to Hainanese Steam Chicken but with a tinge of wine which ascended the taste profile altogether. It was subtle but definitely worth ordering! We also order some braised Pork Belly, which was really good, probably even the best one that I have tried so far.
We left satisfied and full, and headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and head to the cab, and said goodbye to Taipei. It had been a short but wonderful relief from real life, and we were sad to see it end so soon. For most of us, it was our first trip to the Republic of China, and we also quickly decided that it would not be our last. On to our next adventure!