Taipei 2019 Day 02
The sun rose for the first time we were in Taipei! We woke up somewhat early to cover as much as possible. Although I originally planned to eat much more in this span of time, various sanity checks had limited my plan, so we were determined to make the best use of our time.
Early in the morning, we headed to Tian Tian Li, a famous Lu Rou Fan stand in Taipei’s Ximending. When we arrived, inevitably there was a queue. Get ready for that being a trend for all the restaurants that we would visit. Good food garners a crowd it seems, and people came in troves.
We would only learn later on after our trip concluded that it was actually the national holiday in Taipei at the time, making the queues even longer and the roads even more crowded.
No matter, after a short 15-20 minute wait we were seated inside, and after frustrating over yet another ordering chit, we were greeted with our food, bowls of Lu Rou Fan with egg, a Oyster Omelette (Taiwan style) and a radish cake. Glowing reviews were given to the Lu Rou Fan, which is so much different from the ones we have here in Singapore, the meat juice seeps into the rice and gives the overall rice dish a meaty, juicy flavour that is simply intense and delicious.
The oyster omelette however, we decided that we preferred the Singapore style of drier and not so saucy. Although nice, the sauce was a little much and the omelette lacking somewhat of a crispy texture. The radish cake was also nice, although we definitely ordered too much of it.
We then took a short detour before our main lunch event and stopped by Ru Yi Sunny Cake or 太陽餅. This was the one brand of 太陽餅 that was recommended to me by my friends and the resounding conclusion from the research I did said that this was far and away the best in Taipei. So, we decided to pop by their stores and try some of them out.
Immediately, we were greeted to a tea-tasting ceremony and also given samples of all their confectioneries that they sell in the store, letting us see what we liked before we purchased them. Although pricy, the sunny cakes were simply irresistible and of amazing quality. You simply could not get them this good in Singapore.
However, the other snacks left something to be desired, as I also lined up a visit to other bakeries specialising in pineapple cakes. More of that soon…
For lunch, we headed via bus to Fei Qian Wu, about 30 minutes away from Ximending. On the way there via bus, we ran into a national day parade, where we drove right by the parade vehicles! What a bizarre sight…
When we reached Fei Qian Wu, another signature trait was the long queue right outside the restaurant. We waited what seemed like 30 minutes before finally getting a table and being able to sit down. At this point ZA really needed a drink as well, and we helped ourselves to the vending machines inside the restaurant.
We ordered 3 bowls of Unagi rice, and a Unagi omelette (Japanese style). The unagi was definitely of good quality, and we could even see their chefs cutting up the unagi fresh in the kitchen. However, we could not get over the sauce. It was similar to the Nagoya unagi that we tried, it was not sweet and rather drowned out the fresh taste of the meat. Disappointed, we left, deciding that we would return to another unagi place that we liked in a future place, as this did not fulfill our expectations.
On our trip back to the hotel, we passed by the Underground Book Street in one of the train stations. Ashley, an avid reader, was immediately interesting in going there and finding books that interested her. The street was also impressively long, what seemed like maybe 300-500 meters of purely book store, comprising of many different genres and types. After choosing what book she wanted, we headed back onto the train and headed back towards our next activity. Getting to grips with the public transport system in Taiwan was a breeze due to the system accepting a one-card payment system similar to our EZ-Link, and Google maps working perfectly to give us routes and alternatives.
At the break of evening, we arrived at Raohe Street Night Market. Through my research, we decided to skip the most famous Shilin Night Market, and visit the other ” less busy” night markets. Nevertheless, there was already quite a buzz when we arrived right at opening hours.
First stop was one that we were eyeing for quite awhile. The Pork Pepper Buns of Raohe market. There were many imitators, but you simply could not miss the queue and the distinct smells of the real store. Snaking for over 20 minutes, this simple store sold only the pepper buns, and done in such a simple manner. Meat pressed into dough and vegetables, and put inside a Dutch-style oven. Buns that came out were extremely hot and fresh, and trust me, they were delicious.
Many different food stalls were on display at Raohe, but we had to check off some of the most essential items (stereotypical Singaporean tourist mindsets). First up was the beef cubes, which was surprisingly good. They were done via blow torch and tossed into a bowl with salt sprinkled on top.
Next up were a few different stalls selling skewers. The pork belly skewers were delicious, but nothing super amazing, I would later find another skewer store next to the hotel which was as good as this one, and cheaper still. Ashley also could not resist getting a large potato twister, which was, well, enormous.
Afterwards, we also got a chance to get some Taiwan style waffles, which tasted much better than they initially looked. Although appearance was dry and dull, they were amazingly soft and plushy, and packed with flavour from within the batter. Can recommend for everyone to try! Also, I had to just get some Devil Chicken or 恶魔鸡排. They had just opened a few stores in Singapore at this time, and the queues were insane there, while I only queued 5 minutes for my share. A large Chicken Cutlet with bone in and well seasoned, it was juicy and delicious as well. Amazing.
Before heading back, we also had some traditional Taiwanese dessert at a random store. At this point we were also extremely tired and could all take a short break. We ordered two shaved-ice desserts, one with red bean and one with mango. Both were tasty and gave us the energy to continue our tour. Before heading back, Ashley also got a stuffed bear “Beary”. She was happy with her purchase.
