Taipei 2019 Day 03
Our third day in Taipei started well. We woke up early to try and reach Yong He soya bean to get some traditional Taiwanese breakfast. We decided against going to the more famous Fu Hang Dou Jiang due to distance and expected insane queues. We headed a mere walking distance away from the hotel to get our soya bean fix.
At Yong He, we ordered some soya bean drinks and you tiao, together with some Xiao Long Baos. Unfortunately they did not have Singaporean style Soya Beancurds that we were all expecting (the hot bowls of beancurd with sugar syrup). Not letting that dent our mood, we hunted down some CD and music shops for Ashley, who was on a hunt for an elusive music album. Although she could not find the specific one that she was looking for, she found another that she liked and bought it. It would be one of her prized possessions that she obtained in this trip.
For our lunch plans, we headed towards Du Xiao Yue, located at Yong Kang Street. Yong Kang is also another district known for its great food and we were very excited to visit it. At Du Xiao Yue’s main entrance, we were greeted with chefs that were busy preparing the store’s famous Dan Dan Noodles. The broth smelled amazing and it looked like it must have been simmering for many hours upon hours.
We ordered 4 Beef Noodles, their speciality and decided to add some additional dishes. Based on a recommendation from her hair stylist, we decided to try some Taiwanese “三杯鸡” or three-cup chicken (literally translated). To our surprise it was completely different from what we had in Singapore. It was a thin sauce base that managed to be extremely flavourful at the same time. It was a delight to eat. We also had some cow tongue because SF and I love it, and Ashley also tried some out. Also ordered are some fried oysters that were nice and crispy. We had a very satisfying lunch here at Du Xiao Yue!
After lunch, we headed to one of my shortlisted desert places in Taipei. “Smoothie House” had definitely been one of the most touristy places that we had visited so far, their decorations and advertising taking up most of the train station at Yong Kang, so I was not sure about the quality of their desserts, especially seeing mixed google reviews online.
However, that concern was quelled when I saw the patrons existing orders. I decided to try out 2 different kinds of Shaved Ice, both mango-based ones. This style of shaved-ice is currently the big fad in Taipei, with traditional shaved ice like the ones in our Ice Kachang being the more traditional style.
With our 2 huge orders, we then chowed down on our dessert. Being an especially hot day there in Taipei, we took this chance to cool off and relax before heading off to our next stop. The desserts were nice and mango fresh, but we were 50/50 on the overall experience as it ended up being quite jelak.
After exploring some of Yong Kang, we headed to one of my stops, which was Guanghua Digital Park. After hunting for some computer parts that perhaps were of a better price than their counterparts in Singapore, I came up empty and decided to hold off buying any components here.
Afterwards, we also headed to Syntrend Creative Park, where we explored the huge new complex, where many companies showcased their latest and greatest, treating it as more of an experience rather than a shopping locale.
Afterwards, we headed to dinner. One of my favourite finds, Dragon Inn Dumpling House. This was virtually uncovered by any English blogger, apart from a few english reviews on Tripadvisor, and I found it while reading up on some Taiwanese blog posts online.
After navigating for a solid 20 minutes on foot, we finally reached the inn, which was basically a small brick shed in front of a wooden house. And in front of it was a long queue of people waiting to eat inside. Besides some trouble ordering with the staff, we were quickly seated after about 20-30 minutes with our orders of beef noodles, dumplings and “卤味”, a collection of braised items such as chicken feet, pork ribs, pig’s intestine and other meat parts thrown together and served. This place was known not only for their dumplings, in their name, but also for this dish.
With a hearty amount of food and dumplings consumed, we thought that we had over-ordered, unbeknownst to us that most of the other regular patrons also had huge plates of dumplings and other braised delights on their table. If we were ever to return to Taipei, this would definitely be on my re-do list! The dumplings and braised items were simply amazing, and we could probably do without the noodles! (We were bursting at the seams).
Heading back to the hotel, this concluded the end of the third day in Taipei, and more than halfway through our trip.
