Taiwan Eating Trip Volume III

Melbourne has been so hot these past few days! This made me miss Taiwan even more, lovely food with lovely weather! I'm really looking forward to Easter break this weekend, probably an excuse for me to bake more sinful creations.

Back to my eating trip in Taiwan. We started our third day with breakfast from the same stall where we had the rice vermicelli soup. This time we decided to try out their porridge. We were told there were two types of porridge, one with century egg and the other one with the baby fishes (I don't know what they are called in English, please educate me if you do. ). I was imagining Cantonese style porridge with minced pork and century egg, so I decided to go with the century egg, while my mom chose the baby fishes one. To our surprise, the only difference in the porridge was the toppings. The century egg was actually one whole century egg. The rest of the ingredients were the same! It was funny I had to remind myself that I was in Taiwan and not Hong Kong.

The Century egg porridge


The baby fish porridge

After breakfast, we went to this "Lao Jie" or "Old Street" slightly further out of Taipei. I was told the area was colonized by Japanese before, therefore was very popular amongst the Japanese tourists. There were quite a few snacks and souvenir shops.

Mochi shop


Caramel candies


Caramelized Fruits, I've seen these in China too


handmade traditional desserts made from glutinous rice flour (Tang Yuen)

After a few hours of walking and photo-taking sessions, we stopped by a random noodle shop for lunch. It was not bad actually, the noodles were homemade so it had a nice chew to it. The portion was also quite large, similar to the Australian size!

We visited museums and residences of the British ambassadors in the olden days. We also walked along the beach area which was very romantic and extremely popular amongst couples. My dad spotted Starbuck's and decided to some coffee-fix. My sister saw the Chocolate Fondant and could not resist.

According to my sister, it was really good. It wasn't over cook and the chocolate flowed out as you cut into it. Would be perfect with Vanilla ice cream!

For dinner, we decided to try out a famous restaurant called Shin Yeh. My parents tried out the one called Green Leaf on their previous visit, which was recommended by lonely planet but they were not impressed, so we were told to try out this one instead.

When we first arrived there, it was quite busy and we were told to wait around 40 minutes. However, we managed to get our table after around 20 minutes. The restaurant was quite packed, very popular with local and Japanese businessmen. I was not impressed with the service here at all, probably the only place in Taipei with below average service. This might be because they were too busy. We were pressured into ordering before we finish looking at the menu and decide what to eat.

Chinese style wrap with shredded pork, vegetables and preserved vegetables fillings

This was quite average, similar to what I had at the night market.

We ordered porridge to eat with the other dishes. The porridge here had some sweet potato added to it. Quite a nice touch.


Stir Fried Vegetables in Garlic Sauce


Steamed Fish


Braised Pork Belly


Stir Fried Beef


Bean curd with mushrooms and vegetables

To be honest,I wasn't impressed with the dishes at Shin Yeh at all. It was slightly bland, and tasted mediocre. Maybe I was too used to Cantonese cuisines, but I really prefer Taiwanese Street food than the ones in proper restaurants, with the exception of my beloved Din Tai Fung.

Steamed buns with pork belly and preserved vegetables filling.

This was probably the best dish of the night!

Muah Chee for desserts (Glutinous rice cakes coated with ground peanuts)

This ends my 3rd night in Taiwan. There are still more food pictures from Taipei to come, so do drop by soon when you are free :)