Saturday, January 30, 2010

Why I hate Joe's Shanghai (and consequently love Taiwan)

Okay, so there are a multitude of reasons I hate Joe's Shanghai (which is not to say I won't go on occasion... I have cravings too!), but at the top of that list is price. No it's not outrageous to serve 8 soup dumplings for $6. I mean, it's an art form to be able to make paper thin skins hold back a gushing flow of soupy hot goodness... all while maintaining a disturbing level of uniformity. Still, when Taiwan does it 80 NT ($2.50~) you gotta be a bit annoyed right? Anyway, these are from a small shack near the 中正紀念堂 (CKS Memorial Hall). During the day, the shack is essentially a hole in the wall where people, illegally, sell fruits and vegetables. At night, a transformation occurs, and a legitimate business appears. Like a well oiled machine, they offer takeout boxes of 8 miniature soup dumplings (I suppose you could eat there, but the tables and stools are all pretty bootleg), serving a constant line that usually stretches 4 or 5 deep. Now I know what you're thinking, that's not that long a line. Yeah? Well that's because they're efficient at what they do. I mean... they are Asian. The soup dumplings themselves aren't 'omg I crapped my pants good,' but they stack up favorably with the ones at Joe's Shanghai... and for the price they can't be beat. If you're drunk or hungover, it would make a terrific snack haha. The stall is located on 杭州南路 (Hang Zhou South Street) and is likely the only place open at night.

To be honest, the only reason I made this post was to test if my Foodbuzz post feed was working. That's why it's so damn short... apologies lol. BTW, if you're sick of my Taipei posts, well too bad, I have about 100 more pictures worth of posts to do.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Ramen, fast food style

So I ran into someone at the gym the other day... and found out that apparently people actually read this thing. So, out of guilt, I'll make a food post. Let's be honest, I don't remember the name of this place. Strangely enough I remember the prices, the things I ordered, the location, and even the freakin' bus I took to get there (263 if that even matters). Anyhoo, I remember going here because I was craving ramen like no one's business, and I was on a tight budget. Seriously... I got paid 600 NT ($20) a day to do research for 8 hours. I realize I have to temper my expectations for wages in Taiwan, but still... I felt jipped. So I came here, a fast food ramen place (the mascot is a little cartoon samurai if any food detectives wanna help me out here), because it had ramen dishes for 79 NT ($2.50) specals. I ordered the chasu ramen for my mom since she just wanted the cheapest thing on the menu. That's the one on the upper left. Uh... it was good for what it was, student food. I mean, if you compared it with the US joints, yeah, it could rank amongst Menkuitei or Setagaya, but come on Asia... you can do better. It was the standard pork ramen with bamboo, fake crab, an egg... and yeah... that was about it. Nothing worth explaining, but man that bowl of ramen sure is beautiful. On a cold day like today... I'm totally craving that hot bowl of mediocrity.

I personally got the curry ramen (remember? I had a curry phase this Summer). It was a bit more, colorful... I guess. It was more or less the same thing, several slices of chasu pork with fermented bamboo, fake crab, a tea egg type thing made with curry sauce, and corn, all served in a soup with a super strong curry scent. I actually thought it came together rather well, the pungency of the bamboo offset the strong taste of the curry, and made for quite a pleasant soup base to finish with. Oh, the noodles were... most likely from store bought packaging. Whatever. For less than $3, I wasn't expecting anything mind blowing. It was satisfying though.


Friday, January 22, 2010

I'm on hiatus until...

I get into the graduate school I wanna go to... which might be later this week (or not). In any case, I'm too lazy/stressed to write crap about food right now, which is weird, since I'm eating way more food because I am stressed. Good luck to me!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Balls deep in love

Haha, sorry if you don't get the reference. I'm a bro, and I like watching 'The Cleveland Show.' Anyway, This'll be another short post since I don't remember much about these. Same trip to 臨江夜市 (Lin Jiang Night Market), as I was leaving I saw a stand manned by a guy and his daughter selling Takoyaki... fried octopus balls. Basically they take something similar to, but isn't, 魚漿 (fish paste) to make a batter which are then poured into essentially a waffle iron of spheres. They then drop a cut up section of octopus into each one and essentially pan fry the balls to GBD. Once the underside is cooked, they add more batter on top of the matrix, and artfully flip each one upside down. They have serious skills, like no joke, they can flip maybe 100 of these balls 1 by 1 in under a minute. During the whole process, more and more oil is squirted onto the griddle thingy, so you just know there's a crapload of oily goodness ready to spill out and burn your mouth.

Anyway, sorry for the bad picture, my arms were still shaking at that point, sigh. So they give you 6 of these balls of golden deliciousness, and top it with <3 Kewpie mayo, bonito flakes, and... unfortunately an overload of wasabi. That kind of ruined it for me... I think I would've preferred them plain. In any case, these were okay I guess if you're craving, but they weren't out of this world incredible (which is good since I don't remember where it was located). Dissatisfied panda indeed.

Almond flavored tofu shaved ice (杏仁豆腐冰)

On the very same trip to 臨江夜市 (Lin Jiang Night Market) I once again had a sudden want for shaved ice. It wasn't hot or anything, I think I just have this thing where I feel compelled to eat something cold at the end of a meal, which is why I'm constantly eating ice cream when I'm in the US. Now you have to understand that this particular night market is like a labyrinth of streets branching off one main street. I have no clue how I came across this place since it was in an alley, but I'm glad I did. Maybe it was the pseudo Japanese decor of the store front, or maybe the fact that it was packed, but I felt compelled to go in. Surprisingly clean for a Taiwanese joint, the inside did indeed feel like a shop that could be found in Japan. Now I'm not a stickler for the appearance of a shop, but I have to say... it was impressive to me haha.

That would be the banner on the wall. Seriously, I suck at taking pictures, but the banner is out of perspective. They basically wrote an explanation of why their shaved ice is the shiz, taking up the entire face of a wall. Basically it says... "Blah blah blah blah, we put almond flavored tofu at the bottom of our shaved ice omgz!" If you're unaware of what it is... think of a gelatin like dessert that has the slight flavoring of almond extract and is subtly sweet. It's basically jello on crack... and in a better flavor.

So the dish was... uh, to be honest I forget how expensive it was. I think it was around 60 NT ($2), but I'm not sure. It was too long ago! I know it didn't top 100 NT though. How was the taste though? So if you read my blog, you know I go apeshit over shaved ice... true story. Well, let me say that this is hands down my favorite place in all of Taiwan, which I decided after I came back to the US. Yes the top portion of the dish is just a plain red bean and condensed milk mixture, but it's executed well enough that the trademark of the dessert can shine. When you slice through the middle layer of ice, you soon fine a springy gelatin dessert at the bottom with a heavy scent of almond. Combining the 3 layers of overwhelming sweetness, biting cold, and something that could only be described as 'QQ' results in what is easily one of my favorite desserts in Taipei. If you ever find yourself at this night market, please do yourself a favor and find this shop, I promise it's worth it.


Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Oyster pancakes! (蚵仔煎)

Otherwise known as my greatest weakness... aside from bullets and 2k's. I like this stuff, I really do. Did I mention I scratch like a fool when I have shellfish? Oh... that sucks pretty hard for me I guess. Sorry for the bad picture, I think I had done some pretty intense arm workout the day before and I couldn't hold my camera still for the life of me. Anyway, this was just from a random stall at 臨江夜市 (Lin Jiang Night Market), I was craving, and I wanted to have it at least once over the summer. I think it was something insane like 50 NT ($1.50) for the giant plate sized portion. Basically, you take eggs, scallions, lard, and an assload of potato starch and mix it with oysters to create a thick pancake like batter which is then free formed on a hot surface. Once 'cooked' (the term is used loosely) to a jiggly consistency, the plate is served with a sweet sauce not unlike that on tempura. I've also had it with straight oyster sauce and chili sauce, but I'm pretty sure this is more common. Note to those with weak stomachs... don't even try it. Since they don't really cook the oysters, a lot of people 'win the lottery' after they eat it. By lottery, I mean they crap their brains out. Enjoy!

Post dinner meal at 溫州大餛飩 (Wen Zhou Big Wonton)

I do know where is from! I was super hungry really late one night after dinner and I was wandering around behind my apartment when I realized that there are no such things at 24 hour delis in Taipei. There's only 7-11 and OK mart. Not that those things are bad, just I wanted something that resembled a meal on a plate. I came across a chain called 溫州大餛飩 or loosely translated as 'Wen Zhou Big Wonton.' This is why I hate translating things into English, it sounds stupid. Anyway, I got a mixed wonton noodle dish with 老虎醬... tiger sauce ha. The sauce is that pile of crap paste in the middle of the ultra thin noodles, which is sitting in a bed of chili oil and delicious pork wontons. Trust me, when you have the munchies, McDonald's is good and all, but this hits the spot like no other. The noodles mixed with sauce taste slightly sweet, yet at the same time... appropriately spicy. Having raw scallions on top makes for another sharp taste if you happen to bite into a mouthful. After you're done with the noodles, the wontons are left sitting in a pool of oil that I can only describe as liquid fire. Seriously, they put Szechuan Gourmet to shame. It doesn't hurt that they're pretty damn good on their own. Thin, almost translucent, yet resiliently chewy skins make for an odd yet pleasant texture in the mouth. Did I mention it's a chain (i.e. SUPER cheap... I think it was 50 NT or $1.50).

Unknown shaved ice place...

So, I actually have no clue where that bowl of shaved ice is from. It was in the middle of sequence of pictures that I don't remember eating. In summary, I'm just posting this picture because it's in my food folder, and I don't like having pictures go to waste. Plus I'm pretty sure none of you are actually reading my blog anyway, I figure pictures are a better way to trick people into looking at my posts. From my excellent skills of deduction, I can tell you that it's red bean and taro (and it might be 臺一 'Tai Yi' shaved ice). I like red bean and condensed milk. I also like taro soaked in syrup and condensed milk. I assume it was pretty good. Crap... now I miss Taiwan. Anyhoo, expect many many more of these posts where I offer virtually no worthwhile content. I just want an excuse to post more pictures.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Tofu City... or at least I think that's what it's called (豆腐花成)

I keep saying I have posts left from Taiwan (and boy do I ever), but I haven't done anything in the past few months about it. I'm super bored what with Winter break and all, so I have a bit of time to chip away at that never ending queue. On a random day of walking near SOGO, I came across a shaved ice dessert place that I'd never seen before. I actually have no clue what attracted me to go in, considering the store front looked pretty groddy, and the owner was a woman with a very 'intimidating' look... take that as you will. Maybe I was just craving something sweet/cold. Honestly it's been way too long for me to remember my motivations for eating haha (it's a miracle I'm even posting these things at all!). Anyhoo, I stumbled in, took a look at the menu, and settled on that mess of goose crap green you see to the left.

First up, here's the menu in all its glory (and prices too)! Still too lazy to explain everything, but basically they had a small twist on traditional shaved ice. It should be noted that nothing on their menu is over 70 NT ($2.50) so it's definitely cheap. Their style is to shave half a container of ice, then to sandwich a ball of ice cream in the middle of the pile, then to drizzle the syrup over top. This allows for a crapton of combination possibilities, since they have rather exotic ice cream flavors like... mango.

Just a close up. I chose to go strawberry inside green tea shaved ice. Despite the unappealing olive green syrup, it tasted pretty good. The syrup was super concentrated so it had the bitterness of matcha, but just enough to mesh properly with the ice (which, once melted, tasted kind of like a green tea smoothie). The strawberry ice cream was... more or less, meh, but it was a nice contrast of sweetness to the bitterness. I can't say I was overwhelmed by their 'ingenuity,' but it was satisfying (if I recall correctly haha), and cheap... which is way more important. As far as the name, they're supposedly better known for their dessert style tofu. I think the green goop appealed to me more for some reason.


Friday, January 1, 2010

Stalk... I mean contact me

Not that any of you care, but if you're so inclined to want to email me... you can do so from my profile page on the right. Feel free to ask me questions, but I can't guarantee that I'll answer them, or even that my answers will be correct, but hey... you can try! Uh, if you're my friend, could you not send me stupid emails? I'd appreciate it. In closing, and on a completely unrelated note, that picture to the left is indeed a pile of elephant crap. It's sort of out of scale, it's about 4' wide. I just couldn't find any other picture that would fit with this post, so yeah. Enjoy. I don't know why I took a picture of it either, so don't ask that.