Taipei (Nov 2012) (1/3)

Fourth visit to Taipei in seven years, and the third consecutive one in as many years. This time, I went with my gf, who had never been to Taiwan. We booked our flight via Scoot, which cost us around S$380 per pax. Happened to bump into quite a few familiar faces at Changi Airport - one ex-colleague and two other colleagues (who were travelling separately too). 

While on the plane, I asked for a cup of water. The air stewardess told me that mineral water would cost S$4 per bottle, but if I had my own empty bottle, I could fill it up with drinking water (aka tap water) in front. It sort of implied that they didn't even want to provide me with a cup! But two hours later, I was so thirsty that I went behind to ask them directly for a paper cup. Which the air steward did give, albeit a bit grudgingly. Point to remember: bring your own empty bottle if you are taking Scoot next time.

Day 1

Our flight was at 1255am, so we reached there at around 5am. We had planned to take the airport shuttle bus out to Taipei city, since we had too much time and the cab fare isn't really cheap (NT$1,200, or S$50.85). But as luck had it, one colleague said that a driver will be coming to pick her up, so she offered to drop us off a MRT station in the city.

We got off at Taipei City Hall MRT station, and took a train to Daan station. From there it was around a seven minute walk to 永和豆浆大王. It was one of the few places I know that is opened for 24 hours, and since it was only around 7am, this was a perfect choice.

油条, 蛋饼, 烧饼夹肉松, 温豆浆

Dipping the 油条 into the soya milk

The 油条 was really good, but the rest were only average. Still, we were really hungry and wolfed down everything.

It was still too early to check in, so we went to a nearby Starbucks cafe and sat there for a couple of hours while using free wifi. Went to Sogo at Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station to buy some foodstuffs to bring home, and naturally, I grabbed a bowl of 阿宗面线 while we were there. Ah, I really missed this!

阿宗面线, NT$60 (S$2.54)

Lunch was at 鸡窝餐厅, which I had gone before in my previous visit. Their chicken soups are as fantastic as ever, and this time we even got a nice private room for two.

Entrance of 鸡窝餐厅

Panorama picture of our private room, which was too small and narrow for a normal picture 

原味鸡汤, NT$360 (S$15.25)

This restaurant is really under my 'must-go' list whenever I visit Taipei. The richness of their chicken soups is really out of this world, and I doubt if you can get this standard anywhere in Singapore. Even if there is, I am sure it would cost several times more.

Restaurant name: 鸡窝餐厅

Address: 台北市敦化南路二段81巷63号 (Nearest MRT is Daan station)

Tel: 02-2704-3038

It was almost 1pm by the time we finished lunch, so we went to check in at our hotel, Li Yuan Hotel (俪园饭店). It was situated at a rather good location, just beside Taipower Building MRT station and around five minutes' walk from 师大夜市.

The room is quite small but cosy

The most interesting thing about the room is the high-tech toilet bowl, which can help you wash up after you have finished your business, big or small

The hotel room wasn't expensive - it cost us NT$10,520 (S$445.76) for four nights, so it boils down to around S$111 per night. However, the room was full of mosquitoes when we checked in. After killing four, I decided that I have had enough and called the front counter to complain. They promised to help clear out the mosquitoes once we leave. I then took the chance to make reservations for some restaurants that were in our itinerary for the next few days.

Had an early dinner (430pm) at 金泰, another restaurant that I visited last year as well. It was located quite far away, so to save some money on cab fares, we took the MRT to Gangqian station, which was  11 stops away and required three transits. From there, we took a cab. They have actually increased their prices compared to last year, but that does not change the fact that it is still a fabulous deal for Japanese food.

鱼肚泥葱花盖饭, NT$300 (S$12.71)

I missed out on this in my past visit, so I made sure to order this as well. Gosh, this was superb! Other than all the ingredients being very fresh, the combination made this dish a must-try. In fact, they even had some suggestions on how to eat this. They specifically stated not to mix everything together as this will destroy the natural taste and combination of the rice. At this price, this is a stealer.

炒菠菜, NT$100 (S$4.24)

Some vegetables to neutralise all the meat that we have been eating.

海胆, NT$450 (S$19.07)

Unbelievably fresh and melts in your mouth! A real steal for less than S$20!

牡丹虾, NT$670 (S$28.39)

These are HUGE prawns. Fresh, sweet, and succulent. The prawn heads were very rich - so rich, in fact, that I felt full after sucking on two of them.

综合生鱼片, NT$250 (S$10.59)

A generous serving of assorted sashimi, sliced rather thickly. My gf has always loved sashimi. But today, this was actually rather neglected due to the other delicacies.

烤明太子, NT$230 (S$9.75)

Grilled mullet roe. This time, it was still a bit too salty even when taken with the sweet onions.

烤虱目鱼肚, NT$210 (S$8.90)

Grilled milkfish belly. Nothing too special about this dish. But the accompanying pepper really makes one choke easily.

The total bill came up to NT$2,210 (S$93.64), which was really value-for-money considering the quality and quantity (we ordered too much! Could have dropped the grilled milkfish belly and grilled mullet roe, actually). Another entrant on my 'must-go' list. For this visit, I actually made a reservation six weeks in advance, and the person who answered was really pleased when she learnt that I was calling from Singapore.

Restaurant name: 金泰

Address: 台北市内湖区旧宗路121巷34号 (Nearest MRT is Gangqian or Wende station, but still need to take a cab)

Tel: 02-8792-8167

Day 2

We started the day by going to 犁记 to buy pineapple tarts back to Singapore, before proceeding to 上引水产 for an early lunch (we skipped breakfast for this). 

Entrance of 上引水产, translated to 'Addiction Aquatic Development'

上引水产 is actually a high-class seafood supermarket with a small integrated restaurant.

I think that is Alaskan crab... it's huge

Fresh fish

Fresh oysters, NT$96 (S$4.07) each

Sea urchin going at NT$768 (S$32.54) per plate

Gigantic scallops! NT$246 (S$10.42)

Our breakfast-cum-lunch at their standing counter. No seats, no reservations allowed.

At the standing bar

The menu was a bit confusing (being all in Chinese doesn't help - I think I don't know more than half the fish names in the menu) so we just went ahead with one of their set menus (立舟套餐), which cost NT$580 (S$24.58). It was not fixed - rather, the restaurant decides on what to offer. Here's what we got:

海鲜沙拉

The starter - a seafood salad.

油鲔鱼葱花手卷

Minced tuna with spring onions, mixed with rice and wrapped with seaweed.

立舟握寿司

Assorted sushi. We were told to eat it in the following order: light coloured fish --> dark coloured fish --> fish roe --> prawn.

秋刀盐烧

Grilled sanma fish. I have always loved sanma fish and ordered or bought them quite often in Singapore. This was easily the best I have ever eaten; I suppose this is the difference between fresh and frozen fish! This was so much more tender and juicy.

鱼骨味噌汁

Miso soup with seafood. The soup was mixed with the right amount of miso and seafood such that it was slightly sweet and yet not overpowered by the taste of seafood.

For the quality and freshness of their food, S$25 was definitely worth it! Will definitely visit here again and order their higher-priced lunch set.

Restaurant name: 上引水产

Address: 台北市民族东路410巷2弄18号 (Nearest MRT is Xingtian Temple station, but still need to take a cab)

Tel: 02-2508-1268 (but no reservations accepted)

Next stop - 西门町. 

Shortly after we arrived, we were approached by this young kid who was probably around 15 to 16 years old. He greeted us enthusiastically and asked where we were from. When he learnt that we were from Singapore, he appeared to be rather delighted and started to ask more questions.

I felt wary. He was acting too friendly for my comfort, for one thing. And he was trying to act cute too, which I detest. I asked him bluntly what he wanted. He quickly assured us that he was not any “可疑人物" and then explained that he was a student who was trying to raise funds for something (he spoke too fast for me to catch). From his bag, he took out some souvenirs and asked if we were willing to donate for that.

We rejected his offer. He tried to sell us something different, and when we turned him down again, his face changed entirely - from all-smiles into a scowl - muttered something rude, and stormed off. We shrugged and continued walking. Saw someone else doing the same to other tourists - obviously from the same group too. 

There was a newly built Uniqlo here, and we spent most of our time in 西门町 here. They were having some opening sales, so we ended up buying some stuff from here instead of from the local shops. Grabbed a bowl of 阿宗面线 (naturally!), then took the MRT to Houshanpi station, where it was just a five minute walk to 五分埔.

One of the many alleys of 五分埔

五分埔 was a bit like Bangkok's Chatuchak Market, except that it was much smaller (and cooler!). The clothes they sell are cheaper than elsewhere, so I thought I would bring my gf here to shop. But the stuff there turned out not to be as cheap as we thought; additionally, nothing really caught her eye here, so we left before schedule for dinner at 桥头麻辣鸳鸯火锅.

Entrance of 桥头麻辣鸳鸯火锅

If not for the fact that I had been here six years ago, I would have been fairly dubious before going in. The entrance looked so shady!

麻辣 and 牛奶锅, NT$400 (S$16.95)

It didn't take us long to settle down and order our food. I had made a reservation ten days in advance, as this was a pretty popular place as well. And as usual, we ended up ordering too much food again.

What we ordered: 

- 沙朗牛肉, NT$380 (S$16.10)

- 猪肉, NT$250 (S$10.59)

- 手工鲜虾丸, NT$240 (S$10.17)

- 台南鱼丸, NT$80 (S$3.39)

- 鱼饺, NT$80 (S$3.39)

- 鱼片, NT$200 (S$8.47)

- 大白菜, NT$100 (S$4.24)

- 金针菇, NT$100 (S$4.24)

All were quite good (except for the vegetables - how good can plain cabbage and mushrooms be?) but the homemade prawn balls definitely deserved a special mention. One bite and there was an explosion of fresh prawn flavour. Superb! 

Restaurant name: 桥头麻辣鸳鸯火锅

Address: 台北市敦化南路一段157号2楼 (Nearest MRT is Zhongxiao Dunhua station)

Tel: 02-2777-5608