Taipei (Oct 2011) (1/2)

Went to Taipei for a 5D4N trip with my parents. This is my third visit to Taipei, and it's still not going to be the last visit in the near future. Taiwan is one of the few countries I can make repeated visits to without feeling bored. The food is one thing - if you know the correct places, you can get to eat fantastic food at very affordable prices (I went there fully armed with a list of recommendations from a Taiwanese friend). In fact, food was the main reason why I went to Taiwan! And the people there are also Chinese, so I tend to feel more at home. They are also generally very helpful and polite, and these traits aren't easily associated with Singaporeans. 

Day 1

Reached Taoyuan airport and took a cab to Park Taipei Hotel for around NT$1,200 (S$52.45). Park Taipei Hotel (台北美伦大饭店) is at a rather good location, just opposite Daan (大安) MRT station. Internet is free but only via wired connection in the room, so for mobile phones and tablets, you need to bring a router along. I brought my laptop, so this wasn't an issue.

Bedroom at Park Taipei Hotel

Internet is free but it is only available via wired connection (ADSL)

They offer wifi only at their business centre, which is opened 24 hours, but it is still a hassle to go there just to use my phone.

After settling down, we proceeded to a restaurant called 鸡窝 for a very-late-lunch at 4pm, but found out that it would only open at 530pm for dinner. We were starving, so we went to a nearby cafe instead, Second Floor Cafe. 

Second Floor Cafe

It caught our eye because it looked quite cosy. Surprisingly, the food was pretty good!

All-in-one brunch set, NT$350 (S$15.30)

Their all-in-one brunch set was only available on weekdays, 2pm to 5pm, and subject to availability too. For just NT$350 (S$15.30), we got a choice of eight sides - egg, cheese, potato, soup, salad, meat, bread, and dessert - and two drinks. Out of all these, the omelette was the most outstanding. I am not really a big fan of omelettes, but I found this to be really good. The hash browns were great too, but then again, it's not too difficult to make good hash browns. The bagel, however, was too hard and dry.

Club sandwich, NT$230 (S$10.05)

Club sandwich was done pretty well too, especially the fries.

Three of us shared two meals with the intention of having dinner not too long after, but we still ended up being quite stuffed. By the time we finished, it was already 515pm, so I told my parents to wait till 530pm and revisit 鸡窝, since it was so near - and I didn't want to waste one meal without trying out one of the restaurants on my list. And I was really glad we did. Their chicken soups were the best I have ever tasted.

Original flavoured chicken soup，NT$360 (S$15.73)

This was their original flavoured chicken soup, so it comes with just one huge chicken thigh. The soup was incredibly rich, and if you look carefully, there's a layer of oil on top that actually helps to prevent the heat from dissipating. If I were drinking this in cold weather, I think this bowl will warm me up better than anything else. I blogged about the shark's fin soup from Majestic Restaurant before (http://goombaishere.blogspot.com/2011/07/majestic-restaurant-new-majestic-hotel.html), and for the price difference (half the price and around six times the quantity), I must say this chicken soup is definitely much more worth it. For those who are unaware, the base of shark's fin soup is actually chicken soup. Shark's fin by itself is tasteless - it is added to thicken the soup without using cornstarch, and of course for its texture. 

Chicken soup with mushrooms, NT$480 (S$20.98)

This is just the same chicken soup as above, but with mushrooms. Honestly, I don't think it was worth it - adding these mushrooms in actually diluted the soup a little (though the soup was so strong that it still tasted fabulous) but it definitely wasn't worth paying 33% more for.

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

Went to Sogo to shop after that, and we passed by 阿宗面线. Despite not being really hungry, I still found the appetite to down one bowl. 

阿宗面线，东区分店

During my past visits to Taipei, I would grab one bowl whenever I pass by. So on average, I eat around one big bowl per day. The small bowl costs NT$45 (S$1.97) while the big bowl costs NT$60 (S$2.62). Many people have the misconception that it is oyster mee sua, but it's actually mee sua with pig intestines. 

Dinner was at around 10pm at 师大夜市, and I brought my parents to the same 卤味 which I tried last year.

灯笼加热卤味，师大夜市

There were many stalls there selling 卤味, but this was the most popular. Identifying it by the two red lanterns above it was insufficient - I saw at least one other stall with similar lanterns as well. So the best way is to remember its name - 灯笼加热卤味.

Just look at the amount of ingredients available for you to choose from

After choosing your ingredients, they will boil them in some flavoured gravy/sauce, and then drizzle some secret sauce and garnish with salted vegetables.

Our plate of 卤味 costs NT$400 (S$17.48)

This was our plate, and it consists of chicken liver, pig intestines, Taiwanese 山菜, dried beancurd, pig stomach, 王子面, and... I can't remember the rest. The noodles is a must-add for me, and one packet may seem a lot, but it's actually very little. For three people, we should have added two packets instead.

师大夜市
Address: 台北市大安区龙泉街106号 (Nearest MRT is Taipower station)

Day 2

There wasn't much free time in our itinerary, so we squeezed 淡水 in the morning.

淡水老街

We were really short of time, so we only went to 淡水老街. I bought some of 淡水's specialties - 铁蛋 (阿婆铁蛋 is supposedly the best) and some fish crackers (鱼酥). My parents got some 黑金刚 (black peanuts) too, and we left in just 1.5 hour.

Lunch was at a restaurant called Kiki Restaurant, which serves Sichuan cuisine. According to the Taipei Times, it is actually owned by a celebrity, 蓝心湄.

老皮嫩肉, NT$200 (S$8.74)

This was the best dish, in my opinion. The name of the dish - 老皮嫩肉 - describes it perfectly. It is actually deep fried beancurd, and the insides were incredibly tender. Move aside, Boon Tong Kee!

醉鸡腿, NT$310 (S$13.55)

Their drunken chicken tasted quite good, as the alcohol and seasoning have seeped fully into the meat. The only gripe I had was that the meat was a little too tough.

苍蝇头, NT$220 (S$9.62)

苍蝇头, an innovative name for Chinese chives (韭菜) that is chopped into very small pieces. This is such a simple dish with very common ingredients - chives, chilli padi, minced pork, fermented black beans, and garlic - but it tastes damn good. It is considered a very spicy dish, but I still found it quite all right.

腐乳空心菜, NT$150

This was one of the common recommendations for Kiki, but it was a total letdown. The kang kong tasted very bland, with almost no hint of fermented beancurd at all. 

Restaurant name: Kiki Restaurant
Address: 台北市复兴南路一段28号 (Between Nanjing East Road MRT station and Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station)
Tel: 02-2752-2781

Next stop was 西门町, which is considered the Shibuya of Taipei. I am not interested in fashion, so the main attractions here were 阿宗面线 (again) and a shop selling all anime and manga stuff. 

My mother preferred to shop in departmental stores, so this time I brought her to 新光三越. It was actually pretty similar to Sogo, so we spent the most time at their supermarket looking for foodstuff to bring home. 

8pm - dinner at a BBQ restaurant called MOE Yakiniku Restaurant. 

Our beef slices on their charcoal grill

Another fantastic dinner. They used charcoal stoves to grill the meat, so the food obviously tasted much better than hot plates or electric stoves. Service was good too, and the waitress who served us was quite pretty too, heh. 

Chicken and pork slices

Both were excellent. Totally no complaints.

Wagyu sirloin steak, NT$1,280 (S$55.94)

This was the highlight of the night. The meat was carefully grilled by them such that the outside was nicely seared but the inside was still pink, more towards red. One bite and all the oil and juices just gushed into my mouth... gosh. Incredibly good.

Shisamo, or capelin fish. Also known as 'pregnant fish' as it is full of roe

MOE is a must-try. It is definitely one of the best BBQ restaurants I have ever been to.

Restaurant name: MOE Yakiniku Restaurant
Address: 台北市敦化南路一段270巷25号 (Nearest MRT is Zhongxiao Fuxing station)
Tel: 02-8772-5129