TAIPEI: Favorite Restaurant in Taiwan..

I think I found a gem. Thanks to one of my buddies in Taiwan for bringing me last time I was there, I've been craving it and am I ever glad that I got to pay this small cozy restaurant another visit.
This restaurant is located on a street known as the "food street" in central Taipei. This is the street where the infamous "Ding Tai Feng" resides... but no, my favorite restaurant is not the fancy Ding Tai Feng, rather, this one here is a low-key, down-to-earth, Taiwanese cuisine.

They serve traditional yet tasty dishes, such as pan-fried Pork liver(!!!), pork oil on rice(yes does not sound healthy), bitter melon with salty egg yolk, etc.

The pan-fried pork liver looks like foie gras.. but it's alot chewier and I think it's pan-fried with soya sauce, intensive flavours and the texture is very different, it's more powdery and doesn't melt in your mouth but doesn't feel as greasy and I like how it's chewy.

The rice.. pork oil(lard) on rice. haha.. man.. that does NOT sound good at all... but the aroma came all the way from the kitchen, it smelled so good. Not the healthiest option, the flavors just made working out for 2 hours all worth it.

Let me share a little story of my experience with bitter melons. First time I tried it was in Okinawa, Japan. Bitter Melons was one of their specialty. It was good, bitter but I could take it. I went back to Osaka, tried it there and practically ran to the washroom throwing up. Went to Hong Kong, my aunt told me bitter melon juice is good for skin, thus thinking I could just shoot it like a shot of tequila or something, committed to it. I think I spat it all over my clothes (and the person next to me). Swore to never have it again. So I lied and tried it in Taiwan last year and was impressed, comparable to Okinawa! As simple as that, I ordered it again on my own will at this restaurant, Bitter melon with salty egg yolk. The bitter melon was really juicy, really fresh and not bitter at all, in fact.. even a little sweet!

We ordered chicken drumstick, this probably disappointed us the most. It was just chicken. It was good, don't get me wrong.. but it was JUST chicken.

We didn't plan on ordering soup but the server recommended it and we were glad we did, how much we would be missing out if we neglected it. It was clams and asparagus. It came in a clear broth, I was personally expecting it to be not too tasty but I was surprised by the freshness of the clams. The broth was sooo sweet. SOOOO sweet, it was surprising to come from a soup that clear.

Very decent prices, for all that, it came to less than $20USD for TWO! If you're in the area, don't forget to try Ice Monster, it's right around the corner. It's a fresh fruit shaved ice restaurant. Dessert that compliments the meal very well!

(Had this last time.. omg. so good)

TAIPEI: Pepper Buns 胡椒餅 @ Shi Lin Market

Pepper buns are a Chinese traditional snack from Fuzhou, then imported to Taiwan due to the popularity. This Chinese snack became a traditional snack in Taiwan. The strong flavour of black pepper is from the pork filling, being marinated with black pepper for hours, thus "Pepper Buns". Jia Xiang is one of the most renowned vender's in Taichung, winning the award “The best vender’s store in Taichung” in 1996. The pepper buns there are highly popular and have expanded to outside of Taichung to all over Taiwan.

Every bun is hand-made and then put into a special stove. After that, they will use their unique marinating methods to marinade the pork with dried chopped green onions. Sesame is placed on the top of the bun and charbroiled for 15 minutes.

The time and temperature in stove have to be precisely 280°, the oil of the pork will be absorbed by the skin due to the high temperatures. The skin would also become golden and crispy. Charbroiling the buns will make the buns less oily and more crispy.

Although the store I tried wasn't Jia Xiang, this was the next best thing. First time having it in Taiwan, regret not having the opportunity to try it in the past. If it wasn't for my friend that lives in Taiwan, touring me around the night markets, I would've never had found this delicacy.

TAIWAN: Ay-Chung's Flour-rice Noodles阿宗麵線

These rice-noodles that are made by Ay-Chung have originated since 1975 in Taiwan. Available throughout various locations in Taiwan, they definitely deserve the hype.

The shop is very small, and there's no room to sit, so everything was take out only. Apparently, the average daily receipts are close to US$30,000 (NT$1,000,000) a day. Very local indeed, as you pass by the store in Xi Men Ding, you will see crowds of people scattered around the restaurant, one is the line-up, the others are just people standing by the pillars eating their noodles.

These flour-rice noodles is the only thing they serve in the whole shop, there is a man standing in front of two giant woks, scooping noodles from one and soup from the other into a plastic green bowl. This bowl of wheat-based noodles, its strands are as fine as angel hair, suspended in a murky brown soup as thick as gravy; thickened with a healthy dose of cornstarch, this soup clung to the noodles. There were pieces of pork intestine, needle mushrooms and bamboo shoots to add to the texture of the combination. Condiments includes hot chili oil and parsley.

You would not believe it, but I just HAD to get myself a bowl on the way to the airport, and yes, we were eating it on the taxi, scorching hot and the ride was a bumpy one but we didn't spill a drop!

HONG KONG: Modern Toilet

Concept restaurants have had their highs and now most of them are in their lows. Most of these restaurants are not about the food, people get bored easily. I believe the Modern Toilet can only follow through the same pattern as the past ones. While this concept restaurant is still fairly new and one of the only ones in Hong Kong, there is still quite a lineup during dining hours.
The concept is TOILETS. Nothing BUT toilets. The seats are toilet fixtures, the tables are sinks, the decor uses urinals and plungers, the specialty corner is a bath and shower fixture, the dishes are served on miniature toilets/bathtubs and drinks are served in miniature urinals.

This restaurant originated in Taiwan where all the creative F&B people reside. The food I must say was pretty notorious but the concept is cute. The owners claimed to have thought of this idea while watching Mr. Slump, a popular Japanese cartoon.

The dishes are mainly Asian dishes, serving dishes like Curry, Korean Sorak Pork with rice, Baked rice, Japanese milk hotpot, Szechuan spicy hot pot, etc.

Desserts are however, the most interesting. They had desserts such as chocolate ice cream placed inside a toilet; chocolate ice cream with strawberry drizzle, giving them unappetizing descriptions, bloody poop, stuff like that.

Red Chili Wontons

I've had a lot of traditional Chinese food throughout my lifetime. May it be Cantonese dishes, Szechuan dishes, Beijing dishes, Taiwanese dishes, Shanghainese dishes.. the list is never ending. Of all these dishes, I must say, my favorite is Red Chili Wontons. I can have my own order of Red Chili Wontons(RCW) and never get bored of it. Now ONLY when it's good. And when I mean "good", i don't mean alot of garlic nor alot of excess seasoning. I don't like it with vinegar nor soya sauce.

My recipe:
Ingredients:
100-150 g Small wontons (the smaller, the better)
a bit of dried shrimp
1 stick of green onions
sesame oil, red chili oil,
pepper

1. Boil wontons until they are well done. drain and let them sit for a little while
2. Mix all the other ingredients together (Feel free to add garlic if that's what you fancy)
3. Mix with wontons
4. Garnish with green onions
5. VOILA!

Keep in mind, there are two types of RCW. One is the Taiwanese-style which I love and the other is the Shanghainese style with the soya sauce, vinegar and massive amount of garlic. I have yet to find the perfect Taiwanese-style RCW in Hk. Let me know if you know of any please!