Gua Bao!
mostly just votes of support here:
ASSAM milk tea, absolutely my favorite boxed/bottled naicha, and my standby 15 kuai purchase when i walk into 7-11 not knowing what i really want but feeling compelled to snack. my alternate might be a bottle of Taiwan draft - this is obviously not a food but neither is milk tea and i seem to get a lot of nutrition miles out of it.
douhua with peanuts cold, or sometimes that almond soup hot with a smack of douhua sunk in it in the winter. its getting to be time.
mifen soup and youdoufu, a good snack of a meal fo’ cheap. it might not really count as a full meal but it counts as a Taiwanese meal, of which i eat 4 or 5 a day.
kongxincai with big cloves of garlic and that doulu(?) sauce.
well-seasoned and perfectly fried tianbula with basil.
choudoufu with a healthy side of paocai.
those big mushrooms that you get fried or grilled.
dangguitang is good broth when your sick or cold and feeling that special lack of sustenance that screams for broth.
this list could go long, but a very important last final entry, chuabing. topped with yuyuan, maipian, digua, and tangyuan, no cream.
ooh, i forgot the shaobingshala sold at that breakfast place at the corner of shimindadao and that first road east of Sogo that Mr.Fish and the plaza with Tower records is off of. its got mixed greens and a bit of that crunchy sweet sesame peanut stuff they put in fantuans and just enough mayonnaise to grease the shaobing and shala goodness down the tube smoothly. yum.
[quote=“chainsmoker”]Anybody have any Taiwanese foods that you have slowly (or quickly) become addicted to?
My personal favorites are:
Traditional douhua with peanuts
doufu gan and haidai
Chinese sausages (when they are done right)
Lately I have also been on a kick with the mango shuang/mango coconut shakes. The stands are starting to appear everywhere. There is a famous one in Shilin and the big hong kong chain has opened up branches in the Hsimending b[/b] and Donghua b[/b] Jie markets.
My absolute favorite has to be stir fried doumiao.[/quote]
“Traditional douhua with peanuts”, I tried this last year in many places and it seems to have gone backward (drop in quality) compared to what I had in childhood. One main dif is the curd itself, it tastes like they’re made of jelly rather than beans, syrup made of light white sugar. However, I came across one snack house in Tamshui that seems to have preserved the relish. The place is called Gu Zao Wei (Taiwanese go za vi) literally meaning ancient taste, along the walking alley right outside Tamshui MRT station.
After tasting it I ended up eating 3 bowls, once I get back to Taiwan next week I’ll go there again and follow up with actual address and other options.
Coffin boards…deep fried bread that has the middle cut out, filled with chicken or something else, and then replaced…like a deep fried sandich…mmmmmmmm
Chicken sandwiches…from the roadside stalls that look a lot like Showarma stands (for anyone else who has travelled in the Middle East).
Deep Fried Egg plant…makes eggplant edible…
KLG or DLC…KFC at half the price in the form of a road side stand…probably twice as much chance of salmonella tho…
Daryl
Coffin boards…deep fried bread that has the middle cut out, filled with chicken or something else, and then replaced…like a deep fried sandich…mmmmmmmm
Chicken sandwiches…from the roadside stalls that look a lot like Showarma stands (for anyone else who has travelled in the Middle East).
Deep Fried Egg plant…makes eggplant edible…
KLG or DLC…KFC at half the price in the form of a road side stand…probably twice as much chance of salmonella tho…
Daryl
Man… you guys are making me hungry… we should have a get-together to one of those night market and eat away…
yummy! - Me
Taiwanese EggPlant
Taiwanese Pineapple
Taiwanese Mango
Wax/Bell apple
Hsiao lung bao and shui jiao dumplings YUM
Ice with strawberries or mango
bing sha or like a 7-11 slurpee. Hits the spot in the summer.
sweet and sour soup
salty cookie Pork or Beef
Japanese style-preserved eggs like Caviar. Wrapped up and dried.
Taiwanese style pizza at Chicago’s Pizza
beef noodles
instant noodles
cold noodles miss that
chhoa-bing (and that’s Taiwanese, not Mandarin so don’t think my romanisation is peculiar)
For those of you who don’t know what it is it is shaved ice with various jellies, nuts, etc. on top. In summer I could live on that stuff.
- Fried / BBQ Corn at Shi Lin Night Market
- Meat Ball, the one with chewy skin and meat in the middle
- Oyster Pan Cake, best one is at Shi Lin night market
- Fried BBQ Chicken - Big Portion (
*cold lu dou tang (mung bean soup)
*chicken feet stewed in soy sauce
*warm doujiang
*sugary, black sesame-filled tanruan (please no more red bean!)
*danta (egg custards) (‘cept I dont’ know if this is a Taiwan creation)
and now I’m growing quite enamored of warm milk tea (without the pearls)
what’s interesting is that I never touched cilantro before I arrived here, but I now find myself going “mmmmm” whenever I smell it and eat it. I don’t know why. :?
I believe that they were originally a Portuguese creation. I’m not quite sure how they got here, but given that that ‘Japanese’ food tempura was also invented by the Portuguese, it seems reasonable to assume that danta got here around the same time.
The best egg custard tarts in the world are still in Portugal. They are smaller than the ones we are accustomed to; really just one bite. The pastry is thin and very crispy; the custard has just the right level of sweetness. If you ever make it to Estoril, near Lisboa (Lisbon), where they say the best ones are made, have one (or several) for me.
by way of macao, to hk, then just a few years ago to taiwan in a mad storm of egg sugar and pastry that made the lambada look like just another pop tune
The egg tart was originally from Portugal and was popularized in Macau by Lord Stow’s Bakery. From there it spread to Hong Kong and Taiwan. There used to be a Lord Stow’s in Taipei, but it is gone. I’ve been to the Lord Stow’s in Macau and the egg tarts there are really quite good. Nice fluffy buttery flaky crust, real caramelized top. Yummy. They also have great brownies.
Well, cilantro are frequently used in a lot of dishes here in Taiwan so it would be hard for you NOT to like them!! Enjoy the food and keep exploring!!
What is cilantro?
Brian
Bri. It’s some kind of weird regional dialect for coriander.
HG
The leaf of the coriander plant. You’ll have eaten it (or picked it out) loads of times in things like meatball soup and as a garnish. It has quite a strong flavour and generally people love it or hate it. I’m one of the former.
Interestingly, the seed of the coriander plant, often roasted, ground and used in Indian cookery, has quite a different taste. Some people who don’t like the leaf are fine with the ground spice.
I think the word cilantro is Spanish and they use it a lot in Mexican cookery (the leaf, not the word).
Yup, its a Spanish word. Little-known fact: when I worked as a chef in a Mexican restaurant (Viva Mexico in Edinburgh’s Cockburn Street, named in the two years running I worked there as the best Mexican eatery in the UK) my co-chefs were a Scottish husband and his Scottish-Thai wife. She used to go through the cilantro every morning and snaffle the roots, which she used in her Thai dishes. Different taste to both the leaves and the seeds.
cilantro yucky
Also known as chinese parsley in n.america … its way too strong for my taste.
Hey speaking of parsley … where can i find it?? I want to make tabbouleh. I went to the welcome but i didn’t see it. I figured they’de have it there. But nope … are they just not at MY Welcome?