But what are other places that people like? A good seafood place would be especially welcome. I’ve had far too much bad seafood in this town, which I suppose is what happens in tourist traps.
Some places that come to mind:
there’s an Indian wrap/ roti place near the MRT station - just around the corner from the Starbucks (on the main road, not on laojie).
a hole-in-the-wall Thai next to a hole-in-the-wall Indonesian, on… uh… an alley, 長興街 (Zhangxing Jie) I think. If you’re walking up Zhongshan Road (towards Eddy’s), you’ll come to a traffic light with a busy intersection; keep going along Zhongshan and turn right down the next alley. Both provide cheap ok-but-not-great street food, but I prefer Thai or Indonesian cheap street food to the Taiwanese variety.
decent frozen yogurt place on the waterfront, next to the best-avoided Ireland’s Potato.
the waterfront bar, near Big Tom’s ice cream: great beer selection, but unfortunately I find it’s not a good place to sit for very long (just stools on the railing).
There are a number of westernish restaurants along the waterfront, none of which I’ve gone to twice.
I do want to know about good Chinese/ Taiwanese places, but the only local-food place that I liked has closed. As has the Vietnamese stall that I liked. As has the Korean place near TKU that I liked.
There are a couple good hole-in-the-wall restaurants serving “agei” and fish dumplings on Zhenli Street (the steep, narrow road that goes up to Tamkang High School and Aletheia University).
Italian: “Consulate”, Across the street from the Fort San Domingo. Probably not 100% traditional / original / whatever, but I really liked the chicken liver & cream pasta for example. Plus they are dog friendly :scooby: See the green arrow on this map:
[googlemaps]25.174387,121.43315[/googlemaps]
Chinese: Don’t know the name, but it’s in the “Red House / Red Castle”. Nice evening views over Danshui when you are sitting outside, and if I recall correctly good food as well. See the green arrow on this map:
[googlemaps]25.17117,121.439266[/googlemaps]
Kooks you already mentioned… I also like the Kanpai (Japanese beer and self grilled meat) at the MRT, as well as one smallish “taiwanese steak house” (= meat with sauces on too soft spaghetti) also near the MRT. When I have some more time I will try to get better directions…
When was the last time you were at Red Castle? I used to really enjoy their food, but last time I was there - six or seven months ago - I felt the food had gone seriously downhill.
Consulate’s alright - definitely one of the better of the many western-style places along that stretch.
Re the seafood place three doors down from the frozen yogurt restaurant: I guess now we’ll have to try it! Our security guard recommended it ages ago, but when we found the establishment we thought “Meh… the guard just has friends there,” and didn’t go inside. Foolish me; I’ve lived in Taiwan long enough that I should know there’s no correlation between exterior appearance and quality of the food.
I’d forgotten about Kanpai. I’ve had a couple of great meals there, but I find I need to go to the top floor; on the second/ main floor, they try too hard to create a “renao” atmosphere that leaves me… well, that leaves me eager to kill, actually. “No, thank you, and if you once again shout that we should all ganbei, you’re either going to be picking bits of this glass out of your face, or having a surgeon remove it whole from your esophagus.”
If you like beef noodle soup and beef soup dumplings, there’s a great little place down the street from me on Xin Chun St, Ye Jia 葉家. I’ve tried all sorts of 牛肉麵 and 牛肉湯餃, including the one in Taipei city that’s supposed to be the best ever, and I still think this lady does it best. And it’s only NT65 for a huge bowl of 湯餃.
The Vietnamese place on Bei Xin Rd. that’s closed right now will open again on October 1. She’s recovering from childbirth. I like their spring rolls.
I’m afraid I don’t go out to eat seafood, too pricey for this poor student. I stick to the cheaper stuff, but always find a way to get to Eddy’s and Kook’s every now and then - and I need to get over to Donovan’s for some Irish food! I really like 涼麵 in the summer, and 七條通 that’s to the right of the OK Mart at the corner of 新生街 and Zhong Shan Rd. (across from the county library) has very good 涼麵 - but they close every day at 5:00 p.m.
You probably already know all the spots around the university, but I do like Tribal Kitchen’s chicken cordon bleu, and the special cabbage and garlic the boss makes is darned good.
Great, now I’m hungry. Guess I’ll make some blueberry french toast with the bread I got from Mr. Mark and the maple syrup Will brought back for me.
I only discovered that Vietnamese place on Beixin quite recently, and the first time I tried to go there, they’d closed for the month; the one that’s gone forever was on the little side road that goes from Beixin down to the PX Mart, “Yellow Box 3C”, and Subway. It was just a stall, but I liked their banh mi sandwiches and spring rolls.
Actually, the places near the university are what I may be most interested in - I’ve never even tried Tribal Kitchen, and may give it a shot sometime this week.
[quote=“lostinasia”]I only discovered that Vietnamese place on Beixin quite recently, and the first time I tried to go there, they’d closed for the month; the one that’s gone forever was on the little side road that goes from Beixin down to the PX Mart, “Yellow Box 3C”, and Subway. It was just a stall, but I liked their banh mi sandwiches and spring rolls.
Actually, the places near the university are what I may be most interested in - I’ve never even tried Tribal Kitchen, and may give it a shot sometime this week.
Thanks![/quote]
Haha, the one on Beixin IS the one that was on the side road, they moved! So wait until they open back up and drop in, same nice lady cooking up goodies.
For lunch when I can’t come home, I also like the Black Tea House near Tribal Kitchen. Their food is very good, large portions (too much, I always have to ask for less rice), and the owners are great. They have a cute black kitty who sometimes comes inside, very sweet. And it’s often quieter than some of the other places. They have the largest selection of drinks I’ve ever seen on a menu, but I always order the 咖啡奶茶.
