Ah, yes. A little extra red dye No. 2 and artificial thickening agent can do a lot to improve the flavor. 
I think I’m not a picky eater, and I don’t dislike taiwanese food, but I don’t think it is awesome. I much prefer to cook by myself than eat out. Many of them are too sweet and oily. One of my favorite taiwanese food is clam and ginger soup.
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Yes!
Whut…? 
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it is not sweet nor oily, and I like ginger.
So do I.
As long as those fish are gutted properly (a rarity in Taiwan), I would eat that. Do you deliver ?
Honestly, the only one I’d eat there is the cabbage.
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Good, we will have the rest.
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Are we considering Hakka food Taiwanese? If so, I really do enjoy the food. I guess we also get things like kung pao chicken at these restaurants, but probably half of what we get are what would be considered pure Hakka dishes. Again, I do enjoy them.
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The reason a lot of your guys think that Taiwanese food sucks is that you live in the north. Taiwanese food in the north does tend to suck—I am sorry, they are just not very good at it, even when the store name has “Tainan” or some such marker.
That being said, the Hakka food in the hills of Hsinchu is great. There’s one place in Taipei City (in an old Japanese house, near Guting) that gets it right. Those guys are from Beipu, they know what they are doing.
The Atayal food in Wulai is a treat. Fantastic tasty stuff.
I love the veggies and chicken cooked in the mountainous areas. Country cooking that is rarely (if ever) replicated in places like Taipei City.
But for the real deal Taiwanese small eats, get to Tainan or Kaohsiung: squid balls, fish balls, nanbu zongzhi (no sauce added, please! that’s the key to enjoying these things), bawan (southern style is steamed, not deep fried like the barbarians in the north do it)—all great stuff.
Of course Taipei has some great food. It’s just not Taiwanese food. : D
Guy
I haven’t spent enough time in Kaohsiung to form an opinion, but I hated the food in Tainan. They add sugar to everything, which I can’t stand. Hakka food I can tolerate. It’s hard not to like salty, greasy food.
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Nanbu zongzhi (the ones made with pork) are not sweet. They are a stunning savoury flavour, with ultra tender slow cooked pork. The key to enjoying this is to ask: no sauce added! Add some chili oil after if you like that sort of thing. Then it’s great!
In Kaohsiung, I’d recommend some of the amazing squid ball, seafood ball, so called “tien bu la” places. The range of flavours at the best of those shops (again not sweet!) absolutely destroys the sorry excuse for fish balls served in the north!
Guy
I’ve had plenty of those. They’re OK. It’s hard not to like pork.
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Again I want to be clear. I am not talking about the northern beibu version of zongzhi, which taste like mediocre “you fan” (i.e. oil rice). The tenderness of the pork in the southern versions, in contrast, is off the charts! Again, these guys are steamed, not fried like their bad northern cousins.
Guy
Yes, I know the difference. And yes, the 南部粽 are better.
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Finally, something that looks good!
Damn I could use some curry rice right now.
Guy