Keelung Revisited

After 5, or was it 6, long years, I find myself back here in Keelung. It was a term-break trip with my two army buds Mr Three-Goals-Scored (Sar-Liap-Kui) and Mr Jerry. Mr BeeBee couldn't join us unfortunately because Taiwan was branded as an EVIL place with temptations everywhere (in the form of Betal Nut Beauties maybe) Two things I remember from the trip: 1. We took loads of long old-school train rides, because the HSR (highspeed rail) wasn't built yet. 2. Mr Three Goals-Scored *ahem* was down with a case of mild food poisoning and developed a minute phobia of Taiwanese street food. (it was mostly Macs for him after).

Well it was a memorable trip that lasted 8days, I remember we bought like a tonne of souveniers & food back. At Keelung however, I remembered we paid tourist prices for mediocre seafood and posed for cheesy photos of a Hollywood-inspired KeeLung signage. But hey! It was still fun. *the Keelung sign is a tiny speck on the first photo, squint if u want to see it*

The giant Guanyin statue at 中正公園 was a sight to remember as well. Breath-taking isn't it. It is actually a week-end playspot for families where kids enjoy sand-art, driving battery-operated mobiles and other games. There's the kids making a mess with sand-art. The lady-boss was going around trying to teach those darn monkeys to tap the un-used sand back into the basins but I'm sure you all can guess to what success that amounts to =)

And soon, it was LUNCH-TIME. No Macs for me I'm afraid *sarcastically*, it's off for some food where the locals eat! We went straight past the 廟口夜市 area (Hey, i'm no longer a tourist) and straight into their local market (菜市場). You just know good food is there, 1. the locals horde there 2. it's the wet market! for goodness sake (same thing as Singapore) Confirm, Guarantee + Chop can find good food.

My distributor was pretty revved up about this stall. It's been here since he was young, so that makes it a 老字號 (about 30-40yrs). Looking at the crowd of people eating silently, I'm sold.

So what is it famous for? Steamed beehoon (NTD20), pig's intestine soup (NTD25) (they sure love their innards), seaseme oil tofu (NTD20) and of course the legendary pork cheeks (NTD40). I've had pork cheeks at another stall before but my distributor swears by this version.

The beehoon, a simple dish, was steaming hot, QQ, infused with stock, and the fresh beansprouts provided that satisfying crunch to eat mouthful.

The soup was herbal, (a strong taste of tang-gui) and sweet. But I found the pig's intestine to be slightly over-cooked which made abit too hard for my liking.

ANnndd the pork cheeks... well, it's as fantastic and tender and sweet as it should taste but I can't say it's way better than my first taste of it. Probably all pork cheeks taste as good? But I need to comment, the chilli sauce they use in Taiwan I cannot get used to. It's salty and no-kick. This coming from someone who has a ultra-weak-chill-threshold by Singaporean standards. If this dish were to be eaten with some good ol' homemade chilli by my mum or my third aunt, WOOHOO!

Off to the next 老字號 (50yrs). It's a dessert and hand-made 水餃 stall. Four kids + Parents run the operations. Parents mostly are busy on the right-side handling the dumplings, the kids run the show on the dessert end.

剉冰 (NTD35), choice of 4 toppings, generous servings, topped off with finely shaved ice. The best I've had so far! My usual ingredients: Red Beans, Green Beans, Kidney Beans and Yam! The yam was fresh, thick and 松 (*loose*), the beans were so solid and firm. So good!

Now this is what I call a dessert. Ice Kachang is just sugared-water! =) but still... good. Just that i'm a bean-fanatic.

A good, cool end to a day of soaring temperatures. Tanned and well-fed. Keelung is treating me well.

Well now we know, market's the place to be when you want to go for good food. I confident that's the case everywhere around the world.

Healthnut Rating:

Comments: It's not really too unhealthy the stuff I ate. It's like a typical weekend meal I usually have back in Singapore markets! ok, maybe minus the dessert =) Beeaaannsss...

7th Month Family Gathering

7th month, or otherwise known as the 鬼月, is a big thing here in Taiwan. In Singapore, it's because we have to be religiously sensitive about such matters, hence all festivities or ceremonies are moderated a few notches.

I was riding along 忠孝東路 (I have a long-hate relationship with this bleddy road, I love it because I need it as a landmark to navigate around using the map, I hate it because it's a darn long stretch of road and traffic here is....) Anyway, as I was observing, from Rolex to Giordano, from Citibank to 玉山銀行, from Swensens to some atas Italian restaurant (well you get the idea), all merchants were making offerings outside their shop-fronts. The incense burning + the exhaust fumes from the gazillion scooters/buses/cars (in that order). not a pleasant day to be out making deliveries.

The belief is that, the more you offer to the 好兄弟, the more prosperous and smooth your business will be. My observation that in Taiwan, such Chinese beliefs are on full-scale and it's interesting to compare them to what we have in Singapore.

So when I say 7th Month Family gathering, it might sound eerie to most but it's not. From the offerings that families/and businesses make, it has to go somewhere right? In this case, dishes ordered from the small-local restaurant for prayers, ended up on our dinner table in the form of a family reunion dinner. It's like when we look forward to all the good food we bought to use to offer to our late Ah Kongs and Ah Mas.

So here we are, there was steamed glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves, a cold dish of lobster salad, steamed crabs and marinated cuttlefish. I liked the fragrant rice, there's really something about Taiwanese rice that makes you sit up to enjoy to fullness of every grain.

Next, eggs. Doesn't everyone love eggs? Not when it's ROOSTER TESTICLES! Ewwwww. 雞蛋蛋 as it is affectionately referred to, happens to be a Taiwanese delicacy. Now being the guest at the table, I was offered to try one. When in Rome, do what Romans do. (So reluctantly I might add) I'm still trying to forget the taste so I'm not going to add to the description here. NEXT!

Braised Pig Trotters, now that's more like it. Below it was baby kailan for good measure, but it soaks up all the flavour of the pork juices. Oh so good! But the pig trotter itself was kinda a letdown though, it's not as tender as I'd have imagined it to be.

I love my soup, and this chicken broth was perfection. I think they used the equivalent of Kampung chicken in this soup, the chicken was tender yet lean. My only gripe was that they left the claws on my favourite part of the chicken. Soup was thick, robust, sweet.

The fish-dish was a steamed red-snapper. Again, I have yet to taste a lousily-prepared steamed fish-dish here in Taiwan. Meat was succulent and sweet. Chinese love their seafood I must say.

The next highlight is this ancient looking urn of goodies otherwise known as the 佛跳牆. There was scallops, sea cucumbers (mmm mmm), pork ribs, seaweed, chicken and lots more! *coming soon to a restaurant near you*... I'm sorry, cos that sounded like some food-advert.

Next, is fried sakura prawns with egg and tau-kuay bits. This is a defiitely a 下酒菜. You wrap it in a crisp, juicy, crackling lettuce leaf, and you savour the different textures and flavours within. The seafoodie taste of the sakura prawns, the eggy flavour plus the savoury tau-kway bits. *slurp*

Not sure how the Taiwan BiRu (as they pronounce it) comes into the 7th Month picture, but what's a good dinner without their famed 台啤 =) Ten Green Bottles, Hanging on the wall *Burp*

Healthnut Rating:
Comments: Again, another HUGE dinner with all sorts of good food (MINUS the ROOSTER TESTICLES, I'm scarred for life here). Give me strength, I must resist over-eating... Must... resist....

阿中麵線 step aside, here comes the real deal!

Here is a stall that's been here for 40years, selling one dish 大腸麵線 (NTD50 for the biggest bowl) Imagine... It just has to be good right? 阿中麵線 at Ximending, *tsk* tourist standards. This is the real deal right here.

Well again pig intestines might not be everyone's thing, but I happen to consider myself a connoisseur in innards of sorts. So let's start with them first.

The small intestines are springy yet crunchy, and of course there has to be the bit of lard left on them for the slight porky flavour. It's not overcooked till tough. The broth is thick and just nice, not full of MSG. and of course the MEESUA, generous servings of thick meesua that still has a spring to each bite (QQ as they would describe it).

Healthnut Rating:

Comments: Well, I do ask the obasan to give me more parsley to satisfy my green-diet. Man, I kid you not, I can eat like 5 bowls of this and still have more. It's that good.

Nature To Civilisation *it's our Brand's tagline btw*

From the serene view from the teahouses of 九份, we drove back to the glitz & glamour of (not so much of Las Vegas) but Taipei Main Station. *Honks, People, Exhaust Fumes, People, Neon Lights, People, Tall Buildings, People, Cops Everywhere, People, Traffic Lights.* Oh did I say it's crowded?

Very soon, we find ourselves cooling off in the nice air-conditioned atas shopping centre. *air-con* And what's a shopping centre without fast-popculture food? Ireland's Potato is probably just a gussied up name for french fries. Deep fried anything sells well anywhere. Well they ordered cheese wedges and onion rings. I had ONE ring and ONE wedge. Tastes like deep fried stuff, no further explanation required.

Healthnut Rating:

Comments: Not really into deep-fried stuff. EXCEPT chicken wings =)

Walked about aimlessly, before we know it. DINNER TIME! We're actually quite ravenous, probably we only had yam balls and tea for lunch.

Mo-Mo Paradise was where we ended up. Shabu Shabu buffet. Thinly sliced pork and beef, with our choice of pork broth and 麻辣鍋, loads of vege. Free flow everything. *heavenly*

I lost count of how many orders of MEAT we ordered, must have been like ten over rounds of three plates each. Probably an entire cow/pig has been devoured by four people.

The dessert was a refreshing scoop of lemon sherbet, very well done. Fresh, tangy and smooth. Anyone ready for round two?

Healthnut Rating:

Comments: Again, it's really quite a balanced diet here, meat with greens but the sheer amount we ate warrants a strict low healthoholic rating. I have to be strict on myself! Tawain, a healthoholic's nightmare!

九份老街

A week on and from the beach last Sunday, this Sunday brings me to 九份老街. I don't recall being here on my previous few visits, Minghui & Mr Pang please remind me if we have been here?

I was told they have great teahouses here with fantastic scenary, but being a tourist attraction, I took the news with a pinch of salt. *I do look like a tourist in the photo anyway*
An abundance of souvenier shops, not a good sign for a worthy traveller. But where there's people, there's food. And it was food we found indeed.

銅鑼燒! or otherwise known as Doreamon Food. One of my favourite foods. And guess what, they serve it with ice-cream here! Seems like a tourist-driven food evolution but hey, I'm not complaining. There's strawberry, mint, chocolate, yam, vanilla and peanut. Loh Man Bro chose the conventional chocolate, and it's always strawberry ice cream for me.

The 銅鑼燒 was soft, fluffy and warm. Makes for nice dynamics with the cold ice cream. Can't do much wrong here.

The other must-have here for tourists ,i mean us, was the traditional yam-balls. But again, development dictates change. They now have sweet potato, seaseme, peanut. It's like muah chee. At least it was heartening to see them traditionally hand-made at this 老招牌. I'd have been disappointed if there was a machine churning out the yam balls. 賴阿婆芋圓 (NTD40) for a ice-cold bowl of hand-made muah chee. I had yam, sweet potato. QQ and refreshing. Not too shabby.We have here the kid that wanted to put RayBans out of business (refer to kid's comment on previous post on a Beachy Sunday) Ultra intelligent kid, hyperactive and superbly cute. This is the family that is "hosting" me in Taipei currently, they're our Taipei distributors. Huang Zhou's a physiotherapist and his wife is a nurse. I'm learning all sorts of medical stuff from him now.


Top of the hill now, or nearly at the top. Teahouses aplenty. Pick one with a view we did. Spongebob Lolly in hand *the kid I mean, name's Kaijie or BeeBee as he is affected affectionately by his parents*, we settled for a place with a million dollar view. Tea-session conducted expertly by an old hand Mr Man Bro, we chatted heartily.

*fast forward 2hrs* Tea does help aid digestion, and yes you guessed it, more room for food.





Grilled Abalone Mushrooms anyone? (NTD70) The auntie selling it proclaims "不好吃退錢!楊郭最喜歡吃的!" and she turns the sizzling mushrooms on the grill. What's the Condor Heroes character got to do with these mushrooms anyway? I must've missed that part of the story.

Impressively sized aren't they? Mushrooms are my other weakness and I'm very glad that they're healthy.

It's time to leave 九份老街. To another place!

Healthnut Rating:

Comments: A walk up a slope, with soothing tea. Healthy grilled mushrooms. I'm conveniently forgetting the ice cream. Not a bad day.