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...