廟口 revisited

廟口夜市 was recently voted as the top night-market in Taiwan. Well, one thing's for sure, the signs there are arranged pretty neatly and the food's not too bad. My stand on night markets is actually there can't be a best one, they're all pretty special and serves great food. Each market has a specialty of its own.

士林has its 超大雞排, 繞合 has 胡椒餅 and 廟口 has its 營養三明治. I have blogged about this infamous 營養三明治 and it's anything BUT 營養. Deep-fried hot-dog bun smothered in mayo with layers of sausage, meat and whatnot. Cardiac arrest coming. But hey, it's the 招牌 at 廟口, who am i to judge.

So a couple of Singapore friends were over for their honeymoon and they decided to go to Keelung so what the heck, I went along. Good friends, who cares if I've been there already.

Surprise surprise, the first dish we had was 鰻魚酥湯 (NTD50), a welcome variation to its better known cousin the 排骨酥湯. Verdict? Bones bones and more bones. Seems like eel ain't such a good choice for fish soup afterall. I spent most of the time picking sharp deadly bones outta my mouth. But it is probably as close to fish soup as I can find here.

Next up, a quick snack of grilled Taiwan sausages with raw garlic, and may I mention Count Dracula's probably skipping this region because Taiwanese garlic is strong. goes very well with the crunchy sausages. The host's daughters sure enjoyed their snack =) Cute kids. (photo later on)

The other thing 廟口 is famous for is its buttered crabs (奶油螃蟹), which we didn't have a chance to try. Our host didn't recommend so we skipped it.

This is the only night-market I've been to so far that has numbered stalls. It's so... neat. Not entirely my idea of a night-market.

Well, next up, Number 16, 天婦羅 (Tempura) (NTD40) The Taiwanese interpretation of Tempura is actually mostly doughy stuff and wrapped in usually beancurd skin. In this case it's fish paste and it's lightly grilled. Pour on some sweet sauce and you're done. Not my favourite dish cos frankly, I can't understand why they need to pour sweet sauce onto stuff anyway. Like their Or Lua. *Sweet or lua, shudders*

Now Kelvin tried the infamous 營養三明治 and didn't like it. Yes it's the one we came back for after taking a queue number 390+. He likes fried stuff but didn't like this dish. However! We discovered another gem in 廟口 and it was 現烤三明治. A cheap knock-off you'd say but it's goood. (NTD50) Kelvin couldn't stop talking about it after he's had it. Even after a few days when we were back in Taipei.

The difference between them both is that one deep-fries everything, one grills everything. The difference ends there. They're both still smothered knee deep in mayo. Cardiac Arrest repackaged.

And boy the gastronomic tour doesn't end here. Hell we ain't even started. With our hosts still going strong, we kicked off round two. These three little fellas can sure eat. The mom did the sensible thing and was the "designated driver".

Kelvin's other weakspot was sashimi. Xianzhi told me that they've had sashimi almost every day while they were in Taiwan. I could live with that. The sashimi here is fresh and tasty. The salmon was slightly oiled and smooth and even a little crunchy if you know what i mean. So good... Now that's a look of a happy man.

Next, we washed it with dessert. (plural). Silky smooth beancurd, I had mine with red-bean. Yum yum. I'm an absolute sucker for beans. They had theirs with peanut. Heavenly too.

Next up, 削冰. Again, red-bean flavoured for me, peanut for them. Thick and creamy, fullbodied icecream. Who needs Haagen Daz?! And i bet it's healthier too.

Healthnut Rating: -none-
Comments: Ate too much so I'll just not say anything to justify anything.