Ximen Mango Shaved Ice

 

Ximen Mango Shaved Ice is a shaved ice restaurant located in the crowded tourist location of Ximen, Taiwan.  The restaurant offers various beautiful shaved ice mixed with various sweet fruits.  It is most notably known for its mango shaved ice.  This restaurant has 2 levels for dine in and the second floor of the restaurant has stronger AC and cooler for customers during the hot summer day.

We were shopping at Ximen but it was really too hot in Taiwan during the summer.  It felt like 40 degrees with humidity.  Thus we were looking for a place with AC to rest.  We happened to pass by Ximen Mango Shaved Ice and felt the strong AC blowing cold winds out of its door.  So we decided to enter to get cooled down and get some dessert.

We got the Mango Snow Ice and the Mixed Bean Taro Shaved Ice.  When we ordered the Mango Snow Ice, the server told us the mango today might be a bit sour.  We were ok with that since there was still sweetness from the snow ice.  After about 5 minutes, both shaved ice were served in a huge bowl.  The Mango Snow Ice had a scoop of mange ice cream on top of the snow ice.  Then drizzled with mango syrup from the top.  Chunks of mangoes were placed along the perimeters of the bowl.  We mixed the snow ice with the ice cream, it had a really soft and sweet taste.  The mango syrup was sweet but the flavour of the mango was strong.  The mango chunks were not as sour as the server warned us about.  We still enjoyed it.

The Mixed Bean Taro Shaved Ice came with red bean on the side of the bowl.  The taro balls were also placed along the side and there was a really good amount of it.  Then the brown sugar was drizzled from the top.  We loved the chewiness of the taro balls.  The softness of the red bean also added a fine touch on top of the shaved ice.  When mixing all of it together really created a new texture of shaved ice.  We actually enjoyed this more than the Mango Snow Ice.

We really loved the shaved ice at Ximen Mango Shaved Ice.  There were several more other dishes that the restaurant offers and we would try it next time.

The Duck House

 

The Duck House is a restaurant located in Ximen, Taiwan and it was established since 1950.  Although the name of the restaurant is called The Duck House, it actually serves goose meat instead.  We were not sure why that is the case.  The goose meat is actually served by telling the restaurant how much money you want to spend on it.  For example, the customers can tell the restaurant that they want $100 NT worth of goose meat, then the restaurant will cut the exact amount of goose meat that is worth $100 NT.

When we got to The Duck House, it was 1:30PM already.  The restaurant was about half full.  We sat down and ordered soup noodle bowl.  1 bowl with regular noodle and 1 bowl with vermicelli.  We also ordered the cabbage and $300 NT worse of goose meat.  The soup noodle bowl came with 1 slice of goose meat.  Comparing the noodle bowl and the vermicelli bowl, the regular noodle bowl had better flavour.  We were guessing that the vermicelli sucked too much soup away.  The cabbage was drizzled with goose oil on top of it.  It was so aromatic and we really loved the taste.  The $300NT worth of goose meat filled about half of the plate.  It also had soy sauce and sweet and hot sauce on the side.  The goose meat was decent.  It was really juicy and tender.  We did not see any pink spot on the meat either.  We had never had goose meat in Taiwan either, so it was our first time to try it out.  We could not really tell the difference between goose meat and duck meat to be honest, except maybe goose meat came with larger slice.

Overall, it was a decent experience to try the goose meat at The Duck House.  The amount of items on the menu was quite limited and people are just here for the goose meat.  It is a decent place to try goose meat if that is what people are looking for.

Niu Mowang Steak House

 

Niu Mowang Steak House is a unique type of streak house that serves Taiwan style steak on a hot grilled iron pan.  It is established in 1988 in Shilin night market.  Its steak is unlike the ones seen in United States.  Its steaks are thinner and paired with sweeter sauces, egg and pasta at the bottom.  This type of steak is not as expensive as the other thick cut steak and usually can be served quickly.

We were visiting Shilin night market and saw Niu Mowang Steak House at the corner of the street and decided to try it out.  The drinks at Niu Mowang Steak House is self-serve and customers could get as much as they want.  We ordered the typical beef steak since it was their signature dish and also the cheapest.

The steak meal came with a bowl of soup.  The soup bowl came with pastry on top, which was a surprise to us.  Pushing the pastry down into the corn chowder soup made it taste even better.  We really loved the corn chowder soup!  When the steak was served, it was sizzling hot.  Like the locals, we took the paper towels and formed a shield in front of our body to prevent any steak juice from bouncing onto our clothes.  After a minute or 2, the sizzling started to go off and it was time to east.  We really loved the idea of pairing the steak with the egg.  The mixture of egg yolk and beef steak was amazing.  We really loved it.  The sweet sauce also added its touch to the taste, but the best was to mix the sauce with the pasta at the bottom.

It was a great meal at Niu Mowang Steak House.  We could east more if we wanted to since the steak with thin and didn't fill much of the stomach.  Nevertheless, this was an unique type of steak that could only be seen in Taiwan and we would try this type of steak again in the future.

Jioulong Tapioca Balls Tofu Pudding

 

Jioulong Tapioca Balls Tofu Pudding is a restaurant that specializes in tofu pudding.  It is located right by the Shilin metro station and its red banner at the top of the restaurant makes it very easy to be spotted.  Jioulong Tapioca Balls Tofu Pudding is established in 1999.  Not only it serves tofu pudding dessert, it actually also makes onion pancakes with basils in it.  It is kind of a weird combination but it has gotten famous with this meal combo.

We got off Shilin station and saw Jioulong Tapioca Balls Tofu Pudding giant red banner, thus we decided to take a break and have some dessert.  We ordered the signature onion pancakes with basil and egg, and also a bowl of the famous tofu pudding shaved ice dessert.  We ordered it via mobile phone after scanning the QR code on the table, then paid at the front of the store.

The food was served very quickly since these things can be prepared quite fast.  The onion pancakes were folded into triangular shape like crepe.  The onion pancake with basil tasted really good.  It was quite hot as well but the flavour was decent when pairing with basil and egg.  The tofu pudding shave ice was the best.  It had soft tofu pudding at the bottom and lots of shaved ice on top, then poured with brown sugar all over it.  It had really cooled us down and we really loved it.  The best part was that we could ask to fill more shaved ice if we like.

We really loved Jioulong Tapioca Balls Tofu Pudding's tofu pudding shaved ice.  We wished that it was closer to where we stayed for vacation, but it was really one of the best shaved ice we have tried so far in Taiwan.  We would definitely come back here again in the future when we visit Taiwan next time.

Jiufen

 

Jiufen is a very popular tourist attraction in Taiwan.  It is located in the hills of Northern Taipei.  It is about 30 minutes of driving distance away from Taipei city.  It is well known for its bright red lanterns lighting up at night and make people fall in love in this anime like world.  Jiufen can also be reached by taking public transit.  People can take Taiwan railroad train from Taipei station and go to Ruifang train station, then take 10 minutes of bus ride to Jiufen.  The food and scenery at Jiufen is an unforgettable experience for people.

We took the train from Taipei station around 3:30PM in the afternoon.  By the time we got to Ruifang station, it was nearly 4:30PM.  Then we just took a quick 5 minute taxi ride to Jiufen.  When we got off the taxi, we were at the bottom of the Jiufen.  We now took the stairs and walk upwards.  We would see many latens hanging on the side of the street as we walked up the stairs but they are not lit during the days.  We went all the way to the top of Jiufen and finally got to A Gan Yi Taro Ball.  This was a must try dessert place when visiting Jiufen!

Afterwards, we went around the Jiufen Old Street to look around for interesting stuff.  Most shops sell tea, souvenirs, and Taiwan street food.  We also ran into many tourist groups from foreign countries such as Vietnam and Korea.  We also saw few small Japanese tourist groups travelling by themselves.  Many gift shops even accepted foreign currencies but at a higher exchange rate than usual.  As we got to the end of the Jiufen Old Street, we got to a balcony where we could see the ocean on the far side over the mountains.  Since we were at the top of the hill, the breeze from the wind felt really good during this hot day.

Since the day was still bright outside and we were waiting for the lanterns to lit up, we decided to go to the famous A-Mei Teahouse for a break and also to have a taste of its tea.  It was not a big experience but a bit pricy.  After the break, it was finally getting dark.  We then headed to Skyline Teahouse for dinner.  Skyline Teahouse was just across from A-Mei Teahouse and it offered the best viewing experience on Jiufen, but you must dine here else they would not allow you to just enter and take photo.  Many people dine at Skyline Teahouse just so that they could take photos.  The view from the top of Skyline Teahouse was breathtaking.  The red lanterns at night were just as beautiful as people described.  It was a very magical view.

As we exited Skyline Teahouse, there were still many people taking photos outside of the entrance.  We had to squeeze through to get back the crowds.  When we got to the bottom of Jiufen and wanted to take taxi back to Ruifang station, the taxi driver was trying to rip us off by raising the fare by 3x.  We were so pissed off and decided to wait for the bus instead.  The bus came after 10 minutes and we were happy with the decision.

We really loved Jiufen.  We had a great time here and the view was magical.  People said it is even more mythical during the winter time with fog covering Jiufen.  Perhaps next time we will visit Jiufen during winter season.

Wenzhou Wonton

 

Wenzhou Wonton is a popular dining place in Taiwan.  It has many different locations across various districts in Taipei City.  Wenzhou Wonton specializes in giant wonton in soup and also offers different noodle dish with wonton in it.  It is known to have large wonton with lots of fillings in it.  People often dine here just for its large wonton since it is one of the only places that offer such large wonton in a soup bowl.

We were at Taipei Station and saw Wenzhou Wonton right across the street.  The making of the wonton was at the front of the store and we could see those large hand made wonton being placed into hot boiling water.  The making of these wonton was what made us really wanted to try Wenzhou Wonton.

We ordered a pickled cucumber, bean curd tofu, wonton noodle, and dry wonton noodle.  The pickled cucumber and bean curd tofu were really enjoyable.  These were cold dishes but we loved the chunkiness of the pickled cucumber and the softness of the bean curd tofu.  The wonton noodle came with large wontons placed on the top of the bowl.  The noodle beneath it was the thick type of noodle, which we really liked.  The soup was ordinary but having a bite at such big large was having wish coming true.  The dry wonton noodle came without soup and sesame sauce on the top.  The mix of sesame sauce with noodle was another flavour that we enjoyed.  It added slight sweetness to it but still had the saltiness of wonton.  We actually liked the dry wonton noodle more.

We really liked Wenzhou Wonton a lot.  This type of small local restaurant is really what brings the best local food to the tourist.  We will come back again in the future for sure.

Qin Beef Soup

 

Qin Beef Soup is a famous restaurant in Taiwan specializing in award winning beef soup.  This type of beef soup is well known Taiwan cuisine in Tainan.  The bowl is filled with freshly sliced beef first, then the boiling hot soup is poured on top of it to get the beef cooked.  This keeps the beef tender and juicy.  The soup is also flavoured with other ingredients.  Many restaurants in Tainan offer this type of menu item with slightly different in taste.

Trying out the beef soup was a must do for us when we visit Tainan.  We walked around Anping district and found Qin Beef Soup.  It had a large advertisement and looked to be a well known shop and thus we decided to give this a try.

We first ordered a large bowl of beef soup to share among us.  We also ordered a braised pork rice as we were hungry as well.  The beef sup was ready rather quickly since they just had to pour the soup into the bowl.  The soup was served in a metal bowl.  There was a good amount of beef slices in there.  The beef was not really in a bright pink colour and instead of was more of a light brown colour.  It could be that the soup was hot enough to get the beef cooked.  When we tasted the beef, it was extremely tender and probably the best beef soup we have ever had.  The soup was extremely flavourful.  It was not greasy at all.  We really enjoyed the soup and the rice together.

Since the soup got us really hot, we also ordered 2 plates of shaved ice.  We got the watermelon shaved ice and the assorted bean shaved ice.  The watermelon shaved ice just had watermelon chunks on it.  The watermelon was not that good but the shaved ice with brown sugar was able to cool us off.  The assorted bean shaved ice was mediocre and the beans seemed to be coming from canned food.

Qin Beef Soup definitely offers one of the best beef soup in Taiwan.  We really recommend it to try.  The shave ice however was not up to par.  So definitely only try the beef soup and get shaved ice elsewhere.

Zhu Xiang Yuan

 

Zhu Xiang Yuan is a very famous restaurant located in Tainan, Taiwan.  It is well known for its famous pot cooked chicken.  It currently has 7 different locations in Taiwan serving the customers all over Taiwan.  The restaurant is also known to have its tables and chairs made out of bamboos to resonant with the bamboo in its restaurant name.  Zhu Xiang Yuan typically gets quite busy during the peak dining hour.

As we went to Tainan as a one day trip, Zhu Xiang Yuan was our first stop to go to.  We got off the Tainan High Speed Railway station and took the taxi to here.  Since the distance was a bit far, it costed us $600 NT to get there.  It was a bit pricy.  When we got there, it was barely 11AM and the restaurant just opened.  We were the first customers there.  We sat down at the table by the window to go through the menu items.

We first ordered half of the famous pot cooked chicken.  We then ordered the stir fried pork, fried oysters, and the bamboo mixed water spinach.  Since it was our first time here, the restaurant also served us sweet potatoes and a bowl of chicken flavoured noodle.

The first plate served was the famous pot cooked chicken, along with the chicken soup.  The chicken soup was free with unlimited refill.  We started with the soup and loved the sea weed and the bamboo shoot in there.  We quickly asked for the refill right away.  The chicken was juicy and tender.  It even had a small bowl with chicken grease in it and asked customers to pour it on top of the rice.  It was so aromatic and the flavour was so pure.

The stir fried pork was amazing as well, but obviously not as overwhelming as the chicken.  We kind of just enjoyed it as a regular meal.  The fried oyster was good and it came with sweet and hot sauce.  The sweet and hot sauce was not hot at all.  It was more sweet and worked really well with the fried oysters.  We loved the bamboo mixed water spinach.  The slight sourness and the crunchiness of bamboo mixed really well with water spinach.  We really loved the flavour.  The sweet potatoes on the house had some sugar coating spread on top of it.  It tasted more like sweet dessert.  The chicken flavoured noodle was basically the same chicken grease poured on top of the noodle.  It was just as aromatic as the chicken and we loved it as well.

The lunch meal at Zhu Xiang Yuan was definitely not cheap but we did enjoy the food, especially the famous pot cooked chicken.  We may visit it again in the future with people who have not tried this yet.