Lunch & Dinner: Seafood and Traditional Taiwanese Cuisine
Preferring sleep over food, we decided to sleep late, skip breakfast and head over to ‘ Addictive Aquatic Development ‘ for an early lunch instead.
Housed in a modern warehouse setting, the layout of this wholesale/retail seafood supplier was a sight to behold! With impressive arrays of fish tanks, containing crustaceans, shell fish and bi-valves from local and overseas water, spreading the floors. When it comes to the aforementioned products……’ You name it, they have it ‘!
For retailers and eat-in customers, their modus operandi was for the patrons to select and pick one’s desired seafood, hand them over to the staff and they will prepare them any which way you like!..raw, steamed, boiled, grilled over charcoal…etc. In addition, a vast selection of freshly packed sashimi products are on display. With so many different choices, the selection process quickly turned into information overload and tiring!
Due to a lack of indoor AC eating space, outdoor al fresco dining was the only sit down option. However, with the temperature reaching a whopping 35c before noon already, we decided to pack up our haul, head back to our hotel and enjoy them in the comfort of our AC room!
BTW, fearing another repeat of my Barcelona Oyster food poisoning episode last year , though looking oh so appealing, I decided to skip all raw oysters and bi-valves completely! Sigh!!
For dinner, for convenience, we picked a Taiwanese Cuisine specialist icon ‘ Shin Yeh ‘ whose business spanned over a few decades. Located atop of the Japanese Takeshimiya Department next door to our hotel, its proximity saved us from venturing out too long into the brutal heat and humid weather!
The food was rustic, tasty and different! Stand outs include the ‘ 3 cup braised 9 hole Abalone with winter bamboo shoots and Shitake mushroom ‘! Such a complex and delicious taste profile. Love the textural interplay between the chewy Abalone and the crunch bamboo shoots! The pieces of wild Grouper from local waters were perfectly steamed with premium soy sauce and some unfamiliar local herbs. Savory and slightly tangy sweet……most appetizing!
As per local eating culture, the meal was finished with a serving of delicious and chewy Mochi desserts!
