Partner and I are now half way into our three week Taiwan visit. Uber’d from Kaohsiung to Tainan a couple of days ago, will speed train back to Taipei tomorrow for the finale of this trip.
Always fun to share our trips with like minded HO’s. I will include names and addresses when/if possible, but most of our Taiwan stops do not have English signage, or offer English menus. Google translate allows me to play along, while my Taiwan born wife does most of the actual ordering and makes the final choices.
Yesterday, we had lunch with one of my wife’s ex-classmates from Tainan University of Technology. Classmate now lives in Anding, a rural district of Tainan. Her husband designed the house and imported the cedar from America for the construction. And, the house sits across the road from a working fish farm pond!
The husband is of Taiwanese Indigenous descent, and wife is a mix with later Mainland blood. I wouldn’t dare label the food as authentic or traditional, just representative of dishes in their regular rotation.
Killer Bee Liquor does have a certain cachet to it. Expecting to get a killer buzzzz!!
Our hosts belong to a whiskey appreciation group that meet periodically to sample various libations and compare notes. They ended up with a few extra bottles after a sampling and we are the lucky recipients of one bottle. They did give us a bottle of their home pressed Black Sesame Oil, which they sell in limited quantities. Looking forward to using the oil once home.
@Presunto Their house does seem a tad incongruous surrounded by the modern buildings. Her family owned the land which was a pig farm. They built their house in 1998, the first house and only residence on the property at the time.
The house was custom constructed of imported cedar, which is purported to alleviate some of the symptoms of an ongoing health issue. As Tainan City expanded, her land became too valuable to be a pig farm, so she is now surrounded by new neighbors.
We revisited our favorite no-name Thai restaurant in Kaohsiung last week. We order pretty much the same dishes every time, always so good. No fresh shrimp for our Raw Shrimp Salad, only disappointment of the evening.
Now that we visit Taiwan more often, we don’t feel obliged to immerse in Taiwanese only. Thus far, we’ve had Japanese at least twice, Hainan Chicken, more than a few East meets West hotel breakfast buffets and snuck in an Egg McMuffin or two. It’s all good.
Small plates to stimulate the appetite and promote alcohol consumption. Edamame (Soybeans in the Pod), Crunchy Pig’s Ear, Bean Curd Salad with Peppers and tiny dried Fish, and shredded Tofu Noodles.
Golden Silk Thread Roll. I was introduced to this Shandong style bread on my very first Taiwan trip, have loved it since. Some Condensed Milk on the side to drizzle, yum.
Dinner at a 100 $NT restaurant. These casual fast stir fry eateries offer unusually large menus, most dishes priced at 100 $NT = usd$3.27/ea. Since pandemic inflation kicked in, range presently @ NT $120 ~150, mostly. Even at these inflated prices, these will always be 100NT restaurants to me.
One of our favorites is a mere 10 minutes walk from our Da’an hotel.
Salt & Pepper Fried Frog. So GOOD! Partly deboned, mostly moist succulent meat. Fried Basil a nice enhancement.
Very impressed again with this restaurant. The flavors were clean, not over seasoned. Ingredients fresh and cooked with a light hand. And, the price is right. So many other items on the order sheet and specials board. Must revisit before we fly out Monday.
The variety and breadth of food is almost staggering. This is not fine dining. They are great places to enjoy a lot of different foods and drink a lot of beer without breaking the bank.
Sparked by @damiano, we went hunting for Hong Kong style Roast Goose last night. We had walked by a Cantonese place with some good looking hanging fowl earlier in the day and pinned our hopes on that. Alas, by 7pm, only a lonely solitary scrawny chicken was left dangling. Next.
The Da’an district offers a good selection of eateries, from traditional to hipster, hole in wall to the hole in the wallet. My fellow food explorer pointed out a local goose place, not roasted as hoped, but worthy just the same.
Staff was very accommodating. Not in a corporate trained style, in a friendly relaxed comfortable way. Place was small, didn’t see the usual help yourself beer chiller. Took a few minutes to receive my beer, I think a worker ran to a nearby 7/11. That’s accommodation!!
Started with the small order of Goose. Deboned and thatched with a covering of Sweet Young Ginger.
DW had the Goose Congee. At first, she thought the jook somewhat bland. I had a taste and loved the subtle Goose essence backbone enhanced by the bits of fried garlic.
They made it themselves?
