Taipei Day 1 – Shabu Shabu at Taimall, Taoyuan

It’s been decades since any one of us have been to Taiwan. I used to go there a lot when I was young due to my dad’s business. All I remembered were the crazy drivers and thousands of motorcycles on the road.

Why did we decide to go to Taiwan? Was it to see the sights or go shopping? Nope. It’s all about the food baby! Everyone says Taiwan has the best tasting food specially in the small restaurants and night markets. With that in mind we set out for a food trip.

Chris and Rochelle with their mom
I have 3 cousins who are siblings that live in Taipei. Cousin Benji’s job happens to be renting out his van for tours or airport pick-ups. What luck!

Benjie picked us up from the airport and started our tour. From the airport he brought us to a nearby mall called Taimall Shopping Center. It lis the argest shopping center in Taoyuan area. (The airport was located in Taoyuan and is about an hour away from Taipei city.)

In the mall Rochelle’s mom immediately bought some of Taiwan’s famous oolong tea. The lady gave us samples to try.

I almost ate in a vegetarian restaurant. gasp. I was willing to try it. Too bad some in our group didn’t want to eat there. The food did look interesting.

vegetarian buffet

We ended up eating in the food court. Out of so many mouthwatering choices we decided to try the individual shabu shabu.

It was a concept I’ve never seen before. Each person has their own pot with a burner underneath.

It’s sad but I can’t read Chinese. I can only speak a tiny amount of Mandarin. In Taipei you will not go hungry if you can’t communicate. All you need to do is point. All the fast food places we went to had food displays like this. Aside from shabu shabu they had an assortment of bibimbap (Korean mixed rice). I recognized the stone pots.

Benjie chose the bibimbap with squid and veggies. NT$130 or P186 or US$4

Chris and her mom had the beef bibimbap.

Rochelle and I had the shabu shabu. She chose goat meat while I had the beef.

goat

beef

They poured water in our shabu shabu. Yes water and not stock.

You place the meat on the center dry area that served as a grill. The juices from the meat slid down to the water as it cooked thus flavoring the water and veggies.

It was quite good and healthy. The beef was marinated and very flavorful. It was very affordable too. An order of shabu shabu with a plate of beef and a pot full of veggies cost NT$148 or P212 or US$4.50.

I was fascinated with the hi-tech shiny water dispenser. No ordinary water foutain here!

After lunch we took a walk around the mall. We went to the sports and recreation floor which had mini golf.

The floors were painted like a running track. I bet people really use it for exercise.

There was even a basketball court too.

Spinning anyone?

Call my cousin Benjie Young if you need a van to pick you up from the airport to bring you to your hotel or tour around Taipei. His van seats 7.