Shoot First Eat Later

Seafood Lunch at Tamsui

One of the best meals I had in Taipei was at a restaurant in Tamsui Old Street Night Market. My cousin Benjie chose the place.

The restaurant didn’t have an English name.

My dad did all the ordering.

The place didn’t look like much but the food was wonderful.

The fried oysters tasted even better than the ones we had at Shin Yeh. The oysters tasted fresher and fried crispier too.

fried oysters

steamed chicken

veggies

Taiwanese people seem to love squid since I saw it in a lot of the fast-food places. These were cooked perfectly tender.

squid with peppers

clam soup

The rice itself was so good and a bit sticky so when it was made into fried rice it became even yummier. I tried my best to stop at a small bowl. I could have eaten much more.

fried rice

My mom loves fresh bamboo shoots so this was her favorite dish.

fresh bamboo shoots with pork

All the seafood we ordered were really fresh and well cooked.

steamed fish

oyster omelet

clams

before

after

Seafood lunch for 8 people who were very, very full cost only NT$1,910 or P2700 or US$64.

Sorry I don’t have the English name or address.

佘家孔雀蛤大王
新北市淡水區中正路55號地下1f

After Yangmingshan we went to Tamsui (淡水, or Danshui, Danshuei, Tamshui) Old Street and waterfront to have lunch and walk around. While waiting for my cousin Benjie to park his van I saw this Starbucks store celebrating it’s 14th anniversary in Taipei and some products were on sale for 15% off.

Tinned egg rolls, cookies, and tea were on sale.

You could buy the whole pack of cookies of waffles. I just bought 2 pieces of the waffles and double chocolate cookies. Both were delish!

Starbucks Chinese teas

Starbucks rose fancy tea powder and matcha powder

What really caught my eye was this goose neck electric kettle specially for making hot water for pour over/drip coffee. I’ve been wanting this for a long time and the only one I’ve found is Bonavita which cost US$50. I’ve never seen this in any Starbucks store in the USA, Hong Kong or Manila.

Starbucks gooseneck electric kettle

Even after discount it still costs a lot more and to my dismay it’s 110 volts.

This gooseneck pot is good for transferring hot water then using it to make pour over coffee.

This single drip coffee maker with built in metal filter was a very good buy and I convinced Pat and Jay to buy it. I have a similar one made by Hario. Muji also sells one like this. The kettles above are just perfect for this kind of filter. I haven’t seen this anywhere else either.

It was really fun seeing all these new stuff in Starbucks Taipei. I also got a black mug with orange interiors that wasn’t available in Manila before but recently I saw it selling in Starbucks Galleria.

Yangmingshan National Park

Since my cousin Benjie is a local tour guide on occasion he took us to Yang Ming Shan for some sightseeing.

The park was beautiful but it was so hot that day that the ‘oldies’ didn’t want to walk up and explore the flowers and plants in the park.

Pat, Jay and I walked for a few minutes and took these pictures.

This clock actually told the correct time.

We were too late to catch the full bloom of the cherry blossom trees but I was glad to see some tiny buds left on the tree.

Tsk, tsk, tsk…

If the weather was cooler it would have been nice to walk all around the park.

Beautiful eh?

Call or email my cousin Benjie if you’re going to Taipei. He has a big VW van that can seat 7-9 people. He can even take you to Costco where the have a lot of things similar to the US stores. I wanted to buy so many things but I couldn’t take them home.

Benjie speaks Filipino, English and Chinese fluently.

Benjie Young (Taipei City)
van rental/tour guide
telephone: +886988073435, +886939070314
tax_van@yahoo.com

Raohe St. Night Market 2012

Two years ago I went to Raohe St. Night Market with some friends. This time I went with my parents and some friends. The advantage is my parents can speak and read Chinese so we were able to order different food.

Our first stop was dinner at this small restaurant with a Chinese only menu.

I guess you could also point at the pictures to order.

Pat and Jay

My dad ordered a bowl of rice topped with their famous braised pork.

It was very good but the pork was quite fatty. There was only a small quantity of pork so I asked for more sauce which they gladly spooned over my rice.

braised pork rice

I don’t know what they call it in Taipei but in Manila we call this kikiam. It was really yummy and we ordered another one.

fish ball soup

The food was simple but satisfying. We didn’t want to eat too much since there were much more food in the market to choose from.

sautéed lettuce

In the next stall we had dessert of finely shaved ice topped with sweetened red beans, milk pudding and condensed milk.

I wonder what these candied fruits and tomatoes taste like.

candied cherry tomatoes

candied fruits

I couldn’t help but buy these sweet potatoes cooked in syrup and topped with peanut powder. It was my favorite but then any way of cooking sweet potato in Taipei is the best and sweetest. This looked overly sweet but I was happy that it was just right. The touch of peanut was unexpected and delightful.

A giant block of peanut brittle and wood shaver. I’m curious what the end product looked and tasted like.

Here’s something new that I didn’t see two years ago. Mini pancakes stuffed with a variety of fillings from vanilla or chocolate cream, tiramisu and peanut butter. Pat bought a box of 6 stuffed pancakes and she liked them. I think we will see this in Manila soon.

stinky tofu

egg tarts & french style bake egg shell pudding

Egette or bubble waffles in the following flavors: original, chocoalte, strawbery, blueberry, Japanese macha, black sesame, peanut, seaweed mix.

eggette or bubble waffle

These bubble waffles are very popular in Hong Kong and can be found in a lot of street markets.

I told Pat and Jay to try one. I would never think of buying this until an aunt made me try it in Hong Kong. I think the secret to this is the inclusion of custard powder in the batter. It makes it so much more tasty than the regular American style waffle.

As soon as it was removed from the waffle iron it was draped on the metal stand and cool air was blown onto it so it will be crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside.

This was the seaweed waffle.

Raohe market had food, clothes, toys, games and even fortune tellers.

This guy uses birds to tell your fortune.

fried crab

Hu Jiao Bing or charcoal baked black pepper pork buns

We left the market happy and so very full. It’s a must visit when you go to Taipei.

足足樂養身會館 Foot Massage, Taipei

We all wanted to get an authentic massage so we asked our hotel’s concierge where to go. He directed us to a place on this street but we went to this place which was cheaper.

With my super minimal Chinese we managed to get a massage by pointing at the list below.

I was so impressed at how sanitary the place is. They gave us disposable slippers to change in to. Too bad after our massage Pat saw them put the slippers back into the plastic bags. Eeeww.

Each chair had a tv and remote control. The sound came out of the headrest of the chair. Hi tech!!!

Individual sinks to soak and wash our feet.

They added this colored powder to the water. I don’t know what it is.

They even have a timer to guarantee there is no short changing of the massage. Since we got the 90 minute body and foot massage the time was equally split.

For the body part of the massage we moved downstairs where they had massage beds. I can honestly say this was one of the best massage I’ve ever had. They really know how to work the tight muscles on my shoulders and it was the best and most relaxing foot massage.

If you’re going to Taipei print this out and show it to the taxi driver. It’s in the Tonghua Night Market district. Our cab fare from Grand Hyatt Taipei was around NT$70-100 only.

足足樂養身會館
台北巿通化街38巷5號
預約專線: (02)2784-6567

No. 5, Lane 38, Tōnghuà St, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
telephone: (02) 2784-6567

Eslite Bookstore, Xinyi Taipei

To call Eslite just a bookstore is a huge understatement. It’s more like a lifestyle store with everything from food, bags, shoes, houseware and gadgets.

When Eslite opened their first 24-hour bookstore 17 years ago, they started a trend. The latest XinYi Store is eight stories and 7,500 pings large and has adopted an even more international and unique style that surprises visitors with what a bookstore is capable of. Situated near the Taipei City Hall MRT Station, this new store intends to become “Taiwan’s cultural window to the world”. The second-to-fourth-floor bookstore has a collection of over a million books, making it the biggest in Taiwan. It also introduced a new concept of shops within a bookstore, with a Japanese bookstore, simplified Chinese bookstore, arts bookstore and many other outlets. There is a wide range of English and Chinese books, as well as audio/visual equipment in a specialized department. Other floors offerings include the first-floor Design and Living Floor; an almost 200-ping-large children’s bookstore and children’s discovery museum on the fifth floor; the Eslite Culture sixth floor with a theme restaurant for speeches and activities; a B1 level mainly selling young trendy designer items; and a B2 level offering snacks and exotic foods, as well as vegetarian dishes, to fill browsers’ stomachs. The Eslite XinYi Store is a whole new world of possibilities. from TaiwanFun.com

Porter bags

There were lots of snack items but all were labelled in Chinese so I didn’t know exactly what most of it were.

In today’s market where ebooks are gaining ground and some brick and mortar bookstores have downsized Eslite’s books are still fully stocked with all the subjects you can imagine. Even obscure topics and international subjects were well represented.

The Alpen Garden

all kinds of tea

My favorite section was this area selling European houseware items. I just love looking at serveware specially for coffee and tea.

They even had an Apple store inside.

Just take a look at their store directory.

I remember ‘reading’ 老夫子 (Lǎo Fū Zi) when I was a kid.

The Japanese section was all white.

I had to ask my friend who is Japanese what these colorful cloths were. She said “tenugui” literally means to wipe your hands. It is a traditional cloth used back in “Edo era.” They used to use it to wipe their hands and other purposes like tie up kimono or wrap around their head to keep their sweat from their face. These days these tenugi are used for wrapping gifts too.

The cookbook section was quite extensive too.

This level had lots of stationery and cutsie stuff. Somebody on this level finally told me I wasn’t allowed to take pictures. Good thing I managed to take a lot already. I could spend hours just browsing all the things in Eslite. It’s a must see when you visit Taipei.

Eslite Bookstore (Xinyi Store)
No. 11, Sōnggāo Rd, Sinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
telephone: (02) 8789-3388
Hours:10 am -2 am Bookstore (2F/3F/4F)
10 am-10 pm /Shopping Mall (B2/ B1/ 1F/ 5F/ 6F)
website

Silks Palace at The National Palace Museum

The business conference I attended hosted a welcome dinner at Silks Palace at National Palace Museum.

The restaurant was housed in a beautiful 3 storey building.

The 1st floor was a regular walk in restaurant.

The second floor had bigger tables and private function rooms.

We were on the 3rd floor for our private event.

The menu was very different from the banquet menus in Manila’s Chinese restaurants. Some dishes were really unique and we had to keep checking the menu to know what we were eating. I must say the food was really, really delicious.

marinated chicken with shao-shin wine

grilled sliced Kobe pork with garlic

water chestnut with sweet osmanthus sauce

abalone mushroom with oyster sauce

crispy sliced lappa (burdock)

deep-fried crab meat with pine nuts

This was one of my favorite dishes. I’ve never had seafood roll with sliced almonds before. I loved the extra crunch and flavor the almonds gave to the crispy rolls.

deep-fried seafood roll

They served the suckling pig on top of a bed of noodles. So unique!

barbecued suckling pig

I simply loved all the browned yet soft garlic on the lobster and tofu.

steamed lobster and bean curd with garlic

Taiwanese Buddha tureen soup

braised sliced abalone & sea cucumber with lettuce in oyster sauce

steamed grouper with preserved mustard greens

One of the most famous masterpieces in the National Palace museum is a jadeite cabbage with insects which they recreated in this dish. For insects dried shrimp was used.

Jadeite cabbage with insects

My willpower dissolved with this glutinous rice served at the end of the meal.

steamed glutinous rice wrapped with lotus leaf

The strawberries were so sweet and plump that it didn’t need a dip in condensed milk at all.

fresh strawberries & condensed milk

Isn’t the presentation of Chinese dessert pastries so artful? Too bad it didn’t taste as good as it looks.

classic desserts in Chinese curio box

Another jadeite cabbage in dessert form.

Silks Palace Floor Guide

B2 Taiwanese Food Court
Concept: Casual and traidtional Taiwanese fast food
Cuisine: mainly local dishes, which represent culture and culinary roots of Taiwan

Hours:
Monday~Friday 11:30~18:00
Saturday 11:00~20:00
Sunday 11:00~18:00
Prices: NT$18 and up
Capacity: 150 persons

1F Open-space Restaurant
Concept: Business lunch/dinner and fine dining space for visitors to the museum
Cuisine: mainly Cantonese, with special selections from all Eight Great Culinary Regions of China

Hours:
Weekdays Lunch 11:30am-2:30pm
Weekends & Holidays Lunch 11:00am-3:00pm
Dinner 5:30pm-9:00pm
Prices:
A la carte menu items
Lunch NT$380 and up
Dinner NT680 and up
Capacity: 200 persons

2F Private Staterooms
Concept: a continuation of the motif on the first floor, with private rooms for VIPs, state dignitaries, government officials, etc
Cuisine: mainly Cantonese, with special selections from all Eight Great Culinary Regions of China and themed sets, such as Cultural Relics Feast, Emperor’s Imperial Feast, Dong Po Feast, Formosan Delicacies Feast, and more

Hours:
Lunch 11:30am-2:00pm
Dinner 5:30am-9:30pm
Prices:
Set Menu
Lunch NT$880 and up per person
Dinner NT$1,080 and up per person

Table Feast
Lunch NT$10,800 and up per table of ten
Dinner NT$12,800 and up per table of ten
Capacity
10 rooms (8~20 persons per room)

3F Banqueting Ballroom
Concept: multi-functional banqueting site for tour groups, convention attendants, wedding and longevity banquets, etc
Cuisine: the essence of Chinese cuisine – banquet dishes

Hours:
subject to guest demand
Prices
starting at NT$16,800 per table
Capacity: 35 tables (10 persons per table)

故宮晶華
Silks Palace at The National Palace Museum
221 Chishan Road Section 2, Shilin, Taipei, Taiwan
Phone: 886 2 2882 9393
website

Lunch at Shin Yeh 101

We had some free time so my parents and I went to Taipei 101 to look for good Chinese food.

Our hotel, Grand Hyatt Taipei, was connected by footbridge to Taipei 101 and several big malls in the Xinyi district.

Taipei 101 facade

We took the elevator all the way to the 85th floor to Shin Yeh. I’ve eaten in their Shin Kong Mitsukoshi branch before.

This branch was much more beautiful.

When we were on the ground floor they told us that the set menu cost a few hundred more if we sat by the window. We told them we wanted an ordinary table. Here’s a sample of the ‘cheaper’ set menus.

They sat us on a table beside the window despite my request and said it won’t cost more. Just look at the view. I couldn’t see anything through the thick fog. No wonder it didn’t cost more. Too bad. I’m sure the view of the city from the 85th floor would have been fabulous.

We didn’t order from the set menu and ordered a la carte instead.

Pardon my dad. He’s old school and doesn’t get the fuss over shark’s fin. In Manila we call this soup ‘Buddha jumps over the wall’. It’s his favorite soup.

steamed shark’s fin soup with sea cucumber, pork spare rib & chicken NT$560

The abalone wasn’t as soft as the canned variety. It had a slightly chewy/crispy texture to it.

fresh abalone NT$360

Instead of ordering oyster omelet which is very popular in Taipei I tried the fried oyster and immediately fell in love with it. The batter was thin, light and crisp. It was accompanied with pepper salt and it was simply amazing. I think I ate half of this dish.

deep fried baby oyster with basil NT$320

I don’t like taro at all but this roll was very good.

deep fried taro & shrimp roll NT$180

I didn’t realize we ordered a lot of fried dishes but this fish was really, really tasty with all the fried garlic and cracked pepper.

pan fried pomfret with garlic NT$500

I also ordered a couple of dim sum that baked instead of fried. Both were yummy and the exterior crust was very flaky. The shredded turnip filling was very generous.

crispy cakes stuffed with turnip & minced pork NT$150

salty turnip & sweet date puree twin section cakes NT$195

I shouldn’t have ordered the first turnip cake since this was practically the same thing. Well half of it was. The other side had a curiously good sweet-savory date filling.

We had a superb meal and didn’t regret not ordering a set meal. The bill was expensive due to the soup and fresh abalone. I highly recommend Shin Yeh at Taipei 101 as a good place to get typical Chinese food in a very elegant setting and you get to dine in the clouds.

Shin Yeh 101
Taipei Xinyi Road Section 5, No. 7, 85, 1 (Taipei 101)
telephone: 02-8101-0185
website

101食藝軒
地址：台北市信義路5段7號85樓之1(台北101大樓)
電話：02-8101-0185

Buffet Breakfast at Cafe, Grand Hyatt Taipei

My stay at the Grand Hyatt included breakfast buffet at the Café. As with any buffet I was wary of the food offerings.

Nice water feature at the entrance.

Different food stations were scattered around the huge restaurant that’s why there wasn’t any lines despite the almost full restaurant.

dried fruits and nuts

bircher muesli

bread table

honeycomb

This was the most agonizing and tempting station for me. Everyday the bread and pastry selections change. From French, Chinese and American style bread was well represented.

bread galore

peanut butter & Nutella

dried fruits and vegetables

pancake & waffle station

The Chinese food section was my favorite. I was so happy that my favorite dishes were there for the 3 times I ate there.

Chinese section

Chinese steamed selections

The braised bean curd skin with mushroom was my super duper favorite dish which I ate everyday.

braised fried bean curd skin with black mushroom & soya egg

This tofu dish was quite good too.

braised bean curd with black fungus & bamboo in light soya

congee toppings

soya milk & Chinese dough fritters

veggies & mushroom

potatoes

grilled sausage

ham

I only ate muesli once since it wasn’t that good.

bircher muesli

That’s a granola bar on top of my plate.

This is what my plate looked like for 3 days. I miss the bean curd skin to this day. The food and selection at Grand Hyatt Taipei was really good and worth it. It’s incentive enough to stay in this hotel. Nice room, good breakfast and excellent location.

Hours:
Breakfast 6:30 am – 10:30 am
Lunch 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
Dinner 6:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Grand Hyatt Taipei

2, SongShou Road,Taipei, Taiwan 11051

telephone: +886 2 2720 1234

110台北市信義區松壽路2號 Taiwán

02-2720-1129

Grand Hyatt Taipei

We were billeted at the Grand Hyatt Hotel Taipei for our convention.

It’s not a new or modern hotel but I think they recently had a renovation.

My room was big and clean.

I’ve never seen a full electrical hot water pot in a hotel room before. I plugged it in and had instant access to boiling water anytime I wanted to drink tea.

I always prefer a bathroom with a separate shower stall. I hate taking a shower in the bathtub.

My favorite part was this narrow ledge in the shower where I can put all my toiletries. Unlike in other hotels with provided a small soap dish or the side of the bathtub to put your own shampoo and conditioner.