Chandavkl's Blog: What We Ate In Taiwan, Part 15

Obviously not every venue on our tour organized by the Supera/Signet Tour company (www.superatours.com) warrants a separate write-up, but it doesn't mean that these eating places weren't worthy of a mention.

Boba. Mention Taiwan to any Asian American under 40 years old their first response is likely to be "boba." We couldn't visit Taiwan without visiting at least one boba shop, so we used one of the rare free moments on our Supera/Signet Tour to grab a drink at Ho Tea in Hualin.

For those of us used to paying $4 and up for a single boba drink in the United States, the local price of about 80 cents was a welcome surprise. Also surprising was the elongated shape of the cup, as demonstrated by our tour guide, Tom.

Beef Noodle Soup

Another iconic Taiwanese favorite is the beef noodle soup. Even though located in the Taroko Gorge National Park, Mei Yuan Restaurant in Silks Place Hotel was home to a version of beef noodle soup that was an award winner in an annual national competition for the dish. No, this was not a small portion of soup--rather it was a huge bowl, probably 4 to 5 inches high. I have to say, however, that this bowl wasn't any better than what I've had back home. The rest of the meal was assorted small plates.

Nothing noteworthy at the breakfast buffet in the Wellesley Restaurant also in Silk's Place except this black bean green tea bread.

Hotpot

While hotpot is certainly not a dish solely associated with Taiwanese food, Taiwanese hotpot was early in the forefront in the United States. Physalis Restaurant at Ming Ging Farm hotel had hotpot as one of their dinner offerings, which made this an obvious choice in this food centric tour of Taiwan. Their version, however, wasn't especially notable.

Fortunately the breakfast buffet at Physalis was much better. I loaded up on some pretty good chicken dumplings, a rarity in any Chinese restaurant in any location in the world except the Middle East. Other winners included their turnip cake, red bean bun and hot dog danish. But my favorite was this item--no, not a chicken nugget, but a nugget filled with corn pudding!

Noodle making, Chihshang rice fields

A very interesting motorized bicycle tour of the Chihshang rice fields culminated in a rice noodle making demonstration and tasting. Tour members were able to push a rice flour ball through a grater which produced rice noodles which were then cooked and served to the group.

Ta Tung Night Market - Tainan City

While the tour did not take us to the night market, dinner ended early enough to give us plenty of time to explore the Ta Tung Night Market. Though Taipei's Shilin Night Market is much more famous in the United States, indeed probably the only Taiwanese night market with a recognizable name, the Ta Tung night market was the real deal. Wall to wall people with numerous merchandise and food booths.

Unfortunately we had one of the fabulous Supera/Signet dinners that evening, so we basically could only look at the interesting food booths, like this one offering squid.

So we had to settle for a refreshing papaya milk.

Cafe at Far Eastern, Shangri La Hotel, Tainan City

In some respects this was my favorite hotel buffet, though the food, while not bad, was not terribly memorable either.

There were potato omelettes.

More fried gluten.

Taiwanese egg pastry.

Ham omelette.

And vegetarian goose.

But what I loved was the piped in music–old time rock hits like the Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You,” and Earth Wind and Fire’s “September” sung by a single female vocalist, 1940s standards style. And similar rock classics sung by a male singer with a Latin arrangement. I kind of wish I could get that sound track.

Taiwanese "snow" shaved ice.

Though lunch was the final meal on the last day of our Supera/Signet tour, there was one last culinary treat, the finely shaved snow ice at Ice Monster in downtown Taipei. Taiwanese shaved ice is not uncommon in the United States, but it is shaved plain ice infused with fruit or other flavored toppings. Ice Monster's version is significantly different in that the flavored concoction itself is frozen, producing a colored shaved ice. This is Ice Monster's famous mango shaved ice, so fine it's like cotton candy.

Ice Monster serves several flavors, including maple, which isn't nearly as visual, but also quite tasty.

And they even serve a few warm desserts, like this peanut butter soup. But frankly, if you come here you only want the shaved ice.

Unless, of course, you order the fruit avalanche like the people at the next table.

Taipei Airport

Last meal was at the Taipei airport at Founder Hong Dan Zhai Noodle, a branch of one of the original Tainan noodle shops. I thought the signage was rather elaborate, as I did not know of the origins of the restaurant at the time.