My Top 30 Taiwanese Eats

Mention the beautiful city of Taiwan and most people would quickly link it up with shopping, be it in the famous streets of Xi Men Ding or the night markets in Shilin, and the vast variety of food, ranging from the highly acclaimed chicken cutlets to a bowl of slimy sea-snails. Leaving the shopping part out, this blog post will be highly focused on the good eats in Taiwan.

For me, I had a physical list of food that I want to try and I highly recommend you to do up a similar list as well, striking off the names or putting a tick beside after you savoured them. By doing this, it helps to keep track of what you have eaten, and what you have not. Being in a city where good food is everywhere, you surely do not want to miss out any of them.

Again, please do note that taste is subjective to personal likings, for example I can't stand the pungent smell of stinky tofu, while some just totally love it etc. Without furthur ado, I present to you my favourite 30 eats in Taiwan.

Check out my newer list of 13 MUST-TRY Street Food in Taiwan.

My Top 30 Taiwanese Eats

Note: Those food items marked with an asterisk(*) are suitable as souvenirs.

1. TRADITIONAL TAIWANESE BREAKFAST

There are a lot of shops that specializes in soy bean milk and you tiao, however I highly recommend Fu Hang Dou Jiang (if you don't mind the insanely long queues.)

2. FISHBALL NOODLES

The fishballs are bouncy and juicy that I could use it as a ping-pong ball substitute, except that I would regret later on for wasting such a treasure. I highly recommend the store located near the entrance of Jiufen Old Street.

3. FEN YUAN (粉圆)

The price of their typical bowl of fen yuan (NT$50+/-) is 50% of Singapore's, but 200% of the awesomeness.

4. CHEESE POTATO

One of the greatest creations created by mankind is combining a piping hot baked potato wrapped in a nicely crisped skin, together with a generous amount of mayonaise and melted cheese. It is usually served with fillings, such as broccoli, minced tuna, bacon or grilled eel.

5. TIAN BU LA (甜不辣)

Different from the Japanese version, this is actually fried fish paste, which is usually served with slices of crunchy pickled cucumber and sweet sauce.

6. BEEF NOODLES

One does not simply leave Taiwan without eating this dish.

7. BRAISED PORK RICE W/ MUTTON SOUP

8. SALT WATER CHICKEN (盐水鸡)

De-boned chicken thigh or breast, which is cut into smaller pieces and mixed together with assorted vegetables and/or innards, and drizzled with sesame and chilli oil. Highly addictive. A particular corner store in Shida night market is an expert in this dish.

9. TAIWANESE MILK TEA*

Look no furthur than their convenient marts, they serve an impressive selection of home-brewed milk tea, but "A San Mu" still remains as my favourite.

10. OYSTER OMELETTE

11. PEANUT ICE CREAM BURRITO

2 scoops of ice cream topped with peanut brittle shavings and coriander (/Chinese parsley), wrapped in a paper-like skin (or known as "popiah" skin). The what-seems-to-be a weird combination produced an indescribable, surprising flavour that you got to truly experience it yourself.

12. FRIED CHICKEN CUTLET

豪大大雞排 from Shilin Night Market is a favourite to many and for lucky Singaporeans, there are currently 2 branches locally, located at Ion Orchard and Nex.

13. DA BING BAO XIAO BING (大餅包小餅)

14. MANGO SHAVED ICE

15. BUBBLE TEA

There are lots of bubble tea shops in Taiwan, but apparently C-Tea (50嵐) is the most popular choice among the locals.

16. DA CHANG BAO XIAO CHANG (大腸包小腸)

It resembles an American hotdog bun, just that it is replaced with a Taiwanese sausage and crunchy veg wrapped between glutinous rice "sausage" (bun, rather).

17. WANTON W/ CHILLI OIL

18. HERBAL EGGS

19. MUAH CHI (麻滋)

There are different types of muah chi, but I do recommend the store at Xi Men Ding, where they serve this in Japanese style - by grilling and topping with assorted flavours of your choice.

20. SCALLION PANCAKE (蔥抓餅)

21. SUN CAKES (太陽餅)*

A popular souvenir to bring back home. I recommend 李仪饼店 (Li Yi Bing Dian) which is located outside the Jiufen Old Street. There is also another branch in Taipei Main Station for better convinience.

22. ALMOND BISCUITS*

These freshly made biscuits bring along a strong, crispy nutty flavour and a whiff of almond aroma.

23. RAILWAY BENTO BOX

Perfect for long train rides - I bought this at the convenient store just located beside the gantry of Taiwan Railway Adminstration (TRA).

24. QUAIL EGGS

One of Danshui's speciality - it is seasoned with a dash of pepper and oyster sauce, doned up as the same method as your traditional Takoyaki.

25. CHINESE DUMPLINGS

26. PINEAPPLE CAKES (鳳梨酥)*

Another popular souvenir. Maison Kaser from Danshui Old Street serves good pineapple cakes.

27. SOFT SHELL CRAB

28. OYSTER MIAN XIAN

29. IRON EGGS (铁蛋)*

30. SEA-SNAILS (螺)

An exotic food for the more adventurous - slightly different from their cousins - escargots, it is seemingly less flavourful and more slimy. This snails (NT$100 for 4 -5) are usually washed in warm water and seasoned with five-spices sauce just before serving.

Tokyo Fruit Paradise @ Vivocity, Singapore

Tokyo Fruit Paradise, under the well-known Ajisen Ramen chain, offers fruit tarts made with natural goodness by using only the freshest and most delicious fruits, carefully selected by their Japanese Patissiers every day. Not only that their tantalizing tarts taste as delicious, their presentations look visually aesthetic as well, making salivating uncontrollable at the sight of these little pieces of haven.

I would say, the Japanese are one of the best in presentation, making the simplest ingredients look sophisticated and artistic. Take for example, one of their top sellers - A hearty slice of custard-based Nutty Caramel (S$6.80/slice) tart, topped with fresh caramelized fruits, crunchy nuts and bittersweet chocolate garnish is my personal favourite when it comes to satisfying my sweet tooth.

The main filling of every Western-style fruit tart is a selection of either chocolate, custard or cheese, then topped with an array of exclusive and artistically concocted  mixture of fruits, frosting and garnishes. One of the aspect I thought they did well was the crust, its texture was crisp and just of the right thickness, but enough to support the whole tart.

Such as the cheese-based Mango (S$6.80/slice) tart, which is topped with a pleasant amount of luscious mango slices, sprinkled with a thin layer of sugar icing - a perfect combination for both cheese and mango lovers.

Besides the impressive array of fruit tarts, Tokyo Fruit Paradise serves a wide selection of fruit juices, as well as English blended teas, making it a recommended choice for high-tea or somewhere to chill out with a cup of tea.



Tokyo Fruit Paradise

Tel: 6376 9978

Opening Hours
Daily: 11:30 - 22:00

1 HarbourFront Walk
#01-59
Vivocity

Light Up Your Christmas with O'Coffee Club

With this year's theme of "Light Up Your Christmas", O'Coffee Club presents an impressive array of festive ala carte menu and goodies, ranging from home-baked artisanal cookies and yule logcakes to festive drinks, such as the X'mas edition mango vodka juice- Blue Santa Tini (S$12.00). One would be spoilt for choice.

 

Double Berry Rock (S$7.20/slice or S$45/whole) is their newest addition of seasonal logcakes, with "a sensational twist of blissful chocolate with cherry compote and berry Bavarian cream."

 

 

Let It Snow (S$8.00) - "a Christmas edition macaroon mocha ice-blended drink, filled with crushed cookie bits." The Christmas tree cookie looks absolutely adorable at the summit of whipped cream. Hazelnut Caramel Crawing (S$6.50) is not one of the promotions, but I thought it has a festive ring to its brilliant design.

 

Besides pastries and seasonal drinks, O'Coffee Club serves a variety of tantalizing festive treats as well, such as the mouth-watering main courses "Christmas Beef Brisket" and "Chicken and Turkey Mince Roll". For more information about this festive promotion and other in-house menus, please do not hesitate to visit their main site at http://www.ocoffeeclub.com/

 

Do take note that there is a "Longest Whimsical Log Cake Decorating Contest", which will be held at Marina Square on 23 December 2012 with exciting prizes to be given away. For more information: http://www.marinasquare.com.sg/happenings/promotions/view/689

 

Have a Christmas treat like no other - Happy festive dining!

Big Eater Seafood Restaurant @ Jurong West, Singapore

Chilli Crab is a popular dish known by many and it is arguably the best local dish right here at its birth place. Listed by CNN Travel at 35th in "World's 50 Most Delcious Food", Chilli crab is with no doubt, a must eat when it comes to travelling in Singapore. Let's just put it this way - You have not truly been to Singapore until you savour the chilli crabs.

 

Located at Jurong West district, Big Eater Seafood could be identified with hundreds of signatures-filled crab shells hanging on the ceiling. Though it sure does look like a nightmare for crabs to end up in, tens and hundreds of crab-lovers throng to this particular seafood restaurant regularly and unite all in the name of this clawed creature.

 

Do not miss out their signature Chilli Crab (seasonal price ~ S$43.00) - whole crab stir-fried in semi-thick, sweet and spicy tomato-based chilli sauce with eggs and ganished with cilantro. Crab claws are the most fleshy and convenient part, hence it is quite the obvious favourite to many and more often than not, served to guest or the elderly. However, the actual fun of eating a crab lies in using the crab cracker and claw out the meat (it might not seem like an appropriate similarity, but it is like how an anteater dig out ants from a tree bark. Oh yuck. I know.) Anyway, the sweet-spicy gravy is best eaten together with white rice, or even better with its sidekick -Deep Fried Buns (S$4.00 for 10), or better known as Chinese mantou.

 

  

Salted Egg Yolk Crab (seasonal price ~ S$43.00) is another prefered way of cooking. The savoury flavour of the salted egg yolk infused with the natural sweet, juicy flesh tends to be difficult to resist. Oh, and if you're lucky enough, you might just get one that is full of delectable crab roes!

 

Besides stir-frying with tomato-chilli and salted egg yolk sauce, other popular flavours include the drier and fragrant black pepper sauce and for the health gurus, how does steamed crabs sound?

 

Crispy Prawn Roll (S$13.50) - fresh prawn paste is wrapped in thin layers of beancurd skin and then deep-fried, is highly recommended. Simple, yet an amazing dish with a subtle crisp. Therefore, we always have this at our table every single time.

 

Deep Fried Chicken (S$12.00) is no less awesome with its juicy flesh hidden under a layer of crispy brown skin. With KFC's chicken getting smaller and standards going downhill, one day I might just switch here to satisfy my chicken cravings instead.

 

Besides its speciality seafood, Big Eater Seafood Restaurant is also well-known for their authentic KL-style Hokkien Mee, Hor Fun and various local dishes. Definitely recommended for family dinners and late-night gatherings.

 

 

 

 

Big Eater Seafood Restaurant (大食家海鲜)

 



Tel: 63970480

 

Opening Hours

Daily: 4pm - 2am

 

964 Jurong West Street 91

#01-342

Koh Grill & Sushi Bar @ Wisma Atria, Singapore

Most diners would think twice about good Japanese food being served in a Food Republic restaurant. Girlfriend and yours truly felt pretty skeptical as well, but were eased by the snaking queue forming outside Koh Grill & Sushi Bar. As Singaporeans, our kiasu mindset immediately made an assumption that this sushi bar is definitely a glutton's favourite hunt and thus allow our love for food consume us as we joined the queue.

If there is only one food item you could have, it must be their signature Shiok Maki (S$16.80) and it is called "SHIOK" for a reason - grilled unagi (eel) and soft avocado strips wrapped in a lightly roasted salmon maki, topped with melted cheese, mayonaise and an abundance of flying fish roes. The sinful burst of flavours were incredibly amazing and has since, found a spot in my favourite maki list.

The lightly-salted Salmon Skin (S$4.00) has a delectable crisp to every single bite, which make this dish a good side kick. Come to think of it, salmon skin is a pretty awesome beer snack.

I felt cheated when the Asparagus Buta Maki (S$3.00) arrived on my table, as it was puny in comparison to the usual. However, this delightful wrap of slightly crisped bacon and juicy asparagus was a surprise to the palate.

Gindara Yaki (S$16.00, additional S$2 for rice and miso soup) - cod fillet baked with cheese and flying fish roes, completed with fresh cabbage salad and garlic miso sauce. It was a tad salty for my liking but the sinful, yet addictive combination was too alluring to resist.

If you are looking for good, and yet affordable Japanese cuisine, do look no furthur than Koh Grill and Sushi Bar.

Koh Grill & Sushi Bar

Tel: 6836 0609

Opening Hours
Daily: 11:30 - 22:30

435 Orchard Road
#04-21
Wisma Atria

Taipei 101 @ Taiwan

Formally known as the Taipei World Financial Center, the iconic Taipei 101 (台北101) is officially the tallest and largest green building in the world as of July 2011. It comprises of 101 stories and 5 floors underground, with 6 stories dedicated to shopping. The 509m building features a 660 metric-ton damper which reduces up to 40% of swaying movement and is built to withstand strong winds and earthquake tremors.

There are other awe-inspiring details, yet some might find it a boredom to look through, but if you're interested to visit their main site or search it in Wikipedia.

For tourists, it is none other than the paranomic 360-degrees scenery that fascinates us the most. It features an indoor observatory(89th floor) and an outdoor one(91st floor) as well, which offers unparaleled views of Taipei district in both day and night.

Directions to Taipei 101

1. From Taipei City Hall Station Exit 2, take a free shuttle bus to Taipei 101. Bus frequencies vary from 15 to 30 minutes. Either way, hail a cab to Taipei 101, it should not cost more than NT$80.

2. From Taipei City Hall Station Exit 2, walk south approximately 15 minutes towards Shifu Road or Songzhi Road.
 

Interesting fact: 4 in Chinese means "death" and hence an unlucky number. Floor 44 of Taipei 101 has been replaced by Floor 43, with Floor 42A replacing the actual Floor 43.

Besides holding a world record as one of the tallest building, Taipei 101 is also equipped with the fastest elevators built with state-of-art technology, which goes up to the 89th floor in just 37 seconds - that's a whopping vertical speed of 3314 ft per minute!

 

(from left) World's fastest elevator, one of Taipei 101's damper character

 

If you're hungry in the middle of sight-seeing, there is a cafe named "Bigtom" located at the indoor observatory. Although slightly more expensive than your usuals, what do you actually expect when you're dining amidst breath-taking sceneries (a.k.a tourist trap)?

Bigtom's Mango Shaved Ice with Ice-cream is on promotion so we decided to try it out. It tasted more like a sorbet than ice cream, but it was generally awesome. The tart (left) was a little over-floury, however the hot and fragrant mushroom fillings was nice to have during winter.

On the way out, you will pass by a exhibition of impressive figurines carved out of the prized red corals, and if you're interested to bring some back home, there are several gift shops that specializes in red coral (as well as other gemstones) as well.

Just look at those impressive, fine details - the time, the effort, the patience and determination used to finish each and every single piece of master-piece.