Visit any seafood restaurant in the land (It’s one of the simplest dishes ever, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is hugely popular. Whether you're visiting the trendy Pin Chuan Lan's rib-eye steak noodle restaurant or have made a foray into the first makeshift noodle shack you spot, it's almost impossible to have a bad beef noodle experience in Taiwan.Lin Dong Fang's beef shanks with al dente noodles in herbal soup are a perennial favorite.
It's a great excuse to eat shaved ice mountain. Fresh basil, chilies and garlic are then added to this Taiwanese culinary triumvirate, resulting in an irresistible combination. For home-style preparation, retro Izakaya-style restaurant James Kitchen serves pan-fried milkfish with lime. The thick, flat, slippery noodles made from glutinous rice are part of the Hakka culinary tradition and best sampled in Kaohsiung's Meinong district.Stir-fried ban tiao with pork has a rustic taste and texture. This night market staple needs to be devoured in a few bites to ensure it stays steaming hot and chewy.A bowl of great oyster vermicelli should have a thick, flavorful soup base while the thin rice noodles and oysters retain their distinct texture. Baked on the wall of a clay oven, the pies are a delicious ode to the pepper plant. Its version of the dish is served with handmade pork cakes, shrimp cakes, cabbage, daylily and bamboo shoots.These glutinous rice balls are as soft as marshmallows and filled with sweet or salty ingredients.
With time, the egg white turns into a translucent black jelly and the yolk develops a unique flavor.
The rice grains are an ideal vehicle for goose fat and flavor.Ding bian cuo is a bowl of slippery rice-flour pasta. (The bread isn't even toasted.) Another signature of the store is wine-longan bread, made with smoked longans, French wine and California walnuts.A lot of Taiwanese have a love-hate relationship with Taiwanese biandang (bento), the takeaway lunchbox that packs rice with a main dish (usually a type of meat) and small, often unappealing side dishes such as fried and preserved vegetables.It's a convenient, quick, cheap (less than $3) and generally decent way to eat.Biandang isn't one of the most delicious foods in Taiwan, but it's a staple for countless working parents and busy urbanites. A fisherman sold noodles during the slack fishing season and the place became so successful he quit his original trade altogether. It's a hamburger, Taiwan-style.A steamed bun sandwiches a hearty filling of braised pork belly, pickled Chinese cabbage and powdered peanuts. Some people add chopped intestines to add a new dimension to the soup. A little sweet, a little salty, braised pork rice is comfort food perfected.You know a dish is an obsession when it gets its own festival.
Join us on a 12-month journey to see them all The iconic eatery originated in Tainan about a century ago.
You can learn how to make mochi at the Royal Taiwan Mochi Museum (around $5 per person). Video by It's golden. But what's the fun in eating that? The phrase refers to something that is especially chewy, like the tapioca balls that form the "bubbles" in bubble tea. Stores that replace pineapple completely with winter melon to cut costs are committing a big no-no.Tian bu la refers to fish paste that's been molded into various shapes and sizes, deep-fried, then boiled in a broth. It's from Wu Pao-chun, a world baking champion with many award-winning loaves to its name.The bakery's lychee-rose bread even won the international baking competition Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in 2010.
It really is as stinky as you’d expect fermented tofu to be, but if you can ignore the aroma, it’s actually pretty tasty.Taiwan is a food lover’s paradise. Every time you think you've found the best streetside bao, the most incredible stinky tofu or mind-blowing beef noodle soup, there's another Taiwanese food shop that surpasses it.
This mix of pig's blood and sticky rice is stuck on the end of a stick like a lollipop.
In recent years, strawberry jam, sesame paste, green tea jam and peanut paste have become popular fillings. Taiwan has a 24-hour multilingual travel information hotline (0800-011-765). You've got something from the sea and something from the soil. The "fragrant" cube of bean curd is deep-fried and draped with sweet and spicy sauce. Order more than one or you'll have to wait in the long queue when you inevitably go back for more.Xiaolongbao may be a Shanghainese delicacy, but some argue the Taiwanese perfected them. Everyone wants to claim the "beef noodle king" title.
Mash it up and it's ready to eat.Every Taiwanese household has its own recipe for run bing. Bear in mind they usually sell out before noon.
Healthy Fast Food in Taiwan? Taiwan deserves a special place in the fried chicken hall of fame. In 1683, the Manchu Qing Dynasty destroyed the Tungnin fleet and conquered the renegade little kingdom. So popular that it has its own themed museum in Anping and there's a milkfish cultural festival in Kaohsiung.The bony fish might pose a challenge for amateurs, but it's loved for its tender meat and economical price tag. The food is basically a Taiwanese take on Japanese oden, with more sugariness, tougher fish cakes and a signature sauce. "Many sesame flatbreads are dry and flaky but Fu Hang's shows why there's often a half-hour wait there on the weekends."
But the traditional local darlings with ginger chicken soup base or lamb-themed hot pot are still going strong. Taiwan is said to be the home of beef noodle soup, and you’ll find the world’s most expensive bowl here in Taipei. The smellier, the better.Leaving taste, smell and nutritional value aside, the sweet potato stands out for one particular reason -- "it's shaped a bit like the island," says Peter Lin, founder of local tour company Topology.As long as the beloved root vegetable is in it, Taiwanese love it.One good thing about the hot, humid and stormy Taiwan summers? With its unique fusion of cultures, breathtaking scenery, diverse cuisine, exciting city life and well-developed hospitality industry, Taiwan is an ideal destination for many types of travelers.
The most traditional mochi are filled with red bean paste and rolled in peanut powder.