Showing posts with label night_markets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label night_markets. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A Pictoral Walk Through Miaokou Night Market (Keelung)

A stand selling refreshing fig jelly drinks with lemon (愛玉檸檬汁) - I like this photo for the hanging limes.

After our tiring, sand-covered trip to Fulong to see the lovely sand sculptures, we hopped a long, heavily air-conditioned bus to Keelung to eat in the night market. More than half the night market is currently closed (road construction, I think) but the main eating area known as Miaokou Snack Street is still open.

Keelung is one of my favorite night markets, and I'd say the best in northern Taiwan (though I am also a big fan of Raohe in the far east of Taipei). I was devastated that my seafood lady - my dealer, as it were, for delicious sea urchin sashimi, was a part of the closed area. Good for my wallet though - sea urchins start at NT$100 an urchin and go up from there. As you can only eat the roe, not the innards, you don't get a lot for your money (but what you get is sublime, so I keep coming back for more. Mmmmm sea urchins).

Some schookids eating what I think is stewed pork rice

Some specialties of Keelung, besides seafood generally, are cream crabs (奶油螃蟹) - a whole crab cooked in cream and butter with onions and often basil, thick soup (羹) in its lamb, eel and crab forms (and possibly others), one bite sausage (below), tempura (below), and ice desserts of various kinds.

All the other stuff is tasty, too.

So...enjoy a pictoral walk through a busy night at the night market, with a few bonus pics of downtown Keelung - which is just this side of sketchy without being too dangerous!

A view of the night market from the temple's incense burner

Many night markets seem to have sprung up around temples, which makes sense if you consider the temple as a community gathering spot that has always had snack vendors outside. It is quite obvious that some of these might grow into full-blown snack markets or night markets. Not all night markets have a temple and not all larger temples have a night market, but many do.


There's a famous snack at Miaokou called "Nutritious Sandwich" - it's a piece of deep-fried bread filled with mayonnaise, tomato, cucumber, ham and boiled egg. Nutritious indeed.


Taiwanese-style tempura (甜不辣)


One Bite Sausage with raw garlic - yum! (一口香腸加蒜頭)


Lovers eating mba wan (肉圓 - Taiwanese rice gluten dumplings)


Crab thick soup (螃蟹羹) and chicken rice (雞絲飯)


I'm quite sad that this photo ended up a bit blurry (and no amount of Sharpen tool can fix it) - I love the expressions on their faces.


They look surprised, but believe me when I say that I asked permission to take this photo.


"Traditional" shaved ice toppings. The green stuff is "coconut" and is actually quite good.


Best photobomb ever! Well, not the best, but still pretty good.


I like Keelung because it's just...weird.


...and gritty with a side of seediness thrown in. It's those things too. That's what you get in an Asian port town.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Asian Facial


So I got my 2nd facial in Taiwan last night with a friend and my skin feels great! For NT$500 (about $15 US - not bad!) they do threading to get stray hairs off your face, put on an astringent gel, then put one of those tightening pore-cleaning masks, like Biore nose strips but for your whole face, on you for awhile. Then they go over your face with a vibrating scraper thing to get dead gunk off. Then more gel and a neck and shoulder rub, then a mud mask that burns a bit, then they take that off, get a scary looking tool and pop all your zits, including ones you didn't know you had. Then another gel and some tea-tree oil based zit-clearing goo and you're on your way.

Emily getting a big green facial.

I go to a place in Jingmei Night Market (景美夜市), on the southern end. It's just north of the part of the market that turns into food stands. It's a tiny place, divided half into massage/manicure (I think they do massage anyway) and half into beauty treatments - threading, facials, eyebrow shaping, permed eyelash curling etc.. They have a hilarious sign in English done up by their Indonesian friend with everything they offer. There are three chairs inside and three ladies on plastic benches with little carts. There's a curtain with two beds behind it, as well.

Yesterday's was quite a bit of fun - they threaded my peach fuzz 'stache which is a lot more painful than the usual threading I get on my neck - my friend was trying not to laugh with her peely-off mask still drying as I cried out...several creatively-worded phrases.

The little old lady doing it, of course, had no idea what I was saying and just smiled through the whole thing.

She then got to the sides of my face, where I have quite a bit of fuzz, and with no warning tore out a huge tract of it with the thread.

Me: OWWWWW
Her: "Hm. Good!"
First lady: "Foreigners have so much hair. That one always comes in for threading. Her facial hair is amazing."
Second lady: "Oooooh."

(Side note: I am in the middle of laser treatment for chin and neck hairs, because I'm part Armenian and Armenian women get whiskers).

I heard a buzzing sound and looked over at my friend.

From General Area of Friend: Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Lady: "Mmm. So many blackheads. Where do foreigners get these blackheads? So, so many blackheads."

Another woman comes into the shop, which is in a market so we relax to sounds of the arcade games in the next shopfront jangling horrendous Japanese techno, and asks where the two women are.

Third woman: "They're in back, giving facials to these two foreigners."
Customer: "Foreigners? How cute!"

(she pulls back the curtain to see the two traumatized foreigners)

"Oh look! Foreign girls! They're so white! Adorable!"

Another shop lady comes in: "Oh, foreigners! Are they teachers?"

First lady: "This one is. That one is a BRIDE."

Second and third ladies and customer: "OOOOOH!!! A BRIDE!!!!"

Me, weakly: "Well, I work in Taiwan."

Ladies: "BRIDE!!" "Where is the wedding? Is he Taiwanese? When are you having babies?"

Me: "Uhhhh...USA, he's American too, not sure about having ba - bleeheheh"

(as a mud mask gets glommed onto my face)

Second lady: "So I guess they don't need the whitening treatment?"
First lady: "Nah. They're white enough. See?" (she then lifts the shirt of my friend to show off her pale English belly) "Totally white!"
Second lady: "Wow. That's really white."

New customer: "There are white girls in here?"

Friend, to me: "Did she just say I have a fat belly?"
Me: "No, she said you're really white. Like all over."
Friend: "OK, fair enough."

Ladies: "Yes! One of them's a BRIDE!"

Customer, opening curtain: "A BRIDE! Where's the wedding? Is he Taiwanese? When are you having babies? How old are you? Foreigners are so cute!"

Me: "Uhhh"

(second lady comes over with a torture device, like pliers or tweezers but much scarier and starts popping zits)

I have to say I love this country - none of the above is really rude in Taiwanese culture, at least among older women, so I don't feel like I was treated rudely. It's just...what is. We had a good laugh over it, especially the one woman clucking approval as she yanked out huge swaths of facial fuzz. So don't take this as a bitch about anything - it's not!

...and my skin is cleaner than it's ever been, with two facials in three weeks. They do a good job, those sadistic old Asian ladies!

So, female expats and readers - I do recommend that if you want squeaky clean skin and don't mind all the hilarity that you head down to one of these places (they're not a chain or anything but there's usually one in every night market) for a treat. It's not even expensive, plus you'll have a great story to tell your friends. It's especially useful in Taiwan where the humidity, sweat, sun and pollution can do a number on your skin.

*most of the dialogue here was in Chinese or Taiwanese, I put it in English for your benefit

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Ice Monster

This *also* appeared in the Taipei Times this morning:


OK. Ice Monster was pretty good. I always enjoyed eating there.

But it was not the best shaved ice in the Taipei metro area. It was one of the best, sure, but come on.

Like Dintaifung or that lady in Xinzhu who sells popcorn (any local will know what you mean), it was considered the best because of its fame, not necessarily because it was the best. I like Dintaifung, though I think they are overpriced. Shanghai Dumpling on Minsheng E. Road (east of Dunhua) is just as good for 1/3 the price.

And as for Ice Monster, again it was good. But if you want fantastic shaved ice, then you need only go to Sugar House in Nanshijiao night market (The market is T-shaped - it's on the base of the T, a left turn about halfway down if you enter the market from the MRT).

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Keelung Komestibles

Photos from Keelung's famous night market. It's late and I have work tomorrow (Sunday - argh...but I barely worked all week so it's fine) so I don't have time to add much narrative. I'll leave it by saying that this is one of the best night markets in Taiwan, if not the best, in terms of food. It's not huge - barely rates on the scale of Taipei city's major night markets size-wise - but packs more good food per punch than most of them.

Especially seafood. Go there and just eat seafood. And "nutritious sandwich". Despite the name, it is a piece of bread loaded with mayonnaise, ham, egg and tomato. Then it's deep fried. Not joking. Soooo not joking. It's like someone took a non-sugared Krispy Kreme doughnut, injected it with ham salad then stuck it in a deep fryer. Try it. Then call a cardiologist.

Anyway. Photos:



What a playboy!


"Oh, let me try a chicken foot, too."


MMMmmmmmm tentacles.




Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Nanjichang Night Market (南機場夜市)

Nanjichang Night Market can be found to the immediate east of Zhonghua Road in that hazy area between Zhongzheng and Wanhua. It's just south of Tibet (Xizang) Road and just west of Dingzhou road. MRT Guting, Taipower and possibly Xiaonanmen will take you there, as will Bus 304, or just do it the easy way and take a taxi.

On Sunday, we went looking for a Vietnamese place I like on Heping West Road that has either closed or disappeared, couldn't find it and ended up at Nanjichang. A student had told me about this night market - a little jewel hidden in the blue-collar not-really-historic-just-kinda-grody butt end of Wanhua, or Zhongzheng, or wherever. The name means, literally, "South of the Airport" (though "South of the Station" is also an OK translation) but it is not south of any airport. This area was apparently settled around the time Wanhua Train Station was built, and railway employees moved in. At the time a "機場" was not necessarily an airport, so my student says.

The place truly is a little gem - it's not as expansive as Raohe, not as convenient as Jingmei (which begins literally across a small street from the MRT exit 2) and not as historically-located as Ningxia, but it's local, it's authentic and it has delicious food.

We started out at "Jia Chou Tan" (or however it's pronounced) - Taiwanese 'jia' (to eat) plus 'chou' (stinky) plus the sound element for list with a water(?) radical. In Taiwanese it turns into "Tasty Place" or something. We sat at old-school wooden tables and had deliciously stinky and savory mala chou doufu (麻辣臭豆腐)and sweet potato leaves (地瓜葉) in a flavorful meat sauce. Our friend got sesame noodles (麻醬麵)- well-made thin noodles with a sesame-oil sauce and whole sesame seeds, which made the whole thing a lot more light and easily digestible than the usual crushed sesame paste noodles. Absolutely great. Across the street, we got mba wan (肉圓)from a little stand that was constantly crowded.

Jia Chou Tan (?) Nanjichang Night Market, Zhonghua Road Section 2 Lane 311 #15 (台北市南機場夜市中華路二段311巷15號)

Then we headed to a tian bu la (甜部啦?) stand that had an unceasing line for deliciously fresh fish mash goodies. These were so well-made that I could practically taste the hands of the wrinkled old obasan who squished them together from a giant plastic bucket of fishy goo.

I stopped at a candy vendor to buy some black sugar cashew candy (黑糖) which was quite good and we got shaved ice at the place with the longest line. Brendan and I loved the mango milk ice (芒果牛奶冰)but our friend was less enamored with his sour plum (酸梅)traditional-style ice.

The only unsavory part was when we saw a sign hanging from some grated apartment windows in one of the night market lanes, above the vendors. An approximate translation from the Chinese was: Those miscreants who caused Huang (Name) to be shamed and to die at home - his ghost will return and those people will be avenged upon for justice. Or something like that. Huh. We didn't ask any of the locals, because while we're sure they all knew what the deal was, we figured nobody would really want to tell the curious white people about the goings-on in their neighborhood.

All in all, the food was excellent and the local atmosphere - very salt-of-the-earth - made it worth the trek. Plus, we were not only the only foreigners there but we suspected that we may be the only foreigners who've happened by it in a loooooong time, from the way kids were staring at us.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Lehua Night Market


It says "Beer and sausage - definitely good friends". I agree.


Yesterday we headed out to the city of Yonghe, a suburb of Taipei that's just brimming with class and sophistication -

(ahem)

- to check out Lehua Night Market, revered by my students as the best in the Taipei area.

While I disagree that it's the best in the area, I have to admit that as a night market it combines an exuberance of the sacred...

Hey, adorable kids with balloon hats are sacred!

...and the profane...

Look for the new James Bond film, Goldenbum, in a theater near you!

...that I find truly amusing.

And for Yonghe, famous for Yonghe Soy Milk, old waishengren from Sichuan and a fantastic Sichuanese restaurant, at least one organized crime racket known as the Zhu Lian, love hotels and the Museum of World Religion, I have to say it's pretty sizeable and pretty good. Worth a look if you are interested in exploring every nook and cranny that Taipei and surrounds has to offer.

Some photos, for the heck of it:

You know, I've eaten frog. It's not half bad. Rubbery, but flavorful and unique. Does not taste like chicken. This frog, however, looks horrific. Seriously, this is enough to make me go vegetarian. Poor little guy.


Incense burners and lights


Straight from Japan - the world's tiniest hot dog, in gummie form!


My sister, the starving college student, tries on clothes as she contemplates making extra money as a betel nut beauty.


Something about "Grandpa Brand" white pepper powder had me in giggles for...minutes.


Joseph and the amazing deep-fried oyster spinach pie. It was pretty good actually.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Mother Goose Goose Meat (and other Taiwanese treats)

I love the name.

E
Mama E Rou has terrific goosemeat - succulent and fresh, lilting and savory.

You can locate it at Jingmei Night Market - take Jingmei MRT Exit 1 and when you exit, turn away from Roosevelt Road, instead heading left along the lane that takes you to the night market. Across from Cafe 85 is another lane that bisects Jingmei Street (the night market main drag) which is laden with good options. The "stuff on sticks" guy to the right is also quite good.

Anyway, walk in a bit, and it's right near the little shrine on the left. It's a basic Taiwanese 'joint' - not a restaurant, not an eatery, not a cafe, but a joint - where you get goosemeat, white or dark. it comes with bones and skin, sliced onto a plate with two dipping sauces the way cold chicken does (but the sauces are different). You can order noodles to go with it, made with a velvety goose broth, as well as xiao chi and seasonal vegetables.

It's really, really good. They do an excellent job with high-quality meat, the way any little joint should.

Sorry that I'm lazy about typing in Chinese; I would really prefer Pinyin input - sorry, I know, evil Communist Pinyin - and it takes too long to do the bopomofo. I am practicing though. I'm trying to do more reviews of Taiwanese restaurants as opposed to foreign food. It is easy to get reviews of foreign food in Taipei online (I subscribe to Hungry Girl, so I know) but really hard to get info on the little places - the joints - that serve the best local food and snacks.

Someday I'll write an epic post on the myriad kinds of onion pancake and where to get the best ones, I swear.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Southeast Asian Food

There are a lot of tips, hints and links for Southeast Asian food on offer in Taipei, but I thought I'd put forth a few suggestions I haven't yet seen knocked about online as my favorite destinations for food from the peninsula and islands.

Yangon (Myanmar)

Gongguan Night Market, near the Molly's Used Books behind Taipower Building. From Gongguan Night Market, turn in the alley near the Vietnamese Restaurant and head to the end, where you come across a small park and the end of the night market. It's on the road on the far side of the park, between a Korean BBQ and a coffeeshop.

Yangon looks like a Thai restaurant that happens to have a Burmese name - no, I can't figure out if I should call it Myanmar or Burma - and if you order incorrectly from the menu, you'll get just that, Thai food. But order correctly, or better yet, compliment the owners by specifically requesting Burmese food recommendations, and you are in for a real treat. We ordered three dishes and a green papaya salad. The eggplant dish felt very Chinese, with sweet soy sauce and a flavor reminiscent of Yunnan cuisine. The meat-in-a-stone-bowl was curried, with flavors from northeast India. The papaya salad and shrimp fritters (I know, I know, but I LOVE shrimp fritters) were very Thai. Put them all together and you have Rangoonian bliss. Also, very affordable.

South East Asia Food Center Xinyi (all kinds)
(at least that's what I think it's called - I've lost the card)

Near the International Trade Building with all the consulates in it (that tall square building between the Grand Hyatt and the World Trade Center) - cross Keelung Road and head slightly to the right. It's the first lane to the left of a place offering Singaporean food, which we haven't had the pleasure of trying yet. Walk down the lane a bit and it's on the right.

The owner, whom I believe is named Winston, is Vietnamese but the place offers food from all over the peninsula. He speaks great English, and the place is packed with Taiwanese office workers coming for a good-value lunch in Xinyi, who want Southeast Asian food but don't really want to pay Shinkong Mitsukoshi prices for it. They have Singapore noodles, Vietnamese pho and spring rolls, green papaya salad, curry fried rice, laksa, Thai curries and more...all for excellent prices.

The green papaya salad is more Lao in flavor than Thai, so those used to the hot, sour Thai style and unfamiliar with the more coriander-and-oniony, crunchy, lemony Lao style might be surprised.

Borneo (Indonesian)

Shida Night Market, at the very end - turn in the road that begins at the Fubon Bank (Shida branch) on Heping E. Road and it's visible on the left

Not exactly Indonesian food, but good. They do not do Padang-style 'small dishes', something I remember quite fondly in Sumatra when we gorged ourselves silly on Padang food in Padang itself...but what they do offer is quite nice. Be sure to request 'extra spicy' or 'local style' - the chef is Indonesian and can cook it up for you the way the staff would eat it, but if you don't say anything you get something a bit milder. They do standard Indonesian fare - nasi goreng, mie goreng, rendang, satay - at bargain-basement prices. I don't think I've ever paid more than NT100 for a meal there. Plus they have a cute white dog named Oliver.

The vendor guy next to him who sells crispy Thai spring rolls on a stick also cooks up a tasty treat.

Pinoy (Filipino) food of all kinds

Sundays on Zhongshan N. Road between Minquan W. Road and Yuanshan MRT stations. Walk up between the two and turn right into the lanes at just about the halfway point. Options abound.

I would make specific recommendations but frankly, pretty much everything is good. Try one of the places that looks like a Taiwanese buffet, but you pay by the small dish of food (1 or 2 per person, go with a group and share or go alone) so just order whatever looks good and, frankly, it probably is. If you have no stomach for innards, stay away from the sisig. I could handle sisig in the Philippines because it's soft and tender and bears no trace of its, um, gutsy origins, but the sisig in Taipei is a little more blatant in advertising exactly what it is and where it comes from. This is food for Filipinos in Taiwan on their way home from church on Sunday, so you know you're getting the real thing.

New Bangkok Restaurant (Thai)

Easily found in a lane on the eastern side of Fuxing N. Road between Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT and Breeze Center.

Their fried eggplant and shrimp fritters left something to be desired, but it's worth it to go for the amazing minced basil chicken and green papaya salad, which is among the best I've had in Taiwan. Its hot, sour, sweet and savory flavors are perfectly balanced to create a heavenly chord, like the end of a good Bach fugue, on your tongue.

Thai, Yunnan and Myanmar Food (Neihu branch ONLY) -
Thai

Ruiguang Road, Neihu, across the street from the large bus stop of the same name, near E-Ten's office and the Barista Coffee - incidentally the onion pancake guy next to that Barista does an awesome pancake.

Other branches of this restaurant have disappointed me with lackluster tea and mediocre food, but this branch does something very right. I've always been happy with everything I've eaten here, including the soft tofu in coconut sauce, the red curry chicken, the green papaya salad, the greens with sliced pork, and, well, everything.

Tiny Vietnamese pho stall on Heping W. Road
(Vietnamese)

Basically if you head west on Heping W. Road from Roosevelt Road and just continue on for about ten minutes not too far before the pedestrian overpass directly before the botanical gardens and old Academy of Science Building (as well as the other historic buildings surrounding it), and it's on your right in a barely noticeable little card-table-and-white-wall storefront.

I can't remember the name of this place, but the pho is so good and so authentic that it's worth a mention. Really. If you are in that area, maybe heading to the botanical gardens or bird market, it's worth planning a lunch or dinner here if you are a pho fan. The owners are a very friendly Vietnamese couple who are delighted to hear that their food is excellent, and a steady procession of overweight dogs from the next store over comes in as you eat (this is more adorable than it sounds). Really, it's good. Forget Madame Jill's or Yongkang Street and head straight here.

Pho stalls in Xindian and Tonghua Night Markets (Vietnamese)

There's one on the righthand side of the road in Xindian, not far from the pedestrian bridge and partially hidden by some metal fencing. The other good one is in Tonghua Night market about halfway in, down one of the small lanes lined with food stalls (righthand side lane if you enter from Keelung Road, righthand side stall). The one in Xindian makes excellent pho with loads of basil and the other has delicious fresh spring rolls with large whole shrimp for a steal.

If in Xindian, start with a bowl of pho here and head to Athula's on the other side of the pedestrian bridge entrance for a curried meat roll.

Fried Banana and Thai Iced Tea stall (Thai)

Raohe Night Market, near the far end if coming from Houshanpi MRT...opposite end from the temple, but near the bus stop with buses down Nanjing E. Road

This is really just a tiny stall that sells fried banana crepes with a choice of topping - honey, condensed milk or chocolate - and Thai iced tea. It's on the righthand side if you begin at the temple/Wufenpu Fashion Street end of the market and almost at the opposite end. A perfect ending to a meal at Ala-din (delicious, spicy Pakistani food with unlimited vegetables and naan - the veggies are fried in real ghee, not the crappy vegetable oil substitute one so often sees), also in Raohe Night Market.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Reason #3 to Love Taiwan

Inexpensive beauty care! I got a full facial and upper back massage today for $600 NT, about 1/3 the cost of one in the USA. Maybe 1/4.

I had a particularly stressful day today, capping off an almost-complete stressful week. Six new one-on-one social etiquette and writing skills classes (six!) at the Taipei offices of a major IT firm have just started, and I'm well on my way to breaking my monthly earnings record at this job.

Although that's not normally a priority - free time and quality of life are at the top of the list - it's certainly welcome cash as we plan our trip to Egypt, India and the USA next year.

As a special treat to help me unwind I stopped in the beauty care shop in Jingmei Night Market (towards the southern end, just before the food stalls) and got The Works.

First they wiped me down, laid me down on a comfy massage bed and covered my face in sticky goo. Then they covered the goo with layers of paper until I looked (and felt) mummified. While chatting in Taiwanese they rubbed that Icy Hot stuff all over my shoulders and gave me a good old-fashioned pounding until I relaxed and my vertebrae cracked into place. It feels nicer than it sounds.

"Don't talk while it's drying!" they insisted in Chaiwanese - that night-market-centric language that seems to be half Chinese and half Taiwanese.

After it dried, they pulled it up, bringing lots of gunk with it, covered me in more lotion and proceeded to use an electric scrapey thing to coax even more gunk out.

Lovely.

After I'd been scraped down like an Orwellian torture victim, they painted me with runny, milky goo.

I won't tell you what that reminded me of. Heh.

Then they covered me in a face-shaped felt thing and let me sit for about 10 minutes while they pounded me some more (which felt really nice, but slightly violating considering what my face seemed to be covered in).

Then they took that off and wiped me down again.

My skin has never looked better or felt cleaner, and the tension I've carried in my shoulderblades all week is finally gone.

I might just have to get this done every month...

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Seafood on Big Dragon Street

After our Confucian Birthday Extravaganza we puttered around Bao'an Temple and found some Taiwanese opera nearby. Afterwards we decided to seek out food on Dalong Street (Big Dragon Street), which starts across the street from the square with the temple entrances. It has a very small night market that the city is obviously trying to develop.

We started with what appears to be the local specialty - stir-fried mutton with noodles. It was good but needed some spice.

Then we moved on to what I can only say was some of the best seafood I've had in a long time - Shengmeng Haixian (生猛海鮮) at #251.

We had deep fried spicy octopus, which marks one of the very few times that I have truly enjoyed deep fried seafood...I generally prefer it to be cooked more gently to let the lighter flavors come through. This frying, though, brought out a savoriness that I didn't know octopus could possess, and got rid of the rubber-chicken feel that many octopus dishes possess.

We also had a Taipei seafood restaurant stalwart - basil clams. Clams cooked in a basil-heavy broth. Always delicious.


Just a few of the things on offer at Shengmeng Seafood (seriously, this is only a tiny portion of the entire menu)

Finally, we got shrimp seared in a sweet black pepper concoction that was positively delicious. I didn't realize that caramelized something and black pepper could go so well together.

The restaurant itself is unassuming but a bit more upscale than the other joints on the block. It has a Japanese-style seafood restaurant feel to it, with fish on ice, tanks of shellfish outside, dark lacquer wood tables and little stools, the blue and white "curtains" the back and lots of beer and noise.

It seemed to be a restaurant for everyone - there was a group of 20-somethings celebrating an unknown event loudly and in Taiwanese. There were three middle aged drinking mates smoking and getting plastered together, and next to them was a family including a 3-year old and a grandmother who looked as though she remembered a time before the Japanese arrived in Taiwan.

My lovely boyfriend with his new short hair blocks the view at Shengmeng Seafood.

Definitely delicious, and definitely a place to return to.

I was also curious about the much smaller, homier A-Qiu Seafood closer to the beginning of the night market and will return at a later date.


Shengmeng Seafood - #251 Dalong Street, near Bao'an Temple (head to Bao'an but before entering the area with entrances to the temple annexes, turn left at "Milk Houses"bakery), MRT Yuanshan.