Postcards from Jiufen

A few weeks ago, we took my kid sister to Jiufen - she's here for a year, studying at Zhengda's Chinese language learning center, and has never been to either Jiufen or Jinguashi. We only made it to Jiufen (though we had planned to visit both towns) because we ended up climbing Keelung Mountain and it took us well into twilight to do so.

Getting to Jiufen was an adventure in itself. We arrived at Taipei 's Main's railway platform at 10:42am, exactly two minutes after the local train to Ruifang had departed. The next one wasn't coming for an hour. Why did we get there so late? We all agreed that we wanted to sleep in a little and not drag ourselves out of bed at 7am. Rather than wait on the platform for an hour (b-o-r-i-n-g) and giving our day a sour start, we boarded the next train, which terminated at Qidu, figuring we'd find a way to Jiufen from there.

When we got to Qidu, all seemed lost - we were simply going to have to wait 40 minutes for that same local to Ruifang (the base from which to take a bus/taxi to Jiufen). The station master didn't know of any other way. Fortunately, at that moment, a nice girl who grew up in the area was heading through the station on the way to visit her mother. She told us that the place where she was planning to meet her siblings to head to their laojia (ancestral home) happened to have a bus stop where the bus to Jiufen came. Woohoo! We climbed in a taxi with her and her recently-rescued stray cat, Meimei, and headed for a 7-11 on the border of Taipei and Keelung Counties (what else would you expect to be there?). She met her siblings, all of whom had adorable pets in tow, and we gave her some cash for the taxi and boarded the bus to Jiufen, which came soon after. Success!

Below are some photos:


Clay masks along the 'stair street' at Jiufen...most people who've been there have passed this house. Someday I really will go inside.

Jiufen and Jinguashi are noted for having lots of old-style houses, most of which have been coverted into museums, teahouses, cafes and other tourist amenities. While I prefer authenticity to convenience, I guess it's a better fate than being torn down or cascading into ruin.

Brendan and I have been to Jiufen several times (I believe this was my fourth visit) but as Becca hadn't, and wanted to buy gifts, souvenirs etc. from Taiwan, we took her down the tourist street. While I'm not too fond of it (you can get the same stuff almost anywhere) I do like their fancypants soap store, which sells great facial soaps made from herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. I also got a new pair of beaded flipflops for summer and a travel accessory bag made of fake 'Chinese silk'.

The good thing about the market is that there are also lots of different foods on offer. We particularly liked the cup of squid and the deep fried chunks of giant mushroom.

Delicious pickled mango!

Gooey snacks - if you look at the colors, you can see that she's making taro and sweet potato goo-balls, which is a popular flavor combination in Taiwan. And, for some reason I've never figured out, Taiwanese people seem to love gooey snacks...the chewier the better.

The bad thing is that on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, it was packed to the point where even the Taiwanese people there thought it was too crowded (wow). There were times when you couldn't move at all. A good warning to try and visit on a weekday, if at all possible.

Crowds and crowds

Afterwards, hot and tired from the pushing crowd, but well-fed on squid and fried mushrooms, we headed to one of Jiufen's famous teahouses to relax in the sun and have a cold drink. We were the only ones out on the deck except for a couple lounging under the awning, far from the sun...another thing locals seem to hate is getting a tan. But after a winter of clouds and drizzle, we were basking in it.

Traditional buildings have mostly been converted into teahouses. Above is one with Keelung Mountain in the background.

Doesn't that iced green tea look great?

From our balcony perspective, we also got to enjoy Jiufen's famous views over the northeast coast (I actually prefer Jinguashi's views to an extent, but Jiufen's are lovely too).

Afterwards, as the afternoon waned, we decided that we had just enough time to make it to the top of Keelung Mountain and back before sunset. Keelung Mountain is shown in the background of one of the photos above, and it doesn't look all that difficult, does it?

Did we really think we'd have time to make it up and back this late in the day?

Well, it's not a tough climb, per se, but it is all stairs which meant that my knees were creaking as we ascended. It also took longer than we thought.

On the road to the trailhead

Along the way, you can see views of Jiufen on one side and Jinguashi on the other, with strategically placed pagodas from which to view them both. At ground level, the lower levels of the mountain are littered with tiny shrines. As you ascend, the view expands on either end to include Bitou Cape on one side and Keelung City on the other.

Jinguashi on one side...



...and Jiufen on the other

Me and Brendan with a view of Jinguashi's coastline

Tiny shrines dot the sides of Keelung Mountain

Pagodas on the way up give you a chance to rest and enjoy the view.

This may not look like much, but look in the wide valley on the righthand side. Do you see a little stick poking out? That's Taipei 101, as seen from the north coast of Taiwan!

Views of Jinguashi

The sun set on our way down.

As you can see, we didn't quite make it up and back before sunset. It got darker as we descended, and by the time we hit the final pagoda, night had fallen. We walked the rest of the way with barely any illumination, but with the lights of the northeast coast twinkling in front of us, and those of ships out to sea behind us. In the distance we could see the city of Keelung lit up brightly.

We took the bus to Keelung Night Market for dinner, though after all that snacking we weren't very hungry. But Keelung is a great night market spot, so we made room for some delicious, fresh seafood.

Lots of oranges!


Mmmm, sea urchin sashimi. My favorite!

We had sea urchins (visible above), cream crabs (crabs cooked in cream and butter with onions and other seasonings), clams, sweet potato leaves and beer. It was delicious!

Two Great, No, Amazing Restaurants

1.) Hui Guan
#15 Lane 265, Xinyi Road (just north of Tonghua Road)

You know when you read a restaurant review in the paper, how you normally think "Oh that sounds nice" and file it away in your mind to try it later, or at best tear it out of the paper and set it aside to check out at some unspecified future date? That's how we usually are, too.

But then the Taipei Times recently reviewed this place (by recently, I mean "yesterday") and instead of our usual "let's keep that in mind" interest, something about it made us sit up and say "We're going to go here. Tomorrow." And boy are we glad we did!

The food is, simply put, amazing. It's "Chinese Muslim" food from Ningxia, and while some dishes are obviously Chinese (the fiery hot sesame chicken), others taste as though they came straight out of Xinjiang or even further west, from the 'stans (the diced mutton with peppers, onions, celery, cumin and salted bread, or the mini-kebabs). While not exactly the same as Uighur food, each bite did bring back some sweet memories of my trip to Xinjiang in 2003, specifically reminiscences of all the wonderful food I horfed down (yes, "horf" is the correct verb here. When food is that good, you don't eat, you horf.)

And horf is what we did at Hui Guan. From the time that the friendly waiter came up to us and made sure we were happy with our order to the time all the food was done and we were picking at the delicious dregs of it over a final bottle of Taiwan Beer, we shoveled all that tastiness into our gaping maws like crazed competitive eaters. Between the four of us, we horfed down three fen (servings) of mini lamb kebabs, the diced cumin-flavored mutton with vegetables and bread, sesame chicken, glutinous bean paste noodles in chili oil and vinegar, a huge cold salad with a vinegary dressing and rice vermicelli, two sour xiao chi and several bottles of Taiwan beer.

Be prepared for a wait - other customers told me that even before they were reviewed in the Taipei Times, the place was quite popular with a loyal following and tables could rarely be gotten immediately. There's nowhere to wait inside, but outside there's a pet grooming store with a few cute dogs in the window to distract you while you loiter outside.

Taipei has some seriously good food, but I have to say that this ranks as one of the best meals I've ever had in this city. That's saying a lot.

2.) Some Korean restaurant in Shida that's really good
Some lane off Shida Road - on the righthand side as you enter from Roosevelt, down a few lanes, before the 7-11 and right around where that guy sells socks on a blanket in the poorly-lit section of sidewalk.

It's authentic Korean food. 'Nuff said. It's not cheap - it'll set you back at least a few hundred NT per person, but the barbecue is the real thing, as is the dolsot bibimbap (which comes in a real dolsot, or hot stone bowl) and the toepboki (glutinous tasty things in sweet spicy red sauce) and all the soju on offer, as well as the bowls and bowls of free kimchi snacks you get with each meal.

There are plenty of not-so-authentic Korean restaurants in Taipei, and some of them are pretty good. I rather like the one in the 101 food court, which is nothing like actual Korean food but hey, it's not bad. The other place - the famous one next to Out of India in Shida, which always has a line, is also perfectly good, but it's not real Korean food - it's tailored to Taiwanese tastes. You'd think with so many Koreans in Taipei and Korea being so close that they'd have more options for 'the real deal' (I mean there aren't many Ningxia Muslims in Taipei, but they managed a really good restaurant serving their food!)...but I guess not.

So, I highly recommend this place, as does Brendan, who lived in Korea for a few years before coming to Taipei. If anyone in my social circle knows his Korean food, it's him, and he gave it a thumbs-up for taste and authenticity.

Reason #6 to Love (?) Taiwan

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

Today I only had Chinese class, which meant I could wear jeans and a t-shirt covered in Engrish ("Hot Space Station Justice") and ride my bike to Shi-da at my leisure instead of donning work clothes and taking the bus or MRT. I tried an alternate route and took the riverside park trail up to Guting, then rode up Tong An street to Heping Road, which I took over to Shida. I didn't like hauling my bike up the ramp, though, so I took my usual route home (Wenzhou Street - NTU - lanes to the west of Roosevelt Road - Jingmei).

The weather was also unbelievably gorgeous. Clear skies, light wind, warm sun, I even got a bit of a sunburn on my arms. It was so nice that on my way back, I decided that I couldn't possibly just disembark at home and go inside. So I turned my bike around and went out exploring the lanes and back-alleys in my neighborhood.

That's what brings me to my next "reason to love Taipei". While the reason isn't Jingmei specifically, it is neighborhoods and backstreets in general. Mine are Jingmei, but I mean your neighborhood and your backstreets.

I love how riding or walking from a major road into a lane-filled neighborhood brings about a palpable difference in sound levels. Once you make that turn you leave behind most of the cars and other noise, and it's replaced mostly by silence on weekdays, especially in late morning and mid-afternoon. That silence isn't diminished by the sounds that punctuate it - if anything, it's augmented. Quiet, except for someone dumping out a bucket of water, or a restaurant laoban chopping up pig parts, or a housewife hanging up wet clothes on a balcony, or one lone scooter meandering along.

South of Keelung Road, the lanes leading down to Jingmei are blessed with lengths of long, tree-lined parks. Starting south from the Broadway movie theater, I ride past the Shi-da branch and turn into the lane (past one of my favorite Hakka noodle joints and a place called Eco Coffee which I haven't tried yet). Greeting me immediately is the faint whoosh of leaves in the breeze, as large old gnarlies with Spanish moss hanging from the branches sway back and forth. The only people I generally encounter down there are the occasional children with parents, or pensioners with dogs.

After enjoying a leisurely ride home past the parks - I think there are three in all and all of them are very long and narrow - I kept going past my own door and stopped to talk to Auntie Wu.

My post earlier in the week on obasan was modeled somewhat on Auntie Wu and her...uh...group? Posse? Crew? Gaggle? Homeys? Sistahs? Social Club? She lives on the second floor of an old-style apartment building with her ancient dog, Mao Mao ("Fur-fur"), who has more fur than he has body mass and who is covered in several benign tumors...so I guess his name is appropriate. There are five or six old chairs in the covered area in front of the apartment, and at any given time Auntie Wu is sitting there with Mao Mao and up to five other women of equally advanced age. They've sort of welcomed me into their gang, with the initiation rites being when Mao Mao decided he liked me. Not as much as the beef noodle laoban next door who gives him leftover cow chunks, mind you, but he likes me well enough even though I don't come bearing hunks of fatty beef for him to eat. The ladies are kind enough to speak Chinese when I am around, but it's obvious that they are more comfortable in the more expressive twangs of Taiwanese. Auntie Wu also used to speak Japanese (having been educated in it - she's that old) and Hakka (from having a family relation who is Hakka, though she herself is not), but says she's since forgotten both.

Besides being a lovely older woman to chat with, a way to get to know the goings-on in my neighborhood (old women know everything - if you haven't already figured this out you don't belong in Asia), and a way to improve my Chinese, Auntie Wu is also one of a dying breed. Sadly, I mean that just as literally as I do metaphorically. There aren't too many people left who remember the Japanese colonial years well enough to have been educated in Japanese, and they are a trove of stories and first-person history that Taiwan is slowly, inevitably losing. She remembers years where most women wore kimonos and nobody spoke Mandarin. She remembers the tumultuous decades between the Japanese ceding Taiwan and the economic miracle, when she was afraid for her life under the White Terror. She remembers when Jingmei's name didn't mean "Scenery Beautiful" but was Taiwanese - Ging Mbi - for "End of the River" and was its own little self-contained settlement, though technically a part of Taipei by that time.

Aside from genuinely being her friend, I feel grateful to have this chance to learn about the history of my neighborhood from someone who saw it with her own eyes, and someone who, frankly speaking, won't be around much longer...and neither will her friends, who flock - well, who walk slowly - to the chairs under her awning each day.

You can still see the shadow - the vague charcoal tracing - of Ging Mbi if you look closely enough. Don't stare at the front of the buildings you pass, look at the sides. Old brick or cement building lines - the kind you still see at the edges of the Old Streets of more touristy areas, are still there. Old walls with capstones on either side of the roof. Curved corner buildings reminiscent of earlier times. Two-level shophouses obscured now by advertisements and store signs. Most people who drive through never notice, but if you turn into the lanes you can still see plenty of century-old brick walls traditional tiled roofs. There are even a few farmhouse-type buildings still around, tucked into corners, surviving because the families who built them still have descendants who live there. There's one with a small but distinct courtyard just north of Sanfu Street and another hidden by low trees on the edge of the hard-to-find Wanqing Park. Look more closely at some of the stores and it'll become quickly clear that many of them have been around a lot longer than their present incarnations give away, from a time when Ging Mbi had its own little 'downtown'.

At about 5:30pm Auntie Wu decided to retire for the evening ("I've also got to pee," she said in her mix of Taiwanese-Chinese , before heading up) and I hopped on my bike to explore some new areas.

I rode down past the Wellcome and to the area where Jingfu Street hits the elevated highway. Stopping at Wanqing Park, I noticed for the first time that the little old house on the edge of it also attracts its own group of old folks who sit outside and chat. One of them had a daschund who crawled into my lap and napped there while I sat.

"You're that girl who spends time with Old Wu and her group, aren't you?"
"That's me. I didn't know you knew Auntie Wu."
"Everyone knows Old Wu. She's been here for longer than many of us have been alive. She has seven kids, you know."
"I know. Her daughter brings her to the doctor and I know she has at least two sons living up by Xingnan Street."
"I know you know Old Wu because Dou Dou" (the aforementioned daschund, whose name translates into 'Bean-bean' or 'Pimple') "can smell Mao Mao very clearly. He's so nice to you because he can tell you were petting Mao Mao."

As the sun began to set I bade the new group of retirees farewell and set off towards a temple roof I'd seen in the distance, which I believe I'd seen from Jingfu Street before but had never been able to get to. Starting from Wanqing Park, I finally found out where the entrance was after weaving through a little colony of single-story houses with old brick walls out front.

The temple was a good metaphor for Jingmei itself. The building was clearly new, with the signature ugly metal awning out front and bathroom tiles on the inside. My guess was that it had been built in the '80s. Looking inside, however, the artifacts within weren't immediately apparent to the eye but once noted, were clearly far older. The temple was to Qingshui Zhuce, whose name I can pronounce but can't spell in Pinyin, and whom I can only remember because it sounds like "Clearwater Registration" in Chinese. There were several da sen - tal god costumes - and quite a few shorter costumes with odd faces. I found one of the only female 'tall gods' that I've ever seen, and she looks like a transvestite. Don't worry, I'll come back and post photos. The bathroom-tile walls were punctuated by strips of wooden sculpture that were clearly over a century old and the shrines themselves were carved in the old Fujian style, dark wood (these were painted) with lots of dragons and such. I asked the Temple Guy (every temple has one) what the deal was, and found that the temple had been on its current site for at least 200 years, but the building was deemed too small and was expanded in the '80s, as I'd guessed.

There'll be a processional with their own tall gods - including the transvestite one - on the 15th day of the 4th lunar month (that's Saturday, May 9) if anyone wishes to go.

On the way home, I took a spin back through the riverside park - the road from the temple heads straight to one of the entrances - and stopped at a bakery I like. The owner and I got into a discussion about the large shrine above the cash register and she explained to me in some detail how one can go about getting those idols - just like the kind in temples - carved for your personal shrine. There are still people, one of whom is in Jingmei, who do that for a living, and next time she goes to get one made, she promised, she'd give me a call so I could arrange to watch some of the carving. Awesome!

Anyway, I hope this post has made you think about your own neighborhood and backstreets, who lives there, what's hidden in the corners and in the faded outlines of streetscapes and how you can better understand its history. I feel privileged to live here as more than a passing traveler, to learn more about one tiny corner of a city beyond how to get from a hotel room to a point on a map, to chat with people as more than just a passing acquaintance and to know that when (if) I ever leave, I'll miss it as though it were my own home town, even though where I was really born is about as far from Ging Mbi as one can get.

Obasan - Reason #5 to love Taiwan

I've decided - regardless of whether we move back to the USA or not, when we grow old, I want to return to Taiwan.

My old dream was to buy the Lishan Bingguan off the government and restore it, opening parts to the public and keeping part as our personal villa.

But that's not really necessary. I just want to return to Taiwan when I'm ancient, period.

As any of you based in Taipei know, the weather was absolutely horrid all weekend. In the mornings it looked like - as one of my coworkers put it - Gotham City, and it was chilly, dusty and drizzly without end.

Of course on Friday and today, two work days, the weather has been gorgeous (today is OK, Friday was spectacular).

So I head to my weekly dermatology appointment - cheap, accessible cosmetic medicine! I love Taiwan! - I realize that while I have to go to work later, the obasan (the old ladies who live in the lanes and spend their days sitting outside chatting) are all out, with their ancient dogs on their ancient chairs in their unfashionable clothes, enjoying the good weather.

In most American towns, you can't just pull up a chair outside your apartment building and form a chattering group of pensioners. In the suburbs you don't even live in apartments, and sitting quietly on your own porch gets old. But here, it's perfectly normal. More common in Kaohsiung, but it does happen in Taipei.

So my goal in life is to enjoy traveling and doing work I love while I'm young, and when we get old, we'll get a nice little apartment in the lanes of Taipei, wear dreadful clothing outdated by 50 years and bought at the outdoor market and cloth kung-fu shoes, and hobble down each morning to yak it up with neighbors. When I need to travel, I get my younger relatives to help and I can elbow people with impunity on the MRT and buses.

Sounds lovely.

If I could be an obasan now, I would. Sometimes I act like them; my dress style totally ignores fashion trends. Due to the nature of my job, on some days I don't have to go to work until evening, or I'm done by 2pm. On those days I am quite likely to sit with the old folks outside the building they gather at. They still chat in Taiwanese to each other, but are polite enough to include me by speaking to me in Chinese.

Oh wait. I already wear old lady cloth shoes, too. They're the only women's shoes in Taiwan that fit me and, when worn with pants, are vaguely acceptable in the office.

My transformation has begun!

Initiation By Fire - the best Sichuanese in Taipei

Tian Fu Jia Chang Cai
#5 Renai Road, Yonghe (MRT Dingxi)

I've already updated my "Small Eats" post to include this place. It was that good.

From what my students tell me, Dingxi is home to an enclave of waishengren from Sichuan. Missing food from home, especially at their advanced ages, meant that many people opened small eateries to cater to them. This is the only one I know of, but boy is it spectacular.

I should know; I used to live in Guizhou, right across the border from Sichuan and Chongqing. If anything, Guizhou food is hotter and more savory than Sichuanese; Sichuan got to be famous because its people migrated abroad. Guizhou-ren, being rather poor comparatively, never could finance their own diaspora. But there is a saying in China: Sichuan ren bu pa la; Hunan ren la bu pa; Guizhou ren pa bu la! It translates roughly into: The Sichuanese are not afraid of spicy food. Those from Hunan, of spicy food they are not afraid. People from Guizhou are afraid the food won't be spicy enough!

This place is a tiny little joint that's so popular that they've erected two benches outside for waiting customers. It's next to a fruit market and other similarly humble establishments. Just inside the door is a small wooden screen and just beyond that are groups of people eating the best food of their lives. Mainland accents (specifically, Sichuanese accents) mingle with people speaking Taiwanese.

Other than the massive amounts of red chili - Sichuan ren bu pa la - one notable thing about this restaurant is their hua jiao - or flower pepper. Fresh, good quality hua jiao has the effect of numbing one's lips and tongue, but not of blunting flavor; in fact, it deepens the flavor. Those who have been to that area know what I'm talking about. Most hua jiao in Taipei is a joke; it comes in little plastic canisters and has zero flavor. It most certainly does not numb the lips.

But this place imports its hua jiao from Sichuan. Normally I am not a fan of anything produced in China, but this is one huge exception. They then use whole peppercorns - handfuls of them - in their cooking.

All of the staples are here - the not-too-spicy yu xiang qie zi (fish-scented eggplant, which does not include fish), siji dou (green beans cooked in a distinctive and delicious combination of spices), gong bao ji ding (kung pao chicken) and fish boiled in chili oil.

Yes, you read that right. Fish. Boiled in chili oil.

It's not all chili oil - there's some water/fish stock in there too, as well as a few kinds of onion, garlic and ginger, soy sauce, more chopped red chilis (both dried and fresh), handfuls of the aforementioned hua jiao and pickled greens. But mostly, it's chili oil. And it's absolutely delicious, especially when washed down with some beer or restaurant tea.

A warning: this place is always packed, so be prepared to wait.

Also, the chef is a bit, shall we say, temperamental. He's the Soup Nazi of Taipei, but like the Soup Nazi, he's a genuine artiste. If he wants to take a break, he takes one, no matter if it's 7pm and you just got there. The place almost always stops taking orders by 7:30 because the chef wants to go home, and the waitresses seem terrified of him. But it's worth it. He's that good.

So get there early, sit back, order, and await your initiation by fire.

Famous Truffle Cake

Be prepared to spend a lot of money on this cake - it usually clocks in at about $50 USD for all ingredients, but that's only if you can get miniatures of all the alcohol.

For the cake:

· 3 cups all-purpose flour

· 2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder – the darker the better (I like Ghirardelli)

· 3 teaspoons baking soda

· a pinch of salt

· 2 sticks butter (I know…) – unsalted real butter ONLY

· 3 cups white sugar

· 4 eggs

· 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

· 3 cups buttermilk

- 2 tablespoons honey (optional – adds moisture)

- nutmeg, cinnamon, clove and a pinch of crushed cardamom to taste (optional – to add depth of flavor)

- 2 shots chocolate liqueur (preferably better than crème de cacao but that’ll do in a pinch) – more if you want

- ½ cup dark chocolate shavings

And one of the following:

- ¼ cup flavoring of your choice. Some suggestions:

Grand Marnier, Chambord, amaretto, Frangelico, Jameson, Ararat Raisin Brandy, osmanthus paste, rose syrup, dark spiced rum, extra dark espresso+kahlua, kirschwasser...basically any flavor of your choice – make sure you can smell it in the batter before you pop it in the oven or it won’t carry any taste when it comes out

For the filling:

1 bag dark chocolate chips (or equivalent chocolate blocks) – semisweet or dark. I prefer Lindt, Ghirardelli or any higher-quality brand. Dark chocolate makes a better cake than milk

1 ½ cups cream (one small blue carton in Taiwan, one mini-carton in the USA) plus ¼ cup extra

flavoring to taste – I like to use a complementary flavor – so for coffee-flavored cake I might add a little coffee to this as well as some Frangelico (hazelnut) or Jameson (whiskey). For osmanthus, I add a little matcha tea powder. For rose, try to get some violet liqueur or even lavender liqueur.

½ stick butter (again, I know…)

Other things to make truffles

Powder of your choice – cinnamon, powdered instant coffee, cocoa, confectioner’s sugar, all good…

For the syrup:

White sugar

1 ½ cup flavor of your choice (see below for ways to play with flavors used here)

For the icing:

A bag of pure dark chocolate chips (you could use less)

¼ cup cream

topping of your choice including powder, shaved chocolate, fruit, nuts etc..

Process:

Make sure the cake batter is runny the way normal batter is. If it’s too wet or too dry, that’ll reflect in the cake that comes out. Add flour if too runny, add cream or buttermilk if too thick.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix sugar with the butter until it’s a paste, then slowly add eggs. In separate bowl combine other solids. Slowly mix together. Don’t stir too much or it’ll activate something in the flour that’ll muck up the consistency. At the end add vanilla, spices, chocolate liqueur and other flavors to taste, making sure to adjust the batter consistency as needed. Throw in chocolate shavings.

Remember alcohol evaporates, so if alcohol is making it runny don’t worry as much.

Grease 2 9-inch baking pans and add cake mixture above. Bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Syrup:

While cake is baking, take chocolate liqueur and the flavoring of your choice for about 1 ½ cup total of liquid and put it on the stove (do not allow to boil, just warm it up). Add some sugar (to taste – I don’t like it too sweet) and mix until mixture cooks down to 1 cup. Tip: for rose flavor, don’t do this with rose syrup. The regular syrup is fine. For osmanthus flavor, don’t use the paste, rather make a strong concoction of osmanthus tea and add just a little paste. For the fruit flavors, use the jam/marmalade of that fruit along with the alcohol – but choose a nice, unsweetened organic version. For the coffee, it’s always a good idea to dump in an extra shot or two of Kahlua or Tia Maria.

When cake is done, while cooling use a pastry brush to brush the warmed syrup over the top. Give each layer two to four brushings, allowing each to soak in.

When cake is cool, turn one upside down, out of pan and onto tray. Brush with more syrup (which may have come out more or less as water-consistency; that’s OK) but don’t allow it to get mushy. Do not turn the other yet.

Set aside.

For filling:

In saucepan or pot, boil water and set a large bowl that fits over the top that will hold all ingredients. Do not allow water to touch bottom of bowl.

In bowl, heat up cream and melt butter in it. When cream is hot but not boiling, slowly add the chocolate chips, adding more as the old ones melt.

Add flavor to taste.

When the entire mixture is liquid, remove a small amount (one soup bowl fill), cover and set in fridge. Add a bit more cream to the rest, put in separate bowl, cover and set in fridge. Allow to set completely (at least a few hours or overnight).

When totally set, take out the portion with more cream. Using a very strong metal spoon, take out teaspoon or tablespoon (whatever) size chunks and roll them into balls. Place balls on top of upturned cake until entire top is covered in balls (hee hee). Use any extra to fill in the gaps/valleys between the…balls.

Flip second cake on top of first cake. Brush with more syrup as above.

For icing:

This is easy. Make another steam-cooker with a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and melt chocolate – I use a full bag of chips but you could safely use less.

Line area below cake with wax paper. Trust me.

When chocolate is melted, pour over top, using pastry brush to make sure it evenly coats the sides. Brush over sides when you have a nice thick coating on top.

Set aside, allow to cool completely.

When cool, use a sifter, fine sieve or even a ‘tea spoon’ for loose tea (the kind with holes) to finely sprinkle confectioner’s sugar and cocoa over the top. You could alternately use shaved chocolate or really whatever you want.

Take out the rest of the chocolate batter. Using a strong spoon, take out teaspoon sized chunks, roll into balls and coat balls in powder/crushed nuts (heh) of your choice. For the osmanthus cake, I use matcha tea powder with confectioner’s sugar. Use balls to decorate cake. I like to put them around the top with some cut strawberries, chocolate curls, cherries or nuts, and then squish a few at regular intervals between the two layers to hide any irregularity there. Then set a few around the bottom.

Peel away wax paper to reveal a cleanly decorated, beautiful cake.

Keep in fridge until ready to serve.

For ideas on how to decorate it, just Google images of "chocolate truffle cake" - many people are far more creative than I am. I like the cube cake with truffles up the side but that would require altering the recipe.

I used to have a picture of this cake but I apologize, it seems to have been lost in the transition between computers.

Small Eats

This post has been updated!

A Hungry Girl's Guide to Taipei regularly holds (or maybe it was only once) votes on the best eats in Taipei.

I always enjoy reading these, and keep abreast of that blog as I search for more delicious food in this city, which isn't hard to do anyway as it's a mecca of delicious food.

The thing is, I've always felt that the voting sections and reviews in general focus too much on foreign/Western food and not enough on Taiwanese food, which is far more delicious because the people making it really know what they're doing. I realize that posting on where to find great Taiwanese food in Taipei is like a fish telling some other fish where to find water, but there are times when a glowing recommendation is in order.

Therefore, instead of doing a vote, here's my little run-down of the best food in Taipei as chosen by me, myself, I, moi, mi, yo, je, ziji and wo.

Most of it is Taiwanese food, but some of the below is foreign and I just like it enough to recommend it.

Many of these will seem like rehashes of previous posts, but then if I liked it enough to run home and write about it once, obviously it's good.

The best...

...goose noodles

A-Li Gang Goosemeat

Gongguan, on the same road as Sai Baba but closer to Roosevelt Road, almost at the intersection of Roosevelt and the first road north of the Gongguan Starbucks on the right.

Delicious. Savory broth that requires no added sauces and tender, oily goosemeat in generous portions, as well as lots of other things on the menu.

...lumpia (lun bing)

Shinkong Mitsukoshi B-1 food court

Shinkong Life Tower, Taipei Main Station

I bet you weren't expecting that. But it's true. The lovely laobanniang who makes this lumpia does a fine job of it.

...shrimp pancake

Yangon

Gongguan, near the northern end of Gongguan Night Market by that creepy kids' park

Wonderful chunks of whole shrimp in a lightly fried, not too oily Thai-style shrimp pancake. This place will be mentioned later, for Yunnan/Burmese food...

...beef noodles

That beef noodle joint in Jingmei just up from MRT Exit 2, with the fat chihuahua named "Meimei"

Dark, savory broth packed with flavor, generous cuts of tender meat and homemade chunky noodles make this my favorite among the many beef noodle options in Taipei (though Zhang Mama on Heping E. Road is also good).

...teppanyaki

The teppanyaki joint in Tonghua Night Market with the red decor (near the Keelung Road entrance, on the right)

I was struggling with whether to name this place or the one in Jingmei Night Market where the chefs where spiffy blue uniforms, but the Jingmei one took kimchi pork teppanyaki off the menu so they lose. This place gives free vegetables as they all do, but they include qingcai (the dark green celery-like vegetable so popular here) which is cooked beautifully, rather than the usual cabbages and bean sprouts.

...oyster omelets

Ningxia Night Market

No question. Next!

...onion pancake

Ruiguang Road, near the Barista Coffee, Neihu

I know it seems odd to recommend something so literally pedestrian as onion pancakes, but these are really good. Extra garlicky. Right next to the giant bus stop on Ruiguang Road.

...cup of coffee

Black Bean Coffee

Zhongshan North Road just south of the Zhongshan-Zhongzheng intersection in Shilin (MRT Shilin)

Try their Monsoon Malabar, ignore the odd music ("The Entertainer" on a harp, "I Am The Walrus" nonvocal piano cover).

or...

The coffeeshop in Naruwan Indigenous People's Market, Huanhe/Guangzhou Road intersection, Longshan Temple area. Delicious coffee, all grown in aboriginal areas in Taiwan. Who knew that Taiwanese coffee could be pretty good?

Update! Roger Cafe - Keelung Road just north of Liuzhangli, east side of the street next to George Vocational Technical High School bus stop.

Go here for the ginger latte! The coffee is good but not gourmet, though they're better than Dante and the prices are fantastic. Plus, well, they have ginger lattes...

Update! - Guy in a little coffee stall just east of the Shida campus (the one on the north side of Heping E. Road, not the main campus). He makes a lovely cup of coffee and has several different beans available. Not cheap by coffee-stall standards. The Mom's Pie's guy often sets up next to him on Thursdays.

...seafood

Shengmeng Seafood

In the small night market just south(?) of Bao'an temple, MRT Yuanshan

Quite simply the most delicious seafood I've ever had in a seafood-and-beer joint in Taipei (and not, say, next to the ocean). Try their pineapple shrimp.

...expensive food with a view

Hongmu (Redwood) Tea House, also known as "Mountain Tea House"

Maokong, not too far from the currently nonoperational Maokong Gondola Station

The tea is alright, but the real attraction here is a double-whammy of great food and a fantastic view of Taipei, especially by night. Try their cubed lemon chicken (li-mon ji ding or something), their mountain pig (shan zhu) and top it off with some sweet potato leaves (di gua ye).

...shrimp roll on rice

Dihua Street, the little shrimp roll stall near Xiahai Temple

Hands-down.

...dan zai mian (Tainan-style noodles)

"Tainan Noodle Restaurant"

Songde Road north of Xinyi, south of the Prudential building which is at #171

These guys - a family who lives in the same building as the restaurant - are from Tainan and make their local food extremely well.

...American-style trans fats

Tie: The Diner for typical American restaurant fare, Yuma Southwestern Grill for yummy, fattening Tex-Mex

The Diner is near Dunhua South Road, around the corner from Carnegie's (blech). Yuma is off Zhongxiao and it's easy to find - just Google. They advertise a lot.

Most expats will be aware of these two so no need to say much.

...Hakka Food

I'm sorry. Hakka food is always wonderful. There is no best restaurant because they're all fantastic. Here are the four I enjoy the most:

- Hakka Food - Taipei Main Station, turn towards 2/28 Park at the corner just south of Zhongxiao where there is a restaurant with a 'rainforest' themed-sign, just near Shinkong Life Tower, keep walking, it's on the right - cheap, quick Hakka food with lots of oil

- Hakka Noodles Restaurant - hidden in a lane just in front of the branch of Shida in Wanlong, south of Keelung Road (bus stop is "Shida Branch"). They don't make much but their dry Hakka noodles are fan-tast-tic and the dumplings are also great. Dou pi ("tofu skin") is vinegary and delicious. Also run by a friendly family who lives just behind the restaurant. They're from Xinzhu.

- That hidden Hakka restaurant behind Taipei Main Station - except I can't seem to find it again. I'll ask the person who took us there and post an update. Good for sharing dishes with a large party.

- Hakka Restaurant - in a lane off Yongkang Street, on the righthand side coming from Xinyi Road. Pretty good all-around Hakka food.

...mba wan (rou yuan)

Yuanlin Rou Yuan, Heping E. Road and Fuxing S. Road, next to Shengli Store (the discount 'everything' store on the corner)

Sooooo good. The obasan who work there speak wonderfully expressive Taiwanese and wear hairnets. The mba wan comes in thick brown gravy with bamboo and mushrooms added to the mix.

...tiramisu

Alley Cat.

Branches at Zhishan MRT, Tianmu and on Songren Road far south of Xinyi.

No question. There's a small branch behind Red House Theater in Xinyi but I think they only do pizzas. The pizza is also fantastic, but their tiramisu...wow. It's the real thing, made with real alcohol.

...pizza

Alley Cat - see above

Delicious, thin-crust pizza with high-quality ingredients

...Yilan-style onion pancake with egg

Little stall at MRT Shilin

...in the courtyard in front of Exit 1

They'll make it with a variety of seasonings, including basil. Yumm-o!

...Filipino Food

Zhongshan North Road, eastern side lanes between MRT Minquan W. Road and MRT Yuanshan, go on Sunday

It's all good. A lot of it is made with innards, though. Any restaurant in this area - all are open on Sunday to cater to the crowds returning from church - is wonderful.

...Thai, Yunnan and Myanmar Food

Yangon - Gongguan Night Market (see above) - good for the Myanmar and Yunnan-style dishes as well as shrimp rolls

Thai, Yunnan and Myanmar Food - Ruiguang Road, Neihu (ignore their Gongguan branch - it's not as good) - great for the Thai food on the menu, especially coconut red curry chicken and coconut tofu. Their hot coffee with condensed milk is also fantastic.

Nanshijiao (Zhonghe) - I haven't found it yet, but apparently there is a street in this area with tons of Southeast Asian food stalls that are all fantastic, catering to the local population.

...Vietnamese food

Xindian Night Market stall

the little stall near the chain-link barrier before the suspension bridge

Delicious pho. Absolutely the best I've had outside Southeast Asia.

...Southeast Asian "Small dishes"

The "Thai and Vietnamese" hole-in-the-wall to the west of Keelung Road

In the lanes - just north of Xinyi, enter the lanes across from the World Trade Center/Grand Hyatt.

Run by a friendly Vietnamese guy who speaks English. It's all good - get their cold rice noodles with fried pork roll for NT100. So delicious!

...home-style Taiwanese food

Auntie Xie's

#109 (?) Bo'ai Road, Ximen area - near Hengyang Road intersection, in a tiny walk-down stairwell, across from a giant white horrorshow of a place that I think is intended for tacky weddings.

This is the stuff that the taitai'll cook if you are ever invited to a Taiwanese family's home for dinner. Wonderful. Not to be missed. If you haven't tried this, you haven't tried Taiwanese food.

...hand-roasted tea

Mingcha Yuan

Maokong, Wenshan District, Zhinan Road Section 3 Lane 40 #32-1
A very hard-to-find little spot in Maokong far from the gondola with a nice view (but not as good as the places near the gondola station).

The guy who works there roasts all his own tea and it's all fragrant and delicious. Unlike many places, they don't provide meals but they do have snacks. It's mostly a place for locals to meet and play cards or mahjong.

Wang's Tea, the famous tea store near Dihua Street (Chongqing N. Road Section 2, Lane 64, # 26) is also good.

...chocolate dessert

My kitchen

I make better truffles - which are surprisingly easy to make in Taiwan - than anyone else seems to offer in this city. I can also make a truffle cake (if you ask nicely I'll even e-mail you the recipe) that makes gods cry, but I don't have an oven so I can't make it in Taiwan.

But if you can't come to my kitchen, well, I don't know what to tell you.

Chocoholic (Yongkang Street, first lane on the left) makes a nice dark Venezuelan spice hot cocoa, but it's not as cocoa-y as it could be.

Chocozing (near Zhongshan Sports Center) makes a good dark chocolate cocoa and pretty good truffles but their regular cocoa is too light.

Cafe 85 makes one good chocolate dessert - the Italian chocolate mousse cake. It's actually quite good. But nothing else is spectacular so I dunno.

Starbucks makes one good dessert - the chocolate cake with the goo inside. It is very chocolatey and worth the NT70. But that means you have to go to a Starbucks!

Update! Dean & Deluca - Breeze Center at Zhongxiao Fuxing - these guys do some damn good chocolate cake and other chocolate delectables. Don't buy their chocolate bars though; most are off-date and are white and crumbly.

Update! Salt&Peanuts Cafe - 2nd or 3rd lane on the right of Shida Rd (before the lane with Grandma Nitti's but not too much before, near the guy who sells socks on a blanket) when coming from Roosevelt, near the Korean restaurant. - Get their "hot brownie" which comes with vanilla ice cream. It's very chocolatey and truly wonderful!

...wine

Maison Alexandre

Zhongshan N. Road north of the park/Japanese school, near Whose Books and Mary's Hamburger

Good duck and smoked salmon baguettes (though they use cheap cheese), decent house wine NT 150/glass. Woo!

Near it is a place called "The Wine Closet" that we haven't tried yet.

Vino Vino

The food here is mediocre-to-bad, but they have a huge wooden balcony overlooking Shida park and house wine for NT800/bottle or 200 a glass. It's a fine place to just enjoy some wine with fantastic outdoor seating. Eat elsewhere first.

...Belgian Beer

For selection - Cafe Odeon, lane 86 (?) off Wenzhou Street, Gongguan (turn into the lane away from Xinsheng at the Bastille)

For outdoor seating and a great atmosphere - Red House (Hong Jia) in Shida, next to the park - it's tiny and can only hold maybe 25 people, but if you can get a table it's brilliant. Music varies, but it's in an old-style house that is very narrow.

...south Indian food

Exotic Masala House

#19 Pucheng Street, Shida

Because it's also the only south Indian food. Their idli and dosa are merely "alright" but their curries - especially the Madras chicken cooked in coconut, are fantastic. Also, I recommend the aloo parothas.

...north Indian food

Ali Baba's Indian Kitchen

Nanjing E. Road, not far from Jianguo Road

Not because the food is amazing, but because if you ask them to make it the way they (the waiters who are from the subcontinent) would want it, they do a pretty good job of preparing a decent curry.

...Pakistani food

Alla-Din Indian and Pakistani Kitchen

Raohe Night Market

Fiery hot spiciness, wrapped in more fire. Vegetables cooked in real ghee.

...Night Market

There are three that I recommend, and one that I haven't tried yet but was recommended to me.

Raohe Night Market - I don't care what they say about Shilin and Shida, this one is the best for pure choices of food alone.

Jingmei Night Market - great food, local stuff, friendly people, and more great food. Jingmei has been a town for longer than Taipei has been a cohesive city, and so there are many famous stalls here which have been in continuous operation since the time when the area wasn't called "Scenery Beautiful" but rather "End of the River" in Taiwanese.

Ningxia Night Market - for down-to-earth Taiwanese snacks, it can't be beat.

...and recommended to me was:

Nanjichang Market - it means "South of the Terminal" and I have no idea why (though apparently it's because many of those who settled here worked for the railroad company, and Wanhua Station is not far away, to the north. It's just south of Xizang (Tibet) Street in Wanhua, in the lanes along Zhonghua Road.

...deals on drinks with outdoor seating

The open-air bars behind Red House Theater, Ximen

Ximen MRT Exit 1

A very alternative-lifestyle friendly area. Don't expect to meet and flirt with a member of the opposite sex here, because he/she likely plays for the other team. Not that it matters, but worth mentioning if anyone reading this is looking for gay/lesbian friendly nightspots. Very lively area with scads of outdoor seating - everyone manages to get a seat even on balmy weekend evenings. Being in back of Red House means that the scenery isn't typical Taipei scooters-and-cement, but a lovely old-style courtyard. Plus good food is on offer; there's a branch of Alley Cat here!

...Thai desserts

Raohe Night Market

Most Thai restaurants in Taipei make decent food, but they all fall flat on desserts, which are some variation on tasteless-pink-goo-in-ice. This little stall near the end of Raohe Night Market (the end where you can pick up buses along Nanjing E. Road, not the end near Songshan Station) makes great banana crepes, with your choice of honey, chocolate, condensed milk or a combination.

...Korean

That joint whose business card I lost

In a lane near the Shida Road-Roosevelt Intersection.

Seriously, the only good and basically authentic Korean restaurant in Taipei. The other famous place on Pucheng Street is good (really, it is) but it's not authentic. This place does it fo' reals. Lots of small dishes including kimchi (duh), a real barbecue, not a barbecue-style stir-fry, dolsot bibimbap in a real hot stone bowl, and great gooey rice-gluten thingos in tasty sauce - teokboki.

...shameless plug for my neighborhood 'standard fare' restaurant

Lao Ma (Old Mother)

#230 Jingfu Street, Wenshan District, Jingmei MRT Exit 3 (across from the Hi Life)

I love this place, but not because it's special - seeing as spots like it are open all over the city, in every neighborhood. They make the standard noodles, dumplings, beef rolls, Chengdu dishes, copper hotpot, onion pancakes etc. with a fridge full of small dishes and beer. It's no different than any other spot like it, but it's in my neighborhood so it's my basic spot. If you're in this area and looking for food, and the night market hasn't opened yet and you don't want beef noodles, come here.

...Buns full of curried or spiced meat

nice lady with barrel full of buns

Roosevelt Road Lane 333, Gongguan

Their spicy lamb buns are to die for.

...sweet potatoes

nice Zhanghua Lady

by Jingmei MRT Exit 2

Another barrel of delicious food, this woman's family owns a farm in Zhanghua and once a week they truck their potatoes up to Taipei where she cooks and sells them. Wonderful. In the mornings, next to her you will find a friendly older gentleman or his wife selling a wooden rice bucket full of vegetarian sticky rice (su you fan) with tangy pink sauce. Also delicious.

...stinky tofu

Another plug for my neighborhood, but the lady near the 7-11 on Jingfu Street by MRT Exit 3 who sets up every evening at about 5pm makes a fine fried stinky tofu in a tangy, spicy sauce with pickled cabbage. Her laogong sits with his friends and drinks Gaoliang out of teacups with his buddies while she mans the tofu stand. If he likes you, he'll give you some to warm you up (and burn your intestines) while you wait.

...dumplings

Shanghai Dumplings
Minsheng E. Road, east of Dunhua but not very far, near the Dunkin' Donuts

I like this place more than Dingtaifung, because while Dingtaifung is delicious, it's simply way overpriced. This place has comparable dumplings but, not being famous, they're expensive but not quite so much as Dingtaifung. About NT100 for a steamer.

...shaved ice

Sugar House

Nanshijiao Night Market, in the road that branches to the left after entering the market from Nanshijiao MRT

This place does shaved ice the way foreigners usually like it - with lots of fresh fruit and condensed milk. The ice is available in water and milk snowflake, with a variety of seasonal fruits. You can also get sundaes and old-style sua bing with the toppings that most Taiwanese seem to like (gooey things, goo balls, bright pink goo, peanuts, red bean, corn, tomatoes, taro goo and salty candied goo).

...hot pot / buffet

A specific all-you-can-eat hotpot, seafood and buffet restaurant on Fuxing S. Road between Da'an and Technology Building MRT - but I can't remember the name, on the western side.

It's not cheap - at least $1200/person I think (I was treated so I don't really know) - but it's spectacular. The hotpot is great, as it usually is, with tons of fresh ingredient options to add.

Along with the hotpot, there is a seafood buffet lined with expensive goodies such as octopus sashimi, sea urchins and giant raw oysters with radish, wasabi, ginger and garlic mash to flavor them as you suck 'em down. There's also the usual array of free noodles and other hotpot additions, drinks (including all you can drink beer) and dessert - cake and ice cream (the ice cream is pretty decent).

These restaurants abound in Taipei, but I single this one out for the great selection, especially in the seafood buffet, and the really good hotpot broth.

...update: Sichuanese Food

I bet you all think I'm gonna say "Kiki" across from Zhongxiao Fuxing Breeze Center. But I'm not.

Kiki is good, but it's not the best Sichuanese in town (though they are the only ones who have the pork-stuffed green peppers, which are astounding).

For the real stuff, go to Dingxi MRT in Yonghe. Apparently this area hosts an enclave of Sichuanese waishengren, so the food in the restaurants there is finger-lickin' authentic. And it truly is. Go here:

Tian Fu Jia Chang Cai (Zheng Sichuan Wei)
Yonghe, Renai Road #5, Dingxi MRT

It's a small place near a fruit store with a little wooden screen in front of the door. You would never know it was anything special from the outside; but the inside is packed with people, enough so that this humble establishment has set up benches outside for people to wait.

You'll see young families here, and people with unmistakeable Mainland accents - Sichuan accents, notably - mingling with people speaking Taiwanese. All enjoy the food, which is the real deal. Seriously!

Normally I am not a fan of things imported from China, but there is one major exception - hua jiao (flower pepper). The hua jiao you find in those little containers in other restaurants is nothing. Tasteless. It does. not. compare. This place gets its hua jiao from Sichuan itself, and you can tell by the whole peppercorns and the fact that unlike the junk in containers, it truly numbs your lips and tongue, adding an extra layer of flavor to the scathing red chilis that adorn most dishes.

Get the chili-soaked fish, which is fish more or less boiled in chili oil with water, fish stock, onions, pickled greens, more chopped chilis and handfuls of hua jiao peppercorns. Prepare for initiation by fire.

Also delicious is the Sichuanese restaurant across the street from Emei in Gongguan.

...soy milk and you tiao

No surprises here - Yonghe Soy Milk! They're the best in the city, methinks, and famous for a reason. Get the cold soy milk with "you tiao" (a kind of pastry that my Taiwanese cookbook translates as "deep fried greasy stick") wrapped in a sesame-encrusted pancake. Dip the you tiao in the soy milk as you drink it.

...Taiwanese desserts

Meet Fresh
All over Taipei

Try their Japanese peanut muaji, then you'll see. For a chain establishment, though this chain is really quite new, I have to admit I love their desserts. I'm also a fan of their brown sugar cake ice and several other items on the menu.

Whew. That's all I've got for now. Enjoy!