On the way back from school, I grabbed a couple fruits and food for lunch.
papaya and mangos
I bought Taiwan grown mangos. These are smaller than the imported ones, but are very sweet with a strong mango flavor. 9/10
The papaya was also very tasty. 8/10
cuttlefish balls and roasted duck leg
I had no idea what the balls were as I didn’t know what cuttlefish was in Chinese. I bought it anyways. It is deep fried and covered in pepper and chili powder. 7/10
I thought it was roasted chicken….. no wonder the shop guy looked at me funny when I asked for chicken. When eating it, I figured it out…., but it was still very good. Roasted nicely and coated in a sweet soy sauce sauce. 8/10
That evening we met up with one of my mother’s friend and took us to eat some incredible duck. She gave us the address and booked it so we did not expect what we got. The restaurant was located in a fancy hotel in a wealthy area. The cost wasn’t actually bad.
This restaurant is famous for their duck. And they should be. The friend had to preorder the duck too. And you can only order them whole.
The chef brings the whole roasted duck to your table and you get table side service of him cutting the skin off the duck. The skin is cooked to perfection. Crispy, sweet, and tasty.
This is the first dish serves with this duck. You get wrappers and toppings to pair with the skin. 9.5/10
left: basket of wrappers ; There were three different kinds. They tasted the same but had different spices that are said to be good for you.
right: 3 types of topping pairings : The restaurant created their own toppings to pair with the wrappers and duck skin. Starting from the top is cucumber, spring onion, and pickled chilies with a sweet balsamic like sauce. The middle one was more fruit. Dried mango, dried pineapple, and some kinda green sprouts with an orange jam like sauce. The bottom tier was tempura spring onion, thin ginger slices, and peanut flour with a creamy pink sauce.
9/10
The second dish with the same duck is from cubed duck and water chestnuts.
This was served with iceberg lettuce to use as a vessle to eat it. This was quite nice as it was lighter and refreshing. The lettuce and water chestnut creates a nice crisp and fresh feel. It was seasoned well with duck pieces throughout. 8.5/10
The final dish with the same duck was a huge pot of noodle soup.
The stock of this soup was so good. Even though I was full from the other dishes, I still had three bowls of this soup. It had chucks of the duck and taro along with the noodles. 9/10
On the left of the bowl of soup was freshly made kiwi juice. I like juice with all the pulp and fibre and this was just that. It also had no added sugar making it perfect to pair with the duck. 7.5/10
We also ordered some sides of veg and two dishes I don’t think I’ve tried before.
left: deep fried taro ; This was quite interesting. It was taro balls deep fried but the batter was not solid. It was kinda like stringy and flaky. 7/10
right: donut in rice wrapper ; A classic traditional food in Taiwan is a type of donut. They are not sweet, just deep fried dough, and often eaten for breakfast. This one was wrapped in a stretchy rice wrapper with some savory sauce. 7/10
Taking the MRT home, we always pass the street selling fresh produce and food. With prices significantly lower than UK and produce being so good, we couldn’t resist buying more fruits.
left: guava ; it is so good here so we had to buy more.
right: finger bananas ; These are related to regular western bananas but have their differences. The first being their size. Like the name indicates, they are the size of a finger. The skin is super thin and the banana itself has a slightly different texture. The texture doesn’t feel as dry as regular bananas. The flavor is also slightly different.
Also bought some red dragon fruit! There is also a white type but the red one was cheaper. The texture is similar to kiwi with the little seeds throughout the whole inside. The fruit isn’t super juicy but is relatively sweet. Just be careful as this stains easily!
On the same street we discovered a supermarket and checked it out. As we bought groceries from the street market, we only got two things.
left: bread ; This isn’t just regular degular bread. In Taiwan all bread has a hint of sweetness, even when it has savory toppings or used for sandwiches. This one was just a plain one, but the top had a special different crust that is a bit sweeter.
right: lemon wafers ; I saw the price and was shocked at how much cheaper it was than in UK. Less than 1£ when in UK it’s triple that. These are from the brand I-MEI which is a Taiwanese brand that produces a ton of different kind of cookies and biscuits. They are so popular and famous that they have their own stores around.
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