Home Sweet Home 2010 - Part 3

Entered in retrospect, I only just realised that I have forgotten to make these entries of simply delicious food I had back home in September! Perhaps I was too busy enjoying the food that I have forgotten to share them but I must share them as they are just - simply delicious!

 'Kari Laksa' with a squeeze of lime juice...hmmm hmmm hmmm...there are many varities of laksa in Malaysia and this is the curry variety. Laksa is a coconut curry soup made of ground dried prawns and laksa leaves, served with noodles, tofu, prawns, fish sticks and sometimes chicken strips. Then garnished with coriander and served with sambal chili paste. There are even different varities of curry laksa in different parts of Malaysia! The dish tastes of chili spiciness and sandy texture from the grounded shrimp. Absolutey amazing! This dish is one of my favourites everytime I go home. It was introduced to me by my father. He found this in the Inanam district of Kota Kinabalu. I also like this coffee shop because I can order either small or big bowl of curry laksa. I must say that, a small bowl is quite enough to fill me up ;)

Dragonfruit, commonly found in Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and sometimes Malaysia. Normally we find the variety of dragonfruit with white flesh, but this trip back home, we found some with purplish red flesh! This is a fruit rich in vitamin C, fibre and other minerals. The flesh is sweet with a hint of sour and has a slight crunchy texture due to the black tiny seeds. Very refreshing to eat!


Next stop, a popular destination for students, working class people and everybody else for a chat, meet up with friends or just simply a nice place to relax -Papparich. Serving 'Malaysian traditional delights' in a modern way.

 Red Bean Ice- Red bean dessert in blended ice and soya milk. Three of my favourite dessert/drink blended into one nice cup of drink! Very refreshing and cooling!

Cincau Ice- Grass Jelly served in blended ice, evaporated milk and topped with a swirl of fresh cream!

 Nasi Lemak- Literally translated into 'fat rice'. Traditionally served wrapped in banana leaves which gives it a very fragrant smell. This dish is served with cucumber slices, half a hard boiled egg, sambal chili paste, fried ikan bilis, roasted peanuts and fried drumstick in curry sauce. The rice was boiled with coconut milk, ginger and lemon grass which gives a very nice fragrance and taste. This is a national dish of Malaysia and mostly served as breakfast in coffee shops or sold at roadside stalls.

 Roti Bakar- 'Grilled toast'. Instead of using the toaster, this in-house-made bread is grilled on hot iron rods, giving it a crisp outer layer while retaining the softness of the bread. This one is served with a very thick layer of crunchy peanut butter = YUM!!!

 Roti Bakar served with evaporated milk. Again, YUM!










The very famous 'Iced Milo Dinasour'. Milo is a very popular drink in Malaysia, made of chocolate and malt powder, produced by Nestle.This particular drink is named 'dinasour' because of the amount of milo used to make it! It is made with many tablespoons of milo mixed with hot milk, then ice added to it. On the very top, many more tablespoonfuls of milo powder are added!

Fuchow noodle with fried chicken strips and minced pork. My favourite noodle dish! Found this in a foodcourt, not the best of the best fuchow noodle, but this will do as it is not easy to find in KK anymore!

Wonton Noodle -Dumplings stuffed with minced pork and chopped prawns, served with rice stick noodles. 

Beef tripes, beef meat and beef tendon served with rice stick noodles in beef broth. Very delicious! A popular dish in Kota Kinabalu, you can almost find one or two or more shops serving this dish in every district!

Last but not least. Mom's home-made rice wine prawn soup. Rice wine is a special Hakka wine made from fermented rice starch converted to sugar. Expecting women often takes soup made from rice wine during pregnancy up till a month after giving birth. According to Hakka tradition, this soup is very nutritious for expecting mothers.

Really cannot wait till my  next trip back home :)

Taipei Food Journey Day 4 and 5

18th September 2010

Danshui, Taipei district. Another small town towards the north of Taipei.

Danshui stuffed fishball

Internal view of fishball

'Ah Gei'

Stuffings of 'ah gei'

Danshui old street offers many 'small eat' or 'siao chi' in Mandarin which are like local delicacies. One of the most famous delicacy is called 'Ah Gei' which means Japanese 'oily/fried tofu'. The main difference  between the stuffed tofu found in Jiu Fen and Danshui is the stuffings inside. The stuffings used in Danshui's tofu is vermicelli - a kind of transparent noodle which is chewy yet very soft at the same time. The tofu is also wrapped in fish paste to keep the moisture and flavours inside then cooked in a special sauce containing 'fermented soy bean paste'. The sauce taste a bit salty and a bit spicy.

The stuffed fish ball in Danshui is very similar to the one found in Jiu Fen. The only obvious difference is the shape - oblong in Danshui.


Back in Taipei city:

We went looking for  this famous place called 'Ah Zhung Mian Xian' as recommended by friends and guide books. This shop only sells ONE dish and it is always very crowded. The dish that they sell is very simple yet very delicious. The dish is made of 'large intestine' and thin noodles. The noodle used in this shop is the 'red' variety which does not dissolve into the soup when cooked or kept warm for a long period of time. The broth made by this shop is slightly thickened and they used a secret recipe which made this simple dish exceptionally delicious. It is so delicious that you want more and more. I have always refused to eat offals but this dish is just irresistable! One 'special feature' about this shops is that most customers stand while they eat the bowl of noodles.


19th September 2010:

Due to strong wind and rain from the typhoon, we decided to stay indoors at the hotel. Even when staying indoors, we were never short of food! I am mentioning this instant noodle as it is one of the most delicious one that I have tried so far. NB it is inadvisable to have instant noodles regularly due to health warnings.

Even though this is just instant noodles, the noodles were really chewy and the soup was full of flavours. What more can I say about a packet of instant cup noodles, it is quick to cook and it fills your stomach!

That's the end of my food journey in Taipei, I will definitely be back for more! Perhaps next time I will  be travelling down south for more food!

Taipei Food Journey Day 3

17 September 2010

Day 3:

We took the bus to a small town called Jiu Fen in the Riufang District of Taipei. The town is situated on a steep hillside by the river opening out into the sea at the northern part of Taiwan. This small town has a very long narrow street that goes round the town in a big circle, with shops on both sides of the street. This is called Jiu Fen Old Street. There are many shops selling local delicacies and dishes only found in Jiu Fen.

Jiu Fen Old Street

Fuchow style Fishball

Minced meat fillings in the fisball

Wild boar sausage glazed with honey

Lots of squid balls

A stick of squid balls

Stuffed Tofu

The inside of the tofu

Taro/sweet potato Balls Dessert

Fuchow style fishballs - Taiwan is an island off the coast of a state called Fuchow, mainland China hence lots of Fuchow/Fujian people settled in this island. This is also where a lot of the local delicacies and dishes orignated from. The Fuchow style fishballs were made from local fresh fish made into paste. The fish paste was used to wrap around marinated minced meat, then producing round-shaped fishballs. These fishballs were then cooked in homemade soup and served hot.

Wildboar Sausage - Sausages made from wildboar meat gives a taste of game meat. The sausages are chargrilled with coal and glazed with honey which gives them savoury and yet some sweet taste.

Squid balls - As the name says, these are deep fried balls made with squid and dipped in homemade chilli sauce. These squid balls are really chewy and goes really well with the chilli sauce.

Stuffed Tofu - Another Fuchow styled dish. Stuffed tofu is also a Hakka delicacy. There are two main differences, that I found, between Hakka and Fuchow style stuffed tofu. Hakka stuffed tofu are normally stuffed with mixture of blended fish, minced pork, prawns, some herbs (they may be some varieties of different ingredients depending on what was taught to the next generations within Hakka families). Fuchow stuffed tofu are stuffed with marinated minced pork. The second difference is that Fuchow style tofu are stuffed with filling THEN the opening is sealed with fish paste to keep the moisture in. The stuffed tofu is then cooked in homemade sauce.

Taro/Sweet potato balls dessert - Only found in Jiu Fen is another local delicacy. It is either served hot or cold. These taro balls are made from Taro (sometimes called yam) and sweet potato, sweet potato flour, water, seasoning and sugar. These balls are cooked then served in sweetened water, red beans, green beans or yellow beans can also be added when served.

After spending the morning in Jiu Fen, we went back into the city centre of Taipei and hunted for the famed Hello Kitty Sweet Shop.

Hello Kitty Shop in Da An:

The sweet shop/restaurant has a Hello Kitty theme. The shop offers many cakes and desserts shaped in Hello Kitty or has some sort of Hello Kitty deco.

After doing some shopping, dinner time fast approached. We wandered on Yong Kang Street as recommended by a sales lady at a departmental store.

Plate from 吃饭 Restaurant

As we were walking along the street we caught a glimpse of a restaurant called 吃饭 'Chi Fan' which literally means 'eat rice' in Chinese. As we havent't had any rice for days, this was of course the obvious choice amongst all the many restaurants on that street.

Three layer pork belly 'stewed'

Rice served with chopped pork belly

Restaurant Special Tofu with dip

As you can see from the photos, it was a really good choice of restaurant. Starting with the three layered pork belly meat. The meat is made of a layer of skin, second layer of fat and third layer of meat. The pork belly was stewed in restaurant own-made sauce for hours and hours which created a very tender meat and the fat melts in your mouth. I have only one word to describe this dish - YUMMY!!!!! As with any great dish, as a Chinese, I must have rice to go with it. This odinary looking bowl of rice is far from ordinary. The rice was boiled from 'high-class' rice grain. The texture of the rice is chewy, soft and has a perfect level of stickiness which makes it a very delicious bowl of rice. To add to the deliciousness of the rice, chopped pork belly stewed for hours add much flavour to a simple bowl of rice!

We also ordered the house special fried tofu (beancurd) with a chilli dip. Although this dish is uncomparable to the deliciousness of the pork belly dish, but still, it is a very nice dish to go with the rice.


After dinner, of course we must have dessert. This mango dessert was recommended by the sales lady at a departmental store. According to her, a popular Korean celebrity once visited the shop for it's famed mango dessert!

Mango Avalanche

The mango dessert in this shop is not famous for nothing. As with many shop that serves very nice food, this shop was very crowded, all the time! With many different mango desserts to choose from, we opted for the 'Top 1' popular dish called Mango Avalanche. The dish is made with mango syrup poured on blended ice, then fresh mango pieces, mango jellies are piled on it then topped with shop own-made mango ice-cream. Just by looking at it can make one drool!

Dessert done......to be continued on Day 4

Taipei Food Journey Day 2

16 September 2010

Day 2:

En-route to catch the bus heading for the National Palace Museum, we found this shop serving hand-pulled noodles.

Noodle Chef at work

Using flour, eggs and some water the noodle chef kneaded and pulled the flour until it become strings of noodles. Customers can order flat or fine noodles and the chef will knead the noodle dough accordingly.

House Special Noodle

The House Special Noodle is 'dry' noodles in homemade sauce. The noodle is served with chopped long beans and minced meat with some of chopped chillies. The mixture taste salty with a hint of sourness from pickled vegetable. The dish also contains half a boiled egg and steamed Pak Choi.

Chinese Dumplings

Dumplings stuffed with minced pork

Chinese dumplings - skin made from flour and stuffed with marinated minced pork. The dumplings served in this shop is absolutely delicious! As you bite into the dumpling, the skin is so soft, soup oozes out into your mouth and the minced meat is full of flavours.

Gelato ice cream selection

Hazelnut flavoured gelato

After lunch, of course we had to have dessert. Gelato is an italian style ice-cream with a soft texture. The hazelnut flavoured ice-cream we chose tastes like fresh hazelnuts and was cutely decorated. Even the crushed peanuts on the ice-cream taste nice!


On our second day, we went to another night market called Shilin Night Market:

Small 'biscuit' wrapped in big 'biscuit'

Shredded/blended ice served with red bean and pudding

Small 'sausage' wrapped in big 'sausage'

Big fried chicken

The are many many stores in the market which sell food, drinks, desserts, clothes, accessories and some games stores.

Small 'biscuit' wrapped in big 'biscuit' - is crushed crispy biscuit wrapped in a pan-cake like 'biscuit'. Customers can choose different flavours to be added to the biscuit. The one showed in the picture was black sesame flavoured biscuit. This combination of biscuits creates different layers of texture as you bite into it.

Small 'sausage' wrapped in big 'sausage' - is chinese style frankfurter wrapped in glutinous rice shapped into hotdog buns. Both the 'sausages' are charcoal grilled. The dish can be served with homemade spicy sauce, fried onions or spring onions.

Last but not least, the star of the market is the big fried chicken! Anyone who visits Taipei cannot miss this dish! It is called BIG fried chicken  because it is really huge. One serving consists of the almost half a chicken. The batter used is a secret recipe created by the shop. The fried chicken is deep fried in very hot oil hence creating a fried chicken with very crispy/crunchy skin while the breast meat retains its juiciness! yum!


To be continued in Day 3

Taipei Food Journey Day 1

15 September 2010

Taipei city, Taiwan.

A very friendly and clean city.

One will never go hungry in this city, everywhere you go, on every street you can always find food. Cheap and good food. This trip, I was on a quest to find highly recommended places that serve the best food in Taipei. These places were either recommended  by friends, websites or travel guide books. Each area are famous for certain delicacies/dishes.

First stop,

Taipei Da An area. We found a family run noodle shop just round the corner of our hotel. Their specialty is the beef noodle soup.

Beef Soup Noodle

Braised Beef Noodle Soup sprinkled with spring onions

The beef soup/stew has been shimmered for hours, the fragrance and beefy taste of the soup comes with every mouthful of the dish. The homemade noodles was very chewy and cooked to perfect softness. You just keep wanting for more and more noodles. One interesting thing we found about this shop is that customers can ask for one extra FREE serving of soup and noodles if they wanted more.


Of course, one must go to the many night markets around Taipei city. You can find many shops selling clothes, accessories, shoes etc and many food stalls outside these shops.

We went to the Raohe Night Market on the very first evening.
This night market is famous for the chinese herbal medicine stewed pork rib.

Pork ribs stewed in Chinese herbal medicine

The rib has been stewed for hours that the meat simply drops off the bones when you chew on it. The meat is full of taste absorbed from the chinese herbal medicines and you can also taste the sweetness from Goji berry added to the soup.

Oyster omelette

 The oyster omelette is also very popular in Taiwan. It is basically fried egg filled with oyster and served with tomato-like sauce. We found out from a local resident that they actually use a lot of corn flour in this dish which gives the jelly like texture in the omelette.

‘Tofu Fa'

Bean curd dessert made from soya milk, a kind of tofu coagulant. Nice served hot or cold. This is one of my favourite dessert! Those that I found in Malaysia are always served plain. But in Taipei, we found that you can add red bean, green bean, or 'pearl' and some sweet syrup poured in. Pearl is a popular jelly-like chewy balls made from potato flour and milk powder. This dessert is absolutely delicious and refreshing.


to be continued in Day 2