07 Jan 2012 - Xiao Bar Wang and 4fingers

She finally got to try the braised meat meal box $3.80 from Xiao Bar Wang. They'd used lean meat instead of all the fatty portions one would in Taiwan. It was still tasty anyway.

He decided to have the vermicelli soup (mee sua) $3.30 for the umpteenth time. That orange bit of chilli paste packed more than enough spice to leave him sweating. And also upset the digestive system a few hours later. Why did he ask for chilli, then? Because it's worth it.


After cleaning out the set above, they shuffled across to 4fingers for some crispy chicken wing parts. 1 piece of chicken means either the drumlet, or the mid-joint and wing. Asked for the a 12 piece set ($14.50 - upsized) with combo sauce, soy garlic + spicy. Outside crispy and the inside well marinated. Some pieces were a little too salty though.


Came with a drink, and fries sprinkled with some herb seasoning.

06 June 2010 braised pork with rice

all things braised are probably good. contained pork and egg. he's relishing her homecooked meals.

1 June 2010 in Taiwan

half a day more before they head home. he had got up early to run some errands for the wife, while waiting for the rest to pack up and check out.

after which, they went to look for brunch. spotted this along the way, but didn't try it.


eventually they ended up settling for braised pork rice again. super sinful. all fats all over again. 30NT


some of them probably got sick of it, so they ordered the shop's trademark pork ribs noodles instead. this tasted quite good, can't remember the price though.


the perennial favourite side dish of a certain colleague.


was it mentioned that they just had brunch? once they reached the airport, they ordered food again.

braised pork rice again, this time with the whole chunk intact for greater eating pleasure. a 100NT?


he had pork bone soup ramen instead. 150NT(though very tempted by the braised pork)


2 of them also had a basket of xiao long bao 小笼包 each, but they were too hungry to take any photos of them. sorry about that.

signing off with some pictures from onboard the plane, and this will mark the end of the taiwan trip.


looks really cottony, huh.

30 May 2010 in Taiwan

2nd day in taiwan on their own expenditure. woke up not too early, and headed round the corner for a breakfast set.

ji ma chen 吉马陈 mee sua shop at ximending 西门町


fat, succulent oysters and braised pork intestine in vermicelli soup. ah, heaven...


the breakfast set came with lotus dumpling and a drink. all for 89NT. dumpling's not as oily as back home, and also smaller in size.


next, they headed to long shan si, and after that, went to the nearby huaxi market.


near the end of the street, a few of them wanted to stop for some chinese dessert. the shop owner was well bearded, somehow, seemed highly skilled.


just next door was a sinful shop. and look what they got. brought this over to enjoy with the dessert, and got chided. the dessert master mentioned that his was a vegetarian shop, and no meat was allowed to be consumed on his premises. the drooling stopped and the meat eaters had to move elsewhere. 70NT


took the mrt somewhere else (can't remember) to head for another famous mee sua shop, chen ji 陈记


ordered the 60NT big bowl, and wow. just typing this post makes him hungry at midnight. oysters were even fatter, and were coated in dough. the intestines however were not as good as ji ma chen 吉马陈. still, it was just as enjoyable to have good oyster mee sua.


took a little walk to ease the stomachs, but the heavens were not willing to let them rest. they strolled right into a dessert shop! mango ice with pudding, every bit of ice was heavily flavoured with condensed milk, don't be fooled by white ice, and the mangoes were ripe and sweet. the trip so far was sweet to the mouth, hard on the stomach. 70NT?


and after fooling around, or being fooled around by food, it was almost time for dinner. formosa chang 胡须张 as recommended by one of the dudes. seemed like they had a special offer, 10NT for braised meat rice!


for the whole of the trip, it seemed that their braised meat meant braised fats. small bowl of rice topped with fats. sauce was good, gobbled up in no time. oh the toll on the heart...


as if it weren't enough. he ordered pig trotters. something must have been wrong somehow, virtually no lean meat on this, just skin and thin layer of fats on big bones. around 80NT


a healthier dish of toufu


body builder didn't like fat pork, so he ordered 2 lotus dumplings instead. no prizes for guessing if he ate the pork belly in the dumpling. (ok, ok, he gave it away and guess who ate them? keeps you guessing...)

14 May 2010 in Taiwan

time for lunch again.

got the braised pork belly bento from 池上饭包 again, albeit from a different branch. this time, the pork skin did not melt in the mouth, a little disappointed, but overall it was still good. note the number of times he had fatty meat during this period. more to come.


even more disappointment when his colleagues' huge chicken cutlet arrived. his stomach growled.

9 May 2010 in Taiwan

had lunch somewhere in jiadong.

the conspicious looking signboard


the appetiser - frozen pickled mango, came with chunks of ice stuck on them


three cups chicken - chicken cooked in sesame oil, chinese wine and soy sauce.


fried calamari dusted with salt


fried toufu


fried rice


and the most wholesome part of the meal - fatty pork. if you think it looks fat, you should stay tuned for more sinful ones in the later part of this taiwan series.



dinner was at liu he night market


tried coffin board (guan cai ban) for the first time in his life. it's actually fried bread with filling that's similar to cream of mushroom with chicken and other vegetables mixed in.


someone ordered taiwanese sausage


his very first order of chicken cutlet in taiwan, disappointing stuff


dried fish roe - very savoury, a little too overwhelming and left a slightly bitter aftertaste


dandan mian - just a small bowl of noodles with one prawn. worthy of mentioning is the texture of the noodles, very smooth and chewy. around 30NT


this read crispy fishballs in the menu, but nobody could find out what was crispy about it

baked enoki and braised delight

came back from driving lessons and felt tired. read the newspapers and then went online to trawl a little more. she disappeared for a long while, and soon an aroma wafted into the room...

enoki baked with chopped garlic - she forgot the salt, so they had a healthy meal of shrooms with natural flavours.


braised delight - diced pork shoulder and hard boiled egg. she boiled these for around an hour, really delicious. though he had 4 eggs just last night, he couldn't resist and had another 2 for this meal. the meat? tender, juicy and savoury enough for him to keep picking from the bowl, still salivating while typing this.