A hidden eat called Rice Cafe

Yes, it's that time again. Farewell to another Shida 師大中文中心 student/friend. He'll be heading back to New Zealand in a week. So today, we all decided to gather at another small and quaint restaurant that Taipei has so many of. It's tucked away in a small alley in YongKang Jie 永康街 right behind the Shida campus. The restaurant only has about 8 tables, so the wait was 30 minutes. It would be best to have someone come early to make the walk-in reservations because phone-in reservations are not allowed. The outside wall is made of sandstone colored brick with a simple backlit sign that reads Rice Cafe. The interior design is very simple with one long wood bench along the back wall, sandstone colored wallpaper and gleaming white tables. I liked the blue swirl accented glass cups. The collective atmosphere kind of gives off a Japanese beach feeling. As a group, we ordered Katsu-donburi (deep fried pork cutlets over rice), Tempura-donburi, shabu shabu, Japanese style Mapu tofu donburi and Korean-Japanese Kimchi donburi. If you see a reoccurring theme of donburi, it's because Rice Cafe is known for it's great Donburi. It's also known for bringing in a more authentic Japanese cuisine to Taiwan. The restaurant Rakumenya Ramen (樂麵屋) next door is also run by the same owner and brings in it's own culinary following of authentic ramen lovers. The Mapu tofu donburi was of my choosing. At first I dismissed the dish as a Chinese-Japanse fusion. But my knowledgable girlfriend corrected me saying that Japan does have it's own traditional version of Mapu tofu. The kimchi dish however I believe is a fusion recipe. The Mapu tofu donburi turned out spectacular! The rice base is a subtle sweet koshihikari rice, with a slightly spicy and tangy mapu tofu on top, topped off with a little saffron was absolutely the best dish on our table in my opinion. I sampled some of the other donburi dishes, and they just didn't compare to this unique flavor. I highly recommend trying this dish out. Or some of the other menu items that sound equally delicious, but more expensive, like the Chirashi bowl and steak donburi. Prices were quite reasonable for the quality, $180-$350. The donburi bowls also come with pickled sides and miso soup to add to the value. I really enjoyed my meal and would be willing to share this experience with others in the future. It is truly a rare gem of a restaurant in Taipei when it can offer value, authenticity, AND quality.

Rice Cafe
No. 7號, Lane 10, Yǒngkāng Street, Daan District
Taipei City, Taiwan (台北市永康街10巷7號)
11:30-2:30PM 5:30-9:30PM (closed Tuesdays)
02-2394-8236

Discovering new beef noodle soup locations

With my friends from the states in town, they wanted some recommendations to good beef noodle soup locations. I told them you can find a decent beef noodle soup stand just about anywhere. The quality doesn't vary by much. I feel ashamed that I don't know where the famous ones are. But it's not like I have totally ignored eating it during my stay here. At first I recommended the knife cut beef noodle soup place at Shida night market that I frequent. They either didn't hear me or weren't very receptive to that. So in the end, with some public wifi help, I still ended up doing my own search on google to see if there were any famous or outstanding restaurants. Eventually, I found a beef shop near the Zhongshan MRT station called 金春發牛肉 (JinChunFaNiuRou). It's actually about a 10 minute walk away from the station. But it's famous for it's beef, as it's primarily a beef butchery shop. This location didn't have Hongshao (紅燒) flavor, but instead it had the milder clear broth version. The soup and the noodles were sub-par in my opinion. My friend's liked it and praised the super tender beef as did I. But I think in order to really experience the Taiwanese beef noodle soup, you need excellent beef, 紅燒 soup and knife cut noodles. Obviously not on the same day, but for a second try at this, we found a famous shop in the YongKang street area. It's called Lao Zhang (老張牛肉麵店). The broth was much better here and they have three different flavors; Spicy, stewed and tomato. The noodles were still pre-packaged machine processed looking, but still good none the less. The beef isn't as good and tender as 金春發牛肉. So in conclusion, I'd still recommend the Shida night market location. It has two floors, free drinks, convenient location, good beef, awesome broth and knife-cut noodles.

P.S. There is also another famous beef noodle shop in YongKang street simple called Beef Noodle Master. Find the address below.

金春發牛肉 (Jin Chun Fa Beef)
No. 20號, Tiānshuǐ Road, Datong District
Taipei City, Taiwan 103

老張牛肉麵店 (Lao Zhang Beef Noodles)
台北市中正區愛國東路105號
http://www.lao-zhang.com.tw‎

永康牛肉麵 (YongKang Beef Noodles)
No. 17號, Lane 31, Section 2, Jīnshān South Road, Daan District
Taipei City, Taiwan 106
http://www.beefnoodle-master.com

Tsuke men at 樂麵屋

After class, during some further exploring around YongKang street(永康街), Yuki and I discovered an interesting ramen restaurant. It doesn't have an english name, so here's the pingyin, Lemianwu (樂麵屋). They offered a dry ramen that is getting very popular in Japan these days. Tsuke men. So she was surprised to see it in Taiwan. It's the same as ramen, but minus the soup. They also cover it in a spicy fish egg type sauce called mingtaizi (明太子). It was different and something I have never tried before, so why not!? Well..it turned out to be very very tasty. It's just a mild spicy and it really makes it much more flavorful as Yuki said. Instead of the soup overpowering everything, the individual flavors come out so it's a completely different ramen experience. I like it better this way and this is now my new favorite Ramen style! You can choose between two flavors, noodle thickness and spiciness. Customizable and yummy! Definitely want to return for seconds.

Donburi in a bucket, 一捕鮮

On Wednesday, Yuki and I walked past a japanese restaurant (一捕鮮) in in the area across from the Shida night market on our way to the gym. They served Donburi in a curious wooden pail. So we took the opportunity to go in and check out the food today. The host was very very kind and friendly. Although there was a waiting line to get a table, we still only had to wait 5 minutes. Although the curious bucket turned out to just be a fancy serving dish gimmick, it still got us in the restaurant. The food still turned out to be damn good. Nothing spectacular, but definitely above average. I like the "wooden bucket" gimmick. The donburi comes in chicken, beef, pork, and seafood (there may be one more i'm missing). But it comes with two side dishes and unlimited drink refills. They're peach tea is sweet, in a good way. And I think Yuki's Katsu curry included unlimited fries. The side dishes however is what made the experience sparkle. They're very fancy and unique. One of mine was the pumpkin skin with passion fruit sauce. Wow! crunchy and sweet and I also love nibbling on the passion fruit seeds. I loved it. I'll take a jar of that home please. All this, for a odd price of $138. I don't remember how much the katsu curry was, but most dishes were under the $200 mark.

No. 1號, PǔChéng Street, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106 across from the Shida Night Market. (PS google map is way off)

YongKang street Okonomiyaki

Yuki and I went exploring more around YongKang Jie after class. We originally wanted to go to a newly opened chinese restaurant that we saw the other day. But it was closed. But when one door closes another one opens. So we decided to go to an Okonomiyaki restaurant (Tenya, TEN屋) we keep passing and never think twice about. We were surprised when each table was a booth and a hot plate grill in the center of the table. It was a DIY okonomiyaki grill. We quickly ordered a Osaka version and a Hiroshima version. Of course We had no idea on how to make it, so they happily taught us by grilling it for us. Of course it's a little complicated and I frankly don't remember. But what I do remember was that it tasted awesome! Fresh, hot and tasty right in front of you. It does take some time to cook though, like 15-20 minutes. So that really builds up your hunger. They also have a beer menu and grilled skewers of meat you can order too. Okonomiyaki orders range from $230-$290. The booths offer privacy and it's a relatively quite place even after it started to fill up. This definitely warrants a revisit with friends in tow and orders of beer. Cheers! It's 106台北市大安區永康街12號之3 (http://www.tenya.com.tw)

Tenya Okonomiyaki Monjuyaki No. 12之3號, YǒngKāng Street, Daan District Taipei City, Taiwan. Edit: I discovered there is another location at the Taipei Main Station building.

YongKang street vietnamese noodles

After class Yuki and I headed to Yong Kang Jie because we've just about gone to Shida night market every night. We needed to give it a rest. So we did the best thing you can do in Taipei…walk and explore! Taipei is so full of exciting new restaurants and discoveries around every corner and alley way. So walking around the Yong Kang Jie（永康街）, we discovered a very tiny Vietnamese food stall. It has seating inside, but it's very cramped. About 10 people inside and 4 people outside. But the cook/owner seemed genuinely Vietnamese, so it got extra interest points there. Their menu mainly consists of noodles. Basically 6 types of curry noodles and 6 types of spicy lemongrass noodles. Sounds unauthentic, but i'm sure my english translation and the chinese description isn't doing it justice. The spicy (mala, 麻辣) flavor seems like Tom Yum soup. I thought Tom Yum was Thai, but I'm not entirely familiar with the difference between the two ethic styles. Prices are pretty much around $100 for all 12 types. The taste, excellent! I love this place because it's distinct enough to separate itself from anything I can get at Shida night market（師大夜市）. The store is very humble and small. The flavors are very very bright as typical with Thai/Vietnamese food. And it really is a hole in the wall place. I need to get the address next time (as well as a picture), so I can share it with you. For dessert, we had a waffle and strawberry ice cream plate at a local store. Enjoy the picture of my curry vietnamese noodles. Oh and I have the address now, see below.

No. 5之5號, LìShuǐ Street, Daan District
Taipei City, Taiwan 106

YongKang Jie antiques market

After class I had some business to take care of. First was to explore the YongKang Jie (永康街) antiques market. It's small and right behind the Shida MTC school campus. History has it that it was once a fish market. They carry/sell a lot of trinkets and sculptures, signs, posters, toys and jade. I have a friend who will be having a house warming in California that I cannot attend. So I'd like to find something unique and meaningful to Taiwan that can be used to adorn a wall or table. During my search, I also found a cache of old Eastman kodak folding cameras. Right next to it was a really cool Thomas Edison phonograph wax cylinder. It's the earliest form of recordable media dating to 1877. Basically it takes voice vibrations and echoes onto a rotating hard wax cylinder. After the antiques market, I had to drop off my first 35mm Agfa 400 color roll to the Shida Kodak developer. Lets hope they turn out well. I really want to find a good soft and saturated color film to use with the Leica. Thirdly, Yuki needed to buy a plane ticket back to the California. Yes, I'll be leaving end of May back to California. But only for a short bit, I'll be returning by April. Since this ticket business had to be done in Dingxi, afterwards we headed over to the Lehua night market (樂華夜市). This is the first time i've walked through here during business hours. So I got to see what they had to offer. Strolling through, nothing different than any other night market. Except for a few things. First off, they have a Hong Kong style stinky tofu (臭豆腐). It's much crispier than the Taiwanese style. And the tofu is has a hole in the middle kind of like a bowl, to hold the tofu juices. This makes this style much more crispy and moist. Maybe a little too crispy, as I prefer it a tad less crispy. Second, they have a specialty cart serving grilled lamb kabob's. They take their time cooking it, but it's sooo flavorful. Holy crap, I can eat a plateful of this! I love lamb, it's my favorite red meat. Last but not least, is Yuki's favorite ice cream dessert. It's three flavored ice cream scoops and shaved frozen peanut warped in a crepe. Maybe it's hard to imagine, but it's quite delightful. It's like a taiwanese peanut ice cream burrito. I wish I didn't have to travel all the way to YongLe for this, but maybe that a good thing. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera. So I'll have to snap pictures next time and update this entry.