Home cookin': Hot Pot

Yuki and I have been wanted to do this for a long time. It's as simple as getting some vegetables, meat, fish balls, and soup base. But it's just not cost effective, so we just opt to eat out for our hot pot fix. But after eating some great hot pot with my friend from out of town last Sunday, we decided to pull the trigger. It motivated us to plan it for tonight. I'd grab all the ingredients before hand and Yuki would show up at my place where I would have everything all prepared. Preparing for it was easier than preparing for cooking a western meal. Shopping around the Carrefour, it was so much easier finding the ingredients and with so many choices. They have hot pot assorted vegetables and roots packages for singles, doubles or triples. Next, they have specific meat cuts for hot pot. And don't get me started on beef balls, soup dumplings and fish paste balls (and various shapes, no english name for this that I can think of). They have freezer cases full of these in just about every brand, shape, filling and size. It was all too convenient. However it still took me a while to shop because I couldn't decide. Usually I spend too much time there because I can't find what I need. Anyways, as for the soup base, Yuki wanted to introduce me to a Japanese tomato base hot pot. Taiwan conveniently also imports this Japanese brand. So in the end, the DIY hot pot at home was a success. Although the tomato hot pot was delicious, I still prefer my mongolian mala (麻辣) flavor. Next time time on hot pot at home, it's going to be spicy! Just in time, because the evenings are getting really chilly here (22 Celsius).

Bone soup beef noodle

It's been a busy past month with so many visitors from out of town, and it still doesn't let up. This weekend I have another friend from California coming to vacation here in Taipei. This noon-ish brunch, she knew of a recommended beef noodle soup place. Unfortunately, I forgot where it was and I forgot to grab a business card. However it's famous for having, what I think is, cow bones strewn across the front of the store as you can see from the photos. The noodles were machine processed. The soup was very good. The meat was excellent, but not to boast too much about. So I guess my overall impression wasn't spectacular. If I ran into this place again, i wouldn't hesitate to try it again, but I wouldn't be seeking it out in the future. Unfortunately in a city saturated with beef noodle soup places, it's tough competition to try and stand out amongst the sea of choices. I do my best, but I'm probably not the best judge of it either. 'Till we meet again.

Home cookin': Lemon Cupcakes

One for my Taiwanese friends has been wanting for me to cook with her for a while. I was busy all last week, so I wasn't able to get around to it. She attempted to make some lemon cupcakes but they turned out bland. So later into the early evening, we went shopping for some butter. That was the last of the ingredients. Most of the ingredients were pretty common and she already had them at her home. However I did buy some pure lemon juice earlier in Tianmu Sogo. It's the only place I know of that has it. Other wise it's just limes. Taiwan only has these smaller green colored "lemons". And I put that in quotes because although they call it lemons in Chinese, they look like and taste like limes. And they only sell it as a fresh produce, not bottled. I prefer bottled because it lasts longer and is easier to use. I can always count on the Tianmu Sogo for my western ingredient depot. After churning out some dough and cooking them in the oven, I decided to add one more element. Some lemon custard! Just eggs, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and butter in a pot stirring constantly over a double pot boiler (similar to melting chocolate). They turned out awesome! Warm and soft, with a good amount of lemon flavor. I used a lot of lemon zest in it, so each cupcake had bits of zest in it, sort of like flavor crystals. After the cup cakes cooled, I poked a hole on top and injected the lemon custard. The custard has a strong but silky smooth lemon flavor. And to finish it off, some powdered sugar. Looking at my photos though, the presentation is a bit ugly. But I just didn't feel like going to extra mile to make some light whip cream on top with a lemon or cranberry candy topper. That was the original idea, but I don't have a electric or manual hand mixer. This was all done by hand. If i had to bake on a daily basis without the help of an electric hand mixer, i'd have the arms of Popeye. However I may try this again to share with my girlfriend's coworkers. Eat with your eyes, enjoy the photo!

Mexican dinner with a panda

Tonight was a unprecedented evening for this blog. It's the first time I got to meet one of my blog readers, in person, for the first time. Is she some creepy weird psychopath that i'll regret meeting? haha, No. She turned out just fine. She is cheerful, an ease to be around with, sociable and eager to be here in Taiwan to learn Chinese. Although I'm sure my blog had a very minor influence, it makes me proud I started something of value and where I have opportunities to meet some genuinely good people as a bonus. This blog started out only as my personnel online journal of my stay here in Taiwan. But then my stay, originally expected to only be temporary, has turned into a much longer if not permanent stay. And my blog has changed from a private log to a food blog to a blog that a few strangers follow along with on my adventures here in Taiwan. Hopefully I can meet some you that are reading this or at the very least, the information I post will be of help to you. So I dedicate this entry to "panda" (i'm not sure if she wants to be mentioned by her real name). Thank you!

I'll try to keep it short and simple for tonight's epicurean adventure. I went with "panda" and my girlfriend to Eddy's Cantina. This is also another mexican restaurant that I've been wishing to try out ever since I saw their business card on the bulletin board at my gym. It's in Tianmu near the Taipei American School. Story goes, Eddy is Mexican by ethnicity and Canadian by birth, then later moved to Taiwan. He decided to open a Mexican cantina in two locations: Tianmu and DanShui, using the recipes passed down to him from his family. The food turned out to be OK. But it's partially my fault for ordering a burrito, which is about as mexican as Jay Leno. What can I say, I'm from California and I love me some burritos. My burrito was typical tasting. The skin was warm, powdered with dough to give it that made at home texture. But it ended up being too thin and broke up easily spilling out my burrito contents. I ended up resorting to a fork and knife. Macho Tacos still prefered on this one. On the other hand, Yuki ordered the tacos and she said they were pretty damn good. "Panda" said her's was pretty good too, and the spicy salsa is spicy haha. I'd be willing to have a second go at this place since it's so close by my home. Damage to the wallet is around $200+, thus not considered a cheap eat, but a moderate infliction.

Eddy's Cantina Tianmu
台北市士林區中山北路六段450巷3弄1號
02-2873-7612
http://www.eddyscantina.com‎

Eddy's Cantina DanShui
新北市淡水區中山路151號之1
02-2628-2638

Oh I want my Baby Back Ribs!

For the last of the three restaurants and for American food, we went to Dan Ryan's Chicago Grill. FINALLY, I get to go to this place after passing by it several times and reading about it online. Not only is it known for it's western food and western portions, but it praises itself in representing a Chicago style restaurant. Being born and raised in Chicago, I was very eager to try to place out. So after a fine afternoon at Maokong, we headed down to the closest station. Nanjing East Road MRT station. It's called 芝加哥餐廳 in Chinese, which directly translated just means Chicago Restaurant. Lame. Anyways, to begin, the decor is very old school Italian steakhouse. This is true to Chicago. There's heavy influence of Italians in Chicago so a lot of the steak houses have that similar dimly lit, red leather covered booths with high wall seat back made of wood. If you've been to a Maggiano's before, it's similar to that. Although we basically went to for steak, looking at the menu, they also offer hamburgers, salads and pastas. I didn't see any deep dish pizzas or Vienna hot dogs, but this is supposed to be in the fashion of a grill house, not a pizzeria. But it'd be nice to have a real Chicago style deep dish pizza in Taipei wouldn't it? I'd be the first to line up for it. We ordered crab cakes for appetizers, then for the main course; filet mignon, prime rib and baby back ribs (full slab) for myself. They are big portions! I've gotten too used to the asian portions, i've forgotten how large the portion size was in the states. Now I know how I got fat. The filet mignon was tender and juicy from what Yuki's mom said. The prime rib was bloody and it did come with a cup of it's own juices to use for dipping. However they did not offer horseradish, but I never asked for it either. I ordered the baby back ribs however. It's been a while since I had a good slab. Although it was quite tasty, it was no 18 hour fall-off-the-bone smoked ribs. But I'll still give it credit, with the help of a fork and a knife, the juicy meat did scrap off cleanly. They do offer garlic fries, but only as a independent order. The service is ok and they did know English since they probably have their share of american foreigners visit. This place will put a hurt on the pocket book though. Expect the damages to be around $500-1000 per person depending on appetizers, drinks and desserts ordered. I recommend this place, it's excellent. I'd bring my friends back here once I have the cash flow and a larger belt. I've also heard of another western restaurant called Carnegie's, although it's more of a Bennigans/TGIF party atmosphere than the gentlemen's grill house that Dan Ryan's is. Until my next epicurean adventure...good night!

Dan Ryan's Chicago Grill (芝加哥餐廳)
105台灣台北市松山區敦化北路8號
02-2778-8800

*Note: While at Dan Ryan's they informed us that they're moving to Xinyi district near 101, inside of a mall. So the independent location listed above will be closed by January 2012.

Shin Yeh: Japanese

The second selection of the three restaurants was Shin Yeh. Shin Yeh is a Taiwanese restaurant that usually serves Taiwanese food, but they have one location that serves Japanese style. At first I thought it was the 101 Shin Kong Mitsukoshi location, but it isn't. Yuki had the privilege of picking out this restaurant. Although it's not truly Japanese fare, she opted to not go completely Japanese with more traditional Japanese food. The Japanese branch of the Shin Yeh is near the Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station. When you first walk in, you'll see a female receptionist greet you in a traditional kimono in a black marble lobby accented with wood and japanese decor. They have table downstairs, but hopefully you won't be seated at any of those because all the food is upstairs. Fortunately we got seated upstairs next to the windows. The food turned out to be pretty darn good. Of course, there is still a lot of Taiwanese dishes and Taiwanese influenced Japanese dishes, but it's delicious. They also have unlimited beer (Taiwan beer not Asahi, sadly), wine and champaign. My only complaint about the food is the sushi selection. Other than the boring shrimp, eel, egg, octopus sushi, they only had yellowtail, salmon and tuna. But Yuki pointed something out that I never noticed before. Taiwan really doesn't have any sushi selection outside of tuna, salmon and yellowtail. Unless you go to a ridiculously expensive Japanese restaurant that can import more fish varieties. It seems to always be these same three selections. Well, in the end, I still enjoyed myself and left with a very happy tummy. The decor, food, drinks, desserts, service was all good to great. I don't remember the price tag, but expect somewhere between $500-600 NT/person. Once again I must apologize for coming back with no photos. Enjoy the one I stole from Lynette Sun courtesy of Google Images, LOL.

Shin Yeh: Zhongxiao [Japanese] branch
台北市忠孝東路4段112號2樓
02-2752-9299

Favorite Hot Pot place contender

A very strong contender, if not the best AYCE hot pot place I know of in Taipei. My first visit here was when my cousin introduced it to me several months back. So this time since Yuki's mother was visiting for a short few days, we wanted to pick restaurants from three cultures that represented the relationship we had. Japan, Taiwan and America. Day 1 was Taiwan, so we picked hot pot. The hot pot place is called Chien Yen Hot Pot (千葉火鍋) near Ximen MRT station exit 5. I love this place because it's large and well designed. The interior design is minimalistically elegant and the food is pretty much all equidistant from the tables. But those are the minor points. The big points are the food, drinks and dessert. To start out with, they have several selections of broth including my favorite Spicy Mala (麻辣). Next they have a wide variety of seafood, vegetables, meats and other meats (animal organs). Drink-wise they also have a huge selection. From yogurt drinks to soda to taiwanese drinks (some may say cocktail drinks). Just for desserts, they have scoop ice cream, cones, ice cream bars, fruits, yogurt, cookies, cakes and a chocolate fountain. I didn't see any frozen yogurt though. Although the food there isn't the absolute best, it doesn't have to. The beef and lamb doesn't have too much fat or gnarly hard to chew bits. The quality is above standard and good enough for the price. Speaking of price, it runs about $450 NT per adult. I'd definitely recommend this place if you want to experience some good hot pot for a decent price. Yuki's mother liked it and said she'd wish to bring her husband here next time they're in Taipei. Awesome! I'll be bringing my family and friends here in the future. It's also very convienant that it's next to Ximending, one of my favorite places to be at night.

Chien Yen Hot Pot
台北市中華路1段41號2樓
02-2331-7288

Home cookin': Lasagna

Garfield's favorite, one of my favorites, and a dish rarely seen in the numerous so called italian restaurants around Taipei. Lasagna! I love digging in to a square layered patties of beef, cheese and pasta. Especially the Ricotta, which by the way is super expensive here in Taiwan. $259 per 250g package. It was probably the same package I saw weeks before in the Tianmu SOGO grocery market, because not many people use that ingredient. The semolina lasagna sheets weren't cheap either. I have got to stop cooking western food. It's just not financially feasible anymore with all the, considered rare, ingredients. Pardon the frustration. I take those simple grocery trips to the Safeway (american grocery chain) for granted now. I'm enjoying my Lasagna for now, but I need to start cooking Chinese dishes. On a positive note, it'll be cheaper and a good motivation to learn eastern styles (a chapter missing out of my personal recipe book). Here's a photo of the Lasagna, eat with your eyes. And yes, I ran a little short on the pasta sauce and cheese.

Best stuffed chicken wing evar!

The last few days with my California church friends here in Taipei has been exciting. However, tonight was the last night and the last chance to experience the night markets of Taipei. So we went to the Raohe night market. The last on the list. Once there, I discovered these chicken wings. They are not your normal chicken wings. First off, they're boneless for the win. I hate picking out bones, it's annoying. Second, they're stuffed with rice. The rice comes in two flavors, one is Taiwanese sticky rice (油飯) and the other is Thai flavored rice (泰式吵飯). I chose the Thai flavor as i'm a fan of strong flavors. Awesome idea! It ended up being deliciously awesome. The stuffing could of had a stronger flavor, but it's still a killer snack. The breading has the same texture as Shake-N-Bake which I kind of liked. It's no panko, but it'll do. So basically they're definitely on to something good. The combination of the Thai flavored rice stuffed in a deep fried breaded boneless chicken wing tastes great together. KFC should pick this up (if they haven't already, I don't eat KFC often)! I'd just improve the flavor of the stuffing and keep the Shake-N-Bake breading. Two thumbs up! I want to go back and get another two. Anyone want to go with me?

This second photo is of duck blood stinky tofu soup. Foreigner's be warned. It's a very strong Taiwanese flavor and odor. I think it's delicious, but probably way over the comfort bar of a western foreigner. It's common. Nothing special. You can probably order this at any night market restaurant. But I thought my parents would appreciate this photo. MMmmmm stinky, irony, tasty duck blood stinky tofu soup!

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