Taipei Food Impressions

Hotel Breakfast Buffets

Breakfasts were provided at the hotels each day, a buffet of toast, steamed buns, and the staple congee and toppings. Toppings are numerous: dried pork, differently seasoned pressed tofu, differently seasoned dried and crispy tofu, seasoned dried and spongy tofu, steamed cabbage, peanuts, pickled cucumbers, bamboo shoot slices in spicy oil, bamboo shoot slices seasoned with dried fish, less spicy bamboo shoot slices in less oil, seaweed.

Plate of Breakfast Food
Clockwise from the bun: A bun - the brown and the white taste the same, steamed cabbage with carrots, woodear mushroom slices, and pork or tofu rolls - I actually couldn't tell, tofu with soy sauce sauce (thicker than just soy sauce), steamed mustard greens, fried tofu then boiled with fish balls, sweet potato fries.

Congee and Toppings
Toppings here are bamboo, pickled cucumber slices, seaweed, and tofu seasoned in a sweet sauce with sesame seeds

Taipei Night Markets

Saturday is not a good night for a sensory claustrophobic introvert to be accompanied at a night market. The flame torch broiled meats, fresh seared meat and veggie stuffed buns, grilled abalones, fried stinky tofu (my favorite!), freshly pressed fruit juices, meatballs on sticks, dumplings, dumplings in soups, fried squids on sticks, may not have an appetite to satisfy when my human body is panini pressed against people, arrays of alarm clocks, boisterous bargaining.

Night Market Fuzz
I can't feel my brain

Stinky Tofu with Pickled Vegetables

Grilled Abalone

Grilled Snails

Le Boeuf en Flambe

An array of bittermelons the length of my forearm with the girth of my calf muscle (pretend I still have beefy calves) are presented in a juice bar’s storefront. Mother is reluctant to sample their bittermelon juice, despite having imported to Hong Kong a pomegranate the size of a cantaloupe to my aunt and grandmother. Hong Kong is lax with its customs btw – if you want to bring 4 pounds of fruit or a fresh cut flower for your significant other (if it will survive the flight), do it. I am totally giving you information I probably shouldn’t. 

Din Tai Fung

Taiwan's most delicious world renowned chain. Other locations include Beijing and Los Angeles. The wait for 2 people on Sunday at 2:30 pm was 25 minutes. Quality quality food. 

Soup Dumplings with Luffa and Shrimp
Luffa is a squash that is green, crisp, mild, and delicious when not dried and shriveled into a pimple scraper

Perfectly Constructed Bowl of Beef Shank with Noodles in Red Soup