Bittenbug’s Weblog

Day 5 in Taipei was long and fruitful, we were out from morning till evening. After breakfast at 永和豆浆 (Yonghe Dou Jiang), Uncle Calvin drove us out of Taipei. Our first stop was 野柳 (Yeh Liu) where we got to see aged corals. There was a huge gale when we got there, I kid you not, as we were walking by the coast the wind kept blowing sand into our eyes. We saw the extremely lifelike 女王头 (Queen’s head), which looked like a Nefertiti head. That itself was worth the time here.

Uncle Calvin drove us to 金山 (Jinshan) where we had duck. I came with the rest of my family on my last trip, but because there were 4 of us, we could sample a few dishes. But this time, with just C and I, we only ordered a plate of duck. It was nice, though a little too chewy. I liked eating it with the ginger shreds, but I could tell C didn’t quite enjoy it.

I made it up to her by asking Uncle Calvin to bring us to the little coast side cafe. It was pretty well patronized for a weekday afternoon, especially so hidden away from the city. C as usual had coffee, and I took a mango smoothie. The drinks are nothing to shout about, but the view, the view is perfect. We kicked back and just chatted while enjoying the perfect weather. The other table had a puppy who entertained us as well.

We relaxed for a bit, and got back into the car for the next destination, 九份 (Jiufen). Wow, think of this place like the Taiwanese equivalent of Stanley market. It was teeming with tourists, every turn we bumped into Singaporean and Hong Kongers. That aside, we really enjoyed 九份. Haha, this was the place where we ate the most. It seemed every couple of steps there would be a snack we really wanted to try, and we indulged. Fishballs, peanut candy, potato chip sticks, yam ball desserts, fruit tea. I can’t remember it all, but it was a lot.

That was our last stop for the day and we made our way back to Taipei. After resting for a while, we decided to head down to town for dinner at 欣叶 (Shinyeh), again one of my favorite places. It’s the place you go when you want to bring guests for Taiwanese food I’ve heard. Perhaps not the best nor the most authentic, but definitely good and affordable fare in nice surroundings.

We went for a cold starter of sauteed mushrooms in XO sauce. I couldn’t really see this as a traditional Taiwanese dish (seemed more cantonese to me) but who cares. It was good. We also ordered 三杯鸡 and Caipo egg to go with the sweet potato porridge. Everything was pretty good, especially the egg omelet. The braised chicken was more average, a little too salty for me. Mom also ordered us a gua bao to share. I love the gua bao here. In one bite, we had all that fatty pork goodness, crunch of salted vegetable and sweet peanut. I nearly died and went to heaven!