Tsong yo bing (green onion pancakes) at “The Old Place” restaurant with Teresa’s cousin, Tina. It’s things like this that I miss most about Taiwan.

On one of our last days in Taipei, we met up with Tina to hang out and see some of her neighborhood outside Taipei city. We decided to go and look at a tea field that her boss runs. I’ve always wanted to visit a tea farm… I don’t know why, but it seems so peaceful and relaxing. And, besides that, I just really love tea.

Taiwan is famous for many fine teas that are produced in the country. I don’t know exactly which type this crop will end up being, but I did learn that all tea comes from one plant. Despite the hundreds of varieties of packaged tea, there is actually only one tea plant. It all starts here.

Tina explained this, the the good part that will be harvested later–is a “tip” with small leaves and fresh sprout.

I guess kicking around the tea farm and talking with Tina about tea, life, and whatever else got Teresa in the mood for some bubble tea, so we decided to hit up a “50 Lan” (wu su lan… probably the best bubble tea chain in Taiwan) and get some of the good stuff to be had there.

So sad… one of the last times we would be able to have bubble tea on this trip!

Then, dinner at “The Old Place” – one of Tina’s regular family dinner spots.

So good and comfortable… just great home-style food at a local spot. Would we have found “The Old Place” as a couple of tourists looking through the internet? No way. We’re happy that we were given this chance to experience a bit of this out-of-the-way local stuff. It was delicious, as if that needs to be said. We about ordered the whole menu, it felt like, and ended up bringing her family quite a few leftovers.

The green onion pancakes alone were practically enough to constitute a meal. And we had about 6 other things on top of that… all fantastic. The pot you see in the middle there is something called mei cai kou rou. Steamed pork belly with mustard greens. Just f____’in heaven.

Finally, we went with Tina for a night-time walk along the top of the reservoir, where I was able to capture some dramatic long-exposure views.

When our Taiwanese cousins asked if we wanted to try spicy hot pot for dinner one night, my answer was predictable: yes, and when are we leaving?

Man Tang Hong is a busy hot pot restaurant on the second floor of a building in downtown Taipei. The specialty is mala hot pot – spicy broth with duck blood and fried tofu (that’s just the start… you end up adding a lot of other stuff from the menu. It’s the ultimate bargain: NT$500 (about $16 USD) gets you unlimited hot pot selections, soft drinks (in glass bottles), Häagen-Dazs, and meiji ice cream. You get two hours to eat as much of this stuff as you want.

You’ll start by making your own custom sauce from the buffet-like sauce table. Everyone has their own way to do it. Someone suggested to me a raw egg mixed with Chinese barbeque sauce and soy sauce, which I tried and liked. Others in our party preferred to simply combine scallions and vinegar. 

The way hot pot works is that you get a bowl of broth going on the table and then order things to cook in it. There is an English menu available, but our cousins did a fine job of ordering a ton of stuff right off the bat.

Things started simply enough, with a pot split in half, and full of vegetable and spicy broth. How spicy? Well, the spice is there, but it’s not a No Reservations diarrhea-episode spice. Which, despite my enthusiasm for spicy food, is probably a good thing.

Then the duck blood started coming. Heaven.

Then the tofu. And the cabbage, and mushrooms, and…

Pig intestine, pork belly, handmade shrimp balls, sliced beef, cuttlefish…

Fast and furious, the food just kept coming. Short ribs, beef chuck, more tofu, more duck blood, baby corn… speaking of which:

Have you ever seen a baby corn in its baby husk?  I thought it was cool.

Lots of rou (meat)… all Fong Yi wanted to order was more meat! I could barely keep up. I thought the barrage would never end, and I loved it.

By the end, we had ordered what seemed like everything on the menu… it was like a disaster zone. What appears in the photo below is just the last round of plates… many, many others were cleared away before this.

Above: Fong Yi, Sarah, Sho, Tina, and Teresa. (I’m behind the camera, of course.) We had so much fun with everyone!

This was a fantastic, fun meal that we totally got into and enjoyed together as family. I could smell the spicy hot-pot aroma on my jacket for days… totally worth it! I wish I could go back right now…

Man Tang Hong
185 Song Jiang Road, 2nd floor
Taipei, Taiwan 

I have a serious love for xiao long bao (pork broth dumplings), and Din Tai Fung is definitely one of the best places to get them. I’ve recently had a special opportunity – visiting the first and original Din Tai Fung location.

I’ve written about Din Tai Fung before, but that was in Tokyo. Din Tai Fung actually originated in Taiwan in the 1980s.

The food here was similar to the Tokyo branch, but the Tokyo location is in a fancy shopping mall, whereas this Taipei location definitely shows its “first, oldest, original” character… 

It’s the darker building to the left in the photo above.

Upon entry, you’ll make your way upstairs to a suitable seating area.

The tables and decor are very plain and simple. Nothing very fancy. The food is the star.

We started with some appetizers, quickly devoured with chopsticks.

Hot and sour soup which was very rich and good.

Spicy egg noodles… one of the highlights of the meal.

More dishes… dumplings with chili oil sauce.

And of course the famous xiao long bao.

So our second experience at Din Tai Fung was very good. I don’t think a visit to Taiwan is complete without it!

The chain has become the name-brand dumpling of the east and, in fact, Taiwanese locals seem a bit jaded about it. There are good dumplings available, cheap, everywhere in the country, and I sort of got the impression that Din Tai Fung is regarded as a tourist’s luxury rather than a local favorite. On the other hand, I see that DTF is still voted and ranked very highly by locals and tourists alike, for just about all of their locations, so I think the food speaks for itself. It’s good. Still the best dumplings (and some of the best food in general) I’ve ever eaten.

There is also a recently-opened branch in the gigantic 101 building, if you prefer something more modern. I think it was fun to see the original location. 

Fresh asparagus from the farmer’s market in Reston this week. Nothing like a fresh start for Spring.

Winter’s nice and all, but carrots, potatoes and meat can only go so far. It’s nice to see fresh produce in season again—that’s for sure. And it’s nice to see something grow again.

The garden out back isn’t looking too bad in its third year of growing (I posted about building it back in 2010).

It’s planted with tomatoes, peppers, chives, rosemary, basil, thai basil, sage, thyme, leeks, and catnip. Yes, catnip.

For our antisocial recluse of a cat. We figure if we give her enough drugs, she might loosen up. We’ll see how that works.

We’ve even got some peaches growing this year:

Inside, the aerogardens continue to function well, providing hot peppers and herbs over the winter and now into the spring.

The basil in particular grows so fast, it’s hard to keep up with. I can’t even use it all.

But it does go well on a homemade pizza.

Ramen is severely under-appreciated in the west. Don’t think of the little dried packets sold in America… I mean the deep, rich comfort food you find in little shops all over Japan. This is not fancy food, but feel-good stuff you scarf down from a countertop stall on the way home from a bar. If you’ve had good ramen while traveling in Japan, you probably miss it already. To me, quality ramen has a near-magical status.

Want to see what I mean by good ramen?  Check this out. Or this. What we’re making isn’t quite up to those standards, of course, but it’s close enough to be well worth the effort.

You’ll need ramen noodles… dried (just throw away the stupid seasoning packet), frozen or fresh. It can be tricky to find frozen ramen (I buy it at my Asian grocery) and just about impossible to find fresh. But, man, nothing beats fresh soup noodles. Next on my list to try and make myself.

You’ll also need dashi powder (instant dashi, sold in packets or jars) and miso, two umami-rich Japanese ingredients. Check your Asian market or international aisle.

I like to use what is sold as shiro (white) miso becuase it’s a bit milder/less salty. Miso is sort of like the demi-glace of Japanese cooking… used in broths, sauces and stews for extra intensity and flavor. One thing… don’t boil miso. It gets a bad texture.

Last, a variety of toppings such as boiled eggs, corn, BBQ pork, spinach, mushrooms, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, bok choy, or just about anything else you can find in the fridge! There are endless variations of ramen, and the dish really has no rules. If it tastes good, it goes in.

If you’re using spinach, enoki mushrooms, or anything else with some substance to it, you’ll want to blanch it in boiling water briefly, then drain before use. Or you can cheat like me, and toss the (washed) stuff into the stock to let it cook a bit as it finishes.

The soup itself consists of pork or vegetable stock (make your own or buy prepared), the dashi powder, soy sauce and miso paste.

Combine the finished broth with the cooked noodles and toppings, you’ve got yourself a nice bowl of ramen.

Miso Ramen

You can use all sorts of toppings… what follows are simply the ones I used most recently, to match the photos here. Serves 4.

Adapted from Steamy Kitchen, Appetite for China, and other online sources. 

Ingredients

• Dried, frozen or fresh ramen noodles (to serve 4)
• 8 cups pork or vegetable stock
• 3 tb shiro (white) miso paste
• 1 tb soy sauce
• 2 tsp dashi no moto (instant dashi powder)
• 4 soft-boiled eggs
• 1 bunch fresh spinach, blanched and drained
• 1/2 cup fresh bean sprouts
• 2 scallions, finely chopped
• 2 small clusters enoki mushroom
• Chili oil (optional)

Preparation

1. Prepare the toppings: blanch the spinach briefly in boiling water, then squeeze to drain. Clean the bean sprouts and chop the scallions. Soft-boil the eggs by simmering them for 6 minutes or so, then run under cold water and peel.
2. Cook the noodles: make according to package directions. Usually 3 minutes or so in boiling water, then rinse with cold water to stop cooking.
3. Make the soup: combine the stock, dashi and soy sauce and heat to a boil. Add enoki mushrooms at the very end to cook through. Remove the soup from heat and stir in the miso paste (don’t boil miso). Taste and add more miso or soy sauce as desired.
4. Arrange the cooked noodles, spinach, enoki mushroom, and eggs (sliced in half) into 4 bowls. Ladel the hot soup into each bowl.
5. Top each bowl with green onions, bean sprouts and chili oil (if you like it hot, like me).

As if the mountains of street food and night markets were not enough, Taiwan is also home to many bakeries, cafes and other snack options. Here’s some favorites from my trip.

Dan ta
Egg custard in a pastry crust. Possibly my favorite snack in Taiwan… I can’t get enough of these. Some of the best ones we had were from, of all places, KFC—the flaky pastry crust is great!

Black as Chocolate
These cute and tiny little shops in Taipei sell what I would describe as “designer” chocolate ice cream and cakes. The store looks and feels more like a jewelry boutique than an ice cream shop. We were surprised to see almost no food on display—just some cards and a menu adorn the modern countertop from behind which a clerk dishes out the goods. The ice cream itself is rich, deep, and delicious.

Pastries
Wow, I don’t know what it is with Asia, but every time I turn around, I see a pastry shop. Taiwan is no exception, and they make some damn good stuff. This sweet potato one was ungodly… amazing.

Bubble Tea
You can’t go to Taiwan and not drink bubble tea. Tapioca pearls mixed with milk tea is a Taiwanese invention, and it’s as popular as ever. Better tasting and so much cheaper than in the States. The tender pearls just pop in your mouth and the tea is very smooth and silky.

Canned drinks
Like Japan, Taiwan has many unusual convenience-store style drinks (although not such an obsession with vending machines)

Sao bing
This traditional Chinese bread is very popular in Taiwan, and is often eaten with soy milk and you tiao cruellers. I’m allergic to soy milk, so I just enjoy the bread! The flaky texture and sesame flavor are perfect together. Sweet and salty varieties are available, and the bread can have different shapes and styles. If you can, try and find someone making them fresh, using a steel drum the traditional way. We brought back like 50 of these to freeze and eat later… so good!

Those are some of the snacks we spotted in Taiwan. Of course, the night markets are where the real action happens for serious snack lovers!