Tonghua Night Market

Tonghua Night Market is not one of the most well-known ones in Taipei. It has more of a local, neighborhood feel, even though it's in a really central location. This street full of shops and vendors is within a 10 minute walk of Liuzhangli MRT station, and Taipei 101 is close by. Tonghua Night Market is not too big, but it's still packed with unique foods to eat and things to buy.

As always, there is no shortage of interesting snacks you can buy as you stroll slowly down the street, taking in the sights and smells. 

Here's a ice cream wrap with peanut shavings. The peanut brittle comes in a huge block, and the vendor grinds off bits from the top to sprinkle on the wrap. Then he plops down three perfect scoops of ice cream. 

If you want to balance out your sugary ice cream, there are veggie vendors to be found! At the entrance to the night market, this man was selling fresh cut up veggies. 3 types of veggies cost 50 TWD, less than $2 USD. I picked broccoli, enoki mushrooms, and a cucumber. These veggies were cut up and seasoned with various spices, including a hefty dose of black pepper powder.

You can buy basically anything on a stick - chicken feet, mystery sausages and meat balls, organs, even rooster's comb! You know, the thing on top of its head. I tried it, and it was very rubbery and didn't really taste like anything.

All along the street are inexpensive shops selling all sorts of goods, from hardware to household items and clothing. Buy your stationary paper, sports bras, kitchen knives, and Hello Kitty water bottles all in one place! There are a few dollar stores. If you wander into one of these general stores you will be sure to find things you never even knew you needed, but hey, it's only a dollar right?

You can also buy huge prawns, or snails! Besides cart vendors, there were also quite a number of restaurants - western steak shops, sashimi bars - mostly around the 150-300 TWD range ($5-10).

It was really crowded! If you want a lively night market with less of a touristy vibe, then you should visit Tonghua. 

Taiwan Eats

Taiwan, like Singapore, is a foodie paradise. Food options here are tasty, cheap, and diverse. I may be starting to do more individual reviews and summaries on my old food blog at http://scrumptiousbeginnings.wordpress.com/, so be sure to check that out from time to time, but here is a brief overview of some of the experiences I've had in the past three weeks.

Taiwan has a famous night market culture. There are at least one or two night markets in each district of the city, with the most well-known ones being Shilin, Raohe, Shida, and Ningxia. In the early evenings, food vendors and stalls selling all sorts of traditional snacks, clothes, and random knickknacks will come to life, drawing in crowds of tourists and locals alike. Most of the foods at the night markets are pretty unhealthy, but at least the portions are manageable. 

Shilin Night Market is the most touristy but also the largest. At the basement of the Shilin Night Market is a big food court. If you fight through the crowds of people to the front of the lines, you will see lots of fried goodies like tofu, fish cakes, seafood, and grilled squid. 

Other stalls sell loads of meat on sticks. Multiple vendors specialize in big sausages wrapped in a blanket of glutinous rice - an Asian style hot dog.

I tried a Taiwanese specialty known as coffin bread at the Shilin Market. It's a very thick piece of toast, buttered and grilled, and then cut open so there is a box and a lid. Then, a creamy chowder of sorts, with various ingredients like shrimp, chicken, corn, and mushrooms is poured into the bread.

The bread is then cut up into squares and served with toothpicks. It's not exactly finger-food though, and can get a bit messy to eat. However, the pairing of the hot and crispy bread with the soft, savoury filling is delicious! It's a unique treat.

There are a lot of small family restaurants that dot the streets of the city. Many of them specialize in noodles and dumplings, and you can get a filling, fresh, homemade meal for around $3. The dumplings here are so much better than the frozen ones you will find in supermarkets. A lot of times, in the dumpling stores if you go during off hours you'll see the shopkeeper and relatives sitting in the back, folding hundreds and hundreds of plump dumplings, ready to be dunked into boiling water for the next meal service.

Most of these mom-and-pop places will also serve small dishes of vegetables and tofu, usually braised or marinated lightly in soy sauce and vinegars.

Steamed buns and breads are also quite common in Taipei, and there are local stands that sell these items for breakfast and snacks. They come in various flavors and fillings, from the traditional, like red bean paste, sesame seed, and meat fillings, to others like chocolate!

Finally, I want to introduce you to my favorite part of Taiwanese cuisine - these little stalls. I'm not sure if there is a proper English name for them, but I call them the veggie carts. Basically, there are a lot of fresh cold ingredients, ranging from chilled, soy-braised meats, to steamed broccoli, potatoes, and daikon radish. You indicate to the vendor which ingredients you want (usually around $1 for a portion of each), and then she or he will chop up your ingredients, drizzle on delicious brown sauce, sprinkle on some chili pepper, add in a dash of salted vegetables, and mix it all together for you.

It's then presented to you in plastic bag, and a long wooden skewer which you use to eat it. It's really fresh and tasty, and healthy. You can usually find these carts at most night markets, advertised by red lanterns. It makes a delicious snack or a takeaway meal in a pinch! 

Delicious Finds

Penang is known for its amazing and affordable food. A taxi driver told me that there are Singaporean tourists who fly all the way here just to eat a few meals. Personally, I don't know if I would go to those lengths, but what I did try was really good! I had a few meals of traditional local foods, and others of different cuisines from unique local institutions and cafes. 

On the first night, I stumbled across a food stand on Chulia Street, the backpacker district. It's called lok lok - think of a roadside, communal eating experience of hot pot. There are various raw ingredients skewered on wooden sticks and arranged for self-service. The sticks are colored at the ends which let you know the price of that particular item. 

You just take whatever you feel like and stick it in one of two pots of boiling water. When it's cooked (up to your own discretion!), you can remove it from the water and dip it in various spicy sauces. It's a fun experience because all these different people are just standing around, cooking their food and eating on the street. There are different vegetables, meat balls, seafood, tofu and eggs. It's not the most sanitary experience, but I figured the boiling water would disinfect the food. I tried about 5 skewers of food for 4 Malaysian ringgit (MYR), or a little more than $1 USD. 

Georgetown is also known for having an abundance of quirky and hipster cafes located in renovated shophouses, serving both local and western foods. I found one on Lorong Chulia called Roti Bean Cafe for breakfast the second morning. They have a simple menu, and I ordered egg in toast, alternatively known as "egg in a basket" or "toad in a hole" for 5 MYR.  It was delicious - thick buttery toast and a nice soft-boiled egg plopped in the middle! Good fuel for the rest of the day.

Another nice cafe is located on Lorong Soo Hoon, and the name is a play of words on the street. It's called "Soo hongry!"A homey little place, the menu is limited to the few specials they serve each day. There wasn't a physical menu - the waitress described each dish in detail after I sat down.

I ordered the portuguese chicken, which was cooked really well. Cafes like these are a great way to get out of the heat during the midday, eat a meal or drink some coffee, and relax with a book or a journal. Some of the other cafes that I enjoyed are the Mugshot Cafe, Budan's Brew, and China House.

Another fantastic hidden find - a vegetarian Chinese restaurant also on Lorong Soo Hoon. It was quite empty but I went one day for dinner since it was pouring down rain and the location was right next to the guesthouse. They served a special vegetarian set with a soup, multigrain rice, various veggies and mock meat. The portions were just right and the food was cooked really well! I also ordered a cucumber juice on the side, to top off an extremely healthy and nutritious meal.

There are quite a number of vegetarian restaurants in Penang, and the food seems all done quite well. I wonder if this is due to a large population of Hindus and Buddhists.

One famous dish in Penang is the assam laksa - a spicy and sour noodle soup made with fish paste and various herbs such as lemongrass and basil. It's hard to eat in the summertime heat though! Various people swear by their favorite hawker stands, but I'm not the biggest fan of the dish so I just picked it one day at a food court.

Hawker centres and food courts are a big part of the social scene - it's where friends, families, young people all go hang out and eat a meal together. Many of them open in the late afternoon, and stay bustling until the early morning hours. Sometimes there are live performances in the larger food centres. There are always numerous stalls, from traditional noodle stalls to interesting takes on western and Taiwanese food.

There's usually a juice vendor to sell fresh-squeezed fruit and vegetable juices!

The last night I tried popiah at a hawker centre called CF Food Court. Popiah is an interesting dish, sort of a take on a spring roll. Inside a thin flour wrap is fried shredded turnip, tofu, and a sweet and sour dark sauce. It's an interesting blend of textures, and relatively healthy for hawker fare!

I really enjoyed all the different meals I had in Penang. Some of the food is similar to what one might find in Singapore, but it's about 3 times cheaper! I don't think it's the only reason one should come travel to Penang, but it definitely is an integral part of the overall experience. 

Tastes of Bangkok

It's no news that Thailand has great food. In Bangkok, I had the pleasure of trying Thai food with an unbiased perspective, since I really haven't had much Thai in the U.S. before - much to the surprise of many of my friends. In fact, I was able to try my first dish of Pad Thai here, which is probably the most well-known Thai dish in America.

The street food here is amazingly diverse. I saw vendors selling bowls of steaming hot noodles, various forms of fried meat, sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves, sweet little donuts, as well as many types of fresh fruit smoothies.

Seafood was in abundance. When we visited the floating market, we saw stands selling whole fish, which appeared to be steamed, as seen below:

There were also little fried quail eggs and spring rolls, along with many many other stands that I unfortunately did not get photos of. Everything was very cheap, under 30 baht (~$1).

The streets of Bangkok are dotted with fresh fruit stands that offer succulent pieces of mango, starfruit, watermelon, pineapple, and other tropical treats. Some stands sell the fruit in bags for about $1, while others offer to create smoothies or iced drinks. On Saturday, I drank a delicious lime slushie made with fresh-squeezed lime juice. The next day, I chose to have my mango in its pure, unaltered form.

Served with sticks for easy, clean eating!

And the famous pad thai! I think it was pretty authentic, though I don't have anything to compare it to. The lighting in the restaurant was very dim so unfortunately the noodles do not look that appetizing, but trust me, it was very tasty. I believe everyone at our table ordered this dish with either chicken or prawns - the waiter must have thought we were typical Americans with an unrefined palate. But we just all wanted to see how pad thai tastes in Thailand.

I tried the spiciest dish in my life during this weekend - raw papaya salad from a very normal street vendor. The guy asked if I wanted spicy, and I said yes. I usually pride myself on being able to tolerate quite high levels of heat, which I attribute to my Hunan background (the province of Hunan in China is known for its spicy stir-fries).

I took a few bites right away and thought it was pretty tasty. Then the burn began. "This is pretty spicy," I commented, while taking a few more mouthfuls. Suddenly my mouth felt like it had caught on fire! During the next few minutes, I desperately hunted for bottled water in the crowded Sunday market.

Unfortunately, the Chatuchak market is the largest open air market in Asia - meaning there are lots of stalls and lots of people. I found a vendor that was selling water, but had to wait to get to the front of the line to pay. My entire mouth was tingling, burning, and I was sweating as well. When I got the bottle I chugged down the water, but it didn't help to soothe the heat at all. I wandered around in agony, claiming that my taste buds had all been killed, while my friend commented that a form of dairy might provide relief because of the lipid content.

The bad news - I couldn't find any dairy, since all the dessert stalls around us were selling fruit shaved ice instead of ice cream. The good news - after about ten minutes, the burn started to subside, and I was able to confirm that my taste buds were not dead by eating mango, pictured above.

It's too bad we only had two days to explore the cuisine of Thailand. The good news is, I think the Thai food in Singapore can be pretty authentic as well, especially since now I've developed a craving for it! But I will definitely be more aware of the spice levels.

Busy Days, Busy Nights

It's been a busy two days, with me starting work and getting use to the 9-6 schedule. I haven't gotten over jetlag yet, so for the past two mornings I have woken up around 5 or 6. I get dressed for work and make some breakfast. In order to save a little money, we bought some bread, oatmeal, and yogurt to stock our fridge. I don't think we really saved any money though. Food prices are pretty high because everything is imported into Singapore.

My workplace is located a bit far from where I live. I either take the subway or the bus, and both ways take about 30 minutes. The transportation systems are pretty efficient here, even during rush hour. The office where I am interning is located high up in this modern building in a neighborhood filled with malls and offices. Upon reaching work, I usually settle into my station after making some coffee. We're on the 23rd floor, and my desk actually is against a window which showcases a beautiful view of the Singapore skyline. Below is the building (right side tower).

At noon we break for lunch, though there isn't a set lunch time. There are numerous eateries in the neighborhood, and today we wandered into an underground mall with a food hall. Various eateries and food stands lined the air-conditioned pathways. I saw everything from fried shitaki mushrooms on a stick, fish ball noodles, and kaya toast, to shaved ice and greek yogurt.

Here's a "tornado potato," which are thick potato chips on a stick.

Fried chicken cheese balls on a stick...

"Street sausage," which seems to be covered with french fry bits...

And lots of other street food! I promise not everything is fried and on a stick, but it seems to be all I've taken pictures of!

Then it's back to work! At six the office begins to empty out and I head back to the apartment. I really love our street. It has a quaint, historic feel, shops and restaurants take up the first floor, and flats are on the second and third.

After everyone reconvenes, we decide upon a place to eat dinner. By the time we pick at place, meander to the location, and eat, usually it's around 8 or 9. We've discovered a few good places around the area and we are going to try new restaurants everyday. Yesterday, after dinner we took a walk to the beautiful riverside, where we enjoyed the warm breeze and the far-off echoes of an orchestra concert playing across the water in the Marina Bay Sands. It was after 10 when we made it back, and being so exhausted from the jetlag, I did a little research and planning for our time here, then showered and went to straight to bed.

I have no idea when I will have time to do laundry, cook, or even shop! I realized that we still need to buy basics such as salt before we can do any real cooking. But we are actually pretty spoiled, as I learned that we have maids that will be coming in once a week to clean, change sheets, and even wash the dishes. Our weekends are completely booked with fun activities and international travel. I'm definitely still running on energy from the excitement of being in an amazing place and doing new things.