🌜Tien Hsiang Stinky Tofu 天香臭豆腐 is listed in the Michelin Bib Gourmand Selection 2019. They make their own fermented stinky tofu and also make their own pickled cabbage topping.
The slabs of stinky tofu are deep fried in low heat to drive out water and then transferred to high heat to crisp the outside. So, it is crispy outside while soft and moist inside. The mildly savoury sourish "stinky" taste is addictive once you acquired a taste for it.
The fried stinky tofu is eaten with a bit of blended savoury sauce, garlic sauce, crunchy sourish sweet pickled cabbage, pickled chili pepper, and aromatic cilantro. They break the crispy surface of the stinky tofu to scoop in the blended savoury sauce which gets sponged up inside the soft core. Lots of flavours in an affordable street snack.
They also have a soup version where the boiled stinky tofu is served in a shallow pool of savoury mildly spicy soup.
Try also their famous spaghetti with tender beef slices and black pepper sauce.
Restaurant name: Tien Hsiang Stinky Tofu 天香臭豆腐Address: No. 19-1, Linjiang Street, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
Nearest MRT: Between Xinyi Anhe and Taipei 101 stations (Red Line)
Tel: +886 2 2704 0289
Hours: 4:30pm–1:30am
🌜Yu Pin Yuan Iced & Hot Tangyuan 御品元冰火湯圓 entered the Taipei Michelin Gourmand Selection in 2019. This is a definite must try. It's excellent soft chewy thin skin ping pong size mochi balls filled with red bean paste etc but made special by serving on a mound of shaved rice.
This dish is created by this little stall (another example of how creative Taiwan's F & B is). They used to serve the usual mochi balls (tangyuan) in hot sweet soup. The sweet dessert is popular during winter but business was slow during summer. So, they came up with the idea of serving it on ice.... and boomz... it's the best thing that ever happened to traditional mochi balls 😄
On a mound of shaved ice, they splash in sweet fragrant osmanthus and sugar syrup. Then they topped the ice with hot freshly boiled mochi balls.
Voila! the mochi balls on ice became their signature and top seller.
The thin skin smooth mochi balls are soft and chewy to the bite. The glutinous rice sweetness is complemented by sweetness from a choice of red bean paste, sesame seed paste, crush peanut etc fillings. When you finished eating all the mochi balls, the melted ice becomes a sweet cold drink with a dash of zesty lime juice 😄 The cold and hot combination worked really well to make this dish a memorable experience. This is a favourite sharing dish of local couples 💕
This dish is now widely copied but this is the stall that created it.
Restaurant name: Yu Pin Yuan Iced & Hot Tangyuan 御品元冰火湯圓
Address: No. 31, Alley 50, Lane 39, Tonghua Street, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
Nearest MRT: Taipei 101 (Red Line)
Tel: +886 955 861 816
Hours: 6:00pm - 12:00 midnight
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🌜Liang Chi Lu Wei 梁記滷味 made it into Taipei Michelin Bib Gourmand Selection in 2018 and 2019. It's an old stews and braise meat stall founded in 1965. It has all kinds imaginable and unimaginable (to the uninitiated) braised and stewed meats like chicken liver, chicken feet, chicken neck, chicken wings, chicken heart, bishop's nose (chicken backside), chicken gizzard, duck tongue, pig skin, pig liver, pig tongue, pork blood curd, pig intestine, beef tripe, seaweed and lots more. The choicest, most coveted item is pig uterus 😂
Take your pick from the push cart stall and it will be served with a clump of pickled cabbage topping. The stewed meats are tender and well infused with braising stock flavours which is mildly savoury herbal sweet with nice soy sauce aroma. There's subtle fleeting underlying spicy heat. Needless to say, everything is very well cleaned.
Because of its relatively mild, well balanced flavours, this stall's braise and stew meats can be enjoyed by both novices and connoisseurs alike.
Restaurant name: Liang Chi Lu Wei 梁記滷味
Address: No. 33, Alley 50, Lane 39, Tonghua Street, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
Nearest MRT: Xinyi Anhe (Red Line)
Tel: +886 2 2738 5052
Hours: 5:50pm – 1:30am (Tues off)
🌜Lo Chi Hsiao Chao 駱記小炒 is the only zhi char (boil and fry) stall in Taipei's Michelin Star or Bib Gourmand Selection 2018, 2019. This unassuming dingy little stall serves stir fried beef, lamb, clams, snails, oysters etc which is eaten with plain white rice.
(Stir fry stalls are known as "rea chao" or "xiao chao" in Taiwan. In Singapore, it is "zhi char", in Johor Bahru also "xiao chao" and in KL it is "tah chow". The mark of good stir fry stalls is mastery of the super heated wok, especially the skill in searing in flavours into the ingredients and enveloping it with the toasty taste of caramelised sauces.)
The various ingredients (beef, lamb, snail, clams etc) is stir fried with greens (like kang kong), garlic cloves and cut chili pepper with some savoury sauce and oil. Fans like the freshness of the ingredients and how the good wok hei sear in the flavours plus add an overlay of toasty caramelised sauce taste. Stir fried meaty snail is the local favourite as they like its tender crunch to the bite.
If you like it more spicy, you can ask for a bit of hot chili sauce to be stir fried into the dish.
Restaurant name: Lo Chi Hsiao Chao 駱記小炒
Address: No. 27, Alley 50, Lane 39, Tonghua Street, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106 (directly beside the ice tang yuan shop)
Nearest MRT: Xinyi Anhe (Red Line)
Tel: +886 2 2708 1027
Hours: 5:00pm – 12:00 midnight
Linjiang Street Night Market (also known as Tong Hua night market to locals) is lesser known to tourists but it have its fair share of street food gems. As it is smaller, its proportion of good stalls is higher than say the giant Shilin night market. The usual Taiwan street snacks like fried chicken chops, grilled sausages, oyster mee suah are all there. You can check out the popular aiyu jelly and grass jelly shop 愛玉之夢遊仙草 here - aiyu jelly especially is a unique sweet sourish cold dessert found only in Taiwan (though it has spread to Malaysia). Grass jelly is a sweet herbal minty tasting dessert. You will definitely have stomach space for these desserts.
Date: 6 May 2020
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