A little bit of shopping, a wish and a big farewell (May 5-8 '12; Taipei, Taiwan)

Finally coming down to the last bits of Taiwan just before I go back again. Procrastination is obviously a large trait that I possess. Writing this post in the early morning (it is now 10:02am), I feel that it is appropriate to introduce a cool milk tea found in Taiwan’s 7/11s. Relatively easy to find (it is at every possible intersection you can think of), and always open, please go in and have a look! Nothing like the boring Canadian convenience stores that only sell smokes, bus and lotto tickets, Taiwan convenience stores is a shopping experience all in its tiny little self.  Back to the milk tea – it’s a unique milk tea only found in Taiwan (or at least I didn’t find it anywhere else on my trip). It’s got a couple of different flavors, so try them all out! Its great on a warm morning in the city :)

Shameless advertisement of milk tea

Let’s clarify this: I thought I wouldn’t do much shopping in Taiwan. That is a bunch of lies. Especially when, in Ximen, shoes are around 15 CAD a pair, and they’re pretty. The sales associates are super nice and efficient. Let me give you an example. I have issues with flats and heels since the back of my heels always get cut. The sales lady there immediately gives me heel pads so that they don’t cut my feet, AT NO EXTRA CHARGE. Buying heel pads at a drug store is around 8CAD, so really, how can I NOT buy shoes? By accidentally walking into a shoe store because we were bored, catastrophe happened. Anyways, the following picture is what ensued after a short hour of shopping in Ximen at 10pm…

I don't have multiple sets of feet, but maybe i should develop some to wear all these shoes...

Verdict is: buy shoes in Taiwan.

Where are we?!

Off we head to 九份 (Jiufen) on a long and confusing train ride. I still don’t know how I actually go there. The area is really just one long road with food carts and shops, perfect for snacking and souvenir shopping! 

Snacks!

Lots and lots of little snacks down the road. A unique snack? There’s definitely more than one! 

Ice cream sandwich shop

Auntie A-Gan Sweet Taro Ball Shop

First taro balls and crushed ice. Although the view while you sit and eat is pretty amazing, so this makes it worth the try. And the taro balls were sweet and chewy which are always nice.

Tario Balls and crushed ice! 

fishballs!

fish balls? Yes? Then you’ll enjoy XL fish balls, pork balls, beef balls and cuttlefish balls at this place! Ridiculously large balls (man this post is getting weird…) are served with your choice of noodles, or none. They’re actually quite good though it truly is just a XL size of a regular meat ball, so the taste is still the same. Don’t expect it to taste different. However this shop does maintain its quality of food, so go and try it out if you want some XL… ehem, okay, I’ll stop now. 

HUGEEE!

Lots of souvenir shopping on this street, so if you’re looking to get gifts for friends this would be the place!

Shopping and Eating

Ice cream sandwich

What’s after nine (jiu in mandarin)? 10! So we head off to 十份 (Shifen) (shi is ten in mandarin). Sorry for the lame joke. First we go and send a postcard! Really cool postcards to pick from, some are even made from a plank of wood!

Shifen PostCard

Postman's here!

The real reason to come to shifen is for the lantern. You can buy one from one of the many shops and write down your wishes and dreams. Each color of each side of the lantern represents one thing like fortune, health etc… After writing our aspirations (kinda awkward looking since some of it was in English), we get to let it free! It really was a fun experience and I highly suggest that you go there and take a look! Though I don’t know about all the environmental issues that go along with this. Still, you get to set the lantern up on a train track and it all comes together really well.

Setting up the lantern

Lift Off!!

Final stop of our trip, the airport. Though usually most people end their trips as they arrive at the airport, I’ll continue mine and talk about the airport, why? Because our trip was filled with Hello Kitty and the airport was no exception. We were lucky enough to be able to fly with Eva Air’s Hello Kitty airplane, which I believe is only available on routes between Taiwan and Hong Kong, Korea and Japan. The Hello Kitty section of the airport is ridiculous, it’s a fanatic’s dream come true. And with my fake Hello Kitty glasses, I really did look like a crazy fan. If you do get the chance, go early to the airport so you can take some pictures and pretend (or not) to an avid Hello Kitty follower.

Hello Kitty Check-In

Hello Kitty Plane Seat - comes with Hello Kitty barf bag. Nice.

Concluding the trip with Hello Kitty seems fair considering Hello Kitty for us in Taiwan was like the moon in the night sky… it just kept following you. You see it everywhere, there is no escape.

Great memories, great trip, great friends.

I hope you all liked my Taiwan portion of the trip, more to come!

Let me know what you think!

Do you think you’ll want to go to Taiwan? If you’ve been, what other things have you done that I didn’t get to see? Please share!

Hello Kitty, Jay, DTF?! - Restaurants of Taiwan (May 5-8 '12; Taipei, Taiwan)

Another week, another post. I must say… pretty impressed with the regular posting :) Yay!

Still posting about Taiwan… there’s actually so much stuff to do here (please replace the word ‘do’ with ‘eat’).

First restaurant I’d like to introduce, the iconic character of all things Asian: Hello Kitty. Yes, she has her own restaurant here and its pink, all pink and only pink – in different shades. I must say, I had a really bad Hello Kitty phase back when I was around 5/6 years old. I had everything pink and Hello Kitty. If 5-year-old me went to this restaurant, 5-year-old me would cry tears of joy and die happy. When 21-year-old me walked into this restaurant? Slight embarrassment and lots of awkwardness. As much as I’m aware of the color pink, I don’t think it truly hits you until you walk in - the only thing you see is pink. It’s a sense-shocking experience.

Store Front... the foreshadow of pink and pretty that follows

Kitty Cake!

I must say though, the kitty-face cakes look really pretty, and they come in a bunch of different colors, white kitty, tanned kitty, and of course, pink kitty. We all decided to order set meals so we could try a bit of everything. Pricing-wise it’s a bit on the pricey-er side, though for Hello Kitty, I’d say its pretty worth it. I think it came up to around 15-20CAD a person. In Canadian standards this is a deal and a half, in Taiwanese/Asian standards, it’s a mid-range meal, still for a Hello Kitty patented item, I expect it to be pricey-er.

The Hello Kitty curry bread bowl was pretty iconic. Hello Kitty’s head is the bowl. The curry was pretty light flavored and a bit saltier than I’d like. On the other hand, the seafood bake was actually quite good. It kinda reminds me of a baked seafood rice at a 茶餐廳 (HK-style restaurant).

Hello Kitty Curry Bread Bowl

Seafood Baked Rice

Pretty Kitty Drinks!

The drinks that we ordered were actually pretty good, not so much the Kitty head pudding. That was flavorless.

An abundance of flavorless Hello Kitty Head puddings

Kitty Salad - i spy with my little eyes... BUGLES IN TAIWAN!?

At the Hello Kitty Sweets café even the bathrooms have to be decorated. Of course, who could expect any less?

Fancy place where i do my thang!

All in all, I’d say you should come and experience this nuclear bombing of all that is pink and pretty. Come prepared to eat some mediocre food and spend a little more than you would normally, but really, now you can brag and say that you’ve been to the most famous kitty’s restaurant :)

Asian Fingers seem appropriate at Ms. Hello Kitty Sweets Café

Next up? Mr. J’s Secret Restaurant. For those of you who don’t know who Jay Chou is, well he’s the little Asian sidekick in The Green Hornet. In Asia, he’s much more well known… I promise! We decided to go for a little visit to his restaurant which is themed after one of his more successful movies – Secret. If you haven’t watched the movie, well I haven’t either. But I have heard good things about it, so maybe we should all go and give it a try. And if you don’t watch the movie, go to the restaurant anyways. The Secret restaurant is located in the campus of the Taipei Medical University. It is a French-Italian Restaurant. I must say I was a bit skeptical about a celebrity restaurant, and the fact that they serve western food just made me that much more skeptical.

The 'Secret' Menu

Mr. J's French-Italian Restaurant

I must say, the food was a pleasant surprise. The food was all pretty tasty with the exception of the dessert, which was very mediocre. We all ordered set-courses and if I remembered correctly, it was about 700TWD a meal. Not bad for a 4-course dinner. I liked the atmosphere of the restaurant, they even had the piano from the movie for you to sit and pose with. Obviously they played loads of Jay Chou’s songs. Though it’s strongly suggested that we made a reservation, it wasn’t very packed. Maybe it’s because it was a weekday? Who knows. Either way, I actually really enjoyed the restaurant, and I’d suggest that if you were a fan of either Jay Chou or his movie ‘Secret’ then you should go and check it out!

Spinach Seafood Spaghetti w/Salmon Roe and Japanese Fish Flakes 

Salad 

Last but not least, the most famous restaurant of the post: 鼎泰豐 Din Tai Fung (DTF: ehehehe… sorry). This restaurant originates from Taiwan and specializes in xiaolongbao (small steamed buns with soup inside). Of course we had to go! First thing to note, SUPER PACKED! But like all things Asian, we fit as many people into a small space in the least amount of time possible. So the actual wait time wasn’t all that long. We order the famous xiaolongbao along with a dan dan meen (peanut/sesame paste noodle) and some green beans. Food tasted as to be expected – very good. Though I have a thing about super famous restaurants, because you expect so much from them, they don’t ever get the chance to surpass your expectations. So, I may not be raving about this as much as I should, but it’s always because I’ve already expected so much from it that it just hits my expectations. Unlike Mr. J’s restaurant, I knew they place was good, and so I expected good things from it. Either way, stop by here – they have multiple stores over the city (and internationally) – and take a pic with the xiaolongbao statue outside!

Left: Xiaolongbao; Top Right: Dan Dan Meen; Right: Green Beans

Take a Pic with Mr. Xiaolongbao!!!

This concludes the restaurant wrap up of Taiwan. I’d say visit all three restaurants. For bragging rights, go see Hello Kitty. For a nice French-Italian meal with a twist of Asian Fusion and celebrity, go to Mr J’s Restaurant. For the more traditional experience, go grab some xiaolongbaos at Din Tai Fung.

Which restaurant would you most likely go visit? Traditional? Fusion? Pink&Pretty? What expectations do you have of certain restaurants when you go for a meal?