Why I love Taipei

There are many reasons NOT to love Taipei. My Singaporean friends like to tell me that they much prefer Japan, Korea or Europe; well, to each our own I suppose! Anyhow, to prove just how popular Taipei is, you only need to see how exorbitant the prices for Scoot are - like what $800 to go to Taipei?

As you guys know, I am half Taiwanese and so I go back to Taipei about once every 6 months. The last time I went to Taipei was in June and now I am back in Taipei after just 6 months. So... here's a random list of things that I always do in Taipei - from the moment I reach Taipei till the day I leave for SG.


1. Dongmen station - Beef noodles, the original Din Tai Fung, and Mango shaved ice

This year I managed to find the "original" Din Tai Fung and secretly laugh at all those tourists who are waiting 1 hour to eat something they could eat in their home country. Seriously, Din Tai Fung tastes the same everywhere - well, at least to me.

DongMen station is where you can find a lot of traditional Taiwanese food like beef noodles, spring onion pancakes (葱抓饼) and for some reason, lots of Japanese tourists.

2. 东区 （忠孝敦化站） 

This is like Tiong Bahru mixed with Bugis street and Haji Lane. This is where you get to see very well dressed Taiwanese men and women - in denim jackets, hipster midi skirts, military boots and all sorts of junk -  parade their inflated egos around. 

I always enjoy walking in this area just to look at what everyone else is doing. After shopping here, I never quite liked shopping in H & M or Forever 21 anymore; it's just seriously way more fun finding tiny shops which are all tastefully decorated and have like the sweetest vanilla scents than walking around a soulless chain store. 

Currently in Taipei, you can see Korean fashion like EVERYWHERE - although I suspect most of it is from China. Anyhow, if you enjoy blog-shopping - like on Pomelo, Lovebonito, or whatever new shop that hasn't closed down already- you will seriously love shopping here because not only are prices kept low (most are around 15 sing) and you can touch and feel the fabrics for yourself. 

Another thing to do here is to cafe-hop. Unlike the seriously VERY overpriced cafes you have in Singapore, here cafes are still more expensive than your street food but the atmosphere, the spaciousness of the cafes and the friendliness of the owners will make you feel more than happy to fork out money. 

Or you could be like me and just take pictures of cute polar bears that are positioned outside the cafes. 

https://www.eyescream.com.tw

(This is like my favourite shop in the whole of Dong Qu; I've bought so many things from them that I've no qualms just ordering from their website.)

3. Tamshui 淡水老街

Here is one of the places which I visit EVERYTIME without fail. Here you've got the whole package: the mountain, the river (I used to think it was the sea, silly me), bicycles, rowdy kids, lots of street food, lots of basking, and lots of sunshine. 

In Taiwan, we call traditional Taiwanese food 古早味 and trust me, they are really really delicious - so long as you get past the bizarre-ness of some of the foods. 

There is something about crowds that makes food taste better. I like to come here during the weekends so that I can immerse myself in the festival-like atmosphere. 

This is the weirdest thing I've ever eaten. There's Chinese parsley - which you would normally find in oyster omelettes and chicken rice - on top of icecream. But I guess there are people who love this enough to keep the store going.

Located at the heart of the Old Street of Tamshui is this church which was founded by an American missionary back in the 1900s. All I know is that the missionary also opened a hospital for the poor here in Tamshui.


4. Cafe hopping in Zhong He area 贵妇的时光

I waited approximately 1 hour to get to eat these famous waffles. They may look like any other cafe bullshit out there but trust me, I finished the whole plate in 5 minutes.

These waffles are from the much-hyped Mélange Cafe (which kinda makes no sense if you translate the French word mélange which means "mix"). Anyhow, apart from the very pretentious name, and the very pretentious French cafe atmosphere - which I love btw, the waffles here are seriously amazing. They are not your average Belgian waffles, nor are they your American waffles, nor are they your Prima deli Pandan waffles, they are like vanilla sponge cake waffles. The sour punch from the strawberries go very well with the sweet and cake-like waffles. And guess what it's only NT 180 or around 8 sing dollars for this.

I will never go to P.S. Cafe at Dempsey again after having tried this.

5. Ningxia night market (seriously, this is THE night market and you won't even see any tourists there) 

I am a night-market junkie. I've been to Shilin night market where most people my age know from watching Taiwanese reality tv. I've also been to Rao He night market and was terribly disappointed at the limited selection of food there. 

Then, by a stroke of luck, I discovered NingXia. It has all my favourite 古早味 food in one night market.

While everywhere in Taiwan you can smell your way to a Smelly Tofu stall - my friends used to wonder if Taiwan had dog poo everywhere or something, the smelly tofu here is really really good. It's like the Ippudo Ramen of the Ramen world- if you know what I mean. 

After having my waffles, I really missed my Black sugar steamed cake. In Singapore, we normally have this steamed cake during Chinese new year and when you pray to your ancestors. In Taiwan, I have it almost every day. You can literally smell the robust sweetness of the Black sugar (something like brown sugar but a little more smoky). I guess it's a marketing strategy to steam your cakes in the open. 

And did I mention just how Q (Taiwanese-English for bouncy and chewy) these cakes are. You can drop it on table and watch it bounce. 

This may not look like much - in fact I have to say it looks like puke and shit respectively - but gosh I have never tasted better. That bowl of minced pork in stewed soy sauce (卤肉饭） costs 80 cents and I swear it tastes better than the 7 dollar version here in Singapore. The meat is stewed for so long that every bite releases incredible flavours and the rice too is very good quality - not at all like the doubtful, undercooked rice you have in some mixed rice stores here. 

This may be quite gimmicky but it tastes like how comfort food ought to taste. Basically you get a potato croquette with sweet corn, ham and an entire pool of Nacho cheese sauce. I get this whenever I've exercised in the morning. 

Look at the size of those skewers, puts Tori-q to shame.

Here is the most humble streetfood ever: the steamed Beehoon. As they say, don't judge a dish by it's colour. It may not look like much, but the first time I tried it I had to close my eyes (totally not exaggerating, I SWEAR) for like 1 good second to just capture all that was going on in my mouth. Like that one tiny ass bite contained so much that I was overwhelmed. First you get the Q-ness (bounciness) of the beehoon noodles - as though they were tiny edible rubber bands- and then came the pungent taste of garlic which was then balanced out by the sweet-tasting minced meat and the freshness of the bean sprouts. 

I've tried recreating this dish in Singapore but I realised that our bee hoon is of a different texture from those in Taiwan. I guess I'll have to wait till next June for this :( 

I actually didn't buy this but I just thought it was super cute and super misleading. Imagine getting your friend a drum stick and then she realises that there's no meat on it. 

6. Random street flowers 

Of course I don't just eat all day. I also do very meaningful things such as taking photos of flowers on the road - while listening out for any honking from angry motorcyclists. 

Here is a very rare find: the Camellia Japonica. In Chinese, it is called the Mountain Tea flower (山茶花). Just so you know, this is Coco Chanel's favourite flower. And you can't find this in Singapore coz it's way too hot for the flowers to bloom. 

Till my next trip to Taipei 

---

Sigh in a week's time I will have to moan and groan in NUS.