Taiwan Trip Day 6
September 6th, 2007Our day today started at the post office. Crazy, huh?
Joe wanted to ship some postcards over to the States. I forgot exactly how much, but it ended up being around $11NT (33 cents?) for each one. I’m assuming that’s pretty cheap for international mail. Yay.
Besides the usual sending and receiving of mail and packages, post offices in Taiwan also serve as banks. Nifty, eh?
We bounced over to MosBurger, a fast food restaurant that originated from Japan.
As you may have guessed, they serve “burgers.” But what differentiates Mos from McD’s or Wendy’s is the fact that they have burgers using rice patties instead of buns. It’s quite a change from your conventional burger, but then again, what Asian hasn’t had rice and meat before? I do admit though, it was pretty darn cool. They do have normal burgers too, but who cares?
Tastes like happy?
I personally got the Buta shogayaki burger, which would literally be “grilled pork and ginger.” It was pretty good, albeit expensive. I wouldn’t have minded the portions being a tad bigger, as one of their set meals of a burger, fries, and drink leaves something to be desired.
We ventured forth to Ying ge, or “Parrot” town with Daphu’s mum. It is an area well known for its pottery. Joe and Anju were hoping to buy a nice tea set while in Taiwan.
On the way, we spotted a museum and decided to take a look inside.
Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. Nuuuuuu!
Our plans for a museum robbery foiled, we started shopping around at the stores in the area for some shiny tea sets.
Nazi party? I’m sure if my Chinese was better this sign would make perfect sense, but as of right now, I have no idea what is going on.
Spooky as heck.
Double spooky, yet strangely alluring.
Joe and Anju managed to find some shiny tea sets to buy and we left for Taipei city again. But before we left, we stopped by a small shop while shopping for tea sets. There, we bought some 豆花 Douhua, or “bean (curd) flower.”
Why it’s called “flower” I may never learn, but dou hua is a dessert made with extra soft tofu. While it differs from country to country, for dou hua in Taiwan, the tofu is served with with a variety of toppings of your choosing, like tapioca bubbles, azuki/green beans, and peanuts, among other things. All that is served with some crushed ice in something like sugar water. While some of the toppings add extra flavor, others add texture. I had dou hua a few more times afterwards while still in Taiwan, and I enjoyed all of them. Yum.
Since Ying ge is outside of Taipei city, we couldn’t take the MRT. Instead, we rode a normal train over to Ying ge and back. It was pretty much the same thing, just older.
Don’t Transcend!
After making it back to Taipei, we met up with the rest of Daphu’s family to eat over at Saboten.
Saboten is a Japanese restaurant that specializes in Tonkatsu. Tonkatsu is a fried breaded pork cutlet. It may not sound like much, but it is crazy delicious. Tonkatsu sauce, which is absolutely perfect for tonkatsu, is a thicker type of worcestershire sauce that is also crazy delicious.
The nifty thing about Saboten is that they give you a small bowl of roasted sesame seeds and a stick to grind them down with. After grinding to your desire, you pour tonkatsu sauce in the bowl and mix it with the sesame. What this does is give the sauce that delightful roasted smell and rich taste of sesame. Very cool.
There were many of tonkatsu varieties to choose from, and I chose to get something I haven’t tried before. My tonkatsu was served in a stoneware bowl in a light broth with egg over it. It was interesting. Besides the tonkatsu, each of us were given tea, miso soup and rice. There was also an unlimited bowl of diced cabbage for us to munch on with dressing. A person at the next table was eating tonkatsu served in a large bowl of dark curry. That looked yummy too.
I was throughly satisfied with my meal, and when we cleared the table, the servers also bought everyone a small scoop of green tea ice cream and barley tea. Excellent meal. I will definitely go again.
After Saboten, Daphu and I left to go pick up some bread for the next day’s breakfast. I really like how bread is cheap in Taiwan, even the fancier sweet kinds. Rawr! *shakes fist at America*
Also stopped by Mister Donut after buying bread. Donut prices were actually about the same as the States. They were closer in consistency to Krispy Kremes than Dunkin’ Donuts, but I like these way better than Krispy Kremes. (Those taste like you’re inhaling sugar.)
Stayed at Daphu’s for a while, until her drooping head cued me to leave. Trotted back to my room and put an end to another day.
count: 50
Technorati Tags: Taiwan, taipei, food, mosburger, ying, ge, dou, hua, saboten, mitsukoshi, tonkatsu, johan, mister, donut
September 6th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
cut your nails.