Tainan - Lots of Good Food (June 7-8, 2024)

DAY 1

We continued our journey south, taking the train from Taichung to Tainan. Tainan is known as the country’s historical and cultural center. It was the seat of power for both the Dutch and Japanese. The architecture felt more Western and there was more evidence of Japanese influence (signs in Japanese, Japanese restaurants and shops, etc.) than Taichung.

As we stepped out of the train station, a few other things stood out to us. Although the population of Taichung is larger, Tainan is more bustling - the people speak more loudly, the motor vehicles move with more urgency, and the spaces generally feel denser. There are also traffic circles, adding to the slightly European feel.

They are also REALLY against jaywalking. (Got slightly annoying for two New Yorkers who didn’t want to wait in the beating Southern Taiwanese sun.) There are signs above the traffic lights telling you to be careful, etc. and ads on the buses reminding you of the rules. We also saw people get ticketed for traffic violations multiple times during our 2 day visit. 

On the cultural side, there’s greater emphasis on appearances, or at least a different attitude towards beauty, as there are many more cosmetic shops in Tainan than in Taichung.

Tainan is also known for its local dishes. Naturally, our first stop was Du Hsiao Yeh restaurant which serves the iconic danzai noodles. Here are all the dishes we tried:

• Danzai noodles - minced meat with lots of garlic and a piece of shrimp. The rice noodle version was better than the wheat noodle one because it absorbed more flavor from the broth.

• Chayote vine salad (龙须菜）with sesame dressing - crunchy, savory and refreshing. Reminds me of the bright green seaweed salads at Japanese restaurants.

• Smoked Mullet Roe - served with apple and scallion. MY FAVORITE! Smoky, salty, and chewy fish roe - like a sausage balanced by sweetness and crunch of apple and fresh sharpness of raw scallion.

• Deep fried oyster - second favorite! Tempura style, crunchy, and flavorful. Different sized oyster pieces - small ones tasted particularly like the sea!!

• Grilled milkfish stomach - aromatic and good texture (slight crunch and smooth meat), better than the version we had in Taichung

• Deep fried taro cake - blocks of taro. First cooked with pork, formed, and fried to golden crisp. Tipped with crispy garlic. Focus is on the original aromatic flavor of taro!

Next we headed to the hostel to drop off our luggage. Quiet Hostel is definitely the best hostel I’ve stayed in, granted I’ve only stayed in four. They gave us free fruit upon check in!!! Pineapple, guava, tomato, and mango!!!!!! It was also clean (need to change into slippers past the lobby) and quiet (as the name suggests). The owner is super friendly and put a lot of thought into making sure you have everything you might need (a place to put your phone near the bed, lockers with locks and keys provided, shower slippers, map of the city, soy sauce, etc.)

Courtesy of hostel owner!

We spent the afternoon in Anming on the outskirts of Tainan. Due to the sweltering heat, both my dad and I fell asleep on the bus and slept past our stop. We got off at the next stop and decided to explore that area. It was quite deserted - my dad hypothesizes that it might have been popular with tourists from mainland China back when they could come. Nice to have the place to ourselves! 

We walked into a seafood market. There were several types of lobster, large prawns, and even small sharks for sale. 

lobstah - looking a bit different than Maine lobstahs

We wandered along the port before heading back to the more populated tourist spots.

In the rest of Anping, there were some fort remains from Dutch and Japanese occupations and a really cool tree house. The “tree house” is a banyan tree that has grown all over a house!

We cooled off with some ice cream and took the hour long bus back to the city center.

We walked along Guohua Street, West Central District in search of dinner. First, we acquired some bitter tea to revive us from the heat all day. Only then did we proceed to walk the whole length of the busy street. We spotted a large operation for making zongzi.

I also tried stinky tofu for the second time in Taiwan. Somehow I still don’t like it as much as the ones in the US - maybe because it’s stinkier here or maybe they don’t coat it in flour before frying? Or no salt right after frying? It tasted better with some pickled cabbage to counteract the alkaline nature of the fermented tofu.

Finally we decided to sit down at a spot popular among locals. Another local favorite is eel noodle. We ordered

• eel “yi mien.” The eel is different from the Japanese stuff - smaller and not as meaty. The eel was simply boiled, resulting in a crisp outer skin. The noodles were lightly fried I think before boiling and saucing - quite flavorful!!!
• squid rice noodle soup - the thick soup was sweet and sour, not what I’m used to so it didn’t sit well in my stomach, but the rice noodle (mi fun) texture was quite good.
• pork innards soup - very flavorful broth and tender various pieces of meat that I will not try to identify

To finish off the night, we visited Dadong Night Market. It’s in a parking lot brightly lit by a generator. There was a diversity of foods, clothing vendors, and games with not much overlap between shops, in contrast to other night markets we've visited. 

I tried some fried sweet potato balls that I've been eyeing at every night market. Surprisingly, they were chewy - so the sweet potatoes were mixed with glutinous rice flour! They reminded me of the baked sweet potato nian gao I made for my sweet potato menu in LMF. 

We also purchased a special bread - 椪餅 - of the region. Another surprise it's hollow in the middle! The outside shell is crispy and the inside is coated in dark brown sugar. YouTube videos (here and here) do not say exactly how they're made, but I infer that the steam from the sugar and water paste wrapped inside the dough causes the bun to puff up and creates the hollow center. Dark brown sugar has a reputation for being nutritious and is thus fed to postpartum women. This hollow bun is sometimes filled for more nutrition.

DAY 2

The second day was a day full of markets!

We started the day at a local breakfast shop. It was vegetarian, catering to visitors to the next door Buddhist temple. Very tasty!!!

• cabbage roll - filled with bamboo shoots
• green steamed dumpling - filled with bamboo shoots and sesame! lots of sesame flavor!
• bun - cabbage and bamboo shoot filling, steamed and fried at the same time
• pastry - filled with soft, slightly crisp daikon radish
• pastry roll - flaky outside, nori, mayo, carrots, veg, sesame bits on inside; primarily nori flavor complemented by creamy mayo and rich pastry, vegetables add crunch and sesame (two types!) adds extra fragrance
• soy milk

Across the street from the breakfast shop was a local market. Compared to the local market we visited in Taichung, there's much more fish here. I tried some rice sausage here. Lamb intestines are filled with rice and peanuts. The crispy intestines in the outside have a savory meaty aroma that meld well with with the sticky rice. The peanuts add extra texture and fragrance.

And we scored some free marinated quail eggs from the fruit vendor. 

I tried homemade thousand year old egg for the first time. It’s covered in clay!! The flavor was less pungent than the ones from the store.

The clay around the egg

Also some homemade meat and fish balls.

Next stop, Blueprint Creative Park. Area with cute cafes and shops.

It was too hot so we hid inside Mitsukoshi Mall. Interestingly, we found sticky buns! Which aren’t event that common in the US. (It was alright - could have used some salt.)

After some rest, we visited Confucius Temple - a temple for followers of Confucius. It’s a must-visit for educated people in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

Then, to one of the best markets in the world - Costco!!! It was surprisingly very similar in layout and feel to Costcos in America. A bit strange and comforting at the same time. However, there were some products unique to Taiwanese Costcos - various cereal powders (eg. black sesame powder), teas, mango trifle, egg tarts, and so on - very much suiting my tastes.

Egg tarts!

USDA beef 👀

For dinner, we wanted to go to Flowers Night Market. Once we got there, it was so crowded that people were waddling one after the other. And it wasn’t even as good as Dadong. So we ended up eating at a goose restaurant next to our hostel. 

• The smoked duck over duck fat rice with cabbage and bamboo shoot was very good. When mixed all together, the flavors and textures were quite harmonious.

• The goose intestine which is a rarity (maybe illegal?) in the US was quite flavorful and had good texture.

Before leaving Tainan, we got breakfast one more time from the vegetarian breakfast shop. This time we tried the rice milk, which consisted of toasted rice flour. It was thick and fragrant reminding me of black sesame soups.