My uncle took us to a restaurant that he visits a lot for dumplings and beef noodle soup; the owner makes almost everything from scratch and also has cool artwork that she sells hanging from the walls. Ken was excited to eat dumplings and beef noodle soup, I was in the mood for some cold dishes but also enjoyed everything that was brought out.
We started with some cold dishes: smoked duck and intestines:
My mom really liked the flavor of the intestines but I thought the flavor was a little too heavy (although that’s probably a good thing considering you’re eating intestines).
Shredded potatoes with vinegar:
The shredded potatoes were so good that we had to order a large plate because I finished the small plate on my own. My mom makes a similar dish where she blanches the potatoes and mixes it with vinegar and jalapenos for a crunchy and and flavorful cold side dish.
An asian cole slaw:
And veggies mixed with kobocha squash:
The hot dishes came out soon after we finished all of the cold dishes, including fried eggplant:
Lots of dumplings:
And beef noodle soup:
We also had a pickled soup with glass noodles and tofu that was very delicious:
The owner allowed us to stay past closing since my uncle is friends with her and definitely gave us great service (and tons of food!). We all enjoyed our meal there and left very happy.
After our fun day around Sun Moon Lake, my uncle picked us up from the hotel for soup dumplings. One of my favorite restaurants in Taiwan is Din Tai Fung. Well, Jao Jan Feng is very similar to Din Tai Fung and some of the chefs from the original restaurant left the location in Taipei to open Jao Jan Feng in Taichung. The menu is the same and the branding is very similar:
They also have an open kitchen just like Din Tai Fung so people can watch the chefs create the soup dumplings:
We ordered the pork dumplings topped with shrimp:
Sauteed chives:
The pork soup dumplings:
And for dessert, we ordered Ken’s favorite, steam buns filled with black sesame:
The food at Jao Jan Feng was good but not as good as Din Tai Fung. We went around 8pm and it was very quiet in the restaurant (people eat much earlier in Taiwan because they go to the night markets after dinner for more snacks!) There have been a lot of copycats opening up because Din Tai Fung is such a successful restaurant; it reminds me of Peter Luger’s and all of the restaurants that have started because of their success!
By
grace.g.yang
· March 30, 2015
Under:
Asian,
Taiwan,
Travels My dad planned a busy itinerary for us while we were in Taiwan, so after our trip to Taroko National Park, we headed on a tour to Sun Moon Lake near Taichung. Since tourism has spiked in Taiwan, multiple travel agencies have started popping up so tourists can easily explore the country. My dad signed us up for three days of tours in Taichung so we could explore the area and also visit my uncle and my cousin. We arrived in Taichung by train (from Taipei) and met up with the tour guide (also named Grace), who took us to Sun Moon Lake.
Sun Moon Lake got its name from the unique terrains that look like sun on one side and crescent moon on the other. The tour guide arranged for us to bike around the lake; since my mom doesn’t ride a bike, Ken offered to get a tandem bike so she could enjoy the view:
They open the lake for swimmers once a year around the mid-Autumn festival and swimmers have the opportunity to swim 3000 meters during the festival.
It was a little overcast on our visit day, but still beautiful. This is Lalu Island, which is mostly gone due to water levels and an earthquake:
If you’re visiting Sun Moon Lake, you should also take a gondola ride to enjoy the views:
The ride is about 20 minutes and it was foggy on the day of our visit, but cool to see different parts of Sun Moon Lake:
We spent the afternoon eating Taiwanese food and drinking tea from the Sun Moon Lake area. The tour guide did a really good job telling us about the area (and spoke in both Chinese and English) and dropped us off at our hotel so we could have dinner later that evening!
After our fun day in Hualien, we spent the next day with my dad’s colleague, who lives in Hualien and knows the area very well. She took us to Taroko National Park (and drove the entire way since the roads have lots of twists and turns and I get carsick very easily).
The morning was a little wet but it didn’t deter us from exploring the park. Here’s a photo I took of the park from the visitors center:
We hiked a bit and found ourselves walking up the stairs to see a resort inside the park. The stairs seemed never-ending and while we were climbing the stairs, I saw a sign to be careful of random insects and snaked (gross!):
After walking around the visitor’s center and watching a movie about the aboriginals that used to inhabit the park, we drove along the Yanzikou (Swallow Grotto) Trail and stopped a few times to take photos:
The area is known as Swallow’s grotto because the holes are where the swallows lay eggs and rest:
The small holes in the marble are caused by the river and erosion from the water. There aren’t a lot of guard rails along the walking trails and it can get quite dangerous. I asked my dad if there were a lot of suicides in the area and he said no, simply because by the time you get up there, you’re enjoying the scenery so much that you decide not to kill yourself (good reasoning, I wonder if it’s true). The view from where we were hiking:
Me and my dad:
We hiked for quite some time and managed to see the Eternal Spring Shrine, we walked across a suspension footbridge, and waterfalls:
It was a fun day and quite a lot of exercise – we even went and hiked to the Water Sheet Cave and to get there, we had to walk through dark tunnels (a few of them) before we got to the cave. It was scary walking through complete darkness but a fun experience. Most people go with a tour group because it’s difficult to drive around the area, but if you don’t want to do a tour, you can hire a taxi driver to take you to the national park and show you around.
My dad found a restaurant that’s very popular in Hualien with mainlanders that visit as well as locals – 055 Lobster and Seafood Restaurant. The restaurant has good reviews and my dad drove us there while we were visiting the Hualien area. It’s a little off the beaten path (although it might not be considering tour buses stop at the restaurant) but my dad was able to navigate the dark roads to get to the restaurant:
When you arrive, you’re seated at a table and given a number. It’s almost like dim sum because there aren’t menus and you have to get up and figure out what kinds of fish you have and tell them the weight and preparation you’d prefer for the fish. Here’s one employee taking an order:
They have fresh clams, lobsters, prawns, etc at the restaurant but we arrived a little late and the selection wasn’t great for the lobsters:
We ordered the moerella iridescens clams with basil and ginger:
We also ordered some local shrimp (Shang Qing, their specialty) that were very sweet:
Some noodles:
And a local fish which is supposed to be their specialty but I don’t recall the name:
The fish was prepared with ginger and scallions and much sweeter than any fish I’ve ever eaten in the US. We also ordered a miso-based soup with fish (the fish is supposed to be a delicacy in Hualien) and was very chewy/tasted like tendon.
The restaurant is definitely no frills and they only accept cash, but the food was good and I’d definitely recommend it if you’re in the Hualien area!
