Taiwan

  • Food,  Taiwan

    Is Go Dumpling A Legitimate Go To Restuarant In Taipei?

    In Taipei there is no shortage of places serving dumplings. That’s an understatement. You can find dumplings everywhere within this foodie haven of a city. It takes a special dumpling to really stand out within the city. After having spent my evening watching a Wei Chaun Dragons baseball game (a professional baseball team in Taipei) I was looking to cap my night with delicious food and stumbled upon Go Dumpling as I was walking back to my hotel.

    The Go Dumpling Experience

    Go Dumpling is pretty small and non-descript on a street in the Shilin District. What caught my eye was the green door, the violin menu holder (or whatever stringed instrument that may be lol), and the pig in a bowtie cutout that are all out in front of the restaurant.

    The front of Go Dumpling in the Shilin District in Taipei

    Intrigued by these quirky items and colorful door and most importantly hungry, on the verge of hangry (lol), I decided to check out the menu.

    There were definitely a lot of interesting items that caught my eye. The menu wasn’t huge but what they had sounded pretty tasty! There were six different sections on the menu: dumplings, noodles, soup, private home cuisine, braised dishes, and frozen dumplings. and the prices were certainly reasonable, so it was an easy choice to stop here and grab some food!

    The Food

    So, here’s what I ended up getting during my visit to Go Dumpling: dumplings in spicy sauce (220 NTD, $6.86 USD), hot and sour soup (50 NTD, $1.55 USD), and sesame oil noodles (50 NTD, $1.55 USD).

    The Spicy Dumplings

    Eating at place called Go Dumpling, it was a no-brainer to grab some dumplings here. Spicy dumplings? Sold! I liked the presentation of these. There were about six or seven of these in the bowl with finely shredded cucumber layered over the top with green onion and sesame seeds sprinkled over the top.

    The dumplings were really tasty. The dough wasn’t too thick and seemed quite fresh. The meat filling was well seasoned with some green onion mixed in providing a different texture and crunch to the mix. The spicy sauce had some chili oil and sesame in it and packed a pretty decent punch. It certainly left the mouth burning a little bit, which is always the tell tale sign of a good ol’ fashioned spicy dish! The cucumber provided a nice little crunch and blended in well with the dumplings and sauce. The dumplings themselves were well coated in the spicy sauce which helped to enhance the flavor of them even more.

    Hot And Sour Soup

    Hot and sour soup, of course is something that’s popular world wide and isn’t some unique soup found only in Taiwan. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d had it, and being a soup lover, I thought it was a good time to get myself a bowl during my Go Dumpling visit.

    This was a good sized bowl of soup and was only 50 NTD ($1.55 USD)! The soup had carrot, a couple of different types of mushrooms, egg, chicken, green onion, and tofu. Typical trimmings for a hot and sour soup.

    The soup was flavorful and tangy with that familiar balance of spicy, sour, and savory flavors. After a long day of going all around Taipei this was a nice comforting bowl to sit down and enjoy. After eating a few spoonfuls I quickly remembered why I enjoyed this soup so much and questioned why I hadn’t had it in so long, lol. The complex combination of tangy, spicy, and savory flavors, the thickness of the soup broth, really makes the soup memorable, especially when it’s well-made, which this one was.

    Sesame Oil Noodles

    Something that I hadn’t had, but sounded simple yet tasty, was the sesame oil noodles.

    It didn’t get much simpler than this dish: noodles, sesame oil, minced garlic, and some green onions, that’s it. I enjoyed this dish. It was flavorful due to the sesame oil, the noodles were thin, quite soft, and very fresh. The noodle dish overall was very, very light and would go well as a side dish with just about anything, especially a heavier kind of meal.

    Final Thoughts

    Go Dumpling is a solid little restaurant to grab some food if you’re in the Shilin area. It’s not necessarily a place that you’re going to go out of your way to put on your foodie list when visiting Taipei, but it’s a good option that serves some great dishes. I found the food to be well-presented and just flat out comforting. The prices are incredibly cheap which is another bonus and adds to the allure!

  • Food,  Taiwan

    Is Shilin Night Market A Great Night Market To Visit In Taipei?

    Shilin Night Market is one of the largest, if not the largest, night markets in not only Tapei, but all of Taiwan. This makes Shilin one of the most popular night markets in the city, especially amongst tourists.

    The Shilin Night Market History

    The Shilin Night Market dates all the way back to 1909, so it’s definitely been around and has a long history. It originally started out as a day market, with two long market buildings built across from the Shilin Cixian Temple.

    These buildings were quite popular and busy and space within them were soon snapped up. Due to the lack of space within the market buildings, vendors and stores began opening up and spreading throughout the neighborhood. Through this growth and popularity over decades, the market morphed into the Shilin Night Market we see today.

    At its peak the market was home to over 500 stalls. I’m not sure if there’s that many today, but the market is definitely expansive, with a ton of stalls to explore and more importantly eat at!

    One of the main alley ways in Shilin Night Market

    The Shilin Night Market Food

    Like at every food market that has a million different food stalls, deciding on what to get can be very difficult since there’s SO many different options. As someone that is always eager to try new foods it can be very difficult to decide on what to get since I only have so much stomach space, lol. This is what I ended up getting during my visit to Shilin Night Market.

    Cheng Zu’s Pepper Pork Buns

    I had seen some videos about these buns so this was definitely a place I was looking forward to trying.

    They have a few variations of these buns, and as you can see by the “Sold Out” tags underneath the majority of these options, they’re very popular. I got here early as well, around 530 pm, which is early and most everything was sold out already. Luckily, the OG pork buns, the option that I would have wanted anyways was still available. I got two of them (120 NTD, $3.75 USD).

    First off, these things come out PIPING hot. Even holding them with the paper wrapper was hard since they were so hot. Secondly, these buns were BIG. I wasn’t expecting them to be as big as they were. Definitely well worth the price.

    The buns are nicely roasted, with a little bit of char and heavily coated with sesame seeds on the exterior. When you take a bite, you better take it with caution, due to the amount of scaldiong hot juice coursing through these. I took a bite and some juice went squirting out of it past my shoulder. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone walking by at that time lol.

    Nice and crunchy on the outside, the inside was nice and doughy. You can really taste the freshness of these. Not only were these buns packed with juice, there was also a LOT of meat in there as well. It’s a really well-seasoned, juicy filling, that has a strong peppery taste to it. There’s onion and another green veggie in the filling. Not sure what it was, it wasn’t green onion though. These were really good and a great way to kick off the night. My lips were burning from all that peppery goodness for quite a while after I dusted these off which speaks to just how seasoned they were!

    Peanut Ice Cream Roll

    I located a small stall selling peanut ice cream rolls in the Shilin Night Market near Cheng Zu’s and knew what I was eating after I dusted off those pepper buns. This was something I had seen in YouTube videos of Taiwan night markets and was looking forward to giving these unique treats a try.

    Why are they unique? These are called a “roll” but to me it was pretty much a dessert burrito. The “tortilla” in this instance was a thin roll, which reminded me of a spring roll. It’s not quite that but the texture of it was similiar and was the thing I instantly thought of.

    Within this “burrito” is shaved peanut brittle. These are big blocks of Taiwanese peanut brittle which they literally shave down and then use those shavings in the “burrito”.

    After a nice layer of this covers the “tortilla”, two scoops of ice cream were added. Popular flavors are taro, pineapple, passion fruit, and vanilla. I opted for vanilla here. The ice cream is more icy than creamy too, which seems to work well here.

    The last ingredient added was cilantro. Yes, cilantro! It’s not something you’d associate being paired with a sweet dessert with peanut brittle and ice cream and yet it’s a key ingredient here.

    This was the end result, hence the burrito comparison!

    It somehow all works. The combination of all the ingredients, the roll texture, ice cream, peanut brittle shavings, and ESPECIALLY the cilantro, just seem to jive well with on another. From the textures of the roll, the sweetness from the ice cream, slight crunch from the peanut brittle shavings, and the diffent kind of crunch and flavor from the cilantro, it just works. This roll was a very light dessert and extremely tasty and was very cheap (50 NTD, $1.56)!

    Deep fried crab meat on a stick with spicy sauce

    This wasn’t something that was on my list of “must try” items but was something I came across while walking through the Shilin Night Market. I love all things crab and all things on a stick, so this was just too tempting to pass up, lol.

    It also helped that it looked like a big chunk of crab and a lot of interesting dips and seasonings you could coat the crab with. I grabbed one of them and got it coated in a spicy sauce (80 NTD, $2.50 USD)

    The crab meat was quite sweet. It wasn’t fried for long, just a quick dip, the outer coating and crab itself was soft. The meat wasn’t very firm at all. The spicy sauce added a nice kick. It was a little tangy, a little sweet and savory with a decent spice to it. Overall it was pretty solid, nothing to really write home about, but pretty tasty and enjoyable.

    Taiwanese cold noodles with sesame sauce

    This stall earned a Michelin star back in 2019 and 2020 and was clearly a very popular place. There was a pretty sizable line into the restaurant and they also had a bustling to-go set up as well. This to-go area was nicely organized and efficient. Even though this line was also busy, the line went fast.

    I got a small noodle cup (50 NTD, $1.56 USD). The sauce is defintely on the thicker side and really coats the noodles well. The noodles reminded me of ramen noodle and were pretty firm, tasted pretty fresh and were overally solid.

    The sesame sauce had a peanutty, slightly sweet taste to go along with a great sesame flavor. You can order it spicy as well, which I clearly had to do, lol. This added a nice little kick to a very flavorful sauce. A little sesamey and peanutty with a hint of sweetness to it and overall quite tasty. The more I ate, the more I appreciated it. It was pretty addicting to be honest. I was impressed with the flavor. Also, that spice definitely started creeping up on me and my lips were burning for a while after finishing them. This was a satisfying end to my Shilin Night Market experience, with that sauce really making these noodles pop.

    The Shilin Night Market Experience

    If you’re in Taipei visiting a night market or night markets, Shilin Night Market, being one of the most popular night markets in the city, is certainly worth a visit. It will very crowded so if you’re not a fan of fighting through crowds for food, this may not be the place for you.

    Otherwise, this is a massive night market with a ton of food stalls and restaurants to experience. You will almost certainly find something that tickles your fancy as this has all the Taiwanese Night Market foods you’d expect to find, along with places that are just specific to Shilin Night Market!

  • Food,  Taiwan

    Is Linjiang Night Market (Tonghua) A Great Night Market To Visit In Taipei?

    Taipei has many, many, sights and attractions to visit and experience. One of the highlights – especially if you’re a foodie or night market enthusiast – is the vast number of night markets spread throughout the massive city. The city is absolutely jam-packed with night markets. Some are more notable than others, with some night markets including Michelin Star stalls!

    Linjiang Night Market

    Located near the popular Taipei 101 building and Elephant Mountain, Linjiang Night Market, also known locally as Tonghua Night Market, is one of the more popular night markets in Taipei. I had visited Elephant Mountain earlier (definitely recommend!) and saw that Linjiang was the closest night market in the area so thought I’d give it a try.

    Serving traditional and classic street food, there’s about 200 hundred stalls located at Lingjiang Night Market.

    A entrance to Linjiang Night Market

    There’s obvioulsy a ton of food to choose from and if you’re new to the Taiwan night market scene, like myself, choosing just a handful of items to try can be challenge since there’s so many interesting, delicious looking food items!

    The Food

    Fried Sweet Potato Balls

    I had heard about these fried sweet potato balls (50 NTD for a medium bag $1.56 USD) and they were definitely on the list of things I wanted to try. A night market staple, fried sweet potato balls can be found at every single Taiwainese night market, including Linjiang Night Market. They’re a very, very popular street food so I was excited to give them a try.

    Let’s just say they didn’t disappoint! Freshly made right in front of you, these are given to you piping hot. Luckily, you’re provided with a tooth pick to stab at the balls to eat.

    The different colors were all different flavors. There was seaweed, sweet potato, and black bean from what I could tell. They each had a distinct flavor, and they were all good! These things were light and airy, crispy on the outside, with a gooey, chewy texture on the inside. The inside of these things reminded me of mochi, so I loved it.

    The flavors here aren’t overpowering either. A little sweet, a little savory, it was just the right amount of both. They’re quite addicting, especially straight out of the wok when they’re extremely hot!

    Fried Dumplings

    Dumplings, another night market staple, was another easy choice to grab at Linjiang Night Market. With this being my first Taiwan night market I absolutely had to get some dumplings! I found a stall that was pretty large and was definitely the most popular at the night market based off the line of people waiting to purchase them.

    The stall is bustling as the staff stays busy preparing the buns and dumplings. There’s nothing pre-made here so you know what you get will be extremely fresh. It’s fun and interesting to watch the dumplings being made while waiting in line. The staff is a well-oiled machine in prepping and serving them and the dumplings get pumped out efficiently.

    They have a couple of options: pan fried buns and pan fried dumplings. I decided to go with the fried dumplings (5 for 75 NTD, $2.34 USD).

    Once you get your fresh dumplings, or buns for myself, these things come out piping, piping hot. I could barely hold them to even get some pics of them. Sure, you could wait, but I mean, who can actually wait to eat freshly made buns?

    The bun skins were fairly thin, and these things were PACKED with filling. The filling was ground pork, green onion, and onion. It was well-seasoned, not overly savory, and tasted great. I just wish I had some chili sauce or some dipping sauce for them. They probably had those, I just didn’t see them.

    Snow Ice

    Taiwanese snow ice was something else that I had read about and had wanted to try. I’m a shaved ice fan to begin with and Taiwanese snow ice was something I was certainly looking forward to. Linjiang Night Market had a couple of snow ice shop options to choose from. I went with the one that had a watermelon snow ice on display (140 NTD, $4.36 USD) since I LOVE watermelon.

    This is a little bit different than other shaved ices that I’ve experienced over the years. Instead of using ice, milk is frozen, and then shaved down. It took me a while to figure this out as I ate it. Initially it was a very confusing experience for the taste buds. The snow ice tasted like a light vanilla ice cream. It was fairly sweet but not overly so. This also come in a massive, deep bowl, it’s probably a dish for two people or just one hungry tourist, lol.

    You get a ton of snow ice and very generous amount of watermelon with condensed milk drizzled over the whole thing.

    The watermelon itself wasn’t too sweet, but it was decent.

    Linjiang Night Market Experience

    I enjoyed my time at Linjiang Night Market. I didn’t have any other night markets yet to rate it against but I thought Linjiang Night Market was a lively, fun, place to be. With this being my first exposure to the Taiwan night market scene it was a little intimidating and overwhelming initially. The vast number of food stalls lined up in long rows, the different types of foods and smells wafting through the air, and the night market itself being packed with people, it’s a lot to take in all at once.

    It’s a good thing to take in though, since I was surrounded by food, much of it comprised of new and exciting items to try. Plus, the food is so AFFORDABLE. For the three items I got it was a total of $8.26 USD and it was all really tasty stuff.

    There are probably some unique stalls serving items you can only find at Linjiang Night Market which makes it all the more enticing to come back to and explore at some point. I look forward to it!

  • Food,  Taiwan

    How Good Is Taiwan’s Famous Fried Chicken Master Chain?

    For my trip to Taiwan, one of the foods I was really looking forward to was their fried chicken. It’s extremely popular in Taiwan, especially at night markets. I got into Taipai late at night and found Fried Chicken Master right across the street from the place I was staying at. What better way to kick off the trip then by grabbing some food at a popular national chain?

    Fried Chicken Master is a national fried chicken franchise which was founded in Taiwan. It has expanded to 110 locations globally and can now be found in countries such as Canada, Malaysia, and Jakarta.

    Fried Chicken Master specializes in Halal Fried Chicken, which I’ve never seen from any major fried chicken chain in the world up to this point. You’ll find the normal fried chicken options on the menu: wings, popcorn chicken, breast, thigh, but with the Taiwanese fried chicken spin on it.

    How Is Tawainese Fried Chicken Different?

    Taiwanese fried chicken has its own distinctive flavor and texture as one might imagine. The batter and coating which often uses sweet potato starch and tapioca flour, gives Taiwanese fried chicken a distinct crunch. After the chicken is deep fried it can get sprinkled with a bevy of different seasonings from salt, pepper, chili powder, and other Chinese spices.

    The huge flattened cutlets, which are a staple on any menu that’s serving fried chicken, are definitely unique as well. These are huge slabs of chicken and come wrapped in a plastic sheet, piping hot. For myself that’s the picture that was engrained in my head when it comes to fried chicken in Taiwan and is what I had to get (and got often) when I visited Taiwan.

    Fried Chicken Master Experience

    With ample combo meals to choose from and several a la carte options, I was looking forward to getting this after I had checked into my room. It may have also been the fact that I was absolutely starving too lol.

    A Fried Chicken Master storefront in Taipai

    I went with the #2 Fried Chicken Breast meal (129 NTD, $4.02 USD). This included french fries and choice of drink, so I went with an iced black tea. They had a choice of seasonings that you could choose and I went with the Taiwanese salt and pepper.

    The Food Experience

    Seeing photos of these flattened chicken breasts is one thing, but to actually hold it in my hands was another. It’s a huge piece of chicken. Like ridiculously so. It was heavily seasoned as well. A little too much for my liking. The exterior was very crunchy and the meat was tender and juicy in some parts. Other parts seemed a little tough and even a little under cooked. So overall it was pretty uneven. It put a smile on my face one bite and then had me frowing the next.

    The seasoning was quite sweet overall too. I wasn’t expecting that flavor from Taiwanese salt and pepper. I’m pretty particular when it comes to sweet and savory on things like chicken and then tilted towards being too sweet for my liking.

    The fries were decent, but nothing overly special or memorable. I’d never gotten a cold black tea before but it was quite good. Black tea is immensely popular in Taiwan and can be found everywhere. This cold black tea reminded of me a sweetened ice tea essentially.

    Is Fried Chicken Master Worth A Visit?

    If you’re in a pinch and in need of something cheap and fast and on the go, then sure, it’s worth stopping by and giving it a try. It by no means was horrible, but it wasn’t anything special in my books either. There’s a million of other places that sell fried chicken too so this isn’t the only option in town. I may have just ordered the wrong thing though and there may be a more popular item(s) on the menu, so I’d be willing to give it a go again.