Shaved ice is delicious. Pudding is delicious. But is pudding on shaved ice too much of a good thing?
No. No it is not.
It’s hard to resist basically anything that’s deep fried. If you batter something and then deep fry it until it becomes golden and crispy, it becomes inherently appealing. That’s just science.
Some dishes that you eat while traveling are good, but they take you out of your comfort zone. The taste or the texture is unfamiliar, and you need to eat a few bites to even decide what you think of it.
On the other hand, there are dishes like the grilled pork rice at Yongle Shao Rou Fan. It doesn’t ask anything of you but to enjoy it.
I showed up at Qiu Jia Xiao Juan Mi Fen about ten minutes after it opened, and the place was already packed. Suffice it to say, the place is quite popular; always a good sign.
I think there might have been other stuff on the menu, but this place is known for one particular dish, and that’s what everyone was eating: squid noodles.
One thing I’ve noticed about the food in Tainan: it’s noticeably sweeter than the cuisine in Taipei or Taichung. Most of the things I’ve tried here have been at least a little bit sweet.
Ah Song Gua Bao is a good example of this: they sell pork buns, and they’re distinctly sweeter than the version I had in Taipei.
There are several street vendors in Tainan that sell freshly-fried doughnuts that they advertise as being made with millet flour.
I don’t need a whole lot of convincing to try a doughnut, especially one that’s fresh from the fryer.
Chicken House — a stall selling fried chicken on a road absolutely crammed with street food vendors — has the longest line-up I’ve seen since coming to Taiwan. I obviously had no choice but to stand in it.
Have you ever thought to yourself: “I like museums, but they don’t have enough sausage facts”?
I mean, haven’t we all?
Ah Tang is famous for something called milkfish porridge, which is essentially a very ricey soup with a whole bunch of fish chunks in it, traditionally eaten for breakfast.
I was a little concerned about having something so fishy first thing in the morning, but of course, I shouldn’t have been. When it comes to food, Taiwan knows where it’s at. They won’t steer you wrong.
There’s no mistaking a place that sells stinky tofu; you’ll smell it before you see it.
Yes, stinky tofu absolutely lives up to its name — it’s quite pungent.