Too Much Food » Taiwanese

Eating Out: Light Lunch at 85度C, Taichung, Taiwan

Pinjing — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 06:03:35 +0000

My last post at my other blog got me thinking about the time I spent in Taiwan last year . . . and the lovely snacks I ate while I was there. Here was a light lunch I had at a bakery chain named 85度C:

Now, this sandwich (4 layers of white bread, with alternating layers of ultra thin omelet and ham with mayo) doesn’t look like much, but ask any Taiwanese and they’ll tell you this is the ultimate comfort food. I remember growing up eating these as a kid; when my classmates’ moms packed them tuna salad sandwiches, I brought these. The bread’s always super soft and fluffy, and paired with a cold cup of green tea or soymilk, this meal makes this girl very happy.

85度C
Locations throughout Taiwan

and :
85C Bakery Cafe‎
2700 Alton Parkway, Irvine, CA‎
(949) 553-8585‎

Hours:
Mon – Thu: 7 am – 10 pm
Fri – Sat: 7 am – 12 am
Sun: 8 am – 10 pm

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I haven’t tried much of the breads at the one in Irvine, so I can’t really vouch for their quality. However, there’s always a huge line out the door whenever I’m in the plaza, so there must be something about it.

Eating Out: Brunch at Formosa Restaurant (台灣小館), Lake Forest, California

Pinjing — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:19:06 +0000

One of the few places in South Orange County to get a traditional Taiwanese breakfast is at Formosa Restaurant (台灣小館) in Lake Forest. We’ve been coming to this tiny hole-in-the-wall (attached to a Quality Inn motel) for as long as I can remember and it’s been turning out traditional versions of the comforting, starchy Taiwanese breakfast that my parents and I love. It’s a family-run business, with a cook that’s always willing to modify dishes to your liking and a friendly waitstaff. Charlie and　Vivian are the two family members that work the front of the house, and they always make efforts to make everyone feel like they’re family. Aside from hopping on a plane and flying over to Taiwan, Formosa is the best place to get your breakfast on. (Note: Formosa also serves great lunch specials and dinner entrees, so hop on by and give them a try as well).

We always start with a few bowls of savory soybean milk (鹹豆漿):

A bowl of this milk comes piping hot with chopped pieces of pickled vegetables and is laced with black vinegar; chopped pieces of Chinese cruller (油條) give it textural contrast. For those who prefer a less-savory start to their morning, Formosa also offers the sweet version of the soybean milk (甜豆漿); which comes out unadulterated and unsweetened but with a shaker of white sugar, and leaves it up to the diner to sweeten it to his/her liking.

Three of the best things to enjoy with your soybean milk are Chinese crullers (油條), sesame flatbreads (燒餅) and five-spice beef stuffed sesame flatbreads (五香牛肉燒餅). The usual way to eat the crullers is to stuff them inside the flatbread (yes, you just made a starch-filled carb sandwich, isn’t it glorious?) and eat it between bites of the soybean milk. It’s enough starch and oil to cure any hangover. The five-spice beef flatbreads here are quite good also.

Shrimp stir-fried rice noodles (蝦仁炒米粉). Some Chinese restaurants tend to ruin this dish for me, frying the noodles so dry it feels like you’re swallowing hay; others tend to overdo it with the sauce, rendering the noodles limp and overly salted. But Formosa manages to achieve the right balance: the noodles are just sauced enough so they retain some moisture, yet they retain a right amount of chew. I also love the fact that they don’t skimp on the fried egg; my chopsticks always tend to hunt out those glorious bits of scrambled egg hidden in the nest of noodles.

Fried chicken drummettes. I’m not normally into chicken but these are delicious. These wings fried until the skin is so crisp it shatters when you bite into it and flavored with an addicting white-pepper rub. Those who love wings should definitely order these.

. . . and here comes the offal. My vegan/vegetarian friends, please look away. This is MY dish (mine being the fact that no one else in my family besides my dad and I really like eating this). Pork intestines are stir-fried in a spicy/sour sauce with pickled vegetables (大腸炒酸菜). It’s umami to the n-th degree and these are definitely worth trying, even for the offal-phobic (rest assured, there’s none of the stinkiness that sometimes comes with eating pork intestines, Formosa has always cleaned them well enough). Gross-looking? Maybe? Delicious? Definitely.

Soup dumplings (小龍包). These come four to a steamer; hefty pork-filled dumplings that are filled with steaming porky broth. Be careful when you pick them up with your chopsticks; you don’t want to tear the skin and lose any of the broth. Do yourself a favor and put some black vinegar and shredded ginger that’s offered with the dish into a spoon, place the dumpling on top, and eat it all in one glorious bite.

The last dish: glutinous rice roll (飯糰). This is the ultimate Taiwanese comfort food: shredded pork floss, pickled greens and a Chinese cruller (yes, we Taiwanese like pairing our starches with MORE starch) are stuffed into a roll made of fragrant glutinous rice and steamed. Totally gut-busting but delicious anyway. Just make sure you remember to peel off the plastic wrap before you dive in.

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Formosa Chinese Restaurant (台灣小館)
23702 Rockfield Blvd
Lake Forest, CA 92630
(949) 458-7125

Hours:
Tue – Fri: 11 am – 9:30 pm
Sat – Sun: 10 am – 9:30 pm

Happy Dragon Boat Festival! (端午節): Homemade 粽子 (Glutinous Rice Savory Dumplings)

Pinjing — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 05:06:26 +0000

Long time no post! Life has been a bit crazy around here, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t stopped cooking or baking. No recipe today, but since it is Dragon Boat Festival, my mom and I spent the day wrapping up homemade vegetarian 粽子 (pronounced “zongzi”, a type of stuffed glutinous rice dumpling). We decided to switch it up by using purple glutinous rice and filled it with deep fried taro cubes, marinated tofu, 5-spice boiled peanuts, and braised shittake mushrooms. It was my first time learning to wrap these, but I think I did all right!

The cross section.

Unwrapping.

And eat!

Autumnal Sweet Squash Bao

Pinjing — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:53:36 +0000

It’s been too long since I’ve posted a recipe! Autumn is already in full swing and winter’s on it’s way and I have yet to write about something I’ve made. One thing I love most about autumn is all the great winter squash that arrives in the markets. I’ve had great fun just trying all the different varieties (this year, I’ve had delicata, red kuri, spaghetti, and buttercup in addition to my favorite, kabocha). What better way to enjoy autumnal squash than making some sweetened squash bao? These buns are made with half whole wheat flour, giving the bread a sweet, nutty flavor that pairs nicely with the sweet squash puree inside. Enjoy these for breakfast or for an afternoon tea snack!

Autumnal Sweet Squash Bao
Original recipe by me!
Yield: 5 mini bao

For the filling:

1/2 red kuri squash (or your winter squash of choice), ~500g after seeded *see notes about post-steaming yield
100g raw sugar
1/4t salt

For the dough

60g whole wheat flour
65g all-purpose or bread flour
3g instant yeast
1/4t kosher salt
2t agave nectar (or honey or maple syrup or your liquid sweetener of choice)
2t vegetable oil
60g water

Making the filling:

Steam kuri squash until flesh yields easily when poked with a fork. Let cool slightly, then scoop out the flesh and roughly mash (no need to make it very smooth, you’ll be working the flesh during the sweetening phase).

In a medium saucepan, combine the kuri squash flesh, raw sugar and salt, and over medium heat, stir until sugar is dissolved. Keep cooking the sweetened squash puree (this process helps to dry out the paste, you don’t want soupy squash as a filling for the buns) until it stops looking shiny and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Turn off the heat and let cool completely.

For the bao dough:

Whisk together the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, yeast, and salt. Add the agave nectar and vegetable oil and water, stir to combine until you get a rough dough.

Turn dough out onto counter and knead until you have a smooth, supple dough. I didn’t use my stand mixer as the amount of dough was small (and sometimes you just want to experience the pleasure of working with bread dough!). Knead until it passes the windowpane test, with a 5 minute rest halfway to allow the dough hydrate and the gluten to relax slightly.

Place in a medium, oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and proof until doubled in size. In my cold house, it took about 1.5 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Once the dough has doubled, turn it out onto the counter and give it a few kneading strokes, and let it rest for 5 minutes for the gluten to relax. Divide the dough into 5 pieces.

Divide the filling into 5 mounds in preparation for stuffing the bao.

Flatten each piece, and using a small rolling pin, roll out into a 5″ diameter circle, taking care to make the edges thinner than the center (so that when you gather the dough around the filling you don’t end up with a super thick bottom and a super thin top). Place 1 mound of sweetened squash filling in the center and draw up the edges of the dough around the filling; pinching the dough at the top to seal.

Place seam side down on baking sheet, and cover with a kitchen towel while you complete the rest of the bao. After filling all 5 bao, let proof for 20 minutes.

I mixed together a simple slurry of almond milk, cornstarch and a pinch of sugar for a matte-style wash. If you desire a shiny-type of wash, simply beat one egg with some water. Brush the tops of the proofed bao with your wash of choice and sprinkle with some sesame seeds for garnish.

Bake bao for 25 minutes (if they start to brown too fast, you can tent with a piece of foil to avoid overbrowning).

Let cool completely on racks for at least 8 hours (this allows the dough to finish cooking completely, if you were to eat them right away, you might find the dough directly underneath the filling to be slightly raw. After 8 hours, the dough will have finished cooking and the flavor will be better. This is generally true of most breads.)

Enjoy! My favorite way to eat these is to reheat them for 20 seconds in the microwave, then pop into the toaster for a little bit to get them slightly toasty on the outside. The outside becomes slightly crispy and the inside bread stays light and fluffy. Delicious!

Cooking Notes:

I know that squash comes in various shapes and sizes, and my kuri squash, after halving and deseeded, was about 500g. After steaming and making it into sweetened puree, the yield was about 250g. Basically, you’re aiming for about 50g of sweetened filling per bao. If your squash is abnormally large or small, you can scale up/down the dough component. Or you can just eat the extra filling as is, it’s delicious that way too!
Any type of squash, pumpkin, sweet potato/yam or even beans can be sweetened in this way; it’s really a universal technique that you can apply to many vegetables/legumes to make sweetened paste for bun/bao fillings, dumplings, etc.
This dough is pretty versatile, besides using it as a baked bao dough, this dough makes steamed bao quite nicely too. Give it a try!

Eating Out: [台中市] 春天素食下午茶 (Spring Natural Vegetarian Restaurant, Taichung, Taiwan)

Pinjing — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:14:14 +0000

Spring Natural Vegetarian Restaurant was highly recommended to us by many of my mom’s vegetarian friends. With branches in Taipei and Taichung, Spring Natural offers buffet-style vegetarian lunch, afternoon tea and dinner in a clean, airy and elegant setting. As the afternoon tea (served between 2:30pm and 4:30pm) offerings are comparable to that of lunch but at a discounted price, my mom and I decided to head over to the Taichung branch to try it out.

Spring Natural’s buffet setup consists of several different stations: cold salads, diy salad station, steamed dishes, dim sum, stir-fried vegetable dishes, vegetarian sashimi (What? How? I will get to this later . . .) and sushi, stews and soups, traditional Taiwanese dishes, as well as an extensive sweet dessert soup, pastry and ice cream station. Soda, juices, and teas were also included as well and upon arrival, a special brew of herbal tea is sent to your table straightaway. Touted as having beneficial properties, the light but flavorful tea was a good appetite opener.

I wasn’t able to get photos of the buffet stations (I felt uncomfortable taking photos of it while the waitstaff were milling about), but here are some photos of the plates that my mom and I put together:

My first plate: pan-fried savory turnip cake, sauteed bittermelon, glazed shishito peppers, cold lotus root salad in passionfruit dressing. Everything on this plate was extremely fresh and well prepared; I especially loved the turnip cake (the chef had just finished frying it up when I swung by the dim sum station) as well as the shishito peppers, which were sauteed and tossed in a soy-sesame glaze.

Mom’s first plate: fried cruller, hot and sour soup, sauteed greens, cold seaweed salad, mushroom “steak.” I didn’t try any of the food here; my mom said the “steak” was so-so while the seaweed salad was good.

I also got the vegetarian version of the infamous Taiwanese “stinky tofu.” I’m not sure what makes normal stinky tofu non-vegetarian, but this version was delicious; the soup was a flavorful umami broth; sour, spicy and savory; the tofu didn’t seem to harbor an overly stinky smell. For those who have never tried stinky tofu and are a bit intimidated by it, Spring Natural’s version would probably be a good, gentle introduction to the dish.

My second plate: a random salad I threw together with various sprouts and a ginger-soy vinaigrette, more shishito peppers (I liked it enough to go back for seconds; normally at buffets I try not to get seconds of anything in order to try as many dishes as possible), braised figs.

I also got this at the sushi/sashimi station: two pieces of sweet “sushi”, actually a mochi-type confection that was made so that it resembles a maki roll. I didn’t really detect much of any one flavor in this . . . it was a bit strange to me. It’s no secret that I dislike anything mochi-textured, and this didn’t impress me either. I believe the center of the maki was steamed sweet potato, the middle layer was sweetened azuki bean paste, followed by the mochi outer layer.

At the bottom of the plate you can see the one slice of vegetarian sashimi that I got for kicks, though I have lean towards a vegetarian diet, I’m a die-hard sushi fan (probably the only thing preventing me from becoming a complete vegetarian). I don’t think anything could replace the taste and mouthfeel of real raw fish flesh; and this was no exception. I have to give credit to Spring Natural for being able to replicate the “look” of sashimi, from its color to somewhat slippery texture, but it didn’t taste nor feel like sashimi at all. I’m not really into the idea of creating vegetarian versions of meat as well . . . I couldn’t get into this.

Mom’s second plate: more stinky tofu, seaweed salad, sauteed greens, egg roll, sweetened red bean pastry.

Despite sampling all that food, we still had room to try some dessert:

Sweetened taro paste cake, chocolate covered peanut clusters, vegan custard (made with agar-agar instead of gelatin). Nothing too special here; I usually find dessert bars at any buffet to be so-so to disappointing, due to the fact that desserts like cake and cookies tend to dry out due to being put outside for long periods of time (but maybe I just have really high expectations of dessert).

Red bean pastry innards, peanut-powder covered hakka-style mochi (hidden underneath the vegetarian maki roll).

Spring Natural’s offerings for their afternoon tea are generous; though I’d stick to their savory dishes such as the soups, dim sum, salads and sauteed items. For those who are vegetarian, Spring Natural goes beyond basic tofu and sauteed vegetable dishes; offering a diverse and enticing menu. For those aren’t, it’s a great place to try some tasty Taiwanese-style meat-free cuisine.

春天素食
台中市西屯區大墩十七街88號2樓
(04) 2328-0956
午餐：11:45 ~ 14:00, 每人500、兒童 300
下午茶：14:30 ~ 16:30, 每人350、兒童 250
晚餐：17:45 ~ 21:00, 每人600、兒童 350

Spring Natural Vegetarian Restaurant
No. 88 (2nd floor), Dadun 17th Street, Xitun District, Taichung City, Taiwan
(04) 2328-0956
Lunch：11:45 ~ 14:00, Adults NT500、Children NT300
Afternoon Tea：14:30 ~ 16:30, Adults NT350、Children NT250
Dinner：17:45 ~ 21:00, Adults NT600、Children NT350

Street Food: [台中市] 一中街小吃: 打餅舖, 哇哉海苔飯捲 (Yizhong Street Food: Hit Cookie Home and Wow! Seafood Rice Rolls, Taichung, Taiwan)

Pinjing — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:52:31 +0000

Getting to Yizhong Street; the main road parallel to Yizhong Street.

One of my favorite places to go in Taichung is Yizhong Street (一中街). Located near National Taichung First Senior High School (considered by Taichung residents to be the top high school in the city), Yizhong Street is a young person’s shopping and food paradise. Within a small space of one to two blocks, Yizhong Street is tightly packed with street vendors of delicious street food and the latest fashions (all for super cheap!). Scattered amongst the street vendors are various restaurants (apparently the (in)famous Modern Toilet Restaurant has a branch here), arcades, internet cafes, beauty salons, as well as a great 24-hour stationary and bookstore. At any time of the day, Yizhong Street is packed with people; since it’s mainly a pedestrian thoroughfare (though you will encounter some scooters here), it’s pretty easy to navigate (as opposed to other markets, where you have to dodge both pedestrians, scooters and cars). I could easily spend a whole day here just sampling the food and buying things for cheap (the trick is to bargain with the vendors!).

On a recent trip to Yizhong Street, my mom and I sampled a few snacks that were recommended on various Taiwanese food blogs. The first thing we bought was a 打餅, from Hit Cookie Home (打餅舖). “打餅” literally translates to “hit cookie”, though it’s more akin to a Chinese scallion pancake or an Indian paratha.

Why is it called a “hit cookie”? After the pancake is cooked on the flat griddle, it’s literally beaten up, breaking it apart slightly so that even more flaky layers are produced. You can actually see a video of it here via Travelpod (not my video).

You could always opt for the original, or try some of the different fillings they offer (ham, bacon, fried egg, cheese). They even have sweet versions, with fillings of butter and condensed milk. My mom and I opted for a savory 打餅 (NT30), filled with dried seaweed flakes and a fried egg.

This 打餅 was pretty good; it was a bit thick (we’re used to regular scallion pancakes that are usually a bit thinner); though when eaten fresh off the flat top, the 打餅 is crispy, flaky and delicious. I would advise eating this right away; after it cools down, it tends to taste more doughy, floury and dense. If you do end up buying one to go I recommend sticking it in the toaster oven to refresh it a bit before digging in.

I also got a 海苔飯捲 (Seaweed Rice Roll) from a nearby vendor at 哇哉海苔飯捲. I am a little reluctant to translate the name of this store as “哇哉” is slang in Taiwanese, meaning something akin to “wow!” or “amazing!”; therefore you get something like Wow! Seafood Rice Roll. But I digress . . .

Costing only NT35 (around $1 USD) and filled with black pepper pork, corn, and pickled vegetables, this was similar to a non-raw version of a sushi hand roll. What’s nice is that when they prepare your order, they insert a piece of plastic between the rice and the seaweed (which you pull out right before you eat) so that your seaweed stays crispy. The black pepper pork was nicely seasoned, with a nice punch from the liberal amount of black pepper. It’s quite a bit of food (the roll itself was as long as my forearm) and all that rice and meat is pretty filling; even eating just half of this, I was stuffed.

They have many other versions (pork, chicken and beef, kimchi as well as vegetarian and vegan versions available too), so there is something for everyone here.

打餅舖
台中市北區一中街83號
04-22251135
Hit Cookie Home
No. 83, Yizhong Street, North District, Taichung City, Taiwan
04-22251135

哇哉海苔飯捲
台中市北區育才街29號
Wow! Seafood Rice Roll
No. 29, Yingcai Road, North District, Taichung City, Taiwan

Street Food: [台中市] 幸福潤餅 (Happiness Run Bing, Taichung, Taiwan)

Pinjing — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:49:32 +0000

One of my favorite 小吃* to get whenever I come back is 潤餅, or “run bing.” You can order these in the U.S. as “spring rolls”, but the use of “spring rolls” is a bit troublesome . . . Spring rolls in the States refer to so many things, from the Vietnamese fresh rice paper rolls to Chinese fried egg rolls to Thai-style wraps with glass noodles. Taiwanese 潤餅 are more akin to moo-shu wraps than egg rolls or spring rolls in that the wrapper is wheat-flour based, but not fried; moreover, 潤餅 are much larger as well (think burrito-sized).

*(translated literally: small eats; I use this as a blanket term for all the great street foods, small bites that you can find at outdoor wet markets and roadside stalls all over Taiwan)

The wrapper for a 潤餅 a paper thin, wheat-flour based crepe wrapper; it’s not that easy to make these, (see this video here to see a street hawker making the wrappers), so when we do make 潤餅 at home, we opt to just buy premade wrappers in the supermarket. Besides vegetables (typically cabbage, bean sprouts, shittake mushrooms, celery, fresh coriander), your 潤餅 will be filled with some chopped meat (usually a marinated pork mixture), fried shallots for the wonderful aroma and flavor, dried tofu for texture and some sugar and some peanut powder for a little bit of sweetness. The combination of sweet and savory flavors make for some truly delicious eating.

When we buy 潤餅, we get them from 幸福潤餅 (if you were to translate it I think it would be called “Happiness Run Bing”?), a place known amongst the locals as one of the best places to get 潤餅 here in Taichung (apparently, the husband and wife team of 幸福潤餅 sell about 500 潤餅 a day!) What’s great about 幸福潤餅 is that your 潤餅 are made to order; you can specify exactly what you want inside, whether you want sugar or peanut powder, more vegetables or less. Vegan or vegetarian? No problem! They’ll make a animal-product free version for you, no questions asked. You like spice? They’ll throw in some spicy sauce as well. Watching your calories? Ask for lean meat only.

One tip: Since the cabbage used in the filling is boiled, their moisture content causes the paper-thin wrap to get soggy fast. If you’re not going to eat these right then and there; as them to “wring out” the veggies more and tell them to pack it to go; that way you don’t end up with a soggy, falling-apart 潤餅 when you do get a chance to eat it.

One roll will set you back 40NT (about $1.25 USD), or 4 rolls for 150NT (about $4.60 USD). At that price, it’s basically an entire meal for cheap; this is why I love Taiwan; you can eat very well on very little here!

幸福潤餅 is located in the venerable Second Market (第二市場), located near the intersection of Zhongzheng Road (中正路) and Sanmin Road (三民路) in the Central District. If you ever get a chance, go to the Second Market and browse around; there’s multiple stalls that are famous for their small eats (such beef noodle soup, Taiwanese “meatballs” (a sort of glutinous rice flour wrapped meat ball with a sweet and spicy sauce), rice “sausages”, fried turnip cakes, steamed meat buns and the like); you can definitely get an amazing meal for cheap here.

幸福潤餅
營業時間: 09：00 ～ 19：30（每月第二、四個星期日店休）
台中市中區興中街4號
04-22293022

Happiness Run Bing
Hours: 9:00 am ~ 7:30 pm daily (closed every 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month)
No. 4, Xing Zhong St., Central District, Taichung City, Taiwan
04-22293022

Mid-Autumn Festival: Taiwanese Mooncake Survey

Pinjing — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:28:16 +0000

We’re in the midst of Mid-Autumn Festival (otherwise known as 中秋節 or Autumn Moon Festival) here in Taiwan; besides Lunar New Year (which occurs between the end of February and the beginning of March of every year), Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the biggest and most important holidays here in Taiwan. It’s a time where families have reunions, celebrate the harvest by eating mooncakes and gazing at the moon, and make offerings of food, fruit and flowers to deceased ancestors. There’s many different stories about the origin of the holiday, but I’ll leave that to others to explain.

Mid-Autumn Festival occurs on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar (October 3rd this year, unusually late). I am fortunate enough to be here in Taiwan this year to celebrate it with my extended family, something that I’ve never gotten to do before. Moreover, I’m all the more excited because I get to witness firsthand how the Taiwanese celebrate the holiday; growing up in the US, opportunities to experience elements of my culture are few and far between. So my dear readers, you can imagine how important this Mid-Autumn Festival is to me this year. My only regret is that my dad and my little sister won’t be here to celebrate it with us as my dad wasn’t able to take time off from work and my sister has started her last year at university. So, Dad and 妹, if you’re reading this, 中秋節快樂 and I miss you!

People here usually celebrate by holding family get-togethers, having barbeques outdoors (while basking in the moonlight) and gifting mooncakes to family and friends. In the weeks leading up to Mid-Autumn Festival, all bakeries in Taiwan push out and market their mooncakes aggressively; the trend in the past few years has been to move away from tradition and towards more innovative mooncakes, such as savory mooncakes (I’ve seen pesto and walnut mooncakes), ice-cream mooncakes (Haagen-Daz sells a package of six) to ones that include more Western flavors (chocolate, earl grey tea, rosewater flavored mooncakes). While I appreciate innovation and change, I find that I still enjoy the traditional mooncakes the best.

An example of a typical Taiwanese mooncake that incorporates both sweet and savory fillings (mung-bean paste with pork and mushrooms)

An inescapable consequence of all the mooncaking is that you will inevitably be gifted with numerous boxes of mooncakes by family and friends; it seems as though every time we meet up with someone, we leave with yet another box of cakes (I think at one time we had 6 boxes of mooncakes sitting in our fridge, keep in mind each box contains at least 6 mooncakes, making that at least 36 cakes for 4 people in our household . . . and typically mooncakes do not contain any preservatives; these are time-sensitive materials, people!). So as of late, mooncakes comprise a large portion of my diet. Keep in mind that these are calorie-dense foods (a 100g portion contains approximately 400-500 calories. I guess you could take it along with you on a run as a Taiwanese-style energy bar . . .)

Not that I’m complaining of course; mooncakes aren’t despised and passed around like fruitcakes during Christmas are; people scarf them without nary a thought to diet and coronary health. But I’m getting side-tracked; let’s talk about mooncakes, yeah?

I’ve decided to do a little survey of all the mooncakes I’ve sampled here; I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the photos, most of these were taken in the middle of the night in my bedroom (I tend to sneak these as a midnight snack . . .)

First up is a 蛋黃酥 (salted egg yolk mooncake with sweetened red bean paste). Like a cross between the heavier, square Cantonese mooncakes and the lighter Taiwanese mooncakes, this example features a flaky egg-washed crust that characterizes many Taiwanese pastries, but a filling of super-smooth sweetened red bean (azuki) paste.

The sweetness of the red bean paste is tempered by the salty cured egg yolk. As a kid, I hated any pastry with egg yolk, but now I love them. The interplay between the salty and sweet flavors is what makes these mooncakes so delicious.

My uncle (who is a devout Buddhist vegan) sent us these vegan mooncakes; these are made with a shortbread-like cookie crust, with a filling of sweetened bean paste, assorted nuts and sesame seeds, as well as a bit of curried chopped mushrooms.

It seems strange to mix both savory and sweet flavors together in a pastry, but this is commonplace in Taiwan (you’ll find that many of the foods here incorporate both elements of sweet and savory together, it’s a “traditional” quality that is prized by the Taiwanese).

Here’s an example of a super-traditional 綠豆椪 mooncake; these were purchased at Yu Jan Shun (裕珍馨), a famous bakery located in 大甲 (Dajia). These feature a tender, flaky pastry skin that is only achieved by making a croissant-like laminated dough. However, while croissants use butter as a fat source, the fat used in this pastry skin is typically made from lard (if not vegetarian) or shortening (if vegetarian). The ones made with lard are more fragrant as it imparts a nice “porky” essence to the cake. This one didn’t contain any meat, but these mooncakes traditionally include a bit of chopped pork and mushrooms in addition to the sweetened mung-bean paste filling (again, here we see the inclusion of both sweet and savory). You’ll see an example of this later . . .

I especially enjoyed this as the mung-bean filling was super smooth, moist but not oily, having a “sandy” but not gritty texture, giving it a wondrous, silky mouthfeel. It’s hard to describe the qualities that made this mooncake so delicious but I assure you I literally was smiling the entire time I was eating this . . . These were exceptionally made, to say the least.

This mooncake (白豆沙小月餅) was from yet another well-known pastry house, 老雪花齋 (how to translate this? Anyone?), this time located in nearby 豐原 (Fengyuan). This one is similar to the one above except that it features a sweet white-bean filling. Again, beautifully made and smiles all around.

Finally, here’s an example of the traditional savory-sweet mooncake; this one comes from yet another famous pastry shop located locally here in Taichung. Apparently this old pastry shop’s cakes are so popular that people need to queue up at the store to purchase them . . . However, these were quite disappointing; the pastry shell, while flaky, was poorly made. It was a bit too dry (maybe they were skimping on the lard?), therefore making it devoid of that “tenderness” that allows well-made pastry skins to envelop their fillings. Moreover, the bean-paste filling was too sweet and oily, the pork filling was char-siu-like (sweetened meat with sweet-mung bean filling?) All of this added up to a mooncake that didn’t properly balance the savory and sweet. My mom and I took a few bites of this purportedly “famous” mooncake and decided we couldn’t finish it, it was just too disappointing.

I don’t like to leave on a bad note; however, we will inevitably sample more mooncakes in the next few days, so I will try to post some reviews on those as well! I hope you enjoyed learning about Taiwanese-style mooncakes and I wish you a very happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Eating Out: [台中市] 大東屋活鰻料理專門店 (Daito Live Eel Restaurant, Taichung, Taiwan)

Pinjing — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:16:28 +0000

The day after we visited Big Juicy Goose, we decided to visit the restaurant next door: 大東屋活鰻料理專門店 (Daito Live Eel Restaurant). This restaurant, like Big Juicy Goose, specializes in one particular dish. In Daito’s case, it’s signature dish is an 鰻丼 (unagi donburi), a bento of Japanese-style roasted eel (うなぎ), basted in a sticky-sweet soy sauce and placed over a bed of chewy, short grain rice. One reason this restaurant is so popular is that the owner boasts that his eel is fresh; it has never been frozen, unlike the eel you find in most other Chinese or Japanese restaurants. In fact, the eel live in tanks near the back of the restaurant, and are cooked only after you place your order. The owner insists that this the proper and best way to enjoy the freshest unagi donburi. For that reason, one has to plan their arrival at this restaurant; it’s so popular that if you happen to come by around lunch or dinnertime, you’ll probably end up with a waiting time upwards of one hour or more . . .

Luckily, the day we went, we had been at the doctor’s office all morning and arrived way past the lunch rush; within 5 minutes, we were seated and had placed our orders . . .

We ordered some side dishes to accompany our donburis; the first to arrive was young asparagus topped with mayo:

There was an insane amount of mayo! Taiwanese people seem to enjoy their Kewpie-style mayo as much as the Japanese do. The sweet taste of the mayo does pair nicely with the blanched, chilled asparagus but I do admit it was a bit excessive.

I ordered one of my favorite summer dishes, cold silken tofu topped with thick soy sauce and shaved bonito flakes.

Perfect for a hot summer’s day!

We also ordered two skewers of grilled shittake mushrooms:

These were grilled and basted with the same sauce they use on the unagi donburis; we weren’t expecting much, but these mushrooms were fresh, plump and juicy. Too many restaurants try to substitute reconstituted dried shittake mushrooms in lieu of fresh ones (I guess in their defense, it is difficult to find a good source of fresh shittakes; I have yet to find one back home in the states) and many times, the refreshed dried shittakes end up making the dish taste stale.

My grandfather ordered one of his favorite fish: grilled 鮎 (あゆ, ayu). This dish was also exceptional since the ayu was also very fresh and seasoned simply with a dash of salt, allowing for the fish’s natural sweetness to shine through.

The main event: Our donburis! We ordered 3 small-sized donburis (they come in either small or large sizes).

To be honest, when I opened my box I was slightly disappointed as the portion seemed quite small; the eel barely covered half of the rice; furthermore, the bed of rice was probably only 1 centimeter thick. I realize I did order a “small”, but the portion seemed pretty lacking; perhaps I am used to my American super-sized portions?

However, I later realized that the portion was just fine; the eel is so rich that you get full pretty easily. I actually ended up not finishing mine . . .

As for the taste? As expected, the eel was delicious; grilled just to the point where you get those great crispy charbroiled edges, yet the interior was still moist. The sauce was only slightly sweet (I’ve had some unagi donburis were the sauce was so sweet I felt like I was eating dessert), which was perfect. The rice was also fluffy and chewy at the same time, preserving that “QQ” quality that Taiwanese prize so much. (For a good explanation of what “Q” or “QQ” means, see this post at Feast Meets West).

Does the eel live up to the hype? Yes, to some extent. If you’re a hearty eater you might be disappointed with the portions, but that’s easily solvable, just order multiple portions!

大東屋活鰻料理專門店
台中市朝富236號
04-22513447
營業時間: 10：00 ~ 22：00
公休日: 無

Daito Live Eel Restaurant
No. 236, Chao-Fu Road.
Taichung, Taiwan
Tel: 04-22513447
Hours: 10:00 am ~ 10:00 pm
Open 7 days a week

Eating Out: [台中市] 阿秋大肥鵝 (Big Juicy Goose, Taichung, Taiwan)

Pinjing — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:44:24 +0000

If you’re confused by my last two posts (the earlier one saying I was already back in Taiwan, the later one saying that it wasn’t worth $2000 to fly back to Taiwan to buy 杏仁餅); I definitely apologize . . . I am still in Taiwan, the post on black sesame polvoron was actually written prior to my coming back to Taiwan (saved as a draft).

I’m definitely enjoying my long stay here; my grandparents have been so gracious and have taken me to a bunch of restaurants here in Taichung. I’ve taken pains to capture every single meal that I’ve eaten out; my entire extended family is so used to me pulling out my camera that they actually rotate the lazy susan towards me with every new dish served so that I can take a photo first!

As I won’t be cooking much here, there won’t be much in the way of recipe posts; rather, I’ll be posting about all the great food I’ve been eating so far here in Taiwan.

The first week I was back, my grandparents took me to a restaurant near our home called 阿秋大肥鵝, literally “Big Juicy Goose”, a restaurant specializing in Taiwanese 小吃 (literally, “small eats”, can be likened to tapas, or small dishes) and what else, goose:

小吃 always pairs well with a cold glass of beer; they have specials on Taiwan’s ubiquitous Taiwan beer here and upon ordering a bottle (or 4 in my grandpa’s case) you’ll promptly be served by a Taiwan beer girl . . .

The menu here is quite cute; you take a crayon and just check off what dishes you’d like to order and hand it to your server.

First up: the house specialty, “fat goose”, slices of fatty dark goose meat, in a light soy broth, accompanied by pickled daikon and carrots. I don’t really like eating poultry, but I must admit this dish was tasty; the goose was moist, the broth was light and not greasy. If you’re a fan of eating the chicken/duck/goose skin with that thick layer of fat underneath, this dish is for you.

Next up: 南瓜炒米粉 (Pumpkin Stir-fried rice noodles), a typical preparation of rice noodles here in Taiwan. Not bad, but not great either.

Marinated and grilled eel. I always thought of eel as a “winter” type of food as it’s so warming, but apparently it’s also considered a “summer” food here as eel is supposed to have “strengthening” properties which help you get through the insane summer heat here. I liked this dish, the marinade was pleasantly sweet and savory and the eel was nicely grilled (crispy on the edges with a moist interior). I couldn’t eat too much of this though, as it’s quite rich.

Next: Stir-fried bean sprouts topped with deep fried shallots. Light and a good palate cleanser after all the meat. This dish was on the house; most Taiwanese restaurants serve a free vegetable dish if you order enough.

Those who know me well know I have a weird thing about not wanting to eat meat (i.e., the muscular part of the animal) but loving eating all sorts of offal (I’m the best and worst vegan ever). This dish was ordered for me specially; pig intestines with sour pickled vegetables. There’s an inordinate amount of ginger in this dish, but it serves the purpose of taking away any “smelliness” that the pig intestines impart. Personally, I love any kind of “stinky” or “fermented” foods (Taiwanese “stinky tofu” (臭豆腐) and 臭臭鍋 (stinky hot pot, a bubbling pot of sticky rice and pork blood cakes, pig intestine and pickled vegetables) are some of my favorites). Have I grossed anyone out yet?

阿秋大肥鵝
台中市朝富路258路(與龍門路交叉路口)
04-22512966
午餐: 11：00 ~ 14：00
晚餐: 16：30 ~ 01：30
365天全年無休

Big Juicy Goose
At the corner of Chaofu Rd. and Longmen 3rd St.
04-22512966
Lunch: 11：00 ~ 14：00
Dinner: 16：30 ~ 01：30
Open 365 days of the year.