Fish & seafood
- Salmon and tomato soup
- Baked fish and spinach
- Crouching tiger, hidden salmon
- Pasta with clams in red wine sauce
- Chili garlic shrimps with coriander paste and Kecap Manis
- Tilapia fritters with honey-lemon sauce
- Sardines frittata in tortilla
- Fish croquettes
- Baked scallops
- Pritong tilapia (fried St. Peter’s fish) and cheese-topped chili-cauliflower bake
Mighty meaty
- Grilled kielbasa and beans
- Low-fat, down-sized burgers
- Floyd’s Greek stew
- Meatballs stroganoff
- Pork pata (hock) with shiitake mushrooms and broccoli
- Lengua (ox tongue) in cream and corn sauce
- Beef, bacon and chorizo pasta sauce
- Pork and beans
- Creamy ox tongue stew
- Deep-fried Breaded Pork Slices
Healthy veggies
- Pasta primavera… with fresh tuna!
- Swiss rosti (a.k.a. fried potatoes)
- Baked fish and spinach
- Sunday lunch in the garden
- Pritong tilapia (fried St. Peter’s fish) and cheese-topped chili-cauliflower bake
- Capsicum halves stuffed with chicken, cheese and vegetables
- Potato salad with toasted cashew nuts
- Fried chicken, garlic-mayo sauce & pineapple cole slaw
- Fried beef brisket and potatoes with sour cream
- Broccoli and potatoes frittata
Food tripping in Taiwan
The following article was published today in the Life & Travel section of the Manila Standard Today. Links are supplied here for easy reference.
I was quite prepared to eat Chinese dimsum for five days in Taiwan. In fact, I was looking forward to it. Dimsum for five days would have been a heavenly gastronomic feast for me. I was surprised to discover that there was more to traditional Chinese food in Taiwan. Perhaps, it has a lot to do with the fact that Taiwan was a former Dutch colony and host to the Japanese invading forces in World War II. And, perhaps, it has something to do, too, with the fact that even before the Dutch colonization and the waves of Chinese migration from the mainland, the island was inhabited by aborigines of Malay-Polynesian descent who were more closely related to the early inhabitants of the Philippines.
In Taipei, Chinese food abound not only in restaurants but in small shops and even in street corners. There are a lot of establishments that sell ready-to-go dimsum and dumplings. There is one place though that is world-famous.
Established 50 years ago, Din Tai Fung was named by the New York Times as one of the world’s top 10 restaurants in 1993. The queues are long at all hours of the day. But despite the dizzying pace at which customers come and go, the place is clean—and that includes the restrooms.
The bestseller at Din Tai Fung is the steamed pork dumplings (above). Not your ordinary siomai or siopao, but something in between. The wrapper is similar to siomai but the dumplings are fully sealed like the siopao. The filling is a meatball with broth. You take a small bite, sip the soup inside, then eat the entire thing. Another amazing item is the fish dumpling with chunks of bream and some lettuce, celery and yam bean.
In the mood for more food?
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17 Responses to “Food tripping in Taiwan”
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I went to Taiwan when I was 5-years-old and the only thing I can remember from that trip was hiding in one of those plastic-y zip-up wardrobes and being confronted by my mom’s swollen, mascara-streaked eyes and a dozen (very angry) department store security guards after staying in the wardrobe for close to 3 hours. I don’t remember eating anything particularly impressive, although I went crazy for the soybean milk, which I would insist on being served cold.
Your article made me decide that I’ve to go back there again. I’ll probably enjoy it more this time (that with my newfound maturity. Heh.) I’m sending you a link of an article by one of my favourite food bloggers, Chubby Hubby, about his dining experience in Taiwan:
http://chubbyhubby.net/blog/pigging-out-in-taipei/
Let me know if ever you’re planning on coming over to Shanghai and I’ll take you to our neighbourhood food street and some yummy restaurants. (Trivia: Most “happening” restaurants have Pinoy food servers and Pinoy managers!)
LOL Marie, you must have given everyone a scare. I can’t stop laughing. But if my daughter did that, she would have gotten a nice good scolding. Grabe ka! hahahaha
Thank you for the link. And I’ll certainly remember to email you if I happen to be on my way to Shanghai.
Hi, Connie!
Your article makes me want to change my vacation destination from Saigon to Taiwan. I’m particularly interested in Black Mushrooms with Fresh Ripe Mangoes and Spicy Pork with Fresh Pineapple - I hope you can have your own version too to share with us :-).
Very Veron, re “I hope you can have your own version too to share with us”
You read my mind hehehehe
mmm…the dumplings…have to say the President’s fish is really good. hirap lang kainin with chopsticks. spent about an hour just removing the bones with a pair of freaking chopsticks. still miffed about not being able to eat a good bowl of noodles. *sniff sniff*
because of your food pics, baka bigla na lang ako mapunta sa quiapo bukas and emerge there 50k lighter. god forbid.
Thanks for sharing your recent trip and word of wisdom on how to enjoy Taiwanese cuisine. Looks like ideal place to visit – moneywise – is it worth the money to make that trip aside from the food, how about clothing any clothing stores to shop? I like shooting two birds in one stone.
Luthien, alam mo, di ko na-appreciate yung President’s fish kasi nga lintek ang daming tinik.
Taiwan is expensive, Ube. I didn’t go shopping. I tried the night market but it was Friday and I thought I was going to collapse in the heat and crowd.
wow! all those dimsum make me salivate… and the sushi….aaahhhhhhh! kainggit!
These are THE BEST xiao long bao EVER! I always tell my dad to bring home frozen ones every trip!
I personally like the Pork ones and the Gulay ones.. 
Kaya when in Shang-Hai, Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong - GO TO DIN TAI FUNG!! Buti nga raw they have 2 branches na!!
i was also in taiwan when you were there…:) after 7years, nakabalik din ako ng taiwan.
i was there nung July 19-29. ang init nga grabe… lalo na anung july 20-22. nag 39-40 degrees! after ng days na yan, nasa 37 average na ang temp dun… (july 24 ba kayo dumating?)
wala lang… went there for a vacation kasi hubby works there. (fil-chi kasi sya).
naaliw lang ako kasi super familiar ako sa mga food na namention mo:)
lalo na sa shilin. daming food.
may mga regular na kami na kinakainan dun:)
sorry, naexcite lang…humaba tuloy
18-22 kami nandun.
kung alam ko lang…sana nagkita tayo kahit shy ako
eh shy din naman ako. hehehe
seriously, i was searching for pinoy bloggers in taiwan a few days before we left. my plan was to meet with them so i could write an article that was not travel/food related. i found none. then we were told that the HUGE Pinoy community gathered on Sunday mornings at around 9. Eh our plane had left by then.
The Xiao Long Bao ( steamed meat dumplings )@ Din Tai Fung is so divine!
The dimsum wrapper is very very thin, and yet it’s very malambot. Here in Manila, medyo makunat, e 
I ate @ Din Tai Fung Shanghai naman. 
Totally loved my dining experience there! 
may 2 big events nga nung sunday.
anniversary ng eec (where hubby works) and anniversary (ata) ng JIL.
kahit nasa 39-40 degrees ang init, successful ang both shows…
am really hoping to meet you someday
hi there!! bigla kong na miss ang xiao lom pao!! parobito naming almusal to nung nasa taipei pa ko!! da best pag mainit saw saw sa chang-yo! have you tried their tomato on stick? its sugar coated hehe
Would love to go back to Taiwan someday, Dee, but not during the summer hehehe Never again during the summer.
Riddle Dejesus, no, didn’t try the sugar-coated tomatoes. Sounds intriguing.