My Bittersweet Cafe: Foodtrip: Taiwan

I have been wanting to write a blog entry on my recent trip to Taiwan last April, but I haven't really come into terms as to how I can incorporate the places I've been to and the food I ate without being distracted with talking too much about the food part. This was my solution, creating a post fully dedicated to the food I ate the entire trip...most of it at least. These are the kaleidoscopic flavors of Taiwan through my phone lens. This is just a documentation of my meals during that trip really. I just want to share my experience, of indulging in the tastes and variety of choices you can have when you go there.

Left: My first meal in Taiwan at King of Roast. Right: The sandwich I ate at Mos was YUMMY!

At Chun Shui Tang near Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial hall. The brown sugar mochi was one of my favorite.

Dinner at Raohe Night Market. It didn't take much for me to get full and realize how expensive their street food can be.

Left: It took a lot of restraint to stop myself from buying too much at Miyahara. Their packaging is just so beautiful that it's perfect for pasalubongs...but they are quite expensive as well. Right: Miyahara's famous ice cream. The unique flavors is what got me interested...and so many available ones wherein you can also customize the toppings.

Left: Manju we got at Rainbow Village. Middle: Strawberry Milk Tea from a vending machine at some train station. Right: Roasted sweet potatoes at Maokong Village

Milk tea is so ingrained into their culture that the drink is part of the package whenever you go to a gaming cafe. This was in Taichung...my friends and I missed playing LAN games so much that we played Left 4 Dead for the first time after so many years.

Afternoon tea set at The Old England Manor in Nantou County.

We had the four course meal at The Old England Manor, and to be able to try all the dishes, we had to pass the plate around and divide into four even the smallest of desserts like uncivilized foreigners...blowing our cover as social climbers.

Their traditional hotpot dish in some fancy restaurant called Top One Pot at Xinyi. We had to make some computations for this dinner just so we can get by. It's unlimited soup and rice refills though which makes it worth it.

Left: Goat's milk popsicle at Qingjing Farm. Middle: Caramel pudding ice cream at Tamsui Old Street. OMG! This was one of my favorite tastes in the trip, just a perfect tasting custardy-puddingy ice cream. Right: Matcha and black tea soft served ice cream at Maokong. Tea flavored dessert is love.

Ice cream popiah at Shifen Old Street. This gem of a dessert all took us by surprise. All of us had this intense and constant craving for this particular snack throughout the trip. It's that good! It's peanut and taro flavored ice cream rolled in lumpia wrapper together with shaved peanut brittle.

Custard Puff at Maxine, Tamsui. A light and delightful snack.

We had to wait in queue for a long time for this meat bun. It's good, but not THAT good.

The breads at Hogan Bakery are pure indulgence. The croissants are legit!

This was my lunch at Taipei 101. I was hungry, and I wanted gyudon but could not resist eating the mackerel as well. This was actually a delicious lunch because they did right with the taste.

I was craving for some Japanese soba in Taiwan...so I got my fix.

This was our dinner at Jiufen, in one of the restos along the lantern stairway. Fried rice, mapo tofu, and beef noodles.

Wonton noodle soup and the one on top, the one with the soyed soft tofu, century egg and katsuobushi was one of my favorite dish in the entire trip as well. I can't remember the name, but this was along Yongkang Street.

Some yummy finds at 7-Eleven. I can survive the whole day just eating at 7-Eleven there! The milk tea I bought is also really cheap. I bought some of my pasalubongs there. :p