Q: What food lured us to Taiwan? A: Local snacks, bubble tea and interesting food concepts!

Would you try this poo poo ice cream served in toilet concept?

See Darren’s expression on our first visit! Toilet bowls? Poo? Shower tubs? Well, he was just exaggerating:) Food presentation looks disgusting but that’s what attracts kids. Gimmicks fascinated them! Haha! No prize for guessing which restaurant:)

I knew once we stepped into Taipei, we would never have a concern over food for our young ones especially when Darren must have a taste of at least  a meal of eastern food per day.

Bubble tea, Gong Cha, Shilin chicken cutlets (with lots of chilli and pepper powder), Taiwan porridge, Taiwan vermicelli with oysters, minced pork rice, hotpots, deep fried mushrooms and many more.  Ooooe! They are our frequent treats in Singapore!

To name some…

We frequent Oasis Taiwan Porridge restaurant @ Toa Payoh —Mun Ting Xiang Cha Xuan @ Hougang (We enjoy the bubble tea here in quiet and cosy environment though I love most the strawberry shake with pearls) — Taiwan food store @ e!Hub Downtown East, and — of course not forgetting our must have Gong Cha from Kaosiong, right here in Singapore (Ed’s and my favourite earl grey green tea with 3 Js).  Then there are the recommended Taiwan’s bubble tea from Share Tea (Taiwan’s no.1 bubble tea) —and Drink Tea (we found ours at Nex).

So, can you feel my face beaming already?  Okay! Enough about Taiwan delicacies in Singapore. So, what’s the recommended food waiting for us when we make a real trip to Taipei?

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JOIN US NOW - on our food trails in Taipei, where we walked walked, drove drove, sat sat, stood stood, bought bought….JUST TO EAT:)

Vigor Kobo

To buy back food souvenirs for relatives or friends, you may drop by Vigor Kobo which sells Chinese cakes, pastries and even sweets, nougat, chocolates and pop corns. We visited the one at the main outlet at Chengde Road at our personal tour guide’s (Alan’s) recommendation. I was hesitant whether it would really be a good buy. So, we tasted the samples, liked the tastes and freshness and couldn’t believe that we actually bought back a carton box of pastries!

Here are our picks from Vigor Kobo and our boys ate a little too much during the food sampling. *embarrassed*.

Mango dried fruit - Our 3 guys love it despite the sugar coating.

Pineapple mini cakes - Hmm..soft and not too sweet according to my taste buds.

Cheese Popcorns

OMG! These seaweed like thin slices PORK is so tasty. Award winner in Taipei. Love it!

Sweets - this type not for kids. For my dad to help soothe his throat and cough.

Chestnut mini-cakes.

 There are banana and yam flavoured ones too. Our boys love the banana ones and not so much of the pineapple. Too bad! Yam ones are out of stock or my elderly parents will love them.

We tried much of the tea too (the cups are really TINY and rose tea is best. We totally agreed!)

Tamshui/Danshui

You might have heard of not leaving Tamshui without buying the fish floss/crisps and iron eggs. Thanks to Alan who also brought us to the famous Ah Po’s Tie-dan (grandma’s iron eggs) located at Tamshui Old Street. Didn’t take note of the road name due to heavy rain but noted that it is located behind the shops facing the waterfront.

Grandma’s iron eggs - we were taught to look out for this authentic brand. These eggs were stewed in mixed herbs and spices. The eggs come in bigger size too. We found the same brand of iron eggs sold at Taoyuan International Airport.

Papa Ed braved the rain and dashed across the road to the shop opposite Grandma’s Iron Eggs. For these….

Authentic Tamshui Fish Floss - Gold Award Winner

Tamshui Fish Crisps - Fish Crackers. Tamshui specialty!

Tamshui prawn crisps - Papa Ed will never miss any prawn crackers especially an award winner. He bought the spicy ones.  Not bad cos my tummy was tolerant enough but I ended up with sorethroat cos of too much prawn snacking!

Maokong Gondola

This was an unexpected find. Not a Taiwan product (from Korea) but we simply love the TAKOR cuttle fish taste and easy to chew textures for kids.  Oh yeah. Can choose different powder coating for other flavours. Nice? Or maybe we were just hungry even after a buffet breakfast. How do we get so hungry after so much eating in Taiwan?

Hmm…a tip for you cos we found that this snack kept our kids quiet in the car trip..they were too busy munching. Haha!

Jiaobanshan (Taoyuan county)

Note: This one is not in Taipei. Oooohh! The fried mushroom (or mushroom tempura) is so good. Flavour good! Texture good! Mushroom is thick and fresh! A tasty treat by Alan after our visit to Mount Jiaoban Mystery Tunnel.  If you are there, don’t miss buying these takeaway fried mushrooms in a cup:)

Haha!  I almost got Alan to drive back and buy more:) If it hadn’t been for him, we wouldn’t even know of such a good find.  Not sure about others who don’t favour mushrooms because Papa Ed who never likes shiitake mushrooms actually love this snack:) BTW, noted that they sell lots of shiitake mushrooms at Jiaobanshan.

Eating is believing! Try the list of food recommended  above when in Taipei. However, again, I know different people might have different preferences and taste buds.

Oh! There is so much more to share. Night market specialties, Ah Zhong Mian Xian, special-themed restaurants!  I can’t possibly finish them in one post.

In Taiwan, in fact, those small eateries do give good taste bud surprises with reasonable cost too!

So. Stay tune for Part 2. Oh! my tummy’s growling! Meanwhile, don’t drool:)

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