54. Taiwan - 吉元酒家

chye-po egg

吉元酒家 is located at shilin night market. Wondering why would I go for a restaurant when I could easily fill my stomach with the wide varieties of snacks available at this night market? I have got travel companions who can't do without a proper meal. A proper meal....rice with dishes. Haha.

I liked the 三杯 tofu. It was so good that I kept attacking it. It was a big pot but we finished it. The chye-po egg was a complimentary. I think they must have thought some HK food reporters arrived at their shop? All eyes were on us when we were there with the camera. They had thought we were hongkongers and we didn't want to explain we were not because we wanted to eat the food before our eyes. Haha.

The roasted chicken was served with squared pickled radish. Usually, in singapore, roasted chicken was served with achar, a variety of pickled cucumber, carrot and white radish.

The food there was reasonably good. One thing I didn't like was the waiters, waitresses and even the kitchen staffs were like staring at us while we have our meal. They had a open concept kitchen. Our bill totalled up to app NT1200 (SGD55). Considered pretty cheap for a restaurant's standard.

53. Taiwan - 明福餐厅

明福餐厅, another taiwanese style restaurant. The taiwanese loved to cook food in "三杯" style which basically used 九层塔 leaves. These leaves has a very strong smell, almost like peppermint leaves but stronger. This restaurant mainly served seafood. We only ordered 3 dishes as the pot of octopus was too big. 3 was enough. This clamy stuff is called 九孔, the son of abalone? Compared to the one I had in Qingdao, it cost only SGD3. In taiwan, it is much expensive. I would say this was a simple fanfare for us. My bill totalled up to NT1360 (SGD 62) for these 3 dishes. I think it is expensive. The octopus alone cost SGD35.

52. Taiwan - Dante Coffee

Caramel macchiato @SGD3.40
American brew @SGD1.60

Lamb chop

If you are hungry and want to have a nice cuppa of coffee, go Dante Coffee. The coffee there is good. I tried the macchiato, great! The lamb chop....I thought what good would come out of a coffee focused cafe. I was wrong. The lamb chops was good. The rosemary matched well with the lamb chop. The sauce went well with the chops. The sauteed mushrooms....you thought they were just plain jane, no they weren't. They were nice too. Only flaw was the portion of rice was equivalent to a single scoop of ice-cream. It will be excellent if more rice was given. This lamb chop was cheap and well worth. Priced at NT128 (SGD 5.80). Where can you get such a cheap plate of lamb chop? Coffee was priced at a much much lower range than the mega monster, starbucks too. They ain't any inferior type.

51. Taiwan- 鱼丸伯仔

This is a definitely must-try ! Located at 九份, a few stalls away from entrance. Their 冬粉 with the miso sauce is very nice. The fishballs are all freshly made. One funny thing happened when I was eating at this stall. The cook herself was eating cup noodles! I guessed she must have been tired of what she is selling ! After all, this stall has been there for 55 years! One set cost only SGD55.

50. Taiwan - 明月汤包

The XLB here were very delicious!! Whenever I visit taiwan, I will definitely go to this eatery. It's freshly made on the spot. The soup in the XLB oozed out piping hot with a small bite. I swore their XLB is definitely better than those served at Ding Tai Feng in Singapore. Their 锅贴 were real crispy. The bowl of yellow gluey stuff was the 小米粥 , a healthy food. Goes very well with the side dishes they have there. The food served at 明月汤包 was cheap and good. My last visit, they have opened another eatery at the alley next to this, one with more dishes. My bill totalled up to NT330 (SGD15).

49. Taiwan - 阿潘厨房

These were taken in taipei, one of the local restaurants. It's location is admist some residential area. Not very accessible. Very interesting place though. Customers can scribble on their walls and many has done it. The plate of greens is very special, doubt Singapore has it. It is very much like spring onions but doesn't have the choking taste. Rather unique.

The mee sua was good, almost comparable to the one I had at Putian restaurant, the origin of xin hua mee sua. The chicken is a boo, not those tender and juicy type and it's quite fat. The fried oysters were excellent! Really big and juicy. We cancelled the pig trotters, their signature dish because we couldn't finish the dishes that were already on our table. I guessed the pig trotters will be good. Haha.

Our bill totalled up to NT770 (SGD 35), quite reasonable price..... The dining surroundings was very taiwanese. The place was packed with taiwanese, drinking to their fills. Haha.