night market/taiwanese: i still strongly recommend TONGHUA/LINJIANG NIGHT MARKET

TONGHUA/LINJIANG NIGHT MARKET
Linjiang Street between Tong Hua Street and Keelung Road

MRT: Liuzhangli (about 10-15 minute walk) or SYS Memorial Hall (about 20 minute walk)

hours: evening to 2AM

$

Visit reviewed: 5/24/2013

I've had an unusual number of visitors from the states this year. The good thing about it, besides catching up with friends, is that I've had a chance to revisit a bunch of night markets to compare and update my impressions. I get to take them around, point out the good eats and watch their faces as they happen upon the smell of stinkalicious stinky tofu.

While Tonghua Night Market may not be as famous or big as Shilin night market or have as fancy a sign as Raohe (which I think has gone downhill since I reviewed it last), I think it might be my new favorite. It's got great renditions of my favorite night market snacks- ice cream run bing wrap, Taiwanese sausage in sticky rice da chang bao xiao chang, and stinky tofu. Also not to be missed (though I didn't get a photo) are the candied yams that are bite sized pieces of yams with a crunchy, sugary coating and shaved ice. If you haven't eaten dinner, you can also grab a seat at the cheap teppanyaki shops that Tonghua is known for.

While most of my friends call it Tonghua night market, it's actually on Linjiang Street, so some people also refer it as Linjiang Night Market. The main night market area is marked by two entrance signs, so be sure to note which cross street (Keelung or Tong Hua) if you are meeting up with friends.

Remember to look for the block of peanut brittle sitting alone on the vendor's stand to spot the ice cream wrap. Otherwise it's really easy to miss if you can't read the signage. Once you place an order, the vendor springs into action to make fresh peanut brittle shavings to go with the ice cream and cilantro (yes! cilantro!)

The ice cream at this vendor was sorbet-like with pineapple, red bean and taro flavors and was not too sweet or watered down (I had a bad one at Sanxia last month) and the wrapper was paper thin. I recommend you try it with the cilantro, it really works with the flavor and texture of the peanut shavings. FAVORITE!

This was one of the first times I've seen so many savory options for the red bean cake. Not necessarily enticing to me, but unique.

This is what I'm talking about. Sweet grilled Taiwanese sausages shoved into a grilled sticky rice sausage, cut in half to be the bun. In Chinese, this Taiwanese "hot dog" is called Da Chang Bao Xiao Chang or Big Sausage wrapping the Little Sausage. Love it. LOVE IT! Not the most healthiest snack, but hey, I only night market it once in awhile.

You can get it with different toppings and sauces, but I prefer the original flavor with some pickled vegetables- not too much other craziness.

So if you're visiting Taipei this summer and making the night market rounds, be sure to include Tonghua on your list (I gotta go back and explore it some more too). Especially if you're staying near 101, as this is the closest night market to it. 

snapshot/taiwanese: i still strongly recommend TAI YI MILK KING

It's not summer in Taipei unless you're eating shaved ice. Okay, so it's not really summer anymore- since it's nearing October, the weather has been shifting to a nice cooler temperature and Christmas decorations have hit Costco already- but a bowl of shaved ice lets us pretend just a little longer.

Whatever you top your shaved ice with- mangos, pudding, peanuts or corn- make sure there's plenty of condensed milk blanketing the ice.

My favorite at Tai Yi Milk King is still the freshly made chewy xiao tang yuan, and pairing it strawberries is an off the menu combo. For more details, check out the first review I wrote up in June 2007.

I'm slowly catching up on posts, and Instagram helps capture a lot of moments and insta-thoughts that I often am slow to blog about. I lost my phone a few weeks ago which SUCKS and lost a few weeks of photos, but the lesson of the story is to remember to BACK UP your data (iphone, computer, ipad).

TAI YI MILK KING 臺一牛奶大王
No. 82, XinSheng S. Road, Section 3
台北市大安區新生南路三段82號
(across the street from the main entrance of National Taiwan University aka Taida)
(02) 2362-3712

MRT: Gongguan

hours: 10:30 AM - midnight daily

devoured on: 9/16/2012

dessert/taiwanese: i strongly recommend SMOOTHIE HOUSE

SMOOTHIE HOUSE 思慕昔官網

No. 9 Yong Kang St.

台北市大安區永康街9號

(02) 2395-8770

MRT: DaAn (but it is about a 20 minute walk from the nearest MRT)

website: smoothie.com.tw

hours: 11AM- 11PM

$$

Kid friendliness: kids will love the fruit and shaved ice

Visit reviewed: 6/29/2012

Smoothie House is a two story shaved ice store that has occupied a prime spot on Yong Kang St, just a half block away from Din Tai Fung and Kao Chi. There are lots of tables, there's air conditioning, there's heaping plates of fruit covered snowflake shaved ice. 

So why isn't it as famous as Ice Monster, whose new shop has lines down the street, even in the sweltering Taipei heat? I must admit, I only tried Smoothie House for the first time this past summer, and only because Yong Kang 15 (aka new Ice Monster) was closed. I probably have passed by Smoothie House dozens of times and not went in, since it wasn't the "must go to" spot for tourist friends. 

Smoothie House is still quite crowded on a rainy afternoon and we managed to grab a tiny table to squeeze around after ordering at the front counter. There are pictures on the menu for easy ordering with choices like mango shaved ice, strawberry or mixed fruit. Mango smoothies are also available though they are more like a thick slush than fruit smoothie.

Once our number was up, we grabbed our tray. We ordered two shaved ices to share between three people and it was a lot! Huge scoops of ice cream top the mountain of shaved ice and cascading chunks of fruit. 

The Fresh mango ice magic (NT$120) has regular shaved ice, while the Strawberry snowflake ice (NT$150) has a creamier melt-in-your-mouth texture almost like ice cream. Both were just as yummy (and pricey) as other places in Taipei, though definitely on the sweeter side. It's also nice to have options like strawberry when you're not feeling like mango.

Mmmmmmm.

Back in June 2012, the popular Yong Kang 15 shaved ice shop had suddenly closed down. Tourists were left looking at their guide books in confusion, looking at a closed off location. 

And in a bold business move, Smoothie King cemented its Yong Kang Street mango ice monopoly when it reopened the landmark shack that used to be it's main competitor- Yong Kang 15, and Ice Monster before that- as their second location. There will be people who might not have heard the news that Yong Kang 15 shut down and just head over to the "mango ice place on Yong Kang St." 

Smoothie House signage 2012. Copycat or coincidence?

Ice Monster 2009. 

With the same color schemes and design, the new Smoothie House spot could easily be mistaken for the original occupants. They even retained the "Yong Kang 15" signage from before, since it is technically the address, but at eye level you wouldn't tell the difference or see the small-ish Smoothie House signage above. I was really surprised when I saw what had taken over that space, but it's probably good business for them even though the new location is only steps from their original indoor shop - they had customers sitting down at 11:30AM and some people won't know or care about who the owner is as long as the shaved ice tastes good or have to wait in the half hour lines elsewhere.

What do you think matters more- location or taste or ownership? Which mango ice place is your favorite?

OTHER LOCATION

No. 15 Yong Kang St 台北市大安區永康街15號

(02) 2341-8555

snapshot/costco: i recommend MANGO SHAVED ICE at COSTCO

It's hard to tell from this photo how monstrous this mango ice is. A mountain of frozen chunky shaved ice, cascading frozen mango cubes, two scoops of vanilla ice cream and a generous pour of condensed milk. We had three people share this and there was still leftovers. Not as good as Ice Monster or Mango Cha Cha since it was basically a mango flavored slushy once all the semi-frozen mango was gone, but at NT$79 it's about half the price of the other places in town.

moved/taiwanese/desserts: i strongly recommend ICE MONSTER (ZHONGXIAO) & HAPPY 7th BLOGIVERSARY TO ME

ICE MONSTER 冰館
No. 297, ZhongXiao E. Road, Sec. 4 台北市忠孝東路四段297號
(02) 8771-3263

MRT: SYS Memorial Hall

website: icemonster.com.tw

hours: 11AM-10:30PM

$$ cash only

visit reviewed:  6/21/2012
previous visits reviewed: 12/2009 and 6/2009

Hello hello!! HungryinTaipei is now 7 years old!

There's been over 1 million hits since I started this blog 7 years ago. Wow! Thanks so much for reading, commenting, facebooking, twittering, instagramming and being hungry along with me. I even have an app now for quicker searching and creating your own Taipei rolodex on the iphone/ipad and started adding Chinese to the blog this year for the first time for the app.

So where was the very first place I posted about seven years ago? 

Ice Monster. I remember when I first came back to visit Taipei in the late 1990s and I had no idea where to go, and my aunt said, just get in the taxi and tell them the "shaved ice place on Yong Kang Jie." It was a must try destination as a tourist and though less so when I moved here, I'd still take friends who visited me. Now it's closed its Yong Kang Street location for good after a brief stint as Yong Kang 15 (which I never made it to), which I found out a few weeks ago when I tried to take some friends from Manila and discovered it was boarded up. (Did you know it had closed?! Or that it had reopened?)

Thanks to my friends on twitter, I found out it had moved to bigger, shinier 東區 digs on Zhongxiao East Road. No more huddling in the shack like shop, waiting for a table. Now there's air conditioning, plenty of seating and even restrooms!

I passed by it with some friends last week and we had to give it a try on a rainy afternoon after spotting it didn't have much of a wait outside. A rainbow of mini popsicles and canele shaped konyaku tempt you from the front cooler counter.

You order from the menu from the front counter- the old school shaved ices topped with ice cream and fruit are aptly called Avalanches, the creamy snowflake ices are Sensations, or you can drink up a Mocktail or Freeze. The names of the desserts are in English, but the descriptions are in Chinese.

Ice Monster for the new age- bright yellow monster napkin holders on each table for posing in photos, even the napkins and restroom signs have the distinct drawings. Maybe it hasn't reached the rest of the world yet, but in Taipei, everyone seems to be taking photos of their food, or with their food, or eating their food, armed with everything from an iphone to a heavy duty DSLR.

While we wait for our number to be called to pick up our shaved ices, a bowls of samples get dropped off at our table to try new flavors. So don't order too much, you might get a new flavor or two to try. I know the table next to us was also surprised to get one.

Finally our Mango Avalanche (NT$180) comes and it really is an avalanche of cubed mangos, pudding, condensed milk, syrup, topped with a snowball of mango sorbet. It seems to come in a smaller bowl with less shaved ice than I remember, but luckily they don't skimp on the mango so there's still plenty to share for 2-4 people. Drool.

But of course, my friends and I didn't share just one ice. We were greedy.

The Fantastic Mix Avalanche (NT$180) also looks familiar, with the combo mango, kiwi and strawberry fruit cascading down a hill of shaved ice and topped with mango sorbet. The fruit doesn't need so much condensed milk, but it is still blanketed in a layer of it.

The Bubble Milk Tea Sensation (NT$160) is a bowl of thick, creamy ribbons of sweet shaved milk tea flavored snow with a side of sweet tapioca balls. Like a frozen boba milk tea deconstructed and frozen for the Taipei heat.

There's also more traditional shaved ice options (mung bean, grass jelly, red bean, taro) as well as summer options like the Lemon Jasmine Tea Sensation which comes with a touch of passion fruit.

With the opening of Ice Monster at the new location, hopefully not too many tourists will taxi this summer to Yong Kang Street to find their hopes to fill their mango ice cravings dashed. Though we didn't have to wait when we arrived, when we left there was a short line of 7 or 8 people. Ice Monster's prices are definitely slightly higher to pay the Dong Qu 東區 rent, and while there's quite a few other comparable mango ice places in town now, I'll hold a special place in my heart for Ice Monster for being my first after seven years and counting!!

snapshot/not taipei: HSINCHU SHAVED ICE

Sometimes I get emails asking where to eat in cities other than Taipei, and I'm sad to say that I'm pretty unhelpful in those areas. I don't often venture outside the city and when I do, it's with relatives that know where they are going and I don't get a chance to look at street signs or understand where we are going. I'm sure that experience is familiar to many of you- when you travel with relatives, sometimes you don't even get to see the menu (or if you do, I'm not understanding it because it's all in Chinese) or pay the bill.



Anyways- I didn't want to let that stop me from sharing some of the places I've eaten at outside of Taipei and also use it as a chance to ask those of you reading who live in these cities/areas to share some of your favorite places (and addresses/phone numbers) for people who might be looking for information online in English for those cities!

So in this case- Hsinchu!

Didn't have much time to explore since we were coming after a meal, but of course if I see shaved ice, we're going to eat shaved ice! This place had a huge sign near a busy area of food stalls and on a hot day, a lot of customers. Mango shaved ice (NT$120) is always one of the more expensive things on the menu, but the serving was big. The ice melted quickly in the early summer heat and it tasted a bit like the mango was soaked in a syrup which made it overly sweet.



So any readers from Hsinchu or visited there before- where should I go the next time I'm hungry in Hsinchu?

hungry in taipei's eating tour of XIMENDING

I often get emails asking me, "I only have 12/24/48 hours to spend in Taipei, where MUST I eat? what are your top 5 places in Taipei?" etc etc. Or I have visiting friends who I want to show around town but they are totally open to want to eat where ever I want to go. It's a lot of pressure to pick the right places! Haha. So I'll try to do certain areas that can be used as a guide for an afternoon or meal if you want to know where I'd take you if we were hanging out in person.

One place I end up gravitating towards when friends are visiting is Ximending. It's cheap, it's fast, there's lots to shop and see. It's often compared to Shibuya/Harajuku in Tokyo or Times Square in New York.



There's a certain energy from all the people walking around, the gigantic neon billboards spanning across the buildings and movie theater sized screens playing trailers or music videos, gaggles of trendily dressed teenagers, tourists or students in their school uniforms, and rows and rows of shops and shops and food. It's a great way to spend an afternoon or evening in Taipei that feels unique to the city.

My suggestions for Ximending is to eat a little at each place and then you can try as much as possible. Another option is to eat at a sit down place, depending on what you like. Ximending is also home to the Modern Toliet restaurant which I have yet to go or recommend, but I know it's very popular those looking for a really different eating experience.

So a few weeks ago, this is what I took my new friend Roger to eat when he was visiting Taipei. I won't talk too much about stuff I've reviewed before- you can click on it for old pics/reviews.

A five course eating tour for under NT$300 or $10 bucks!

First Course: Ah Chung Noodles



You still gotta eat Ah Chung Noodles standing up after you get your piping hot bowl of noodles and pork intestines. I recommend getting a small bowl so you can eat dumplings at the second destination. Don't forget to add a bit of chili sauce, garlic paste and vinegar to spice it up.

Second course: Portuguese Egg tarts from KFC



Only because we spotted KFC on the way to the other side of the street and the Mochi on stick guy was not open that day and my friend didn't mind mixing salty and sweet and back to salty. Like me, he was not a believer that this was a must-try, but after eating it, he understood. Hot, custardy, flaky, good. Of course, this doesn't have to be eaten in Ximending- just give it chance if you spot a KFC.

Third course: Almond milk shaved ice and almond tofu pudding at Yu's Almond Tofu



I'd had the silky and sweet almond tofu before, with their trademark almond milk in a silver bag to be opened and poured on top, but when I spotted the almond milk snowflake ice, I had to have some. More fine and sweet than regular shaved ice, this also had some almond tofu on the bottom! Score. You can also add your own toppings.

yustofu.com.tw

Fourth course: Fried and boiled dumplings from Zhang Ji Fried Dumplings



This is one of those places I'd never would have found if it weren't for my friend Justin- entire menu of eat is on the wall and under NT$100.



We made it there around 2pm and it was still fairly crowded inside. We ordered a set of guo tie or pan fried dumplings and tsui jiao boiled dumplings, since they wouldn't less us order less than 10 each.



The guo tie were perfectly fried, with a thin crisped up layer on the bottom, but I tried their house-made chili sauce for the first time today and I couldn't stop dipping my dumplings in it. I asked the lao ban if I could buy some to take home and he said no, but told us how he stir fried the chili peppers in peanut oil. No wonder it had a fragrant, nutty depth since I'm usually not that crazy about chili sauces.



Fifth course: Snow King Ice Cream



Just a block away, we made it to our last stop. Though we were tempted to try out some of the unusual flavors that they are known for, we ended up sticking to the sweet- red bean and lychee. The lychee wasn't as sweet and fruity and too creamy rather than like a sorbet as my previous orders- so I'd stick to guava or peach next time.

If you don't want to run around to different places, you can also check out sit down places like Mala Yuanyang Hotpot or Alleycats, or get a bowl of beef noodle soup along with the dumplings at Zhang Ji. Of course there are a TON of places to eat in Ximending, much less in Taipei, but this is what I've discovered so far.


View HungryinTaipei eating tour- Ximending in a larger map

1- Ah Chung Noodles- from the MRT Station exit, look for the McDonalds. It's one alley away from it.
2- KFC- also in main Ximending area, can't miss it- it's three stories high
3- Yu's Almond Tofu- go back towards MRT exit, cross the street towards Partyworld, past the shoe store on Chengdu Road.
4- Zhang Ji Fried Dumplngs- refer to previous post for signs to the little alley it's located in
5- Snow King Ice Cream- towards the police station/ Wuchang St

Any other must eats in Ximending? Please share!