not Taipei: LA food trucks- LOBSTATRUCK, A ROCKIN ICE, LUDO TRUCK, INDIA JONES CHOW TRUCK

A trip to LA is not complete without the "food truck experience." It's so LA that there's even a reality show about it now. The best is when you get a bunch of them in one spot so you can pick and choose, kind of like a food truck food court, or a night market on wheels (hey, Taiwanese night market food truck, anyone?). It's not just about Korean fusion tacos anymore- everyone with an idea seems to have gotten into the action. I even spotted the spiraled potato chips on the stick that I've seen forever ago at the Taiwanese night market on a LA food truck- for US$7!

My favorites this summer?

-LOBSTATRUCK

Lobster rolls for $12, filled with tender chunks bathed in mayo or butter (or both!) and a buttered up, warm, toasted roll. Can't go wrong. Get 2 if you're really hungry or a crab roll, since they take credit cards!

-A ROCKIN ICE

Shaved ices the size of a puppy dog- these were seriously huge and melted faster than we could eat it. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the bottom, you could suck up the sugar water from the rainbow shaved ice like a float, or scoop up the ice up top.

-LUDO TRUCK

I know the Ludo Truck is famous for the fried chicken (wings or balls, your pick), but what I really love is the honey lavender biscuits. They are seriously addictive. While the chicken is not cheap (3 pieces for $9), it's cheaper and easier to get than a Ludobites dinner. I made my own chicken and waffles combo by getting the chicken from Ludo Truck and the waffles from 

-WAFFLES DE LIEGE

Liege waffles ($4.50) are made with pearl sugar which carmelizes when they are made, so you get a crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, sweet waffle that doesn't really need additional sauces or ice cream that are also offered. The wait for these took longer than Ludo Truck, but once you try these waffles, you might not be able to eat any other kind.

-INDIA JONES TRUCK

Chicken tikka masala is my favorite kind of curry and India Jones served it perfectly sweet and creamy with tender chicken and basmati rice. They also serve frankies and paratha, (rotis rolled up with meat or vegetables). I am drooling looking at this picture and might have to go eat some Indian food tomorrow.

Follow them on twitter to find out their next location and times!
@lobstatruck
@arockinice
@ludotruck
@wafflesdeliege
@indiajonesCT

new in town: ATT 4 FUN

ATT 4 FUN
No. 12 Song Shou Rd.

MRT: Taipei City Hall

Does the Xinyi district need another mall or more restaurants to eat at? Apparently it does. In addition to the now iconic Taipei 101, there's the Vieshow Theaters complex, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi malls (A9, A11, A8 and A4), Eslite Bookstore mall, Bellavita and the Hankyu mall- all in walking distance from the Taipei City Hall MRT exit and newish mega Taipei Bus center.

And remember that building next to Viewshow/across from 101 with the faux Statue of Liberty in front of it- New York New York? It's closed last year, went under renovations and opened recently as ATT 4 Fun.

It has a lot of the old tenants from the old NYNY- McDonald's, Starbucks, Mr. Donut, Coldstones and Ireland's Potatoes- are back and a bit jazzed up. And a glance at the directory and walk through the mall shows that there are quite a few new restaurants and dining options to explore as it opens up, as well as new locations of familiar names like the Diner and whiple house for the area. There's also going to a club and sky lounge for the late night crowd.

Just a glance at some of the restaurants spotted on the 4th and 5th floors- Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, desserts....

Gelato and coffee and waffles from Glacio...

This one I thought was funny- if you're looking for shabu shabu, pizza AND yogurt, it's your one stop shop.

Snacks galore...

I stopped by the 6th floor, but it was still in a phase of construction. It's kind of exciting to have new options besides the food courts, though I still have to check out a lot of the new stuff at Neo 19 too. With all the tourists to Taipei 101 and visitors to the various conferences and shows at Taipei World Trade Centers, I'm sure ATT 4 Fun will get crowded in no time.

not Taipei: LUO DONG NIGHTMARKET in YILAN

LUO DONG NIGHT MARKET
at Chongcheng Rd. and Xindong Rd.
Yilan, Taiwan

I LOVE night markets. It's something that you must try if you're visiting Taipei and it's something that I don't get to do often enough now that I live here. It's usually the case right? There are tons of people who live in LA that don't go to Disneyland or to Mann's Chinese Theater. How often do we get to play tourist in our own city? It's something that we should do more often.

I often get asked, where else can I go to besides Taipei? And now I can include Yilan and Luo Dong nightmarket on the list. Sprawling and packed like many other night markets, Luo Dong night market is quite large with lots of food vendors, and one section that has rows of numbered stalls. At the center of the night market is the Luodong Chungshan Park, which some people take their food to sit and eat at.

I saw a line and I had to stand in it. But it was a bit confusing- the vendors said, there's no need to stand in line, just tell us what you're ordering. So I ordered 1 box of takoyaki and waited as they poured the batter and intricately cooked up rows of octopus filled balls.

Topped with mayo and wasabi...

and bonito flakes... 

Not as mind blowing as the airy and crispy takoyaki from Japan Boat at the Gongguan night market, but a good rendition.

I also was fascinated by the guy making the oyster omelettes and was mesmerized at the assembly line production while I was waiting for my order. Imagine the number of eggs he goes through every day.

And no visit to the night market is complete without some shaved ice. Snowflake ice is creamier than the regular shaved ice and this was mango flavored ice paired with fresh mango and condensed milk.

Another thing to look for is a stall selling tapoica balls with red beans stuffed inside with shaved ice topped with honey and condensed milk. It was too crowded for me to get on this night, but I loved it when I tried it at their other location, in the food court at the Luna Plaza mall.

Wander around, explore and eat until you can't eat anymore.

snapshot/new in town: DIN TAI FUNG & JASON's at TAIPEI 101

If you've been wondering where to get some pumpkins to carve for Halloween, Jason's Supermarket at Taipei 101 has super huge ones that could rock some scary faces. They also have more manageable mini ones behind it.

Wandering around 101 food court, I was struck by all of the changes- I probably hadn't been in about 6 months or so.

One of the most exciting is that a huge new Din Tai Fung that opened in July. The new Taipei 101 location is supposed to be the biggest in the world, with over 300 seats and 8 private rooms. And the xiao long bao baskets still have 10 per basket unlike the Fuxing Sogo location which has only a measly 6 per order.

New Elite Bakery with fancy cupcakes. No more Lugar Home Bread Bar (which I never got to blog about). No more Dunkin Donuts next to Jason's. No more Flavorfield bakery, instead a different, new bakery will open later this month.

What's your favorite thing to eat at Taipei 101?

CLOSED! desserts/bakery: i recommend I-BAKED

CLOSED a/o 5/2012 at Shida location.
CLOSED a/o 8/2012 2nd location on GuangFu

Online delivery orders only now.

I-BAKED
No. 65-1, Long Quan Street
(02) 2364-4896

MRT: Taipower Bldg

website: ivybaked.com English and Chinese

hours: Sun~Thurs 12PM - 11PM, Fri/Sat 12PM ~ 11:30PM

$

Kid friendliness: some space to sit and eat, or take cookies home to share

Visit reviewed: 9/7/2011

Ice cream cookie sandwiches in Taipei? I remember when I first started hearing the buzz about I-Baked last year, I thought- finally, someone did it. Because it's so dang hot in Taipei, it's what I'd want to eat when I'm not busy eating shaved ice. It might be fall in Taipei, but it's still humid and hot, even when it's pouring rain.

A cute little shop tucked in the alley near Shida Night Market, I-Baked was opened a little over a year ago filling a serious need for soft baked cookies in Taipei. You can pick up just one cookie or a dozen, or pick different cookies to build a ice cream cookie sandwich to eat. I'd heard about I-Baked since its opening and even had a friend gift me with some cookies in December, but I never had a chance to stop by the Shida store until now.

There's colorful displays and funny names for the cookies like "Jungle Fever" and "Snow White and the Seven Oats." There are chocolate cookies with chocolate chips, marshmallows or white chocolate chunks, caramel, peanut butter or candy cookies, and of course, the classic chocolate chip. Cookies are NT$30 each and slightly discounted when you buy 3, 6 or 12, which comes in a super cute box that looks like a giant cookie with a bite taken out of it. Ice cream cookie sandwiches are NT$90, with flavors like vanilla, latte, caramel cream, chocolate, mint chocolate chip or swiss chocolate chip. There's also some blondies and brownies available.

There's a small amount of area to sit and it wasn't crowded at all on a weekday afternoon, though I can imagine it being a hotspot during a hot summer weekend. Those who are in the know about local celebrities might recognize founder Ivy Hsu among the pictures of the cookies decorating the walls. Ivy writes on ivybaked.com that she's loved baking since she was little and when she first moved back to Taiwan in 2005 from the US (around the same time as I did! hehe), she'd bake cookies and share them with friends and some had never had soft homemade cookies before.

The cookies are soft baked which is surprisingly hard to find in Taipei, and while they hit the spot for a certain craving, the cookies were not sugary enough for my sweet tooth- perhaps catering to the local market. I also thought the cookies I tried that day were a tad dry. But I'm sure that I-Baked will satisfy a lot of people who are tired of the crunchy and crispy cookies prevalent in Taipei.

My favorite of the bunch was the new Chocolate Marshmallow and I also like Sticky Hicky, which has a melted toffee in the middle, so of course I had to make them into a sandwich with mint chocolate chip. At NT$90, it's not cheap, but a good price considering that just a scoop of ice cream at any of popular Haagen-Moven-Baskin-Coldstone's shops will cost you around NT$100.

OTHER LOCATION

No. 46, Lane 346, Guangfu S. Rd.,
(02) 2775-5406
MRT: SYS Memorial Hall
Hours: 12PM - 9PM, closed Mondays

snapshot/taiwanese: home sweet home

When I fly into LAX and arrive late into the night, my ritual now includes picking up some rolled tacos aka taquitos, smothered in guacamole, before I head home.

When I fly in TPE and arrive early in the morning, the perfect place to head is to Yong He Dou Jiang (or your favorite local Taiwanese breakfast joint) for some freshly fried you tiao and cold, sweet soy milk, all for the ridiculous price of some pocket change. In this case with the dan bing or egg pancake, it was a grand total of NT$55 or under NT$2.

Home sweet home, Taipei!

August/September restaurant roundup

-Neo 19 has a bunch of new additions- including Easy House Vegetarian, all you can eat Mala hotpot and Dazzling Champagne dining and bar, in addition to the ground level Just In Bistro
-Been hearing about a California Pizza Kitchen that will be opening up at the Xinyi Vieshow food court area!
-Formerly Patara/Grand Patio is now Bangkok Jam
-Yue Yuan Pho or Savoy (which their new self-titled English restaurant name, as spotted on their new business cards) has a new location near Lane 216 off of ZhongXiao E. Road
-Wendel's German Bakery and Bistro is opening another location in Neihu.
-At Xinyi Eslite, a new fried chicken place where Double Rainbow Ice Cream used to be and no more Planet Popcorn
-At A8 Mitsukoshi, a new Waffle Waffle, Minder Vegetarian and almond tofu place

I'm finally back this week after traveling and taking a little summer vacation. Hope to have some new posts to you guys soon!

snapshot/not taipei: CARLO'S BAKE SHOP aka Cake Boss

Hey everyone! I'm on the east coast for a few days and wishing I had more time to eat around NYC. But this weekend is all about the relatives and my cousin's wedding. Took the red eye friday night and got in early at 6am.

On the way from JFK to NJ, I decided to stop by Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, NJ, which you might recognize from the TV show, Cake Boss. My mom and dad had never seen the show before and thought it was kind of crazy there was a line outside at 8am, when you could buy Dunkin Donuts or have McD's down the street with free wifi without any wait. It WAS kind of crazy- waiting outside for the 'wave in' and ticket number and then more waiting with too many people inside the narrow bakery. I thought that it wouldn't be too crowded on 8am on a Saturday, but I was wrong! Though the line outside looked short, there was a crowd of people jammed inside and we probably waited another half hour for our number to come up.

Saw some people picking up cakes and overheard things like "and your balance is $400"!!! No prices or menu listings anywhere, so when it was finally our turn I had to quiz the server 'how much' and 'what is this?' We got a little assortment of stuff- cupcakes, mini tiramisu and some strawberry cream thing, but my eyes were on the cannolis! Available plain or dipped in chocolate, the small ones were sold by weight ($12+ per pound) and the larger cannolis were $2.50 each.

I opted to get a box of 10 of the smaller ones and then they were filled with cream and dusted with powdered sugar. Crispy, creamy, sweet- the box intended for sharing with my relatives kind of ended up as my breakfast for the next few days. 

not Taipei: LA Costco

Dear Taipei Costco,

Can you please bring some of this to Taipei? I promise there's a market for huge trays of frozen mexican rice and beans, flautas, tamales and enchiladas. Just ask Macho Tacos, Eddy's Cantina or Mayan Grill. I love you, but the bean and cheese burritos you're currently stocking just doesn't cut it. Or how about the chicken tikka masala or Jack Daniels bbq beef?

I'll even take the "Korean brand beef street tacos." Has anyone in LA actually tried this?

Costco LA has done all the work sourcing it for you- just give them a call or email and I promise I'll spread the word if you do.

Love, a Hungry girl in Taipei visiting in LA