chinese/dim sum: i strongly recommend TIM HO WAN

TIM HO WAN 添好運
at HOYII
No. 36, ZhongXiao W Rd, Sec. 1
台北市忠孝西路一段36號1樓
(02) 2370-7078

MRT: Taipei Main Station

website: Tim Ho Wan Taiwan's FB page

hours: 10AM - 10PM

$-$$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available and lots to choose from for dim sum loving kids

Visit reviewed: 11/10/2014 & 1/30/2015 & 6/29/2015 & 12/4/2016

WILL PEOPLE LINE UP FOR YOUR RESTAURANT? That seems to be the gauge for new places opening up in Taipei. People infamously lined up for hours for Mister Donut, Krispy Kreme, Honey Pig, Honey Creme, Hai Di Lao, Taipei In and Out pop up, and a few years ago, it was Tim Ho Wan. I just revisited Tim Ho Wan today and realized that I had this blog draft sitting in my folder for the past few years! So here it finally is...

Tim Ho Wan is famous for being one of the cheapest Michelin starred restaurants you can dine at with dishes averaging about NT$100+ for its dim sum. I've never been to the original location in Hong Kong, but luckily I was with a group of friends who knew how to order-- everything on the menu! To my surprise, everything lived up to its reputation and was delicious-- my favorite was the baked bun with bbq pork which had an thin, sweet crust instead of the bready white bun we have grown up with. 

I would stick to the dim sum over the rice bowls or congee that they have, which I think are better at places like Lao Yo Ji. Also note there isn't much for strict vegetarians here, most of their dishes that might seem to be vegetarian might have pork fat or oil in it, so there's only one or two things that you'd be able to try here if you are vegetarian. For an entire array of vegetarian dim sum, you can head over to Yang Shin. 

If you only have a group of two or four people, then the MUST ORDERS at Tim Ho Wan are the baked bbq bun, the shrimp or pork liver chang fun, the pork dumpling with shrimp (aka siu mai) and one of the more unique fried items like the spring roll with egg white, and save room for the mango pomelo sago and steamed egg cake. Those were my favorites. 

Baked bun with bbq pork (NT$118 for 3) The first time I had this, I loved it. But on my most recent visit, I noticed that it can be a little overly sweet since the filling is sweet and the bun itself is sweet. But inside the bun is mostly air and so it's easy to finish one. But I don't think I could eat more than one in one sitting. 

The chang fun here is dubbed the vermicelli roll, and comes with shrimp, bbq pork, beef, plain or pork liver. 

Vermicelli Roll with Pork Liver (NT$128) 

Steamed Pork Dumpling with Shrimp (NT$128)

Spring Roll with Egg White (NT$98) 

 Vermicelli Roll with Sweet and Sesame Sauce (NT$108) vegetarian

Steamed Prawn Dumpling (NT$138)

Pan fried carrot cake (NT$98 for 3) aka Radish cake is soft and not that crispy, but it's good and you can taste the chunks of radish inside. 

Steamed Pork Rib with Black Bean Sauce (NT$108) 

Steamed Beef Ball with Beancurd Skin (NT$98)

Beancurd Skin Roll with Pork and Shrimp (NT$98) 

Braised Chicken Feet with Abalone Sauce (Not for me, but so you can see the portion and size and how it was more saucy on one visit than the other :) 

Spinach dumpling with shrimp - one of the few with veggies in it. 

Deep Fried Beancurd Skin Roll with Shrimp

Wasabi Salted Prawn Dumpling (NT$128)

Congee with Lean Pork, Century Egg and Salted Egg (NT$108) I still like the the congee at Lao Yo Ji the best. 

Seasonal Veggies

Rice with Beef and Fried Egg (NT$138)

Chicken, sausage and mushroom rice (NT$138) 

Glutinous rice with lotus leaf (NT$128) I would get this over the rice bowls- it's massive enough to share and the glistening sticky rice is stuffed with meat, mushrooms and surprises.

Mango Pomelo Sago (NT$118) Yum! I'll always remember the first time I had this kind of dessert in Hong Kong, and this dessert soup is refreshing at the end of the meal.

Steamed Egg Cake (NT$98) To my surprise, I liked this a lot! Fluffy and spongy, this was like a moist brown sugar cake.

Now that there are several locations and take out counters, the lines aren't as insane on a daily basis, but on weekends make a reservation in advance to avoid the wait. Also good news is that they haven't raised their prices yet since opening. 

OTHER LOCATIONS

Xinyi Mitsukoshi A8, B2

No. 12, SongGao Rd, Xinyi District

(02) 2722-9358

11AM- 9:30PM; until 10PM on friday and weekends

Hankyu Mall Food Court
No 8, ZhongXiao E. Road, Sec. 5, B2
(02) 2729-3378
7:30AM-9:30PM; until 10PM on friday and weekends (wow! 730AM!)

MegaCity
No. 28 XinDian Road, B1
新北市板橋區新站路28號B1
(02) 2955-7978
11AM- 10PM

Taichung
No. 251, Taiwan DaDao Sec. 3
台中市西屯區臺灣大道三段251號B2 
(04) 2258-6778

Kaohsiung
No.777, Bo'ai 2nd Road, Zuoying Dist | B1F, Hanshin Arena Shopping Plaza, Kaohsiung 813
高雄市左營區博愛二路路777號（漢神巨蛋B1美食廣場）

pop up/asia best 50: MINISTRY OF CRAB POP UP AT REGENT TAIPEI 12/1-12/4

SRI LANKA IS EIGHT HOURS AWAY FROM TAIPEI, BY PLANE. It's a small island on the south side of India, which I didn't know until I looked it up yesterday. Thank goodness for Google. 

Why was I looking up Sri Lanka? Because I was charmed by the enthusiasm, backstory and food of half Japanese, half Sri Lankan chef Dharshan Munidasa, who has two restaurants ranked on Asia's Best 50. He cooked up a storm while a student at John Hopkins, with skills learned from his Japanese mom, and returned to Sri Lanka when his father passed away before graduating from college. Chef Munidasa brought his spices, woks, team and huge crabs from Sri Lanka to Taipei, to do a four day pop up at Regent Taipei from 12/1-12/4.  

From the moment I sat down and saw a bib with a motto to live by "Keep Calm and Crab On," I knew we were going to have a good meal and get our hands dirty. 

The set menu for two is NT$4800 or you could get 1-1.5 kg (2-3.5 pounds) crabs a la carte for NT$2580 or NT$4280, depending on weight. 

 

The tasting started off with a glass of Small Island Ice Tea, inspired by Long Island Ice Tea, with Sri Lankan tea and arrack, which is a coconut flower liquor. It's sweet accompaniment to the stronger flavors on the plate. 

Chili crab and pepper crabs might have been popularized by Singapore using exported Sri Lankan crabs, but Ministry of Crab is the first Sri Lankan restraurant "dedicated to serving the best crabs in their country." They are a "no freeze" restaurant so their seafood isn't frozen, and the crabs at the pop up are also live (up untl they are cooked.) Ofher dishes include OMG prawns and #crabzilla which are crabs over 2kg. Diners can opt for pepper crab (made with crushed Sri Lankan peppers), curry, garlic or garlic chili crab.

The OMG prawns were also delicious and slightly less work to eat. The head was the size of a lobster, which seemed oversized to the shrimpy body.

Jockeying for a shot among all the Taiwan news cameras and reporters. 😁😁 

Luckily several crabs came to the table, so it wasn't too awkward to duke it out for crab. The claws were almost as big as my fist and definitely more satisfying (for meat) than hairy crab, which is tiny in comparison. The black pepper crab wasn't overwhelming and a lot of the sauce came off when you take off the shell. The meat was sweet and I liked both the pepper and garlic flavors I tried. If you don't get the set, I would recommend the OMG prawn over the Curry Tiger Prawns which were slightly over cooked and a tad dried out. Otherwise just get a bunch of crab loving friends and share different flavors of crab. Thanks Regent Taipei for the invitation to the media event and lunch! 

Ministry of Crab's pop up is from 12/1-12/4 at Silk Place, on the 3rd floor in the Regent Taipei Hotel. Reservations recommended (02) 2521-5000

https://m.facebook.com/MINISTRYOFCRAB/photos/a.284603361627863.72624.192288300859370/1026794397408752/?type=3&source=44

Hungryintaipei X Uber Eats Taipei

Hey everyone, I'm excited to announce that you can try a new restaurant (or old fave) from @ubereats_tw and save NT$300 using my promo code HUNGRYINTAIPEI. 

You'll get TWO new-user-trials, each discount up to NT$150, and got NT$70 delivery fee for free. Promo code will expire 11/30/2016. They've extended the credit, so use away! (I'll also get credit if you use my code, hungryintaipei, so if you've ever wanted to thank me for all the posts then it's as easy as trying this out!) The app is pretty easy to use and navigate and they have quite a few eats on there that I want to try out too. Feel free to share the promo! Thanks! 

News: where to find Thanksgiving in Taipei 2016

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Even this year has been a bit overwhelming and we don't know what is going to happen the next year (or four), I do still have a lot to be grateful for. I was able to travel to Paris, Guam, Tokyo, Toba, Tainan and Osaka, all for the first time (except Tokyo which I had visited once before). I was able to spend time with my parents and family in New York, Boston and LA, and hang out with my sister in Japan and Taipei, even if it was brief. I also have a lot of exciting things in the works that I hope to be able to share with you soon. I was able to work behind the scenes as a Taipei fixer for Bizarre Foods Delicious Destinations and the Culinary Institute of America's World of Flavors series, which will hopefully showcase what we already know, which is how amazing Taiwan is as a destination for good eats. 

But the next few days, some of us will be on the hunt for turkey. So here is a list of places for where to find Thanksgiving in Taipei. If you have a restaurant or know of one that's also doing Thanksgiving, please include it below and I'll include it on my next list!

TEXAS ROADHOUSE 德州鮮切牛

Songgao (02)2725-1030

Mingsheng (02) 2718-3011

https://m.facebook.com/TexasRoadhouseTWN/

(NT$799 turkey plate, sides, soup or salad with drink until 11/24. I got to try this and it was pretty delicious and filling!! See the first photo. First 30 customers to mention "hungryintaipei" get a free keychain.😊)

PIG AND PEPPER 

(02) 2708-7899
https://www.facebook.com/pigandpeppertaipei

WHALENS 

(02) 2739-3037
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Whalens-味鄰/320813964677441

BABA KEVIN's BBQ 

0800-887-427
https://www.facebook.com/88kbbq
(I heard there will be turducken this weekend!) 

SPOT TAIPEI 

(02) 2775-4117

https://m.facebook.com/spot.taipei/

GALERIE BISTRO 

02-2558-0096

https://m.facebook.com/galeriebistro/

CAFE BY JUICY DIARY 

(02)2708-0802

https://m.facebook.com/cafebyjuicydairy/

LE BLANC

(02) 2700-7770

http://m.facebook.com/leblanctaipei/

(All you can eat prime rib for NT$2000!) 

CARNEGIE's 

(02) 2325-4433
https://www.facebook.com/carnegiestaipei

RUE 216 

02-2711-3450

https://m.facebook.com/Rue216/

ON TAP 

(02) 2741-5365
http://www.ontaptaipei.com

ED's DINER

 (02) 8502-6969
https://www.facebook.com/EdsDinerTaipei

BALD FATTY BISTRO

(02)2921-1367

https://m.facebook.com/baldfatty/

GRANDMA NITTI's KITCHEN

 (02) 2369-9751
https://www.facebook.com/grandmanittiskitchen

CORNER OFFICE 

(02) 2775-3637

https://m.facebook.com/cornerofficetaipei/

GRAND HYATT HOTEL BUFFET

 (02) 2720 1234
https://www.facebook.com/GrandHyattTaipei

AMERICAN CLUB
https://www.americanclub.org.tw/news/

JAKE's COUNTRY KITCHEN 

(02)2871-5289

https://m.facebook.com/鄉香西餐廳-Jakes-Country-Kitchen-360274272354

BEER AND CHEESE 

(02) 2737-1983

https://m.facebook.com/beerandcheese/

The last few years I've been ordering whole turkey to carve at home and make my favorite sides like candied yams and cornbread. If you want to order a cooked whole turkey or ham for Christmas, please check out my round up from a few years ago. Some good options are Lawrys, Sherwood, Ed's Diner and Costco even had frozen Butterball turkeys this year. If you're not a turkey person, you could considered rounding up a group for roast duck, which would be fitting for celebrating Thanksgiving in Asia. 

ramen/japanese: i strongly recommend TOTTO RAMEN

TOTTO RAMEN 鳥人拉麵

 No 9, Alley 5, Lane 107, Fuxing S. Road, Sec. 1

台北市大安區復興南路一段107巷5弄9號

(02) 2778-9866

MRT: ZhongXiao/FuXing

hours: 11:30AM- 2:30PM; 5:30PM-10:30PM (Saturdays 12PM-12AM)

$$ (about NT$250/person)

Kid friendliness: kids will love the chicken broth original paitan, no high chairs spotted and very narrow tight seating so no room for strollers 

Visit reviewed: 10/30/2016 & 6/17/2016

WHAT SETS TOTTO RAMEN APART FROM OTHERS is that its broth base is made from chicken stock rather than the more popular tonkotsu pork bone broth. For a first time visit, the server recommended we try the unadorned chicken paitan (NT$200) which is a velvety version of chicken noodle soup, with two slices of charsiu pork and thin al dente noodles. Paitan translates into white soup, so you'll see it's a milky, opaque, almost creamy soup rather than the clear chicken stock Amercians are used to. 

Some of you might recognize Totto Ramen from NYC and the Taipei shop is the real deal. Located in the alleys behind ZhongXiao Sogo, it seats about 20 people in one row of tables and one row of bar seating. On my third visit, I discovered they were more adamant about seating customers after everyone in your party had arrived (which I always find annoying especially since I was one person waiting for one other person and would occupy 1 table) even when the restaurant isn't full and there is no line. 

If you sit at the bar (or are waiting to be seated) then you can spy huge vats of chicken and chicken stock bubbling away, to become the base for the ramen broth. 

Totto Ramen's menu has four basic bowls- Chicken paitan, miso paitan, vegetable ramen and mega paitan and then spicy versions of it. There are small rice bowls available and some side dishes like seaweed salad or kimchi tofu. No grilled shisito peppers from their NY menu, as someone asked me on Instagram. You can add extra stuff to your bowl like bamboo or kimchi, or extra noodles for NT$30, or even chicken.

The cucumber (NT$90) is deceptively spicy. 

I always find myself gravitating towards spicy miso paitan (NT$230). Pretty delicious and yes it's the same one as the one in NYC. The chili oil and miso paste is added into the chicken paitan broth, so if I ordered this again, I would ask for the sauces on the side. The last time I had it, it was a bit heavy for me, maybe since I had it after a workout. But if you're looking for a rich spicy miso, this will fit the bill. Another thing to note is that the chicken paitan comes with a slender straight noodle (and no egg) while the miso paitan comes with a thicker wavy ramen and half an egg. I felt the pork was also fattiest on my most recent visit, so I ended up being a bit charsiu deprived after peeling away all the fat. 

For a heartier bowl, the mega paitan (NT$290) comes with more pork (I think three different kinds), and bears the number one label on the menu. If you're hungry, this is worth the upgrade. (Still cheaper than the chicken paitan I had in LA which started at US$12)

Anyways, head over to Totto Ramen before too many people discover it. And let me know if you find any other chicken paitan ramen spots in Taipei. The first place I ever had chicken paitan ramen was at  Afuri Ramen in Tokyo and then here at Totto Ramen in Taipei and then Tentenyu on Sawtelle in LA. The broth reminds me a little bit of the intense chicken soup at G-woo, although this is for a fraction of the cost. I would kind of kill for a bowl of this right now at one in the morning, as I'm finally updating some posts.

dessert/japanese: i recommend MYOWA

MYOWA 和茗甘味處
No. 221 JinHua St 
金華街221號
(02) 2351-8802

MRT: DongMen 

hours: 1PM- 9PM

price: $-$$ (minimum one drink or dessert per person)

kid friendliness: lots of desserts or drinks if your kid likes green tea

visit reviewed: 11/11/2016

I'VE PASSED BY MYOWA DOZENS OF TIMES OVER THE YEARS, as it sits discreetly next to the adorable Patisserie La Douceur. But yesrtday feeling the mood for matcha, we stopped by after sushi. 

Inside I spied matcha everything on the tables we passed, as they led us to the seating in the basement. The menu included photos of matcha tiramisu, chiffon cake, lava cake, matcha cheesecake, matcha shaved ice, matcha crepe cake, matcha lattes- basically 10 pages of anything you could imagine in green tea dessert or drink form. The server told us there was a minimum order of one drink or dessert per person and that we would have to order at the cashier and pay first upstairs.  I considered the shaved ice or the hot plate matcha cake (which I really wanted to try), but I couldn't finish it by myself and my friends wanted soft serve which didn't count as an item for the minimum order (annoying). So we ended up not sitting inside and ordering to go. 

TTheir matcha soft serve is pretty tasty (and not too sweet) though I could do without the cornflakes in the sundae. Inside the sundae there's also matcha jelly at the bottom and two mochi atop with a touch of adzuki red bean. I didn't love the mochi (I'd prefer the tang yuan at Tai Yi if we're counting calories), so next time I'd get the plain soft serve cone or the hot plate matcha cake or maybe the cheesecake. If you're looking for matcha galore, I'd recommend Myowa- I've never seen so many matcha desserts in one place. You can also look for shops inside the malls specializing in green tea desserts like Tsujiri and Matcha One (spotted at Breeze and Mitsukoshi), but those are mostly soft serve and ice. Here's the menu for Myowa for your perusal.

OTHER LOCATION:

ZhongXiao branch

No. 40, Lane 31, DaAn Rd, Sec. 1

(02) 8771-7720