This is second part of the guest post by Jun Hoe, one of the cofounders of Snowflakes, located in Selayang Mall and The Sphere, Bangsar South. What is Snowflakes? Find out more here – http://www.meluvsnowflakes.com/

One of the most satisfying dishes I had in Taipei was this little set that consisted of a bowl of soup, some veggies and the Taiwanese version of Loh Mai Kai. But without the Kai. Whoever thought of putting minced pork on veggies is a genius.

The soup was OK but the sticky rice was out of this world. The fact that they doused it with a yummy sweet and sour sauce with minced pork had me sold but the kicker was the minced garlic they spread across the top of the rice. There was a burst of flavor with every bite I took. Plus the soup and veggies complimented it very nicely. I ordered this in the food court of Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building behind Dubai’s Burj. Another thing we ordered at the food court was this Tau Fu Far (soft beancurd) thing with stuff in it. There were lots of little extras you could put in but we ordered the one with peanuts and some kind of tiny sago. It was a cold dish and instead of the usual syrup it was flooded with some sort of sweet soup. It was a good change from the plain old Tau Fu Far. I think some of the dessert shops here in KL have started offering this though I’ve yet to try it.

Check out this handy little meal. We found this wandering around the area near our hotel. It’s a simple meal with just noodles and some kind of fish paste, a mushroom and spring onions but it comes in a little wooden box! I like it because you can eat it while walking around. It’s like having a snack that could also be your lunch/dinner. Convenient and filling!

This next snack we found in Shilin Night Market. Probably the most famous of all the night markets and for good reason. It was HUGE. Imagine all the night markets in KL combined. That would be size of Shilin night market. Let me briefly explain the difference between the night markets in KL and in Taipei based on my observations. The night markets in KL open once a week in different areas and more often than not, they’re just the same group of vendors that move around on a rotation basis. And even though they’re open only once a week in a certain area, they’re reasonably packed with people. In Taipei, the night markets are open every single night in every single location and they’re all jam packed with people every single day. Especially at Shilin. Check out this stall we found there. It sold baked potatoes drenched in cheese sauce with macaroni, ham and corn. It was really good but it made me feel like throwing up after awhile. Must be all that cheese.

One of Tawan’s iconic streetfood was the mee sua with oysters. Having tried the mee sua at the Shilin night market kiosk at the Gardens, I have to say that they’re the same and yet different. They don’t taste that much different but the ones in Taipei have a bit of an edge maybe because they’re stuff are fresher or they’re more generous with their ingredients. I don’t know. This is a must try for people visiting Taipei.

This next shop had by far the weirdest thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. I came across it on a blog while I was researching on stuff to eat before we got there. Situated on the outskirts of Ximenting, it took us awhile to find the place. It was an ice cream shop that had 73 flavors to choose from. At a glance, nothing seems weird about anything but check out the menu and you’ll find out. I’m not sure if you can read the menu in the picture but here are a few of the flavors they had to offer: Carrot, Honey, Mustard, Curry, Chilli Pepper, Tomato, Basil, Bitter Melon, Ginger. And those aren’t the weird ones. Under the salty selection they had Ginger Chicken, Fluffy pork and pig feet. Hmmm. Pork ice cream. I had to try it even if it made me puke. Mind you it almost did. I had a scoop of the fluffy pork ice cream and it was the most difficult thing I have ever tried to finish. Imagine eating cold, creamy pork floss. It was pure torture. In case anyone has ever wondered what salty ice cream would taste like, well, I’m here to tell you as a survivor, it’s horrific. It made the plum wine ice cream that my friend ordered taste like heaven. The wine and beer flavored ice creams had actual alcohol content in them so I thought it would be funny if there were kids who go there all the time thinking they like ice cream when in fact they’re raging alcoholics. The prices per scoop weren’t cheap too. Different flavors had different prices but on average a scoop would cost like Rm11-13. The store has a “no sample” policy, so if you want to try anything, you have to buy a scoop. Otherwise they’d probably go out of business giving away samples to curious visitors.

After the 5 days in Taipei I’d have to say that Taiwanese street food has lived up to its hype. It’s definitely a place I’d recommend to anyone who loves food. All the food we tried was probably only the tip of the iceberg.

Given more time, and more stomach space, I’m sure there are lots more interesting things to try. Guess I’ll have to go back there some other time!

Related posts:

Taipei Delights and Food in Taiwan! Part 1

Tags: taipei food, Taiwan, taiwan food, taiwan streetfood