An Eating Tour of Taipei, Taiwan
Over the past 16 years, I've made more trips than I can count to Taiwan—the island of 23 million people located just off the southeast coast of China—for one simple reason: My wife, Jean, is Taiwanese, and her family still lives in the capital, Taipei. Well, actually, there's another reason I look forward to going back every year or so: the food. It's a complex mix of Chinese styles from all parts of the mainland, Japanese cuisine (a legacy of Taiwan's status as a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945), and, most important, a homegrown approach to cooking and eating. Taiwanese cuisine continues to impress me with its versatility, honesty, and sophistication.
Recently, I returned from yet another visit to Taipei, during which my wife, my kids, and I did nothing but see old friends and family—and eat. These photos, which I couldn't stop myself from Instagramming constantly, provide a pretty good portrait of what that was like.
Matt Gross1/12The Most Taiwanese Dish of All
Lu rou fan, on the left, is made of ground pork stewed with five-spice powder and soy paste. To me, it's the most Taiwanese dish of all: hearty, rustic, flavorful, and frugal. At top right is geng, a mild and rich breed of thick soup, needing only a dash of black vinegar to spark it to life. That green stuff at the bottom right? Spinach! All served at the incredibly busy Jin Feng Lu Rou Fan (10 Roosevelt Rd., Section 1; +886 2 2396 0808).
Matt Gross2/12Dinner at Home
Since I'm in Taipei not as a tourist but to visit family, I wind up eating many, many meals with my in-laws. Prepared by the family's cook, these meals are multi-dish feasts. Each dish is often quite simple: steamed shrimp, pan-fried tofu, stir-fried noodles, and boiled dumplings. Simple, yes—and satisfying.
Matt Gross3/12Oyster Noodles, Hold the Oysters
The first time I ate mian xian 15 years ago, I hated it; the deep viscosity of the soup surrounding the thin, short noodles turned me off, not to mention the nuggets of intestine. (Weirdly enough, although mian xian are often known as "oyster noodles," they're not always made with oysters.) I persevered, however, and now I love this dish for its play of flavors, especially when spiked with mashed garlic, black vinegar, chili sauce, and cilantro. My wife eats it for breakfast every day in Taipei, bought from A-Ming's cart on Luoyang Street near Xining South Road.
4/12The Other Most Taiwanese of Dishes
You could also make a good argument that the most Taiwanese of foods is beef noodle soup, a dish packed with brisket and tendon, swirling with flat noodles, and strewn with pickled mustard greens and dollops of chili sauce. Every year the island hosts a competition to see who can make the best version of this hearty soup. I don't know which is the best, but Aged 21 (128 Minshan Street; +886-2-2794-6889) makes a fine, fine rendition with dry-aged beef.
Matt Gross5/12Cheers to Taiwan Beer!
If you're going to spend time in Taiwan, you're going to drink some Taiwan Beer. And you know what? It's pretty good stuff: crisp and light—and ubiquitous. I had quite a bit while I was there. My only regret is that I failed to bring back a set of these cute little beer glasses.
Matt Gross6/12A New Discovery
Around the corner from my family's place in the Ximending neighborhood was a little stall I'd never visited before. Turns out it specializes in goose, which is boiled, sliced, and served atop a simple noodle soup with a powerful chili sauce on the side. A little fried tofu with shredded ginger made this an ideal breakfast (yes, breakfast). The stall is on the corner of Luoyang Street and Xining South Road.
Matt Gross7/12Coffee Break
Unlike some Asian countries, Taiwan has a lot of places to get good-quality coffee, including Fong Da (42 Chengdu Rd.; +886 2 2371 9577) which has been brewing coffee—in Japanese-style siphons and via cold-drip—since 1956.
Matt Gross8/12These Small Fish Are Called...
"Small fish." Yes, literally. That's what the family cook called them when I asked. They were wonderful: crunchy-chewy, laced with pine nuts, and excellent spread across a bowl of fresh white rice.
Matt Gross9/12Island Life
Taiwan is, of course, an island, which means it has access to loads of fresh seafood. At this restaurant whose name (品鱻熱炒) translates as "Stir-Fried Seafood Products" (68 Leli Road; +886-2-2735-8373), we ate fried oysters with Thai basil, clams with loofa, grilled squid, and some funky vegetables (bitter melon with egg, something I know only as "mountain vegetable").
Matt Gross10/12Where It's Always the Year of the Pig
Taiwanese people like pork: They eat 42 kilograms per capita annually, making it one of the top ten consumers in the world, which is no surprise if you've ever had pai gu fan, or fried pork chop on rice. The rice itself is dabbed with lu rou, the stewed pork we saw in slide number 1. If you don't eat or like pork, then you won't like this dish, which I love with a passion.
Matt Gross11/12Pork, Refined
It's not all rustic dining in Taipei: Bird Wo Wo was a bright, chic second-story restaurant, decorated with bright white feathers and offering creative versions of dishes from all over China. These sliced pig ears were served on a mound of enoki mushrooms and shredded cucumber, and dressed in a spicy-numbing Sichuan marinade that was amazingly balanced.
Jean Liu12/12The Ice Monster Cometh
Asian desserts are not always on everyone's eating agenda, but Ice Monster, a Taipei favorite for years, should change that. Ice Monster specializes in shaved ice, but rather than use plain water, they infuse it with flavors—strawberry, bubble tea, and most famously mango—then add in a dollop of ice cream as well as fresh fruit. My daughter Sasha went for strawberry, and was quite happy with the results.
