Landing at one of Asia's food capitals and kicking yourself for having so little time?
That was our dilemma when we found ourselves on an 11-hour layover at Taipei en route to Hiroshima. But fear not: with some research even a half-day was enough for a whirlwind sampling of several major sights, and four essential eats symbolic of this bustling metropolis of 7 million.
05:30. Touched down at TPE Airport. It would take only 45 minutes to clear customs at this early hour.
06:15. Attempted to draw money from two different ATMs and finally succeeded with a Bank of Taiwan machine. With cash in hand we hopped on a Kuo-Kuang bus (this was 4 months before the Airport MRT opened) to central Taipei.
07:15. Countdown of our 6.5 hours in Taipei City as our bus arrived at Taipei Main Station. We would need to catch the return bus at 13:45 to arrive at TPE Airport in time for our 16:55 flight.
07:25. No better place to start our day in Taipei than the birthplace of Taipei itself. A 5-minute metro ride took us to Longshan Temple station where the picturesque Qing Dynasty brick structure of Bopiliao, 19th-Century-trading-post-turned-popular-movie-locale, was occupied by yet another film crew this morning.
07:30. Essential Eat #1. Shaobing Youtiao, or Fried Cruller wrapped in Roasted Flatbread, is one of those indispensable breakfast favorites that transcends multiple generations for the Taiwanese. A stone's throw from the tourist draws of Longshan Temple and Bopiliao stands this decades-old neighbourhood joint of Yonghe Sihai Doujiang, where you can always count on freshly handmade batches of these flaky pastries, accompanied of course by the essential Soy Milk.
Oh behave ... it's not what you're thinking!
Joking aside it never fails to amaze me how light and airy a Fried Cruller could taste, fresh out of the deep-frying vat and wrapped inside the aromatic, sesame-crusted Shaobing for a classic Chinese carb-on-carb indulgence. Adding a pan-fried Chive Pocket and two cups of nutty Soy Milk, and this standard Taiwanese breakfast would fuel us until the famous Din Tai Fung opens at 09:30.
Yonghe Sihai Doujiang Dawang
320 Kangding Road, Wanhua District, Taipei City
https://www.google.ca/maps/@25.0356676,121.5011822,21z
Bill for Two Persons
| Soy Milk x 2 | NT$40 |
| Shaobing Youtiao (Fried Cruller in Roasted Flatbread) | NT$30 |
| Jiucai Hezi (Chive Pocket) | NT$30 |
| TOTAL | NT$100 (CAD$4.5) |
08:00. Widely considered one of Taipei's top three temples and arguably the most architecturally spectacular, the Longshan Temple of Manka is a 280-year-old symbol of old Taipei that has survived everything from magnitude 7 earthquakes to Japanese occupation to American bombing during WWII.
Dating from the Japanese era, the current structure is renowned for its superb collection of traditional Taiwanese wood and stone sculptures including these ornate figures of mythical dragons and Qilins on the temple's distinctly parabolic roofline. The temple compound encompasses over a hundred different deities from various religious traditions, from Buddhist to Taoist to Confucian scholars and historic figures.
08:30. Cutting across the historic Manka neighbourhood en route to the Red House Theatre, we visited another prominent Qing Dynasty shrine known as the Qingshui Temple, a treasure trove of 19th Century calligraphy but now better known as backdrop for homegrown gangster movies.
09:15. After a quick selfie at the 100-year-old Red House Theatre, we took the metro to Taiwan's most recognizable landmark before the anticipated mass arrival of Mainland Chinese tour groups. What impressed us most wasn’t the grandiose scale of the C.K.S. Memorial and its adjoining square, but an unexpected urban oasis of classical gardens at the heart of metropolitan Taipei.
09:30. Frankly we had little interest in, or spare time for, Chiang Kai-Shek's personal effects housed inside a massive hall fit for a Chinese emperor, a respected monument or a despicable eyesore depending on which side you take in Taiwan's polarized politics. A few obligatory pictures sufficed before we continued our walk towards our most anticipated meal in Taipei.
09:45. Essential Eat #2. One of the world's Top 10 Restaurants according to Time Magazine -- which I do not necessarily agree with -- and the pride of Taiwan, Din Tai Fung has its humble beginnings here on Xinyi Road, next to the now-renowned 400m stretch of foodie heaven known as Yongkang Street. After 40 years its humble storefront remains surprisingly unadorned for a multi-national franchise with branches as far as New York, Tokyo and Sydney.
Just 20 minutes after opening and we're already queued behind dozens of local and Mainland Chinese gourmands, all converging here for the one legendary dish showcased by a spotless open kitchen where an assembly line of artisans all performed their specialized roles, from chopping and flavouring raw ingredients to hand-wrapping individual dumplings in Din Tai Fung's signature 18 folds.
Soup dumplings, XLB dumplings or Xiaolongbao -- whatever you call these one-bite wonders filled with scaldingly hot soup, I seriously doubt you could find one single table at Din Tai Fung that didn't order this iconic dish. A bamboo steamer with ten dumplings started at NT$210 (CAD$9.5) for pork and NT$370 (CAD$17) for the luxe version with crab meat and roes, exorbitant by Taiwanese standards but well-justified for its international fame.
This Crab Meat XLB Dumpling is now my new favorite Chinese-influenced Soup Dumpling, anywhere in the world.
I do not make this claim lightly -- I do consider myself an aficionado when it comes to authentic Soup Dumplings, its pinnacle demonstrated IMHO by the famed Jiajia Tangbao on Huanghe Road in Shanghai. And I still regard Jiajia Tangbao to be superior to Din Tai Fung in terms of the Umami flavour in the soup, when it comes to the basic pork version. But Din Tai Fung has a secret weapon that I have yet to encounter at any other Soup Dumpling specialist ...
... its incredibly soft and flexible wrapping, uncharacteristically chewy to the bite and resilient against breaking open, which would be the ultimate disaster in sampling Soup Dumplings. Combined with the remarkable sweetness of the crab meat and roes in the generous filling, this one-two punch was simply tough to beat.
Din Tai Fung (Xinyi Road Flagship Branch)
No.194, Xinyi Road Section 2, Da'an District, Taipei City
https://www.google.ca/maps/@25.0334872,121.5300852,21z
Bill for Two Persons
| XLB Dumplings (Pork) | NT$210 |
| XLB Dumplings (Crab Meat) | NT$370 |
| Stewed Bamboo Shoots | NT$100 |
| 10% Tax | NT$68 |
| TOTAL | NT$748 (CAD$34) |
10:30. Once the world's tallest building before being overtaken by Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the unmistakeable Taipei 101 loomed large along Xinyi Road even from several kilometres away where it hosted an upscale branch of Din Tai Fung for a more affluent clientele. Forking over NT$600 per person to scale this ultramodern landmark wasn't in our plan, as we preferred to spend our limited time and budget on the city's cheap gourmet offerings.
10:40. Unconsciously we were drawn back to the oasis of urban greenery, amazingly situated just 50 metres off the side of C.K.S. Memorial Hall and surrounded by some of the city's busiest streets. This was the perfect spot to people-watch at an unhurried, almost anti-Taipei pace.
Next we stumbled upon one of Taipei's best kept secrets.
How did these wild herons and white egrets learn to settle at the absolute centre of Metropolitan Taipei, ironically next to Taiwan's most prominent public square and a regular venue for anti-government protests and parades? While we're not birdwatchers ourselves, this was certainly a nature lover's paradise as these herons seemed to feel entirely at ease with us getting close to arm's reach.
11:45. Essential Eat #3. Not that we're hungry again, but this was a food-themed layover and we returned to Ximen Station for a third breakfast ... or an early lunch. Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle is one of those time-honoured street food vendors that has grown exceedingly famous in the Internet Age among locals and tourists alike, perennially seen standing or squatting along this congested block of Emei Street slurping down paper-bowls of piping hot noodles.
It was certainly worth the queue -- a savory bowl of rice noodles with chewy pork intestines, crispy bamboo shoots and what must have been a profuse amount of bonito flakes, all for just NT$65 (CAD$3) a bowl, cheap by international standards but apparently pricier compared with typical noodle stands elsewhere in Taiwan. A dollop of chili sauce and a pinch of chopped basil served to enhance the aroma, though the real crowd-pleaser was the intense Umami sweetness from the Chai Yu, or Katsuobushi for those old enough to remember it as a vestige of pre-WWII Japanese influence.
Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle
No.8-1, Emei Street, Wanhua District, Taipei City
https://www.google.ca/maps/@25.0433519,121.5076104,21z
Bill for Two Persons
| Rice Noodles | NT$65 |
| TOTAL | NT$65 (CAD$3) |
12:15. Essential Eat #4. Three of our four eatery choices in Taipei involved extensive queues, the longest seen at this 70-year-old institution of Lautianlu, best-known for its plethora of soy-braised exotic meats and offals from chicken hearts to duck webs to its best selling duck tongues. Back in the heydays of classic cinema these cheap cuts of meat were considered perfect movie snacks, similar to the rise of popcorn in the Western world. Nowadays two related but fiercely competing Lautianlu shops strive for supremacy within this four-block radius in Ximending, though the long queues of movie goers have long been displaced by souvenir-hunting tourists from Mainland China.
We queued for a good 15 minutes for eight duck tongues, one duck wing and two ginormous duck gizzards, my wife's favorite item in terms of Lu Wei, a genre of informal, soy-braised takeout prevalent in Southern Chinese-influenced cities such as Taipei and Hong Kong. With our prized plunder in hand we slowly strolled back towards Taipei Main Station, passing by the fortified Qing Dynasty gate before hopping on the 13:45 bus back to TPE Airport.
Once you get past the alien-looking shape and chewy texture, these marinated tongues would amaze your palate with an extraordinary depth of flavour derived from a savory concoction of dark soy sauce, various Chinese herbs and spicy Sichuan peppers. Just ditch that thought of French-kissing the ducks.
Lautianlu
No.55, Wuchang Street Section 2, Wanhua District, Taipei City
https://www.google.ca/maps/@25.0447443,121.5072884,21z
Bill for Two Persons
| Braised Duck Tongues (TWD185/100g) | NT$174 |
| Braised Duck Wing | NT$27 |
| Braised Duck Gizzards x 2 | NT$80 |
| TOTAL | NT$281 (CAD$12.8) |
14:45. Back at TPE Airport we finally sat down to munch on the duck gizzards and tongues, savouring the last bits from our 4th light meal over a half day in Taipei, clearly too short for our curious tastebuds. My mind had already been made up -- we need to return for a proper, perhaps round-island trip to fully appreciate Taiwan as a foodie destination. Maybe next year.
