蒜味肉羹 (Garlic flavored meat 'geng')

This place is in 宜蘭 (Yi Lan County), so I likely won't be going back. Actually, the only reason I got to go in the first place was because my Aunt K wanted to go, but even she said that they only get to go once every 3 years or so. So considering all that, I guess I got a real treat haha. It's called 蒜味肉羹 (suan wei rou geng), which is exactly what it sells. The store front is, uh... well it's pretty crappy. In a beat up back road like street, it's a shack that is roughly the size of a small studio in NYC. The 'kitchen' is outside, where there's a giant vat of soup broth, and a second vat of the pork and fish paste. Inside, there are only 3 tables, maybe a total of 15 cheap metal chairs, and pretty much nothing else. If hole in the wall could be quantified as a measurable statistic, then this place is off the charts. This clearly hasn't hurt business though, since it was absolutely packed (we waited 15 minutes just to share a table with another family), and there was a fairly long line waiting for takeout.


肉羹 (rou geng) translates to... honestly I don't know what it translates to. It's pork which has a layer of fish paste applied to the outside, the same paste that is used to make fish balls and tempura (the Taiwanese variety). When placed in a pork soup base thickened with cornstarch, and mixed with Jew's ear mushrooms, bamboo, cilantro, and garlic... what results is the quintessential Taiwanese street cart food known as rou geng. What sets this place apart is the garlic though. From about 100 meters away, you can smell the overwhelming smell of fresh garlic, which is their trademark. We ordered 2 orders of regular rou geng and 2 orders of 肉羹粿 (rou geng guo/gui), all of which were 45 NT ($1.50). Yet another triumphant win for Taiwan, I'm pretty sure 3buckbites would fail miserably here, not... enough... bandwidth. The rou geng was thick and gloopy (I'm not sure that's a real word) and tasted adequate enough, but the standout thing about this place was the fact that their meat was almost all pork, and just a thin layer of fish paste (really uncommon given how cheap Taiwanese vendors usually are), and also that the garlic is overwhelmingly spicy (no hot sauce needed). All in all, probably the best I've had in Taiwan, which is fairly high praise, since you can find this everywhere, and I've eaten this at a lot of place. The one with the noodles... uh, I didn't try it, but it's the same base, so I imagine it's probably pretty awesome too. Would I recommend this place...? Hmm... I really want to, I really do, but I hurt thinking about not being able to go back lol. That and I don't have the faintest clue what the address is. If you were to see that store frong though... stop your car, get out, eat a bowl, and get 10 to go. I swear you won't regret it.

I had a really good run this morning, did a lap around 大安... ran over to CKS memorial hall... ran over to the President's office (where I got to see their morning flag ceremony), then sprinted back to my house. I didn't bother timing it since I had to stand still for the flag thing, but it felt moderately well paced. Final distance ended up being much further than I wanted to run, which was 8k, since I came in around 6.76 miles. You know, since I started working, I've found that I'm much more fatigued in the morning, that I doze off at work during meetings (in front of the Taiwanese equivalent of Stephen Hawking no less), and that I don't want to run. I need to find a way to fix this.

distance for the day: 6.76 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 381.01 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Crepes... they're just really thin pancakes

I often find myself looking for a 2nd or 3rd lunch after eating my initial lunch. This was one of those cases. After eating a proper meal already, I was walking around and ended up in the 師大 (Shida) area, near the teacher's college. There's a night market there that is kind of famous, and ridiculously crowded, especially after finals (this week) and at night. Luckily, the place I wanted to go to has a store, and is open all day so I don't have to fight through the absurd crowds at night. I think the name is 阿諾式可麗餅 (Arnold's Crepes), but don't quote me on that... in case you forgot, I'm an ABC (American born Chinese) so my Chinese in the grand scheme of things is pretty suxxors. Anyway, it's located at the opening of the first alley on 師大路 (Shida Road), and there's always a line of people waiting, so it's pretty easy to find (I actually think there are a lot of locations, since it seems to be a chain). As far as the store... small shack style, I didn't eat in, so I can't comment on the interior, but everyone there was getting it to go. Let's just say... it's equivalent to street cart food. Would you want to eat in a small shack with tables set up by a chicken and rice cart? Nevermind, don't answer that.


There's actually a dizzying variety of flavors, from the dessert (including sundaes, red adzuki bean, taro), to the sweet, fruity varieties (mango, strawberry, peach, etc.), to the savory (ham, teriyaki chicken, grilled steak, pineapple shrimp). I probably should've taken a picture of the menu... since I'd be hard pressed to even list 25% of the their entire menu (here, you can read it yourself if you know Chinese :D). They basically spread their crepe batter over a giant round hot surface, and while it's crisping, they'll butter it with giant butter knives, and either spread your sweet pastes, ice cream, or fruits on top to caramelize, or start to layer the appropriate ingredients. In the time that they're applying the additional toppings, the crepe comes to a semi pliable firmness, at which point they take another giant spatula and proceed to scrape, and fold the giant concoction into a perfect cone. Watching this go on was actually half the fun haha. As far as pricing, nothing on the set list tops 100 NT ($3), and most things are in the 40-70 NT range, so it doesn't qualifty as cheap eats (in Taiwan anyway), but it certainly won't hurt your wallet. I chose to get the 黑胡椒豬肉 (black pepper pork) which was 60 NT ($2).


How was it? Well, imagine a thin crepe cookie first covered with more butter, then stacked with thinly sliced peppered pork (like ham really), which is then covered by 3 slices of american cheese, further stacked with a heaping handful of shredded lettuce, carrots, and cucumbers, and finally topped with an orange mayonnaise sauce (similar to thousand island, but I really want to say that I tasted miso too). It was basically a giant salad stuffed into a crepe which has been buttered to oblivion. I thought it was pretty good for the price, it was a lot of food (good for a light meal) for a fairly low price. On top of that, it made me feel like I was eating healthy (even though I clearly wasn't)... double win. The notable ingredient here was the sauce, which would even make someone who hates salad want to eat heaping mounds of lettuce. Would I recommend it though? Eh, that's questionable. It's kind of gimmicky, and while I thought it was good, it wasn't... 'I have to have another crepe tomorrow' good. So if having a giant salad in a cookie sounds tasty to you, by all means... get one, but don't feel like your missing out if you don't get it.

I did sprint intervals today! Actually I don't really know if what I did qualifies as that. People always told me to do HIIT, but I've found that I can't run fast enough to force myself to have to stop in 30 seconds, so I end up sprinting for 2 or 3 minutes. In any case, I ran fast... then I jogged... rinse, wash, repeat several times. I went to Taipei 101 and back, so total distance ended up being 5.41 miles. A bit short, but hey... it felt hard all the same.

distance for the day: 5.41 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 374.25 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Zhu Ji Xian Bing (朱記餡餅)

Some years back, before I fell in love with beef noodle soup... I had another obsession, which were these small round discs known as 餡餅 (xian bing). Little pockets of pan fried dough, akin to a thicker and larger pot sticker wrapper, is home to a little ball of minced meat (pork or beef) blended with a mix of the requisite ginger and garlic. They reminded me of my grandfather, since it's a Northern Chinese delicacy, and he used to make them all the time. Needless to say, I still have a place in my heart for these 'oversized gyoza.' Perhaps the most famous place in Taiwan to find these is 朱記餡餅 (Zhu Ji Xian Bing). I think the name means it was founded by someone with the last name of 朱, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I prefer to think of it as 'piggy' instead... or at least that's what I thought when I was a kid (another point of confusion, am I still a kid? At what point can I start saying 'back when I was a kid' without feeling awkward?). Anyway, before I digress into another tangent, I should finish this review.

Not so much a hole in the wall type place (I know... I know... I'm sorry!), this place is actually sort of a tourist spot. Not to the point that it's on travel brochures like 鼎泰豐 (Ding Tai Feng), but people in Taiwan know it well... and even people who visit from the south will likely make a trip here. So let's just say, it's famous within Taiwan, but relatively unknown to foreigners. Anyway, as you can see from the store front picture... nice big signage, easy to find... it's located 仁愛路 (Ren Ai Lu), right after 花市 (flower market). It's a fairly large establishment, two levels, lots of tables, nice interior... with a traditional Asian decor (read: no metal stools... this actually makes me sad haha). It's actually pretty damn fancy. Look! Even the soy sauce and vinegar are kept in porcelein and not some cheap clear plastic containers. I did think it was kind of humorous that they had to label in Chinese and then English... but I guess that Chinese people aren't their only target audience.


As for the food... we ordered 1 bowl of beef noodle soup, knife cut of course, which cost 120 NT ($4), 2 beef xian bing which are 35 NT ($1), 2 pork for the same price, and one 牛雜湯 (mixed beef soup) which cost 70 NT ($2). The beef noodles are actually a surprise here, since they're not famous for them. A few years back, when that was all I ate, I ordered it, proceeded to get yelled at by my grandmother for ordering something stupid, and then was pleasantly surprised to have a giant bowl of noodles that probably ranks in my top 5 (and when you've eaten as many different places as I have, that's a pretty high ranking). Anyway, the noodles are the stand out here. Long, thick, and heavy knife cut noodles that stretch to tomorrow, they are of the same pedigree as those at 良品 (Liang Pin). The broth isn't terrific, but isn't terrible... but if we go by straight comparison... Liang Pin still wins out because of the combination of awesome noodles with a fringe above average soup base. I will not complain about this bowl of noodles though, for the price, it is absolutely massive... that bowl is about 10" across.


The beef and pork xian bing are what the place is famous for, and for good reason. Both have very unique tastes, and in semi cop out fashion, I'm just going to say that I can't find words to describe them. Both combine a pleasant mix of semi fatty, semi lean ground cuts, a healthy spattering of garlic, and some spices to make for a pretty awesome little bun like sandwich. The meats cook up nice and juicy (to the point where they have soup dumpling spillover), and the gets nice and crispy from the pan frying. No disappointments here.


As for the mixed beef soup (that is... a mix of various body parts from a cow including tripe, tongue, and brisket)... uh, my mom wanted that... and to be honest, it looked kind of gross, but she liked it. Overall... I love this restaurant, and I make it a point to visit every year I come back. Do I even have to bother to say I recommend going? Haha, seriously though, you won't be disappointed.

Oh... I don't have time right now... but I got to run again.

distance for the day: 6.55 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 368.84 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Almost back

My orientation trip is finally over (well... in like 12 hours). Let me just say, I love all of Taiwan, but I miss Taipei. Happy panda is happy once I get back. Just thought I'd post an update... since I did run yesterday. Let's just say a conservative 4.00 mile estimate. I can't map the boondocks too well.

distance for the day: 4.00 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 362.29 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...