Taipei 2008 Day 2 (Food, food & more food)

Staying near Taipei Main Station had great advantages as it's basically connected to all kinds of transport, be it the buses, MRT, railway and even THSR (Taiwan High Speed Rail, similar to Japan's Shinkansen). As the places we plan to visit are highly accessible by the MRT, that was to be our main mode of transport. We needed to get the Easy Card (similar to Singapore's Ezlink Card), that would be more economical than buying a single trip ticket.
By the way, Taiwan's single trip tickets looks just like a coin (plastic coin, though). One would tap the coin on the reader when going in and then inserts the coin into a slot when exiting the station.
Cost of Easy Card: NT500 (NT100 refundable deposit)

One can return the Easy Card to the ticket counter, of which NT100 would be refunded as well as any excess value left in the card. However, there's a NT20 forfeit for returning the card.

Breakfast was taken at the hotel's coffee place (just next door). 3 different sets to be chosen: Set A: Toast & Hard-boiled Egg, Set B: Waffles, Set C: Burger (in the form of Hotdog Buns).

Day 2 was to be a day of feasting as we travelled to different areas to savour their famous delicacies. First up on the list was the ever-famous Ding Tai Fung 鼎泰豐. The most dish would undoubtedly be their Xiao Long Bao (皮薄餡鮮美的小籠包). Each xiaolongbao is specially prepared with skill and precision. The outer flour skin has a standard weight of 5 gm, and is stuffed with 16gm of filling. Eighteen folds are then used to seal each bun. The buns are served with thin slices of ginger and a dipping sauce, usually vinegar. As one uses a pair of chopsticks to gently lift up one xiaolongbao unto a spoon, bites off the top of the dumpling to sip the soup filling and then pops the whole dumpling into the mouth, the fragrance of the soup together with the tasty meat filling fills the mouth with a delightful burst of flavours. Absolutely gratifying! We tried the dessert variety of the xiaolongbao, opting for the taro (yam) version. The taro filling was fragrant and thick and subtly sweet, which is good because it's light enough for one to take a second piece, without being overpowered by a sickly sweet yam filling. The drunken chicken was light-tasting with a tinge of chinese wine, that enhanced the flavour of the chicken, though the price was a tad high. Highly recommend everyone to try the xiaolongbao, that's really delectable and value for money. (By the way, we got a xiaolongbao handphone attachment as a gift upon presenting the Youth Card.)

Next, we went on to try Kao Chi 高記. Decided to try this restaurant that came highly recommended by a food blogger. We ordered panfried bun 上海生煎包, Shrimp Siew Mai, Crab Roe Xiaolongbao and Prawn Chee Cheong Fun. Alas, the Xiaolongbao pale in comparison to Ding Tai Fung. The more expensive crab roe xiaolongbao that we ordered had a queer fishy taste and we strained to swallow it. The skin of the panfried bun was a tad too thick for our liking and the shrimp siew mai was quite forgettable. The prawn changfen (chee cheong fun) was the only item that was easy to swallow. Yet, it could have been that we were probably too full to savour the food as we had proceeded straight to Kao Chi from Ding Tai Fung. Still, the taste of the food was rather disappointing. (Good thing we got a 10% discount from Kao Chi upon presenting the Youth Card).

Dessert time! We proceeded to Ice Monster 冰館 for some Taiwan Ice-Kachang/Shaved Ice. Ordered the Fresh Fruits Mix as the Jumbo Mango Ice was not available (think it's because they don't have enough mangoes) and surprisingly it came with free mango jelly! (NT10 off any Ice with the Youth Card). The mangoes tasted sweet though the strawberries and kiwi were a little sour. Great for hot weather.
Another dessert that I would highly recommend would be Yu's Almond Tofu (somewhat similar to beancurd) but more fragrant because it's made from almonds. The tofu's super soft and just slides down your throat. It's very light and refreshing. Ordered the mixed combo as well, you can choose to have it hot or chilled and for the mixed combo, one can choose 4 different ingredients (from a variety of beans and fenyuan) to match your almond tofu. Delicious!

Ximending was our next stop. It's a well-known shopping area for young people in Taipei as clothes more fashionable and suited for young people, consisting of Japanese and Korean designs as well as American Hip-Hop. However, our aim in Ximending was to try Ah Chung Mee Sua 阿宗面线. There's always a crowd queueing up at this famous mee sua stall. They serve only 大肠面线, NT40 for a small bowl, NT55 for a big bowl and the unique part about this stall is that customers would have to stand around to eat their mee sua as there's no tables and chairs available. So, when you see a big group of people standing around with bowls in their hands and busy chomping down noodles, you can be sure that they're eating Ah Chung Mee Sua. As commented on the net: 在西门町，“站着吃面线”是一种特色。点完菜、加好料之后，个个有样学样地“端着面线、跑到外头”（店里“没有座位”），“或站或蹲”地狼吞虎咽起来——场面“很是壮观”。味道嘛，“细细”的面、“糊糊”的汤、“干净”的大肠，“很特殊”但还“够不上惊艳”。只能说阿宗的“群聚效应”用得实在是妙。

As night falls, various parts of Taipei come alive and bustle with activity. Yes, Taipei's famous for their night markets (similar to Singapore's pasar malam). A well-known location would have to be Shilin Night Market. A must-try would be the super big chicken cutlet 豪大大鸡排. 比脸还大的一整块,“一律不切”, this super big chicken cutlet is meant to be eaten in one big piece, so as to retain its flavour and juiciness. Just one would probably be enough to feed 2 or 3 persons. (Yes! it's really big!). However, the oyster omelette that we tried was quite a let-down as it tasted very starchy (too much flour and too little eggs and oysters), definitely prefer the Singaporean and Malaysian version more. Shilin Night Market is divided into 2 areas: food and shopping. One part of the market's where one gets to try all kinds of food while the other part has lots of stalls selling clothes, shoes, bags, accessories etc. Stop at Jiantan MRT Station Exit 1 to get to the night market.