My New Found Favorite Stinky Tofu - 阿灶伯當歸羊肉湯、臭豆腐

Mmmmm...stinky tofu,
The name might frighten you a bit.
In fact, the taste might actually scare you away -

It might be one of the top five all time street food favorites in Taiwan,
Just like cheeses, while brie and mozzarella are welcomes by nearly all crowds; gorgonzola and stilton are considered as "acquired taste."
The same reasoning applies to tofu! Most people enjoy products such as soy milk and silken tofu, but definitely not the case for stinky "fermented" tofu.

Have you ever watch the show Bizarre Foods hosted by Andrew Zimmern?
Well if you do, you probably know the power of this little chunky thing,
The brave and adventurous TV host eats literally everything; I mean EVERYTHING - ranging from brains to live worms.

So far I believe only two things almost got him puke:
1. The king of fruits - durian
2. Taiwanese's favorite street food - stinky tofu



Please remain calm and stay on your seat,
As I warned you earlier, it's an acquired taste.
Maybe try the tofu with some Taiwanese style kimchi on the side, I bet it'll make you feel at least a little better~*

The picture shown in the beginning is my new found favorite stinky tofu,
For most stinky tofu, you get a semi-firm center while biting into the crunchy skin. However, this one has a semi-runny center, should I call it stinky tofu - lava cake style?
So good.

If you plan to visit Taiwan, please ask the locals see where can you find a good stinky tofu stand. That way you get to try true smellest tofu instead of mediocre kinds (that's a good thing or bad thing?)  

One little bite won't hurt you,
Well, maybe later on if you have a weak stomach.
But that's all part of traveling fun yeah?

Here's the address for my lovely stinky tofu stand:

阿灶伯當歸羊肉湯、臭豆腐

宜蘭縣羅東鎮民權路羅東夜市第1094攤
Yilan City. LuoTong Town. Min-Chuen Road.
LuoTong Night Market Stand #1094.
(03) 954-7736

Nibbling in Taiwan, Tainan

I'm still in Taiwan!!
I have to admit that my vacation time is a little bit too long....
4 weeks in Taiwan....especially I'm spending most of the time in Taipei with my parents..
Surrounded by buildings, cars, and people, I need a short break,
A break during my vacation (so greedy..),
So I traveled to Tainan, a small city in the southwest part of Taiwan.

Since this is mainly a food blog, let me show you some of the "small eats," or street food I had during my short stay there.

Fish noodles (卓家汕頭魚麵)-

The noodles itself are made with fish, yes, fish meat!
Basically they remove the bones, heads, and tails from a particular kind of fish,
Then they grind the meat and add some seasonings, possibly flour too,
After that, they spread the mixture on a smooth surface, cut into thin strips,
There it is, fish noodles!

According to my friend, it tastes like dried squid snacks soaked in soups,
I find that description quite accurate,
The noodles itself were kind of chewy, and really taste like dried squid snacks.

Fried fish stomach (from 阿川土魠魚羹)-

Fried fish eggs (from 阿川土魠魚羹)-

The fish stomach is semi-chewy, the texture is similar to fried calamari, but harder,
The fried crumbs on the outside are very delicious,
I'm guessing some kinds of seasonings were added into the flour they used.

The fish eggs are my favorite,
You can feel tiny little eggs moving between your teeth and tongue while eating it,
Kind of fun!

Soup noodles with stewed minced pork + stewed egg + meat ball (from 度小月)-

The aroma from the pork is unbeatable,
Simple but not dull, you get a layered aroma from the soy sauce, the seasonings, and the pork itself, which completed the flavor of this simple soup noodles.

Anping Bean Jelly (aka bean curd) (from Tong Ji 同記安平豆花)-

This is the traditional bean curd with small tapioca and served with sugar water,
The bean curd itself is full of the flavors from yellow beans,
The place only use organic yellow beans, which I love (I'm an organic freak!).

They also carries bean curb made with black beans, or infused with whole milk,
Too bad my stomach was bloated already from all the small eats....otherwise I'll try them all!


Eateries locations:

Fish noodles (卓家汕頭魚麵)
Number 158, Section 1, Min Shen Road, Tainan, Taiwan
台南市民生路一段158號
06-221-5997

Fried fish stomach and fried fish eggs (阿川土魠魚羹)
Number 109, Section 1, Hai An Road, Tainan, Taiwan
台南市海安路一段109號

Soup noodles with stewed minced pork + stewed egg + meat ball (度小月)
Multiple locations in Tainan and Taipei
http://old.iddi.com.tw/index.asp

Anping Bean Jelly (Tong Ji 同記安平豆花)
Number 433, An Bei Road, Anping Area, Tainan, Taiwan
台南市安平區安北路433號
06-391-5385
http://www.tongji.com.tw/index.html

永樂市場的(魚土)魠魚羹 - Fried Kingfish Soup

Small street vendors are one of the places you can find truly local, delicious Taiwanese food,
And 永樂市場 (Yun Le Market) is the area for authentic fried kingfish soup.

The small stand is located near the market I mentioned earlier and 迪化街 (Dee Hwa Street),
The market is famous for selling various fabrics since at least 80? years ago,
You get the point, it's a very old place.
As for Dee Hwa Street, it's famous for a wide assortment of snacks, Chinese medicine, and stuff people use during Chinese New Year.

Here is the picture of the owner and the store front-


Fried kingfish soup-


Basically the fish was prepared and pre-fried on the side,
After the customer placed the order, the vendor will chop up few pieces of the fish and then add into the gooey soup.

Fish meat close up-


You can add more black vinegar and chili paste per your preference,
There are no bones inside the fish, the vendor did a good job taking out all the nasty stuff.

Apparently they marinated the fish prior frying it, or they added some essence for the coating,
Maybe both,
But the fish is very fresh and the meat is semi-bouncy, not the flaky kind.
Give it a try sometimes, pretty good!
Around $1.75 U.S. per order.

Cindy's Rating: 7

永樂台南(魚土)魠魚羹
Next to 永樂市場 (Yun Le Market) and 迪化街 (Dee Hua Street)
If you're around the area, just ask the residents for the exact location.

Taiwan Night Market Scene - Rei Fon 瑞豐夜市

I finally got a chance to update my blog!

Since I only have 12 days in Taiwan,

My schedule is pretty tight,

Plus I wanna spend most of the time with my parents,

Usually I can only meet up with my friends after dinner time,

That means less sleeping hours for me.

The consequence is that every time I come back home after running around outside the whole day,

I just crashed on my bed,

Most likely is due my stuffed stomach and exhausted legs.

People (especially my mom) can't stop offering food to me.

But today, I am the reason of my major food coma,

And here's where the crime scene happened,

Rei Fon Night Market 瑞豐夜士-

It's located in Southern Taiwan in the city of Kaoshung,

If you decide to visit there one day,

It's on Yu Chen Road 裕誠路,

About 3 minutes away from San Min Vocational High School 三民家商,

Of course you can also ask any local residents from Kaoshung,

I'm pretty sure that at least 70% of them know where it is.

Picture of the crowd-

I had to take this picture in a lightening speed.

The lady from one of the food stands kept telling me to just sit down and eat there,

Also people from behind tried so hard to squeeze pass me,

Come on,

I just wanna take a nice picture of you guys eating!

This stand is famous for their "teh tarik" 印度拉茶,

They stick all their public coverages (magazines, newspapers, TV shows) on the stand-

Teh Tarik is an Indian beverage,

The basic ingredients are milk and tea.

Wait a second,

Why Indian food in a Taiwan's night market?

Well, I don't know about other things,

But when it comes to food, we Taiwanese are very open minded multi-national adventurers.

Indian, Thai, Korean, American, Japanese, French, even Mongolian,

You name it!

Here's how they make the tea-

I told this guy that I am gonna take a picture of him making my tea,

He was like "I look ugly, let me ask my friend to do it for you."

But I guess that his friend's camera shy too,

Poor him, became one of the victims under my camera.

Special container for Teh Tarik-

Instead of a cup, they use this interesting bag that seals tightly on the top.

The beverage wasn't very milky,

You'll like it if you're a fan of strong tea flavors when it comes to "milk tea."

Then I had this one, chicken steak on a sizzling hot iron pan 鐵板雞排-

Served with creamy corn soup and ice tea,

And the steak comes with noodles, one thin slice of ham, and a sunny side up egg.

You also have the choice of mushroom sauce or black pepper sauce.

And all that only costs $3 U.S. Dollars-

San Dong Strewed Duck Stand 山東鴨頭-

Basically they marinated every parts of the duck and stewed it over a period of time,

You pick what you want and put that in the iron bowl,

They'll fry it for you, and add some seasonings according to your needs.

Usually black/white pepper and chili powder.

In this picture you can see:

Duck intestine, duck tongues, duck heads, duck eggs, duck necks, duck wings, duck feet, and other non-duck related items (pic blood cake, bean curd, seaweed, etc),

Did I scare you away already?

Here the bosses are preparing the food-

Night market is a fun place to go,

You can always see something new there,

People trying to come up with new ideas everyday,

Hoping that their food products will be a big success.

And all the noises, people ordering food, calling for customers, music from the stores,

Different stand layouts, delicious food smell,

It's a very lively atmosphere.

Stop by here if you ever get a chance,

I'll assure an interesting experience of your life.