The stores inside were not anything unique but the architecture was. We got lunch in the mall and then headed back to our hostel for a while. We stayed there until dinner, which we decided to look for those famous soup dumplings (called xiao long bao). The restaurant that everyone recommended was Din Tai Fung. We showed up around 7pm and the place was packed. The restaurant was three stories high but very narrow. They gave us a number and told us it would be about an hour (we were 50 numbers away). We decided that was fine and looked at a menu to figure out what we wanted. While waiting an Italian man noticed us and started a conversation. We were the only Westerners there, which was probably why he was so excited. He said that he loved Din Tai Fung so much that he ate there everyday. He gave us recommendations on everything on the menu. He then introduced us to the owner, who has set up restaurants all over south Asia and has become a multimillionaire from his soup dumplings. He didn't speak much English but he was very nice. As soon as this happened we some how got a table despite having over 20 more numbers to go. Inside the restaurant was pretty nice. It wasn't over the top fancy but it was just a nice Chinese restaurant. The waitresses were very well trained, doing most everything for us in a very perfect form. They then started bringing out our orders. We got one order of pork, one of vegetable, one of pork and crab, all with soup in them. Additionally we had an order of pork and fried rice. Each dumpling order had probably around 8 dumplings. We also got a free order of spicy shrimp. When it was delivered we just looked at it and asked "Did we order that?" The waitress just said "It is free," bowed, and walked away. At this point we were all very confused but then a different waitress can over and explained that it is a new dish and they want feed back. After we had finished it, the owner came back with another waitress who asked how we liked it. We told her we really liked it and the owner seemed very pleased (he didn't say anything while at our table, but just smiled). There is no other way to eat xiao long bao then with chop sticks. They are relatively small dumplings so I could eat them in one bit, but barely. You pick them up with the chop sticks and then dip it in sauce (1 part soy, 3 parts vinegar, and some strands of ginger). You then hold a soup spoon under the dumpling when you bit into it so you can catch the soup that falls out. The xiao long bao (with pork) was probably the best meal I had ever had. There are no words to describe it. For desert we had these little dumplings filled with sesame. As odd as it may sound, it tasted just like chocolate. For all that amazing food our bill turned out to be about US$10. Afterwards we looked for a jade market, but it was not open that night. We headed off to bed since it was starting to get late and we had to get up the next morning really early to catch our flight.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Taipei: Day Four
This was our last full day in Taipei. We decided to spend it doing some miscellaneous things in the city that we were not able to do earlier. Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard so that limited what we could do. We first went down the street from our hostel to the Taipei Handicraft Market. It was actually more of a store that sold craft things relating to Taiwan and Chinese culture. It was mostly art and jewelry. After buying a few items we headed out to what is nicknamed "The Golf Ball Mall." (I don't remember the actual name, everyone there calls it The Golf Ball Mall). This was a very large mall that had a 10 story sphere on one side. Half of the sphere was on in the inside, half was outside. 
The stores inside were not anything unique but the architecture was. We got lunch in the mall and then headed back to our hostel for a while. We stayed there until dinner, which we decided to look for those famous soup dumplings (called xiao long bao). The restaurant that everyone recommended was Din Tai Fung. We showed up around 7pm and the place was packed. The restaurant was three stories high but very narrow. They gave us a number and told us it would be about an hour (we were 50 numbers away). We decided that was fine and looked at a menu to figure out what we wanted. While waiting an Italian man noticed us and started a conversation. We were the only Westerners there, which was probably why he was so excited. He said that he loved Din Tai Fung so much that he ate there everyday. He gave us recommendations on everything on the menu. He then introduced us to the owner, who has set up restaurants all over south Asia and has become a multimillionaire from his soup dumplings. He didn't speak much English but he was very nice. As soon as this happened we some how got a table despite having over 20 more numbers to go. Inside the restaurant was pretty nice. It wasn't over the top fancy but it was just a nice Chinese restaurant. The waitresses were very well trained, doing most everything for us in a very perfect form. They then started bringing out our orders. We got one order of pork, one of vegetable, one of pork and crab, all with soup in them. Additionally we had an order of pork and fried rice. Each dumpling order had probably around 8 dumplings. We also got a free order of spicy shrimp. When it was delivered we just looked at it and asked "Did we order that?" The waitress just said "It is free," bowed, and walked away. At this point we were all very confused but then a different waitress can over and explained that it is a new dish and they want feed back. After we had finished it, the owner came back with another waitress who asked how we liked it. We told her we really liked it and the owner seemed very pleased (he didn't say anything while at our table, but just smiled). There is no other way to eat xiao long bao then with chop sticks. They are relatively small dumplings so I could eat them in one bit, but barely. You pick them up with the chop sticks and then dip it in sauce (1 part soy, 3 parts vinegar, and some strands of ginger). You then hold a soup spoon under the dumpling when you bit into it so you can catch the soup that falls out. The xiao long bao (with pork) was probably the best meal I had ever had. There are no words to describe it. For desert we had these little dumplings filled with sesame. As odd as it may sound, it tasted just like chocolate. For all that amazing food our bill turned out to be about US$10. Afterwards we looked for a jade market, but it was not open that night. We headed off to bed since it was starting to get late and we had to get up the next morning really early to catch our flight.
The stores inside were not anything unique but the architecture was. We got lunch in the mall and then headed back to our hostel for a while. We stayed there until dinner, which we decided to look for those famous soup dumplings (called xiao long bao). The restaurant that everyone recommended was Din Tai Fung. We showed up around 7pm and the place was packed. The restaurant was three stories high but very narrow. They gave us a number and told us it would be about an hour (we were 50 numbers away). We decided that was fine and looked at a menu to figure out what we wanted. While waiting an Italian man noticed us and started a conversation. We were the only Westerners there, which was probably why he was so excited. He said that he loved Din Tai Fung so much that he ate there everyday. He gave us recommendations on everything on the menu. He then introduced us to the owner, who has set up restaurants all over south Asia and has become a multimillionaire from his soup dumplings. He didn't speak much English but he was very nice. As soon as this happened we some how got a table despite having over 20 more numbers to go. Inside the restaurant was pretty nice. It wasn't over the top fancy but it was just a nice Chinese restaurant. The waitresses were very well trained, doing most everything for us in a very perfect form. They then started bringing out our orders. We got one order of pork, one of vegetable, one of pork and crab, all with soup in them. Additionally we had an order of pork and fried rice. Each dumpling order had probably around 8 dumplings. We also got a free order of spicy shrimp. When it was delivered we just looked at it and asked "Did we order that?" The waitress just said "It is free," bowed, and walked away. At this point we were all very confused but then a different waitress can over and explained that it is a new dish and they want feed back. After we had finished it, the owner came back with another waitress who asked how we liked it. We told her we really liked it and the owner seemed very pleased (he didn't say anything while at our table, but just smiled). There is no other way to eat xiao long bao then with chop sticks. They are relatively small dumplings so I could eat them in one bit, but barely. You pick them up with the chop sticks and then dip it in sauce (1 part soy, 3 parts vinegar, and some strands of ginger). You then hold a soup spoon under the dumpling when you bit into it so you can catch the soup that falls out. The xiao long bao (with pork) was probably the best meal I had ever had. There are no words to describe it. For desert we had these little dumplings filled with sesame. As odd as it may sound, it tasted just like chocolate. For all that amazing food our bill turned out to be about US$10. Afterwards we looked for a jade market, but it was not open that night. We headed off to bed since it was starting to get late and we had to get up the next morning really early to catch our flight.
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