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For my January post, it's gotta be about my trip to Taiwan! It's been 5 years since I've been back... Which is crazy! Cuz before that, I went back every year! I definitely missed it.
The food this time around was a bit disappointing though. Since I was there during Chinese New Year, I didn't realize most of the restaurants/businesses would be closed! T_T We still had some pretty good stuff though. Here are my top 5 bites or meals! (In no particular order.)
ManTangHung Spicy Hot Pot
Inside Bellavita Mall by Taipei 101.
B2, No.28, Songren Rd., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City
Phone: 02-2723-6300
AYCE spicy hot pot! There are different menu packages to choose from. We did the cheapest which is NT$799 I think and it was already more than enough options. My parents have done the more expensive options and said it's not much better. They even gave us complimentary seafood platter. This is a fancy hot pot place. The decor was very modern. They had several private rooms for larger parties. And they have not one but FIVE self serve ice cream stations.
So good! They also have other dishes to supplement the hot pot. Like Lu Rou Fan (braised pork on rice)... one of my all time favorite Taiwanese dishes. Hot pot in Taiwan is one of the best imo. Quote me on that!
Ming Yue Tang Bao (Soup Dumplings)
No.40, Lane 171 Tonghua Street, Taipei 106 Taiwan
Phone: +886 2 2733 8770
One of my must visit places in Taipei. I'm so happy this place is within 5 min walking distance from my Grandma's apartment so we'd been going here for most of my life. We almost always never have to wait and my family and I think it's better than Ding Tai Fung. Yea, I said it. I think DTF is overrated and overpriced and why wait in line if I have a better option!
Soup Dumplings
Sauteed Cabbage
Sauteed Water Spinach
Black Sesame Mochi (with peanut powder). OMG, so yum!
Tsujiri
Inside SOGO Food Court
106, Taiwan, Taipei City, Da’an District, Section 4, Zhongxiao East Road, No. 45 B1
Phone: +886 2 2721 6863
I'm pretty sure I've seen a shop with this name when I was in Japan. It's probably a chain but also maybe just a popular name?
I got a ceremonial matcha (matcha with water) and a matcha cheesecake. It was a combo so I saved some money! The matcha was beautifully green and so good. The unsweentened tea paired well with the cheesecake, even though the cheesecake itself wasn't too sweet. I loved the layers and the bitterness of the matcha. One of the best desserts I had on this trip.
Thai Town
Inside Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Place A9
7, No. 9, Songshou Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
Phone: +886 2 2723 9987
Thai Green Papaya Salad. Great flavors and textures!
Special Rice. So pretty! I'm not really sure what the red specks are in there... I didn't taste anything particular. But I love that it was served in a silver container... kinda made it feel like fancy rice.
Yellow Curry Chicken. Super tender. So tasty.
Stir Fry Water Spinach. My most favorite vegetable!
This was one of our more expensive meals. It was just me and my mom so typically we'd just go to the food court and get something for way cheaper. But we saw this and she said it was good, so we went. Funny though, it's STILL inside a department store!! Wow! One of the best meals of my trip. We ordered a lot of food but we ate it all!!! 100% would go back to this place.
The Who Cafe
110, Taiwan, Taipei City, Xinyi District, Zhuangjing Road, No. 214 2F
Phone: +886 2 2758 6512
On my last day, my parents and I went to this cute little cafe recommended by my cousin. I told her I wanted to go somewhere with 3D latte art and she found this place online. It turned out to be kind of a cat cafe. All the decor were were of cats as were the cups and saucers. They even had a resident cat walking around the cafe.
I got a matcha latte (unsweet) and it came with a cute kitty 3D latte art. The mug was saucer and spoon were also TOO CUTE!
We got dinner as well. The prices for food were a bit expensive compared to what other options we had but the portions turned out to be pretty big and they were really delicious! I love that there were multiple veggie options on each plate. You order the protein and it comes with whatever vegetable options they had that day. I LOVED all of them! Cabbage, creamed corn, spinach. And the protein was served in a super cute mini cocotte (dutch oven). Very filling meal... I didn't have room for dessert. I wish I had discovered this place earlier cuz I would've gone back for more drinks and dessert!
Extra entry ~~
2nd favorite dessert of the trip. Two Day Souffle Pancake.
Inside Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Place A8
No. 12, Songgao Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
Phone: +886 923 312 545
Inside another food court. Lol. The Chinese food courts are just on a whole other level. You'd never need to go to a free standing restaurant. There are SO many options and the decor is always on point. They make the American food courts look so so sad.
The fluffy Japanese pancakes are quite common in Taipei now. I saw several places that did this... although they all looked slightly different. My dad and I wanted dessert after lunch so we just went to the first one we saw. SO FREAKING SOFT! This wasn't nearly as tall as the one I had at Gram in Tokyo but I haven't seen one as tall as them anywhere. This was even softer than Gram. It was almost like eating clouds. Topped with a dark chocolate sauce, it was almost unsweetened chocolate. I really liked it. Not too sweet at all, so pillowy, and cute in its little box. I think I like the one from Japan better, but this was also a good experience. If you like sweet desserts, this would not be a good choice.
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For half of August I was in Vancouver and Alaska (7 day cruise). Naturally I ate a lot of food on the trip. So here's my Top 10 dishes of the trip! Not ranked in order.
Vancouver is a food mecca. It's a great place for Asian food because the Asian population is very large. We literally ate Asian food every day there... haha. Had to get my fill.
Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings) - Dinesty Dumpling House
1719 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC V6G 1C8
This place was recommended by my cousin that lives in Vancouver. We just happened to be in the area so decided to go. I love XLB but Dallas doesn't really have great ones. There are a couple places that people swear by in Dallas, but I don't think they're that good. Gasp! Haha. I grew up in Taiwan so I know what good XLB tastes like. Dinesty wasn't the best, but it was pretty dang good. The restaurant was really hot though, and service was subpar. Oh well. At least we enjoyed the meal.
Brown Sugar Pearl Milk - Xing Fu Tang
2675 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5R5H4
We had bubble tea every day. I've always stayed away from the brown sugar (or tiger) boba because they just sound too sweet. However, this place was highly recommended by my cousin. We realized there was a new location like 15 min walk from our Airbnb so we went. They have a display of how they cook the boba in a wok... pretty freaking cool and looked yummy. Usually I just have a few sips from my husband's drink but this time I got my own because I wanted less sweet. I'm so glad I did. It was amazing. The tapioca pearls (boba) had the perfect texture and were infused with the brown sugar. It was sweeter than I'd normally take my drinks but it was so delicious I didn't care. Would 100% get it again. Please come to Dallas!
Pork Chop Rice and Beef Rolls - Typhoon BBT
175-11700 Cambie Road, Richmond, BC V6X 1L5
We found this place just yelping what is close to our airport hotel the night before we flew out. We didn't have a car so it had to be walkable. Came across this little shopping center that had several food options. Decided on this one because yelp said they had giant bubble teas. Plus we haven't really had much Taiwanese food on this trip (it was mostly Cantonese), and a pork chop rice sounded pretty good. We weren't very hungry so got 1 dish and 1 app to share. I really wish I had more stomach room because we both agreed that this was the best meal we had in Vancouver. Haha. It was by far the cheapest too. It doesn't take much to satisfy us. The dishes brought back memories. Pork chop rice is one of my favorite dishes of all time.
Holland America Volendam:
Cruises are all about eating... And in 7 days, we consumed A LOT of food. The Dining Room definitely had better food than anywhere else on the ship. We had dinner there every night.
Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding - Ledo Market (buffet). This was at the lunch buffet the first day and I never saw it again. Bummer. It was definitely the best version of bread pudding they put out that week.
Beef Short Rib Stroganoff - The Dining Room dinner. Pasta was cooked al dente. The short rib was fork tender. Yum!
Banana Bread French Toast - The Dining Room breakfast. This was my husband's favorite. We dined at the dining room for breakfast a few times so he can get this.
Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake - The Dining Room lunch. They do their chocolate desserts well. Rich ganache, decadent, sinful. I'd say most of their chocolate desserts were pretty delicious.
Pork Chop with Parsnip Puree - The Dining Room dinner. This was a featured special one night. So glad we got it. One of the best dishes on the entire cruise. The pork chop was cooked perfectly which is not easy to do.
Pacific Cod Fish & Chips - Alava's Fish-n-Chowder - Ketchikan.
420 Water St., Ketchikan, AK 99901
I have to say I was quite disappointed with the food in Alaska when we docked. But finally in Ketchikan, we went to this little shack for some fish and chips. Too bad they were out of Clam Chowder. Just a tip... if you want clam chowder when the ship docks, get it early... apparently it sells out fast. Alava's was the 3rd location we went and they were out too. However, we decided to stay for the fish and chips and it was awesome. The best I've ever had. Even the fries were perfect. Everything was perfectly crispy on the outside and tender and flaky on the inside. Highly recommend!
Wiener Style Schnitzel - The Dining Room dinner. I liked that the dining room offered different types of specials every night. I very much enjoyed this dish. I think it was the last dinner of the cruise.
Overall it was a pretty good food trip. We certainly did not go hungry. Although... the one night where everyone wanted food on the ship around 9PM, everything was closed/in transition. We had docked earlier that day so it would make sense to have the buffet open when everyone returned to the ship, but the late night buffet didn't open until 10:30PM. Kinda weird.
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A couple weeks ago, I got invited out to try Chef Eddy T's new restaurant in Colleyville, Sai Fine Asian Bistro. Chef Eddy has had several restaurants open and close in the past few years... this is his latest venture. From the pictures of the food I've seen online, I had high hopes for this place. It really looks and sounds delicious. And it's an hour and 15 minute drive for us from Rockwall, so I'm really hoping for a great dinner.
Sai Fine Asian Bistro
5005 Colleyville Blvd. Suite 240
Colleyville, TX 76034
(682) 325-4050
http://sai-restaurant.com
Price: $$$-$$$$
I made it a date night with my husband. We went on a Sunday night (during Memorial Day weekend). The restaurant is tucked in the back of an unassuming center. Not really even a strip mall... it was definitely hard to see from the road. Walking in, there's a lot of Asian style decor. The restaurant has a main dining room and a separate section with the bar, which was not open at the time. We waited at the front for quite a while. Looked like they didn't have a host/hostess that night, so I just stood at the archway to the dining room in hopes that one of the waiters will see me. Finally the waitress saw me and came to greet us. She knew immediately I was there by invitation and sat us at a table right under the light. Thanks! That'll really help with the photos as the rest of the dining room was really dim. There seemed to be only 1 waitress and 1 waiter working, and there were only a few tables dining. It IS a holiday weekend so it wasn't too unusual for the sparse dining room. The waitress was super nice... gave us the menus and went to go check with the Chef on how our dinner was going to proceed. The Chef basically said we can order whatever we wanted on the menu.
The menu items all looked so good. Our server was the waiter, Grant. He was also super nice and accommodating. After asking some questions, we got some appetizers to start. I still couldn't decide from the entrees. haha.
Braised Pork Belly (Chef Eddy's signature braised pork belly with pickled daikon and pickled mustard greens) $8.88~
This was one of the recommended dishes. It smelled great. And I loved the flavors. It actually brought back childhood memories of eating roast pork in Taiwan. That's pretty legit imo. I also really enjoyed the combination of the pickled mustard greens and daikon to help contrast the fattiness of the pork. I really wanted a bowl of rice with this. hehe. Chinese roast pork is like one of my all time favorite things. The only complaint is that the sections of the pork that's not next to the fatty part was a bit dry. But I just made sure I had a little bit of fat with every bite of lean meat and it was fine.
Fried Brussels Sprouts (golden crisp Brussels sprouts served with chili plum sauce and crispy shallot) $7.88~
Just like pork belly, if I ever see Brussels sprouts on the menu, I have to order it. The sprouts were charred nicely! I thought it was too sweet though... that plum sauce overwhelmed all other flavors. My husband, on the other hand, thought it was great. He tends to eat a lot sweeter than I do.
We decided to add in a salad. I wanted more veggies. Miso Caesar Salad (romaine hearts with crostini and Parmigiano-Reggiano; served with Chef Eddy's famous miso caesar dressing) $8.88~
The miso addition to the dressing sounded so interesting. We both enjoyed it. The miso added an umami flavor to a standard caesar. I felt it was dressed just the right amount. I hate it when restaurants drown the salad in dressing.
For the entrees... I really couldn't decide... I wanted everything. So I ordered 2 from each section, "From the Street" and "Only at Sai". Our table was too small.... XD
Peking Duck Fried Rice (fried jasmine rice with pulled duck, onions, cherry tomatoes, eggs, soy sauce, scallions) $17.88~ This was also a recommended dish. The presentation was very nice in the Chinese style clay pot. The duck was tender and moist. It was a yummy dish.
Curry Laksa Noodles (Malaysian curry with egg noodles, baby bok choy, crispy shallot, red onions, bean sprouts, smoked chili, coconut milk) $14.88~
Served with chicken or tofu. I literally wanted everything with curry in it. I love any curries made with coconut milk. This was definitely one of my favorites of the night. The presentation was cool with the tower of crispy noodles on top. The curry was amazing. So much flavor, with a slight heat to it. It was rich, full of spicy, and comforting. I would order this again in a heart beat!
Massaman Short Rib (48 hour braised certified angus beef short ribs in Massaman curry with coconut milk, onions, cherry tomatoes, roasted peanuts, bell peppers, and sweet potatoes) $29.88~
I had my eye on this dish ever since their grand opening. It just sounds amazing. TOTALLY LOVED IT. The short rib was not fork tender but was still super tender when you put it in your mouth. Which I'm ok with... I don't want mushy meat! The curry was a different flavor than the noodles so that was a nice variety. This one was not spicy at all. At first bite, it wasn't as bold as the Laksa noodles, but as I ate more, I think I liked this sauce better... it was milder but was so well rounded. It comes with white rice which pairs great. We pretty much finished all the meat, but still asked for the rest of the sauce to go. I made fried rice with it later and it was bomb! Highly recommend!
Salmon Miso Truffle (grilled salmon with butternut squash, brussels sprouts, wild mushroom, in a miso truffle cream sauce) $27.88~
Initially we wanted the Five Spice Duck but it was unavailable that night. So we opted for the salmon since it was also a recommended item. Loved the presentation. That crispy skin on top was a great garnish. The fish was cooked well and I liked all the elements in it. However, it tasted a little too salty for me for some reason. I think the miso cream sauce overpowered all the vegetables. But my husband didn't think it was too salty. He gobbled up the entire dish!
We were too full to order dessert. I was a little sad, but I really could not have eaten another bite. Plus we have a longgg way home so we didn't want to be in a serious food coma. We ended up taking quite a bit of the entrees to go. They all reheated nicely so we had some good meals later too.
The Chef came out to meet us after the dinner. I told him I loved all the different Asian flavors. He definitely knows the Asian flavor profile well. It's very rare where something I eat brings me childhood memories. It was a great dinner. I can totally vouch for the food. The service was great too. Grant and the waitress were really busy since it was only the 2 of them but I think they handled everything well and always had a smile on their faces. I hope this place sticks around....but maybe they should move a little closer to us. haha. 75 min drive is a bit too far for any meal... I'm not really sure why Chef Eddy's previous ventures didn't pan out, because he makes some great food. Thanks so much for having us!!
*The meal was comped but all opinions are my own.*
Quality of Food:
Service:
Ambiance:
Value: (comped)
Overall Experience:
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