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The 2nd night we went up into the mountains which is in central Taiwan. After checking into the hotel, the driver took us to a restaurant he recommended. They cook the chicken in these contraptions. We got the 4 dishes set menu for NT$1100~
Mountain Chicken. You get a whole chicken, steaming hot, gloves, and plastic gloves. Put the plastic gloves over the gloves and use your hands to break the chicken apart. Pretty fun! The chicken was amazing. Super tender, juicy, and so much flavor. These chickens are raised in the mountains.
Pork with Mountain Vegetables. Deeeelicious.
Sauteed Bamboo
There was also sauteed cabbage that's grown in the mountains. I forgot to take a picture of that. And the meal came with a soup.
The morning breakfast at our hotel in the mountains was also fantastic. Unlimited porridge, with an egg pancake and sauteed cabbage. So simple, yet homey and comforting.
And the views in the mountains are amazing. This isn't food...but just look at the view!!! OMG! I recommend Stargaze Villa, where we stayed.
On the way back to Taipei we stopped at the QingShui Rest Stop. Probably my favorite part of the road trip. Haha. It's like a giant food court/shopping center. The food was pretty good and there were so many snack vendors.
Rice with Minced Pork, and veggies
Sizzling Plate with Mushroom Patty and Spaghetti
Korean Rice Cakes
Best find!! Uncle Tetsu's Cheesecake. Asian cheesecake is not at all like American cheesecake. It is very light and fluffy, almost like a sponge cake with cheesecake flavors. We saw Uncle Tetsu's and decided to get one. Not very expensive to get a whole cake. So we got super lucky and got the last one of the batch. Decided to dig into it right then and there and it was OMG AMAZING! The best Asian cheesecake I have ever had. It was like eating clouds... so fluffy and light.
So we decided to go back and get another. haha. Now they only make 10-12 cakes each time and so there's a 10-16 minute wait between every batch. Everyone lines up to watch them prep, bake, and package it. It was quite cool. For every cake, they brand their logo on it, unwrap it, then place in a box. The line was already super long but we got in it anyways. Didn't take too long before we got another! :) And it's limit 1 per person so you can't just buy it all up. Check my Facebook page to see some videos! Sooooo freaking good. Man I want some more now...
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Last week I had dinner with 2 of my friends. I suggested Charm Juk by H-Mart in Carrollton. I was supposed to go there a few weeks ago, but plans got cancelled. I only recently came across this place. I didn't even know it existed!
Charm Juk
2625 Old Denton Rd.
Carrollton, TX 75007
(972) 245-6288
http://charmjuk.com/
Price: $$
They feature juk (pronounced jook), which is Korean rice porridge. I never really stopped and thought that Koreans had their own style of porridge. Growing up with Chinese congee has blinded me I guess. haha. But the healthiness of their dishes definitely caught my eye. From their website, they state that the porridge is made with milled rice that contains highly nutritious rice germ. Also they use fresh ingredients and no msg. I try to eat healthy on the weekdays so this seemed like a great choice. Plus all the pictures on the website looked tasty. hehe.
From all the pictures and reviews I knew that the portions were quite large so between the 3 of us, we ordered 2 savory juk and 1 sweet to share. No kidding on the size! Each bowl is huge! And the savory ones come with ban chan (Korean side dishes). And yes, you can ask for refill on those. :)
Beef Juk $7.99~
From most of the reviews I read, people claimed this was bland and not that good. But none of us found it bland. It was light but definitely still had flavor. I think the point of it WAS to be light. We all liked it. Although, you know me, I had to mix some of the spicy side dish into it. hehe.
Spicy Octopus Juk $9.99~
I wanted to try this. The flavor was much bolder than the beef one, so I guess if you try both, you'd think the beef was bland. I actually liked how the 2 flavors contrasted each other. It wasn't very spicy (for those of you that can't handle spice). I wish there was more octopus. It was cut in very small pieces so I didn't get very much of it. I did like the addition of the bean sprouts though. I liked it a lot.
Black Sesame Juk $8.99~
I loveeeee black sesame, so of course I had to try this. They also had a pumpkin one which caused a dilemma for me. But this just means I'll have to go back and try that one another time. haha. The sweet juk is just as big as the savory ones. The consistency is a little gummy, my friend says it's probably because they mixed rice into it? But it still had good sesame flavor. I just wanted more of that sesame grainy texture. Yummy. I had 2 small bowls of it. We even had leftovers to take home!
One concern going in was that the prices seemed a bit steep. Which it kinda is... $10+ for porridge? But knowing that they use fresh ingredients and give you a huge portion, it's not that bad.
Our waitress was a young Korean girl... I swear she's a teenager. Looked super young. Anyhoo... she was very nice and accommodating. Gave us very good service. :)
I'll definitely be back in the future. I've got tons more to try!! Oh.. and they have bibimbap (hot stone rice) there too if you aren't in the mood for porridge.
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