Food

One of the highlights of visiting Taiwan is always the food. The Chinese food in Taiwan is excellent, of course. In addition the Japanese food is very good, too. Perhaps not as good as in Japan, but better than what you can find in California. During this trip we had some more opportunities to try some Japanese restaurants in Taiwan before and after our trip to Tokyo. Food courts in department stores in Taiwan are a reliable place to get to good, cheap, fast, and tasty meal. We went to several and wish they had food courts this good in the US.

Beef Noodle Soup

In front of our favorite beef noodle soup shop in Taipei. Taoyuan street has many noodle soup restaurants. According to Sophie's parents this one is the best although they all do look pretty good. Only NT$130 (US$4) for a delicious big bowl of soup noodles.

Ben Chang Liu

Hokkaido style ramen shop in Taipei. We went here just after returning from Japan. I had never had Hokkaido style ramen until visiting the Yokohama Ramen Museum and coincidentally had my 2nd bowl here. The noodles and the pork were better in Japan although I actually preferred the soup here. It was less greasy while still very tasty -- maybe it was just the less grease that put my mind at ease and allowed me to enjoy it. NT$220 (US$6.50) for ramen+ice cream+ice coffee. Good deal!

Din Tai Fung

The original Taipei Din Tai Fung is still the holy grail for Chinese dumpling fans. It's about NT$170 (US$4) for a tray of 10 xiaolongbao. Worth every penny and more! They are the signature house dish and worthy of all the hype. Our full meal consisted of chicken soup, gansi (tofu and vegetables), shaomai, and xiaolongbao for NT$680 (US$20). Everything at Din Tai Fung is delicious. I really don't understand how they can even make a simple thing like chicken soup so good. Din Tai Fung has grown pretty famous and many foreign tourists make a pilgrimage to the original branch even though now they have branches throughout Asia and one in the US. This time there was a group of Japanese women right by us and they confirmed something we noticed in Japan. Japanese women can eat a lot, they were chowing down stuff like crazy!

Shaomai and gansi.

Din Tai Fung is known for the world's best xiaolongbao.

Hefeng

We had dinner at He Feng with several of Sophie's aunties and cousins. It's a nice place and the food here is quite good. A big meal for 10 people was about NT$5000 (US$150).

Shanghai Shanghai

Shanghai Shanghai is located off the food court of the Far Eastern Plaza. We had lunch here on our last day in Taipei. The food here is excellent although kind of pricey by Taipei standards with lunch for four about US$70. It's one of those places where you wonder how they can make even the simplest dishes so delicious. Even the appetizers of gansi and tofu with bamboo were outstanding. We also had soup, oxtail, chicken, and fish. The crispy beans fish was simply heavenly -- I drool just thinking about it.

Other places we tried

Some Japanese place
We had huge lunch of sushi and sashimi for about US$13/person. A pretty nice place and a very good deal given the tastiness and quantity of food. We actually split 2 lunch specials amongst three people and it was still too much food.
Xiao Shanghai
A neighborhood dumpling house right by Sophie's parents. About US$4 for 10 xiaolongbao. Even small places like this serve dumplings better than anything we can find in the US (including the US branch of Din Tai Fung).
Mandarina Crown
It's the most convenient dimsum place near Sophie's parents so we decided to check it out. The food was quite good although the service was surprisingly unimpressive. Especially surprising since the price of about US$20/person is the high side.
Jing Ding
This is another small restaurant right by Sophie's parents. It appears as though they are trying to be a clone of Din Tai Fung (the "Din" and "Ding" in the names are the same Chinese character). The menus are also virtually identical. On the whole, they are doing a pretty good job imitating Din Tai Fung. The dumplings here are also very good, almost as good as Din Tai Fung. But Jing Ding wins a lot of points since it is right around the corner from Sophie's parents. That is hard to beat! 10 xiaolongbao here run about NT$130 (US$4). One interesting thing we noticed this time was that there seemed to be a fair number of Japanese there with Taipei tour guides. Is this the next Din Tai Fung?
Costco
Hot dog and a coke right by the check out lines just like in the US. NT$50 (US$1.50)
Asiaworld food court
The food court here was full of tantalizing options which seemed to hover in the NT$100 range -- pretty darn cheap. We opted for a Taiwanese style rice bowl with pork, egg, veggies (NT$100 - US$3) and a Malaysian curry noodle soup with chicken (NT$120 - US$4). Tasty and a great deal.
Hei Bai Mao
One of Sophie's Mom's friends recommended this place in a small village along Taiwan's Northern coast. The seafood here was very fresh and very tasty. We had shark, shrimp, soup, sashimi, eel, and fried whole small shrimp. Usually I don't care for shark fillets but I've never had shark that tasty before. It was quite tender and delicious. The little whole fried shrimp were also pretty good, but the pile of fried shrimp just looked a little too much like a pile of bugs for me to really enjoy it.
Caesar Park Hotel
We tried out the brunch buffet at Checkers here. In general it was a pretty good brunch. I was surprised by the exceptionally good lox. We all enjoyed the all you can eat Haagen-Daaz ice cream. With a 2 for 1 coupon, it's a good deal (NT$640 [US$19] for 2). Couponless, it's a bit steep.
Far Eastern food court
This food court also has many places all of which look very good. In addition to Asian food, this food court also has a few Western food stands. We went for the Hainan chicken for NT$120 (US$4). Another tasty good deal.
"House of Mom"
One of the best places to eat in Taipei is, of course, at Sophie's parents. It's hard to beat a home cooked dinner prepared by Sophie's Mom. Dinner is always at least 3 dishes plus veggies and soup.

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