Taiwan 2014 Day 2 in Taipei - Yong Kang Street, Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf, Shilin Night Market

12 July, Saturday

Stepping out of hotel near 11am, we headed to Yong Kang Street via MRT and alighted at Dongmen Station. Take exit 5, walk straight and you'll see Yong Kang Street on your right, after spotting the original Din Tai Fung restaurant facing the main road.

Dongmen Station Map

Din Tai Fung was madly crowded with tourists and the waiting time was 60min!! We took a queue number for DTF and went into Yong Kang Street for other food. I used the guide provided by Ladyironchef on his website, which I find it very useful.

Stepping into Yong Kang Street

Smoothie House (Very famous! Didn't get to try as I wasn't feeling well)

Lv Sang 吕桑
Address: No. 12-5 Yong Kang Street
Contact: 02 2351 3323 (+886 2 2351 3323)
Operating Hours: (Daily) 11.30am-2pm, 5pm-9pm

Lv Sang is known for selling authentic Taiwanese cuisine from Yilan. It wasn't crowded when we entered at 11.25am. We had to choose what we want to order at the doorstep and make payment before sitting down. There were pictures of food on the wall to ease the choosing process. We asked the waitress to recommend us some dishes and she introduced us their famous Cold Chicken (thigh) and vegetable (I forgot the name). Out of the 3 dishes, the Cold Chicken was the best. The other 2 dishes are not worth mentioning as they tasted average.

Lv Sang's Entrance

卤肉饭 - Braised Pork Rice

Vegetables

Cold Chicken Thigh - Best dish out of the 3!

Still slightly red but it's very tasty!

Our DTF queue number

Din Tai Fung's Menu - choosing food while we were eating at Lv Sang

I guessed we probably ordered the wrong dishes as the food on the tables around us looked really appetizing. =/ I like the interior design of this place though. This meal was NT 385 (SGD 16), not that cheap afterall.


Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 (Xinyi Store, Original Branch)
Address: No. 194, Sec. 2, Xinyi Rd., Taipei City
Contact: 02-2321-8928
Operating Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-9pm; Sat & Holidays 9am-9pm

We came back to Din Tai Fung after eating at Lv Sang and gotten a shared table (yes, we made the right choice to eat first, otherwise it would be a 60min longggg wait). On our round table, there were a Japanese couple and two girls from Malaysia (I guessed from their accent). This store was so huge! There were 4 levels full of tables and the number of workers they had was really a lot. We ordered the usual dishes we always have in Singapore - Xiao Cai, Pork Chop Fried Rice and Xiao Long Bao. The prices here were cheaper than SG's by quite a bit.

Xiao Cai 小菜 (NT 65, SGD 2.70) - 32.5% cheaper than SG's! However, TW's version of Xiao Cai contains more beansprout than SG's. We very much prefer SG's Xiao Cai.

Pork Chop Fried Rice 排骨蛋炒饭 (NT 200, SGD 8.30) - Similar to SG's taste

I didn't take picture of the Xiao Long Bao we ordered as I was not feeling well halfway during the meal. It tasted the same as Singapore's branches as well. Hence, I think it is not necessary for Singaporeans to eat Din Tai Fung in Taiwan as the standards are similar. It is definitely cheaper but I would rather save the stomach for more Taiwanese foodie that Singapore doesn't have.


Tuileries Pâtissire/Chocolatier 杜乐丽花园 巧克力/甜点沙龙
Basement of SOGO at Zhongxiao Fuxing (Can't rmb if it's B2 or B3, it's the level with many food options)

Came across this stall selling desserts and got drawn over by their macarons!! I bought one of their Earl Grey Tea flavour to try and it tasted SO GOOD! It's a pity that the biscuit didn't have that soft yet easy-to-bite-through feel. Each macaron cost NT 80 (SGD 3.30).

LOOKS SO NICE! I WANT IT NOW!

Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf  淡水漁人碼頭

We took the train all the way to Tamsui MRT station as we planned to go to their Fisherman's Wharf which is famous for their Lover's Bridge and beautiful sunset. Upon reaching Tamsui MRT Station, go to their bus interchange and take R26 towards Fisherman's Wharf. The bus ride was about half an hour.

Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf greeted us with superb view! The pictures are not edited at all! It's a fantastic place that you can enjoy and have a good lazy afternoon stroll with your family, partner or friends. This was my 2nd time visiting Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf, the feeling was totally different from the visit in 2011 with my friends. It's more romantic this time round. Hehe ^^

If you remove the Lover's Bridge, this actually looks A BIT like Maldives.

Sitting down to chill while feeling the breeze

Explanation of what each color on the Lover's Bridge means

Lover's Bridge

Whole street of street food and restaurants

Overrated

Magnificent Sunset

Such a beauty!

Bye Tamsui! Thank you for the sweet memories.

Shilin Night Market  士林夜市
Jiantan Mrt Station, Exit 1

Shilin Night Market, is still my favorite night market in Taipei. It has many variety of food to offer. As this was already my 4th time going to Shilin, I didn't take much pictures. You can refer to my previous blog post on my Solo Trip to Taiwan if you want to see more pictures on Shilin Night Market.

NT 100 (SGD 4.13) for all these beef cubes

Inside my favorite stall at Shilin B1 Underground, selling delicous Guan Cai Ban 官财板!

Translation: Chicken, Pork, Lamb, Beef, Prawn, Mix, Tuna, Corn, Pineapple, Peach

Chicken Guan Cai Ban (First item on menu) - Very crispy bread with yummy and hot ingredients on the inside. Favorite food at Shilin Night Market, as always!

The 官财板 Guan Cai Ban stall was hardly crowded every time I visit. I don't understand why is it so, it's so delicious! I have friends telling me that Taichung sells better 官财板 Guan Cai Ban. I didn't see any stall selling this while I was in Taichung during my solo trip last year. =( Okay, I'll visit Taichung again for my future trip to Taiwan.

Day 3 & 4 in Taipei was awesome, the highlight of this trip. We saw a member of Fahrenheit (Taiwanese Band) at Ximending! More details on Shifen, KTV and World Cup Finals will be updated on my next post. =)