Taiwanese Snacks and Food

I don't like to dine in restaurants whenever I travel, I guess it's a habit from a long history of backpacking and solo-travelling.




So whenever I'm travelling these days, I always end up eating out of a 24 hour store. In Taiwan's case, the trusty 7-eleven. Of course, I do eat many other forms of take-aways as well.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't enjoy dining in a restaurant, it's just such a waste of good atmosphere to eat alone in.


So these are the things I've eaten in Taiwan,


The hot spring eggs you get from ramen shops such as Marutama, but in packaged form!
Golden yolks with a salty brownish egg-white. Love this! I ate so many of them during my stay in Taipei.







some yogurt which tasted awful.






tried to finish it but just couldn't.



roasted milk tea in a bottle. Love it!



my raspberry dessert. nom nom



I'm kinda getting sick of this, but it's still nice to look at.



bought it from a hotel. love the packaging.



guess what's inside?



pineapple tart!! I simply adore this type of pineapple tart/pie/cake. Does anyone know where to buy them in KL?



my bento set on the train. ^^ So yummy. Fried pork cutlet.



my favourite meal in Taiwan.
This is an authentic Taiwanese meal. With soup, vege, usually pork cutlet or chicken cutlet, and 'ru lou fan'. Basically it's gravy minced pork on rice.




The locals in the old days used to eat this (the 'ru lou fan') with some vege or small pieces of meat on the side. It has something to do with my first visit to Taiwan. I made it down to Tainan and rented a bicycle to explore town like a local of the olden days. And I followed the direction of my trusty lonely planet and ended up in a really old and very Taiwanese style eatery and ordered this form of Taiwanese set meal.

And though I couldn't explain it, it felt like I was transported back in time, sitting in a wooden eatery, with my bicycle outside and me waiting for my food at my tiny wooden table on my tiny wooden stool, it felt like I was living in old Taiwan.

I loved that feeling so much that every time I ate this, it felt sorta 'nostalgic'; despite not being a born and bred local.

Oh, and Taiwan's Tau Fu Fa (soy bean custard?) was heavenly sent!
I never liked Tau Fu Fa till I first tried Taiwanese's tff.
So soft. So smooth. So fragrant. And the syrup was SOOOOOOO GOOD.
I never like the syrup they serve with tff in Malaysia, it's either too artificially sweet or to gingerly. yuck.

And they have my favourite soft sweet peanuts as toppings!





with grass jelly!


On my last night, I discovered a wonderful shop that specialized in Tau Fu Fa. It's like our snowflake or blackball in KL but instead of grass jelly and ice, they use TFF.


Taro Ball



soy bean jelly/custard





The guest house I stayed in.








the same room I stayed in two years ago ^^



TV I never used



had this for snack one day. Bought by the host's mom. It's called 'salty cake'.
I couldn't quite pin down whether I liked it or not till today. I supposed to some extend, it's nice. lol



It's slightly salt-ish with a tinge of sweetness and very fluffy and have an empty bite to it. It's weird. But edible. And somewhat nice when you feel like it.



a lazy bento dinner one night



too fatty for my liking. But it's a lot of FOOOD.



this was just a very 'bleh' meal. But it's ordered in a franchise coffee shop called Mr. Brown.
Much like our Starbucks here.
It's all over the place, every other street I saw a Mr. Brown.



Dorayaki with yam, black sesame, red bean, etc fillings.


A 7-11 meal one night.


pre-heated.



It's looks so delicious. It's more delicious than some of the food you eat in local stalls.


this was red wine reduced sauce with beef and rice. ^^


I had it with Mexican chicken wings. Yum. Also pre-heated.







I'm beginning to think that 7-11offers an endless amount of services, which I can never finish witnessing. Just when you think you know all about the 7-11 in Taiwan, something new pops up and throws you off.

You can receive and send out fax (yes, it's a service!) in 7-11 in Taiwan, other than printing, heating your food, sit down supper (they have stools and bar tables), free sauce packets for your food (something that's free!), and so many more that I can't remember now.

One time, I saw a man walked into 7-11 and up to the counter with a bag of used batteries, and the cashier took out a weighing machine, weighed it on the spot as if it's something that happened all the time, kept the bag of used batteries, checked a booklet of list of items and prices and gave the man money!

God knows what else they can recycle in that little booklet of theirs. o.O


Oh, and I found out I don't like pudding on this trip.






It's like. yuck. period.


Finally, my last meal in Taiwan. Well, last dinner actually.


milk tea, 'yan su ji' (Taiwanese deep fried salty chicken), vege and 'ru lou fan'.


Best.