We loved Taipei 101 Food Court so much that we went back another day to eat lunch there. Our plan was to walk around outside of Taipei 101 because we heard there are a lot of malls and shops in the surrounding areas. We figured that means more good food to. However, after the food court, we realized it was just malls and food courts.
At Taipei 101 Food Court, we got food from Xiaonanmen Traditional Soy Bean Jelly and Food. I was looking this yesterday because they had braised pork rice and I love braised pork rice. It’s never good at home because they put so little braised pork.
Braised pork rice, mushroom pork thick soup and quick boiled veggie. It came as a combo. The veggie seems like water spinach and it was good. Lightly salted and with garlic. I wasn’t a big fan of the soup. It was pretty bland but had a strong and distinct flavor and odor like sharp. We think it was ginger or ginseng? The braised pork rice itself was good. The proportion was great and the braised pork was very flavorful.
After we ate lunch and realized there wasn’t much around Taipei 101 other than the tower itself, we decided to retreat back to our hotel to change into warmer clothes (it was drizzling and windy and I was wearing a dress). For the first time, we were back at the hotel early enough to finally get to try their self-serve hot red date and longan tea. It tasted thick and syrupy and sweet! It was so good and comforting.
Vince discovered the hotel’s cloth map on display and realized there was a lot of stuff near our hotel actually. Why did we not explore closer to our hotel? It actually had a lot of things within walking distance!
We found ourselves amidst the Ximending District where they have a lot of shops and food stands and restaurants. There was even a rainbow road where everyone wanted to take pictures in front of.
We passed by a short alley of food stands. We saw the sausage stand and was like… let’s just try one and see what the hype is about. We keep seeing long lines to the sausage stands and couldn’t understand why. It’s just a hot dog?
Well; the pork sausage with garlic reminds me of Chinese sausage form its sweetness but also different. The garlic was a nice touch. It was good!
Flaky scallion egg pancake roll with cheese. Omg I’ve been wanting to try this! How great is it that we just ran into this stall randomly. The pancake was so flaky yet chewy. The cheese was a yummy touch. I love the egg! It’s the perfect combo!
HOT STAR Large Fried Chicken. It was so insanely large!! It had such a thick crust of crunchiness. The chicken was surprisingly very juicy and tender. It was good! It was too big though.
While we were eating our chicken and pancake, I said why not wait in line at Xing Fu Tang to try their boba. Might as well while we’re eating. And it was a weekday day time so the line cannot get any shorter than this!
When we ordered, we had a chance to use this stick to lunch a square to win a little prize. It was like a fun raffle for per order made! We win $10 NTD each!
Brown sugar milk with boba. We got the original and it was delicious. Boba was super soft and chewy. The brown sugar milk was very milky, creamy; the caramelized brown sugar on top gave it a nice textural addition that was also sweet.
I got the custard and thought it was just okay. I’ve had more flavorful batter and more sweet custard before. Oh well!
We originally were going to go to Raohe Night Market, but decided we would go back to Ximending District instead for its night life and food! We loved the atmosphere, the space and the good vibes. We also love the food choices.
So it turns out whatever we saw during the day weren’t the only stands that’ll be throughout the night. More stands started rolling in starting at 7pm!! Our original plan of eating beef noodle soup in the vicinity quickly got replaced with eating street food.
We saw a cute old lady making these little round onion pancakes. We for 3 for.. I forgot.. super cheap. Turns out they were not just stuffed with onions, but also with pork. They were so juicy and flavorful! Vince’s first bite squirted out pork juices. Delicious!
Vince saw a store called Come Here Drink Bar and he’s like, “I want boba here.” There was a lady at the front who was super friendly and nice so we decided to order boba from her. She convinced us to get white boba, which is made from a cassava root. But I get confused because I thought it was konjac?
Dongding oolong milk tea with white boba.
Vince and I got teas that we liked from our trip of trying teas from an earlier tea shop. We also got their tea leaves so excited to brew that when we get home. The teas were made with fresh milk.
We got 6 buns:
Pan-fried buns with pork and scallions (white sesame)
Pan-fried buns with pork and cabbage (black/white sesame)
It was pretty cool to see how they seed-coded the buns to know which ones were which. It was also to see how they cooked them too! Looked so pretty.. they were juicy delights covered with a doughy bun.
I saw the stand for Sister Yin’s Brown Sugar Bubble Milk and couldn’t resist for one last Fresh milk with brown sugar, bubble and grass jelly because it was soooooo good the first night! I wanna say I even liked this more than Xing Fu Tang’s (Shhh…) The boba is just soooo insanely soft and chewy AND PERFECTLY ROUND. The grass jelly tastes so fresh!!! When I was waiting to order I noticed two big woks of fresh boba and grass jelly. Not until the last day I can see the street stand boba is made of fresh stuff. Cartons of milk lay in the back too. I love that I don’t have to question whether or not these milk teas are made of milk or nondairy creamer. (Sorry no picture; I had no hands at this point because we were carrying food home and the cups are paper cups anyway).
Okay, lastly, let me talk about this pineapple bun. I’ve always seen it in bakeries and dim sum restaurants at home. I’ve seen them everywhere in HK and Taipei. I’ve always been curious but not enough to try. What is the hype?! We tried one in HK and it was just alright. We decided to try it one more time from this night market because not only did we see they bake it fresh from the oven, but they also add a slab of butter!!! I hear it’s good with butter…
Even without the typical pineapple stamp on top, the top part had a super extra crispy layer that paired just so perfectly with the soft, gooey bread underneath soaked with fatty butter. Wow, this stuff is GOOD. Stupid delicious! The contrast in texture and the flavors is a fat flavor bomb. It’s beyond anything! I was instantly converted.
Now even though we leave tomorrow, it technically isn’t until tomorrow night at 11:40pm. That literally does give us one more full day to stuff ourselves.
