Taiwan - Day 4 (Dongmen Market - Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall - Guangzhou Street Market - Huaxi Street Night Market - Ximending Night Market)
Weather is getting warmer on our 4th day in Taipei and we can just go out without a jacket. Finally we had a good night sleep at CitizenM Taipei North Gate Hotel. We woke up late around 11.30am and took bus no. 22 (Bus fare - NT$ 15 per person) from Taipei Post Office to Dongmen Station (Xinyi). I might say, this is one of the worst bus ride that we have ever ride. The driver has a rough driving skills. I pity an old lady because she was struggling to balance herself on the moving bus. Then I overheard an elderly who told her friend how she fell and knock her head. She lost her balance as the bus was moving too fast. I felt a little light headed after I stepped down from the bus. This is how bad their driving skill is.
Just across Dongmen Station (Xinyi) is Dongmen Market. It's a traditional market for locals to get their groceries in the morning. Do be careful of scooters driving through the market alley. I was looking for this vermicelli soup shop and finally found it at the far corner. We reached there around 1pm and all the meats were sold off except for organ meats. Ended up I just had a bowl of plain vermicelli noodle soup. It has an innocent taste and vermicelli is a bit hard for my liking. The soup taste like pig's stomach soup but I felt very thirsty after eating that bowl of noodles.
Taipei North Gate
Bo'ai Road
Public bus
Dongmen Market
Dongmen Market
Rice noodles shop
Rice noodles - NT$ 30
Address:
Lane 79, Section 2, Xinyi Rd,
Zhongzheng District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 100
We walked to this "艋舺原汁排骨湯" shop that serve rice with minced pork, tofu and cabbage at Dongmen Market. You can choose either normal rice or fried rice and we went with fried rice. Tofu is nice and flavourful. We opt for lean meat but I don't really enjoy the flavour of the minced pork. Overall, it's not a superb meal for us.
艋舺原汁排骨湯
Restaurant ambience
Restaurant ambience
Minced pork rice, tofu & stir fried vegetables - NT$ 100
Address:
No. 56, Linyi St,
Zhongzheng District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 100
Dongmen Jiang Ji Douhua is a small shop located inside Dongmen Market. Their soya bean pudding comes with soft peanuts and you can choose either brown sugar or rock sugar syrup. We ordered a bowl of hot soya bean pudding with brown sugar syrup. Even though the soya bean pudding doesn't have the silky smooth texture, it's soft and wobbly. We decided to try their cold soya bean pudding as well but it has a harder texture compared to the hot soya bean pudding. Overall we quite enjoy the hot bowl of soya bean pudding except for the soft peanuts.
Dongmen Jiang Ji Douhua
Hot tofu pudding with brown sugar syrup - NT $45
Cold tofu pudding with brown sugar syrup - NT $45
Address:
Dongmen Jiang Ji Douhua
No. 5, Lane 142, Section 1,
Jinshan South Road,
Zhongzheng District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 100
We stopped by Dongmen Ice to have a cup of handcrafted ice cream. There's three types of ice cream. Exclusive (matcha & chocolate), seasonal (mulberry, strawberry, mango, pitaya, lemon, banana yogurt & pineapple) and classic (red bean, taro, sesame, milk, peanut & green bean). Everyday, the shop owner will prepare different types of ice cream flavours. On that day, there's four types of ice cream available - strawberry, peanuts, chocolate and pineapple. I had their best seller strawberry and peanut ice cream. It has a natural flavour and there's chunky bits of strawberry all through the ice cream. However, the ice cream is not creamy and has a bit of icy texture.
Dongmen Ice: Strawberry and peanut ice cream - NT$ 50
Address:
Dongmen Ice
No. 87-4, Section 2,
Xinyi Rd, Zhongzheng District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 100
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is just 6 minutes walking distance (450m) from Dongmen Market. It's a popular tourist attraction and the memorial hall was built in memory of the former President of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek. I've been here 17 years ago with my friends but I can't recall much except for the tour group photo in front of Liberty Square Arch. There's changing of the guards take place every hour from 9am to 5pm at the 4F Bronze Statue Hall. We're just in time for the guard changing at 3pm.
Daxiao Gate
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
Changing of the guard
Changing of the guard
Changing of the guard
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
National Concert Hall
Liberty Square Arch
National Theatre
Address:
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
No. 21, Zhongshan S Rd,
Zhongzheng District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 100
Opening hours: 9am to 6pm
Feeling hungry, we decided to have our late tea break at Ichiran located inside B1 of Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Place A11. We took bus no. 20 (Bus fare - NT$ 15 per person) from Xinyi Hangzhou Road Intersection to Songshou Road Intersection. This restaurant open 24 hours and when we reached there around 4.20pm, there's already a queue outside the restaurant. We only queued for 10 minutes and while queueing, they gave us an order sheet to circle our preference in terms of seasoning, richness, garlic, green onions, sliced pork, spicy level and noodle texture. We followed their recommendation except for the noodle texture which I select soft.
Both of us decided to share a bowl of ramen and we ordered their Classic Tonkotsu ramen with additional half boiled salted egg and dried seaweed. It's really good. It tastes exactly like what we had in Japan previously. Since both of us share a bowl of ramen, they gave one of us a payment card that indicates we are sharing ramen and payment is not required. We decided to let Alan try this delicious ramen by getting him a box of instant Ichiran ramen (Price - NT$ 750 per box).
Total bill - NT$ 1,244
Ichiran
Ichiran
Restaurant ambience
Cold green tea - NT$ 58 each
Half boiled salted egg - NT$ 40 and dried seaweed (2 pieces) - NT$ 40
Classic Tonkotsu ramen - NT$ 298
Payment card
Address:
Ichiran
B1F, No. 11, Songshou Rd,
Xinyi District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 110
Opening hours: 24 hours
Since it's still too early for dinner, I decided to hunt for my soft serve ice cream. We walked past Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Place and saw a beautiful sunset when we cross the Zhongxiao E Road.
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Place
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Place
Beautiful sunset at Zhongxiao E Rd
Beautiful sunset at Zhongxiao E Rd
Beautiful sunset at Zhongxiao E Rd
Happiness Day is approximately 12 minutes walking distance (900m) from Ichiran Taipei Main Branch. There's four types of soft serve ice cream flavours - vanilla, chocolate, caramel and muscat. Each soft serve ice cream cost NT$ 150 and basically I find it quite pricey but the taste is worth it. Muscat is their new flavour of the month and we decided to give it a try. They didn't allow us to dine in since we only bought one ice cream cone.
Coincidentally there's a stone seating wall outside the shop. So we hang out there while enjoying our ice cream. The soft serve ice cream is really good. It's smooth, creamy, rich in taste and most importantly it's not too sweet. The cone has a delicate texture and easily crumble in your mouth. It's made from langue de chat, a light crunchy French biscuits with a hint of raspberry taste. The cone pairs perfectly with the ice cream.
It's so good that one ice cream is just not enough for the two of us. So I order another one and this time I choose chocolate flavour. There's two types of cone and I went with the original cone. Chocolate soft serve ice cream is richly flavoured with cocoa and it's creamy. Overall, both of us still prefer the muscat flavour.
Happiness Day
Restaurant ambience
Cremia the shine muscat - NT$ 150 and Cremia the chocolate - NT$ 150
Address:
Happiness Day
No. 10, Lane 15, Section 5,
Zhongxiao E Rd, Xinyi District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 110
We walked to MRT Taipei City Hall Station (3 minutes walking distance from Happiness Day) and took Ren Ai Main Line bus to Yakiniku Smile Taipei Zhongxiao Branch (Bus fare - NT$ 15 per person).
Zhongxiao E Rd
We reached there around 6.30pm and the restaurant is fully booked. Since they only accept Taiwan phone number for reservation, we have no choice but to give them Alan's number so that they can contact him when there's seat available. Ten minutes later, Alan texts us saying there's table available. Each of us has to order a set and they limit us a 90 minutes dine in time.
Menu is all in Chinese language and we ask the waitress for recommendation. She recommended us to try the Wagyu A5 set and Karubi beef set. Each set comes with a bowl of salad, rice, miso soup and free flow of drinks. Overall I prefer the Wagyu A5 beef as it's moist and tender with a buttery flavour. I don't really enjoy the Karubi beef because it's slightly chewy and the texture is quite similar to lean meat. Apart from that, miso soup is so-so only.
Total bill - NT$ 1,936
Yakiniku Smile
Free flow of drinks
Restaurant ambience
Lemon tea and chill apple juice
Lettuce salad
Cabbage salad
Wagyu A5 set - NT$ 780
Karubi beef set - NT$ 980
Address:
Yakiniku Smile Taipei Zhongxiao Branch
No. 497, 2nd Floor, Section 5,
Zhongxiao E Rd, Xinyi District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 110
After dinner, we plan to visit Guangzhou Street Market and Huaxi Street Night Market. Both the night market is just close to each other. From Yakiniku Smile Taipei Zhongxiao Branch we walked to Yongchun MRT Station and took the Metro Taipei to Longshan Temple Station (Metro fare - NT$ 30 per person). Guangzhou Street Night Market is just 5 minutes walking distance (400m) from Longshan Temple Station.
We're surprised to see old fashioned pinball game machines and Tetris arcade machines in the market. In fact, many elderly actually sat there and played the video games. We divert to Huaxi Street Night Market and this night market also known as the snake alley. However, we only saw one shop with a boa snake while majority of the shops are foot massage, nail parlour and antique shop.
Longshan Temple Station
Guangzhou Street Night Market
Guangzhou Street Night Market
Huaxi Street Night Market
Huaxi Street Night Market
Yellow boa
Guangzhou Street Night Market
While strolling through Guangzhou Street Market and I stumbled upon this stall selling Chinese dessert soup. I ordered red bean tangyuan and it's good. First sip the red bean soup tastes sweet but it blends well with the tangyuan and the combination is just perfect. Tangyuan (Chinese glutinous rice balls) are smooth, soft and chewy with a mochi like texture.
Red bean tangyuan - NT$ 50
Guangzhou Street Night Market
I'm a big fan of Aiyu jelly and I spotted this stall stated since 1951 and decided to give it a try. The drinks are packed in a plastic bag and to my disappointment the sugar water is very sweet. So I have to patiently wait for the ice to melt and dilute the sweetness of the Aiyu jelly drink. My partner bought a packet of guava and Taiwan sausage. Guava is mildly sweet with a crunchy texture. However, the plum powder is tasteless. Taiwan sausage on the other hand doesn't impressed me much.
Aiyu jelly drink - NT$ 40
Guava - NT$ 50
Taiwan sausage - NT$ 40
Longshan Temple is one of the popular temples in Taiwan. We passed by the temple around 9.50pm and it's closed. We should have visit this temple first before we went to the night market since the temple opens until 9.45pm.
Longshan Temple
Address:
Longshan Temple
No. 211, Guangzhou Street,
Wanhua District,
Taipei City, Taiwan 10853
Opening hours: 6am to 9.45pm
We took bus no. 624 (Bus fare - NT$ 15 per person) back to our hotel. Along the way, we saw a lot of homeless people sleeping in corridors. As usual, the bus driver has a rough driving skill and I almost sprain my wrist when getting off the bus. We stopped at Ximen Station and decided to stroll along Ximending Night Market before we head back to our hotel. We were too full to eat any more street food. Later that night, my partner decided to try out one of the foot massage parlour in Ximending (NT$ 799 for 1 hour).
Note: NT$ 1 = RM 0.14
Homeless people
Bus station
Ximending Night Market
Payphones are still in operation
Comments
Post a Comment