Taiwan Trip Day 2 – Ah Sui Sai Pork’s Trotter – 688 Beef Noodles – Taipei 101, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, New York New York – Shida Night Market

*LATEST* Taiwan Itinerary Year 2012 – 9 Days around Taipei, Taitung, Green Island, Kaohsiung, Jiufen

For our full trip itinerary, please click here.

updates: Shida Night Market is undergoing closure since Feb 2012.

Continuing from Taiwan Trip Day 2: Fu Hang Dou Jiang 阜杭豆漿 – Taiwan Story Land 台灣故事館…

After spending two hours or so in Taiwan Story Land, we went for lunch at Ah Sui Sai. People throng this place for their well known delicious pork trotter.

Stewed till tender, the pork trotters (NT 120, RM  13.30) were lip smackingly delicious with its gelatinous fat bits. The sauce, slow boiled for long hour, has become really thick and flavorful on its own. It goes really well with a bowl of lardy sinful minced meat rice. The owner told us that red sugar cane was used in the process of cooking, resulting in a red hue on the pork trotters.

Guava Juice(NT 20, RM 2.20)

Ah Sui Sai King of Pork Trotters 阿水獅豬腳大王
1, Ln 235, Sec 4, Zhong Xiao E. Road, Taipei.
(5 min walk from MRT Zong Xiao Dun Hua station exit 3)
Operating Hours: 10am to 9pm

From Ah Sui Sai, we walked for another 5 minutes or so to 688 Beef Noodles, (chinese name: Niu Ba Ba/cow papa) made famous for its bona fide pricing. Even the Discovery Channel has done a feature film on them.

A bowl of beef noodles could easily set you back at NT 300 (RM 33.30), NT 3000 (RM 330.30) or even NT 1000 (RM1110).

Side Dishes (NT 40, RM 4.40). The vege on the right is very good!

Not wanting to splurge so much on food, we went for the NT300 beef noodles. After hours of slow boiling, the soup base has a opaque amber color and the beefy flavor is really intense.  Niu Ba Ba took pride in their all natural soup base, with no MSG or additives. The beef cubes and beef tendons were extremely tender and delicious. We can’t claim that this is the best beef noodles in Taiwan because there is just too many of them around, but it is definitely tasty enough to warrant a visit.

688 Beef Noodles 牛爸爸牛肉麵
16, Alley 27, Ln 216, Sec 4, Zhongxiao E Rd, Taipei
台北市忠孝東路四段216巷27弄16號
(MRT Zong Xiao Dun Hua station exit 3)
Operating Hours: 11am to 9pm

After lunch, we took the MRT to City Hall Station  Xinyi, anchored by a number of department stalls and premium malls is the most modern cosmopolitan district of Taipei. Since LV/Gucci is beyond our reach, we spend most of our time in MUJI store (New York New York) and the seven floor Eslite Bookstore at SongGao Road.

You can even rent a bicycle and cycle around the city but please don’t do it on a hot summer day.

Doing the touristy pose in front of Taipei’s landmark. You can also pay NT 400 to take the world’s fastest elevator  to the 89th floor observatory in Taipei 101.

101, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, New York New York
Getting Here:
Take the Blue Line to the City Hall Station exit 2 and continue by (FREE) shuttle bus to Taipei 101. Hours of operation are 1100-2100, with buses coming every 15 minutes on weekends and every 20 minutes on weekdays.

After sipping a cup of coffee or two at Starbucks Cafe in Eslite Bookstore, we headed to Shida Night Market, my favorite night market in Taipei! Much smaller than Shilin, this night market is near to National Taiwan Normal University which explains the younger crowd.

1. Lantern Hot Stew

Basically, you just pick whatever you want from the stall and pass it to the guy who’s manning those little pots with braised sauce in it. He will then cook it and you have to carry your own food into the small and cramped little space (for dine in). The queue was crazy and it’s not fun to stand in front of the stove waiting for your food to be cooked!

But its all worth it! We have got wang zi mien aka Prince Noodles (everyone else was having it!), braised tofu, pork intestines, raddish, squid balls and tian bu la. The huge portion meant for two costs us only NT 130/RM 14.40. It’s amazing that the taste of the braised sauce is well absorbed into all the ingredients even though he just cook it for less than 3 minutes. The flavor is itensified more with the addition of pickled vegetables and spring onion.

Wash it down with a cup of bubble red tea/bubble green tea (NT 30/RM3.30 each). To dine in, you need to spend at least NT30 per person on drinks.

2. Hsu’s Pan Fried Dumplings

Again, the queue was crazy. Get a number from the digital numbering system (just like a bank!) and wait patiently for your turn. We were still 30 numbers behind!

Used only minced pork belly and cabbages as the filling, the dainty little dumplings were so juicy that each bite squirts with juice!

3. Arnor Crepe

Another extremely popular stall in Shida Night Market. I was about to faint from all the queuing and waiting. The crepes come in both sweet and savory flavor and we chose the French Style Combo with a little bit of everything (NT 75, rm8.30)

So delicious that you can even eat it own its own.

4. Salted Chicken

Mixed with shredded ginger, spring onions, chilies and their secret sauce, the chicken pieces tasted really good! The skin was crunchy while the flesh is moist and juicy.

With various small boutiques and craft shops around, Shida Night Market is a great place for retail therapy too! Our wallets got alot lighter before we call it a day. 🙁

Shida Night Market 師大路夜市
Getting Here:
Take exit No. 3 of the Taipower Building (台電大樓) MRT Station (Green Line).