Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Shi Yi Yue


I need to get a blender so I can have more shakes like this one. It's kiwi and dragonfruit. I've hated kiwi all my life until last week. The other dragonfruits I've had here have all been white - it was a surprise to find a burning neon pink flesh inside of this one. I also got one for my grandmother, who loved it. She said she hadn't had it until one time, long ago, my father brought her one. 火龍果 = Huo3 Long2 Guo3 = Dragonfruit



A bunch of us piled into Rob's car and he took us to Yilan County to get to some hot springs in FanFan. I used the time to catch up on some sleep. I was awake enough in the beginning to see some of the beautiful trees and misty fog on hillsides that's typical of Taiwan scenery once you get out of the city. After that, it's all a blur. I remember arriving, people getting out of the car, and falling in and out of sleep - dreaming that people were still next to me. It turns out that Typhoon Krosa damaged the hot springs so they're closed. Bummer. We turned around and debated what else to do. We wondered where else we could get a 3-combo: hiking, camping, and hot springs - but with the constant rain, we were more concerned about staying dry and cooking the trunk-load of food we had brought along.


We ended up in DaXi again, the surf spot, where we could camp under cover. We immediately set up a fire (which was a lot faster than last time) and cooked up some pasta. That was just the appetizer before the grilled mushrooms, onions, steaks, chicken, tofu with cheese, sweet potatoes, and whatever else Geoff, the dinner master, brought...surprisingly a lot for not having done any hiking. Oh well.


Dessert isn't pictured, but it was roasted marshmallows (provided by Lucas) on top of Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies with an extra slab of chocolate. I got the cookies because I couldn't find graham crackers in the Wellcome - but the cookies turned out even better than GC's - who knew?


John was in charge of breakfast: bacon, onions, more mushrooms and his fresh made sticky buns. I forgot to mention the brownies he had baked that we devoured the previous day in the car.

We got back Sunday in time for Ultimate practice at Yong He - the fields are much softer from the Typhoon, but a bit too muddy to get any grip. We prepped a bit for Manila and then afterwards I rallied some of the troops to get to the "New Row Mian" Festival. Luckily, Dan had gone on Saturday and gave us the address to give to the cabbie. We got there in time to gorge ourselves on most everything - there was only one shop, which had the longest line, that was going to run out before we could get any. But just as well, as I had my fill tasting half the other places. I found my favorite place, with 2 kinds of niu rou mian. I just have to figure out where the real restaurant is now.


This place was by far the best - great noodle consistency, good beef, and a tasty soup - that was neither too oily, too salty, nor too bland.


This was the light version - my Chinese isn't good enough to have understood the sign or what the seller was telling me it was. Anyone? The other one was a more traditional one and just as good.


We split up and everyone bought some from different stores - I had way too much, but it was a good way to do side-by-side comparisons. They came spicy, oily, bland, chewy, overcooked, etc.


My partners in niu rou mian feasting. Noah, Geoff, Rich.


This is a delicious side dish - larger than normal, for a group of 7 of us that went to the dumpling place by Lin Sen S Rd and Renai (just north of the climbing gym at the intersection, Lane 61). They are famous for their dumplings - many think they're the best in Taipei. They also have niu rou mian. This dish was a combo of a couple types of tofu and some brown eggs - just like my mom makes.


Afterwards, Becca, Dan and I tried hunting down a nearby Starbucks - impossible to find when you need one. We ended up looping back around to Chiang Kai Shek and going to a Tea House that's open til 11 pm and ordering some lattes and tea. I finally got a good chunk of Chinese review in. I also got a good laugh at Dan's "new" cleats - and by new, I mean from the 1980's. If the picture isn't big enough, that sticker says: CAUTION make sure nuts and cleats are tight before wearing which doesn't seem as funny now as when I first read it.

Today I went back to:
Lin Dong Fang Niu Rou Mian
林東芳牛肉麵
274 Bade Road, Sec 2
八德路二段274號(中央日報旁)
02 2752 2556
Excellent beef and tasty soup and noodles. They didn't have my favorite soft tofu with preserved egg dish, so I got a small plate of something that looked like mini asparagus. Yummy! This place is incredibly small, so I wouldn't take a big group there. But it makes my top 3 list for niu rou mian places in Taipei (so far).

6 comments:

Dan said...

Psst, Lin -

There are two types of "traditional" beef noodle to be found in Taipei. The difference is in the soup and meat:

1. 清燉 qing1 dun4: A light, clear broth with delicately flavored meat. That's the one you had (yellow sign - lower right corner.)

2. 紅燒 hong2 shao1: A stronger, spicier soup with a more roast-ey style meat. Yum.

(There's 湯麵 tang1 mian4 too, but that doesn't have meat. Lame.)

Taiwan also has Sichuan style beef noodles, but I've always been hesitant to try them 'cause there's no beef noodle in Sichuan. Yes, I'm willing to make a categorical statement like that. So there.

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/牛肉麵

Wikipedia also says that there's a "California style" beef noodle. Interesting.

Of course, my favorite style of Taiwan beef noodle barely gets a nod on Wikipedia (maybe I should submit some revisions?) That's the 山東 shan1 dong1 variety, which includes marinated tomatoes in a thick, hongshao broth.

PS - I had a really great bowl of 蒜頭雞絲 suan4 tou2 ji1 si1 noodles today. One day when you're by Taida, I'll show you the place.

Rich M said...

Oh man. Just seeing the pictures of niu rou mian is making me hungry again.

I need to exchange pictures with you sometime--I think we both have a couple of gems

Lin said...

Dan - that is an awesome write up - I still think you should write a book. I could help edit it and I would even buy it from you!

Rich - yes, picture swap. The one of Geoff you have at the festival is pretty funny. Most of my good photos are up on picasa - click on a picture to get there and you can see my Taiwan II album

The favorite taste at the festival for me was actually the one in ximending that I haven't been to yet.

Laodong Beef Noodle Restaurant
老董牛肉細粉麵店
146 Kunming St

Mike DiGioia said...

That dragonfruit looks like ice cream. Would love to try that some time.

snowtweety said...

wow... i like the pink dragonfruit already and haven't even eaten any yet. Niu Ro Mien, ymmmy. Every time I read your blog, I get hungry. How is Manila?

Lin said...

Manila was tons of fun - I'll have to post a write up later. Right now I need to catch up on some Chinese studying. When are you coming to Taiwan? I'm still debating going to Vietnam in Dec.