Eating Taiwan

[ 遼寧街夜市 ]

地址: 104中山區
Address: Liaoning St., Zhongshan Dist., Taipei City 104

回來台灣最愛的就是逛夜市! 上個月底某天全家到台北辦事，我媽就一直說想念遼寧街夜市的食物，我們就乘機衝過去了XD。

這是我第一次造訪這個夜市~

I love nightmarkets. Let's just get that out of the way. I love how you can eat so much for not a lot of money and the bustle and smells (even if some aren't all that great) and all the weird things going on that are so unique to Taiwanese nightmarkets. Mom had been talking about missing this particular one, which was where she'd first eaten out with my dad all those years ago, so we decided (after a bunch of wrong turns) to come after some errands that night.

It was my first time there -- usually we go to the Shilin, Shida or Ningxia markets, but new is good!

我們去的第一攤。大概是被米粉所吸引了吧?

The first stall we stopped at; the rice noodles got us interested, I guess?

跟隔壁家點的紅糟肉，剛看到完全不知道是什麼，顏色有的鮮艷得恐怖。

但是它很好吃耶! 酥酥的，沒有太油，沾醬又甜甜的~完全是我的菜XD

I'm not totally sure what this is called (and after a short search on Wikipedia, it doesn't seem to have a common English name), but the red is basically from Monascus purpureus, stuff leftover from the fermenting process? In any case, Taiwanese and Fujianese people like to add it to their food, and it gives the meat a slightly sweet, slightly bitter kind of taste.

It looks pretty creepy (and colorful), but it tasted really nice. Especially how it's crisp and sweet (even more so with the dipping sauce), yummm.

雞肉捲，這也是我很久才吃一次的，印象中是味道還可以。

好像是70元左右吧，也不便宜。

Chicken rolls.

As in chicken meat wrapped in some sort of ... wrapper? Yeah. I got nothing. Pretty decent tasting as well, and sweetish. We do like our meat sweet, I've come to realize.

At 70 NTD a plate, it wasn't that cheap for the amount.

我媽點的米粉湯，是粗的那種，我對它沒什麼興趣XD。我還是比較喜歡新竹米粉啊~~

而且聽說味道不怎麼樣。

Mom's rice noodles. I'm more used to the long, thin kind which is a specialty in Hsinchu; this is the 'original' kind, called 'water noodles'. and it's cut up thicker and shorter.

Aaand...Mom didn't like it. Said it was pretty flavorless. I don't know how much she's comparing to what they had thirty years ago, but things have definitely changed a lot since I was a kid, too. Not here, since this was my first time, but everywhere else I've been eating at for years. But life moves on, and everything invariably becomes more expensive.

我點的切仔麵。

還好，就是用來墊胃的澱粉。

Bowl of noodle soup, a staple of small eats places. Twas alright; I felt like I just had to have some carbs with the rest of the food, and the restaurant had run out of rice.

油豆腐。

對它沒什麼印象，應該就普普吧。

後面的我忘了是什麼但....一看到上面都是柴魚片...............我就免了吧= =

Oily Tofu. I don't remember how it tasted, so I guess it was just average...?

As for the thing in the back, I think it's some sort of vegetable. Which wouldn't have been a problem, except it had all those katsuobushi (sometimes bonito flakes) on top. I really don't like how it tastes, so I just didn't touch it.

肝連啊我的最愛 

到小吃店必點的一道!! 在國外是完全吃不到的啊TT 真的要開始學怎麼做了.....

還不錯，醬有點過鹹就是了。

Mmmmm, meat. Again, not sure what a direct translation would be, but it's the cut of meat right next to the liver (hence the Chinese name meaning 'attached to liver'.) Lovely. I've missed this a lot, and it was pretty delicious, if a tad salty from the sauce.

沒吃飽，接下來又去續攤~

Since we weren't full yet, we looked around for another place...

店家外觀。

Outside of the restaurant.

......我完全不會吃的東西，默默略過.....(聽説是還好。)

Dry stir-fried clams. Not something I eat, so I don't know how it tasted.

關東煮耶!! 這也是國外很難吃到的，不過通常中國市場都有很多冷凍的可以拿來自己煮。

有蘿蔔，竹輪，豆腐，還有一些不知道是什麼的丸子。

就是一大盤這種東西啦XD竹輪沒有想像中的好吃，蘿蔔OK，剩下的不記得味道了。

我弟吃到一半還過敏發作= =醬裡好像有花生???? 可是完全吃不出來啊O_o.....

Oden!!!

This was originally a Japanese dish, which consists of a light soy broth with ingredients such as daikon and egg, stewed together for winter. The Taiwanese version incorporates lots of local flavors like pig's blood cake and meatballs. Usually these are sold as separate ingredients simmering in a big pan and the customer picks out the ingredients they want. Lots of convenience stores also sell their versions of oden!

We had daikon, chikuwa (a tubular thing that's made from fish paste), meatballs, and tofu for our plate. I really love chikuwa, but it wasn't chewy enough for me (although that hopefully means it's actually mostly meat and not weird chemicals?). The daikon was alright with the sauce, but I don't really remember how the other stuff tasted.

And...my brother had an episode while eating this. Apparently there was peanut in the sauce (which we couldn't taste at all?) and since he's allergic, he had to run to the convenience store to get water....

担仔麵，我大概是少數好高興這碗裡沒有蝦的人吧 [[被打飛

我就是喜歡吃麵XD。它還滿香的，味道不錯，貢丸(應該是貢丸沒錯.....)好吃。

Another version of the noodle soup I've talked about above (I just love noodles, okay.) This version is supposed to have shrimp in it, but I'm kind of glad it doesn't...because I don't/can't eat it. I liked the meatball, thoug.

後來又到別攤外帶的紅豆湯圓

我真的好愛啊，是大的圓仔，湯也夠甜，不過大老遠從台北帶回家是有點囧...回家後有些過軟。

And then I bought tangyuan again <3. Although I had to wait an hour to eat it because we needed to get home, and it got a little soft. I really like the big, non-filled tangyuan though, since I don't really see them unless I'm in the south.

結論是這夜市很小，用走的話可能一分鐘就可以走完。聽說我媽那年代時它好像熱鬧許多(?)，而且現在味道也都變了。不過這我就不知道啦v_v...

重點是這些店家很多都沒有在菜單上標價錢啊0-0 很多客人也是吃完再問.....這樣錢沒帶夠怎麼辦XD; 我有點不習慣。

This nightmarket is actually pretty small, spanning only one short street that you could probably finish walking within a minute. According to my mom it was much more lively in the past, and my parents kept complaning that nothing tastes the same anymore (although ... really, that was all like 30 years ago, probably.)

The thing is, many of these stalls don't have prices on their menus, and people usually don't ask how much everything is until the end...really? I'd be afraid about not bringing enough money (even though it's not supposed to be super expensive, but still.)

以上~