Finding lunch and dinner is an adventure, there is nothing more fun than walking from corner to
corner deciding what kind of mood you are in to eat. Here in Taiwan there are
many different choices of food and culture. There of course is the Chains such
as Pizza Hut, KFC, Starbucks, 7-11 convenience stores are everywhere, but you
can also find nock offs for much less and do a really great job. A few other
types of food you can buy here is Italian, Japanese, Indian, and Turkey. I may
have told a few people about the century egg I ate at school for an extra 10
bonus marks. Why is it called a century egg? Well it’s considered to be the equivalent
to a 1000 year old egg. How it’s made is they take a fresh raw egg, cover it
with burnt ashes and sawdust and let it sit out in the sun to bake for a month.
The sulfur penetrates the pores of the shell and preserves the egg. This
chemical reaction turns the white part of the egg black and into a gel and the
inside dark green. I honestly didn’t eat eggs for 6 months, it was one of the
most disgusting things I have ever eaten.
The other night Steph, Matt and I went for a walk around the block a found
a small street vendor that specializes in steamed pork buns (Xian Xia Sheui
Jiao) Chines Pancakes and pan fried pot stickers. The food was very tasty and
the total cost was 185nt or about 7bucks Canadian for everything! Street food
here is very inexpensive, however the fast food chains will be double or even
triple that price per person. I didn’t know this but Egg is one of the stables
in Taiwanese Cuisine. You can find fried egg, quail eggs on a stick, poached
eggs, pickled egg, century egg is everywhere(YUCK).
I don’t know if the century
egg will top stinky tofu, This is on my list of things to try before I leave
Taiwan and is considered an experience for every foreigner. Well so far a few
of the favourite things I have tried are as follows, Chicken and Pea stirfy,
Deep fried Octopus( like popcorn chicken),Shrimp or Pork Dumplings, Naan
Seaweed and Chicken wraps, Blue Berry Oreos (yeah that’s right blueberry in the
center) and Oyster omelet. I have to describe this thing called an oyster
omelette to you because it has been one of the strangest textures I have had. I
found this dish at the Shilin Night market which is the largest in Taiwan and
one of the main tourist attractions in Taipei. So Imagine Tapioca pearls in
bubble tea, but not as chewy, now think of something that’s really gelatine’s
but not like jelly that’s too hard. This stuff was goopy and sloppy and weird. This
was a very strange experience for me to try but still very tasty. The omelet
had fresh oysters, egg, cabbage, and sweet potato starch that started out white
and then turns clear this starch is what gives it the weird texture and was
served with a sweet pepper sauce on top.
The other thing I discovered is smoked
Figs. They are really really good, kind of nutty, soft, and tender like
the
consistency of prunes but way better. I can really see a dish with smoked figs,
duck prosciutto, salami, pork rillettes and a nice slice of gouda, pecorino or
brie cheese. Did you know that ROOTS Clothing has around 75 stores in Taiwan
and 2 in Japan kind of cool to see a Canadian brand all over the subway and on
the streets. Oh speaking of Subway yes I found a Subway franchise the other day
kind of funny as Steph hates subway and thinks its overrated but I think it’s
the best deal during a trip yeah know 5 dollar 5 dollar foot long I can hear
the jingle in my head. Steph and I have improved a lot with chopsticks. My hand
no longer cramps up and I no longer do the pinch grip and choke up on the chop
sticks like a young child would. I have been told that I have the equivalent
skill to a 9 year old kid, but I am proud to say that I can finally hold them
at full length and not in the middle anymore. It still makes me wonder who
thought
a chopstick would be the right tool to eat rice with. It will be very
interesting to see what item I find next.
I am a becoming a Chef. I am trying to expand my knowledge,
repertoire, expand my creativity and begin to think outside of the basic
fundamentals I have learned. This is why I am here, this is why I came to
Taiwan. The food market is so influenced by Asian Cuisine right now and it is
amazing to see how food is changing from rich butter sauces and your basic
steak frites mounted with sundried tomato butter to Curry, and Sushi, and quick
pickled items or fermented stuff like kimchee or a Middle Eastern shawarma or
kebab. There is something changing in this industry and one of them is simplicity
and complexity of flavours, using the best and the freshest ingredients
possible and thinking outside the box of the human palate. One thing I have
never really thought about being a chef until today was the topic of morality
and integrity in the kitchen. When do your passion and the desire for success
become so important you throw away all morals and sense of responsibility for
what you do as a chef to try to please the customer. In hospitality it has
always been about providing a service and trying to make the most memorable
experience for the guest. Food is all about a connection with flavours,
textures, memories. I know that if I asked you what was one of the most amazing
this you have ever eaten was you would probably not hesitate to tell me. I know
one of the most memorable for me was only a few weeks ago. I was with my Dad,
Ben and my brother in-law Jason and we went to a place called Jacks BBQ in
Nashville Tennessee. This small restaurant is located on Broadway and is known
for smoked ribs and beef brisket.
WOW that’s all I can say, you have to go
there, we waited in line for an hour and it was worth the wait. The food was
served on paper plates which I thought was tacky and cheap, but it didn’t affect
the flavour and the taste of the 24 hour perfectly smoked and tender ribs. The
brisket had the right texture; enough bark or burnt bits on the outside the
right kind of moisture on the inside and it just melted like butter in my
mouth. Today I went to the second floor
to look at the menu here at the hotel I like to look at menus it peeks my
curiosity and gives me something to look into for maybe a future menu layout,
design, and style if I ever open a restaurant. The first thing that I noticed
was the decor which is very nice up there, round tables, family style dinner
with really nice china on the table. So I asked what the hours where and also
the cost to eat at the Restaurant. The young hostess couldn’t really speak
English so she handed me a menu and I started to brows. The menu had lots of
sea food, stir-fry and many differnt authentic Taiwanese dishes. It was a very
nice menu easy to read both written in Chinese and English. The fifth menu item
I read was “SHARK FIN SOUP” and I kind of had a look of shock on my face and I
was stunned at what I was reading. I thanked her for showing me the menu and
headed back to my room. I had heard about Shark Fin but never thought in a
million years I would see it on a menu my first week here in Taiwan. Well I
headed back to my room and decided I would look into shark fin soup in Taiwan
and what I discovered was that that
Taiwan has the Capital Consumption on the Planet for the use of shark fin both
medicinal and in the special Shark fin soup. You can read about it online and
Gordon Ramsey has a video on youtube where he tries it and investigates the
problem of shark finning. Well one major problem from this is that shark
finning has almost caused the extinction of sharks in our world. I did the
price conversion on the laptop for the dish I saw and it costs 12,000Nt or the
equivalent of $432.00 Canadian any wonder it’s the most expensive soup in the
world. I am really not sure about this
topic and this is one of those areas that either really could tick someone off
or not even bother them at all. Here is the Dilemma! Do I go ahead and try it?
Do I say something? Do I accept that fact there really is nothing we can do to
change it and even though the law was passed in 2012 in Taiwan to ban it that
it is still happening? I was at the food
market yesterday and saw shark steaks for sale and I thought they would be great
to try only 310nt for a 4oz piece so around 11 dollars Canadian which is really
cheap. The only problem was that it didn’t cross my mind about shark finning or
shark fin soup. I walked into the restaurant and saw the picture of the dish
and the description in English and was shocked. Once again how far do I go to
try and expand my knowledge, my repertoire, and expand my creativity?
No comments:
Post a Comment