a couple of days ago, i took a bus to the coast, up north with a new friend. she's from taiwan and she's staying in my room at the hostel. her name is yi-jen. she's showing me around. we had the BEST MEAL. probably one of the best meals in my life: it was at one of those places where they have the live fish all waiting for you in the tanks out in front of the restaurant, which was right on the water (kind of a hole in the wall place) next to all the fishing boats. huge tables that fit ten people filled the room, and each table has a lazy susan in the middle so that people can share easily.
two types of crab, langostines, salmon in soup, sashimi, lobster and sea cucumber (it was repulsive) are served. sea cucumber is this gelatinous and muscular clear and green animal that's cut and served with blanched cabbage leaves. its texture is like chewing a rubber hose. remember water weenies? it would be like chewing one of those. but the rest of the food was absolutely out-of-this-world delicious. one type of crab is what we're all used to in the states... but you have to crack the shell with your teeth since they don't have any cracking instruments. there's no butter but it's all served with wasabi and soy sauce and red pepper chili oil. the other type of crab has a light brown translucent shell and the legs are still on. it's about as big as a golf ball and you have to peel the shell and legs off to eat the meat, which i can say tastes even better than lobster. the langostines also came with their shells, eyes, legs and all. you just peel and dip and eat! then, this grilled fish comes out. i'm guessing it tastes like trout. my new friend eats both the eyeballs. ewww! i had a bbq-ued fish eyeball in brazil and i won't have another. the sensation of it popping in your mouth like a tomato once any pressure is put on it, and the repugnant fishy flavor is enough to leave me with "memory aftertaste".
the salmon soup comes at the end. simple broth, salmon and some scallions thrown in, and it's a good way to end the meal. traditionally, the taiwanese bring out a plate of orange wedges to cleanse the palette. oh, and there was plenty of beer to go around! the man who is treating us to this meal (yes!!! everything was free!) is yi-jen's boss at the school nearby. he keeps filling my glass and telling me "bottoms up" in taiwanese. then he takes us to a dessert place where we have green tea tirimasu and a caramel custard pie. delicious!
TODAY, i was looking for my favorite dumpling stand. they also serve noodle bowls/soups, wantons, and tons of other stuff, and the entire place is vegetarian and each plate costs about a dollar. their dumplings are legendary. a woman stands behind the street stand and has a vat of boiling water. inside this huge cylindrical vat are about six baskets. different ingredients are put into each basket as people order. she has bags of noodles, cabbage, onions, dumplings, wantons and some random stuff i don't recognize. there is also another vat of oil where they fry tofu and other food that is supposed to resemble meat. inside the small restaurant, there is a giant serve-yourself buffet table of veggies. you pay about a little less than two dollars for a full plate. this place is a block from where i'm staying and today, they were closed!
so i walked around, right past the sushi place i went to when i first got here, because it was pretty flavorless and run-of-the-mill. (the type of place that stamps a card every time you take out). then i found, on a little alley, a restaurant with fresh fish. they had the tanks on the inside, and they serve sashimi! i ordered salmon and cuttlefish. cuttlefish... texture is really chewy. clear white-ish fish with a little sweetness, but again, hard to chew and swallow. the salmon is melty delicious. the bill came to about $8.50 for six pieces of salmon sashimi and two large pieces of cuttlefish (i could only eat one of those).
i can say i have been having a wonderful culinary experience here. yi-jen is going to take me to an authentic chinese restaurant on monday when they have their special. i can't wait!!
No comments:
Post a Comment