Thursday, January 3, 2008

Mushroom Hotpot

What is this new and unfamiliar feeling I've been experiencing for the past few days here in Taipei? Is it -- could I actually be...cold? I can't figure out if I'm legitimately cold -- I mean, it has been in the 50s (my East Coast friends in the States, don't hate me) -- or if I've just grown so used to being hot here that anything below 60F feels cold to me. (I drove my parents nuts when I went home over the summer to visit: "What? Why do you have the AC on? It's only 85 degrees out! I'm freezing!)

In any case, yesterday we had the perfect meal to fight off the chilliness and our resulting sniffles: mushroom hotpot! Seriously, I could not think of a more perfect meal on a cold day.


Doesn't that look good? Don't you all want some mushroom hotpot now? The broth is fragrant and because it's chock full of mushrooms, it's also super healthy! Our server explained that the various mushrooms prevented cancer and wrinkles and aided in digestion.

There are different types of set meals that you can pick from, depending on how big your party is, how much you want to eat, and how fancy you want your hotpot to be. Our set meal for two people was 520NT, and for that amount we were served an appetizer (cold mushrooms with soy sauce and wasabi dipping sauce), man tou (steamed buns with condensed milk), three different kinds of mushrooms that went into the broth, a plate of sliced beef, vegetables, and gong wan (which are sorta like meatballs) made with mushrooms and meat. Plus dessert (some kind of sweet soup). AND, the best part is, you can take the leftovers home, AND, they'll even add in extra soup! Some of you are probably rolling your eyes at my broadcasting this like it's groundbreaking news, because apparently this is standard practice at hotpot places, but I didn't know that and was super psyched. Plus you know you're all glumly eating your bein dongs for lunch, all jealous of me happily drinking my delicious mushroom soup.


Oh, and Happy New Year, everyone! May this year be filled with many more good eats.

Mushroom Park Restaurant

www.baigu.com.tw
various locations, but the one we went to was at:
Renai Road, Section 4, Lane 71, No. 17
(02) 8773-3160

1 comment:

joanh said...

i LOVE this place and the best thing is my mom is vegetarian so she is happy and i get mushrooms AND meat! yum