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

Fu Hang Dou Jiang

A friend recommended that we check out Fu Hang Dou Jiang, and boy, am I glad we went! Watch out, Yong He Dou Jiang, there's a new rival in my heart for Number One Cheap and Tasty Breakfast Place.

You'll notice when you walk in that there are two lines. For those of you who can't read Chinese, the right line is for takeout, and the left is to stay. Also, these two lines can stretch for very long - sometimes all the way down the stairs (the restaurant is located on the 2nd floor) and out the door, from what I've heard. Part of the reason for that is because they're only open from 5:30am - 10:30am. The other part of the reason is because the food is delicious. We went on a Thursday morning, around 8:30, and the lines weren't too bad. Plus, they move pretty fast. But if you don't like waiting on long lines, then avoid going on the weekends.

Also, be forewarned that there is not a word of English to be found anywhere on the menu, and no one who works there can speak it. Pointing doesn't really help either, as there's not that much to point to. If you can't speak/read Chinese, I'd recommend bringing someone who can.

So what makes Fu Hang Dou Jiang so special, you ask? How is it better than Yong He Dou Jiang? Well, according to its owner, a nice 80 year old man who kept referring to my husband and I as "you Japanese tourists," the reason it's so good is because they use all traditional methods, bought over from Nanjing, which is where the owner is originally from. For example, instead of using yeast powder in their buns, they leaven it by using a piece of old dough. And, everything is made fresh, day of - the workers start preparing at 3am!

Another thing that stood out to me was that all the buns had this slightly sweet taste to it - really subtle, but definitely there. That's because they brush maltose sweet syrup on all their buns, so that they don't burn. What's that, you say? You don't know what maltose sweet syrup is? Well, I didn't either, and my google-fu failed me, as I wasn't able to find a very good definition. In any case, it's a syrup that gives all the buns a lovely golden color and a subtle sweet flavor .


Here's a look at what else we ordered:

(clockwise from top: salty dou jiang, shao bing you tiao, cold sweet dou jiang, dan bing.

By the way, the portion sizes are pretty large!)

So if you're an early riser, don't mind long lines, and/or want a cheap, fulfilling breakfast, I'd definitely recommend this place!

Fu Hang Dou Jiang Dian
Near Shandao Temple MRT (Exit 5)
Zhongxiao E. Rd. Sec. 1, No. 108, 2F
(02) 2392-2175

Restaurant Rundown

I have this backlog of restaurants that I keep meaning to review, but then stuff like life and work and checking my Facebook every five seconds keep getting in the way. Damn you, Facebook, you're so addicting!

So here's a bunch of restaurants that I've been to in the past couple of months or so, but am too lazy to write an in-depth review for. So I'm just going to write a short review with a star rating, with the following criteria:

* = do not want, would rather eat my own vomit
** = pretty good
*** = delicious

Without further ado:

Mr. Paco's (Italian) **
Ren Ai Road, Section 4, Lane 345, Alley 4, No. 23
(02) 8771-3102

We ordered the pizza with anchovies, capers and olives. It was a tad on the salty side, because of the anchovies, but not too much so that it ruined it. It was also really cheesy. We also ordered the risotto with prosciutto and sun-dried tomatoes, which was pretty good. Maybe not as oozing and creamy as I'd like, but I've also learned to lower my standards for Taiwanese Italian.

Anzo (Japanese Tonkatsu) **
Fuxing North Road, Section 2, Lane 271, No. 2 (right by the Technology Building stop on the Muzha line)
(02) 2701-0298


You can order regular tonkatsu here, or get it fancied up in some way. Luke got his the traditional way, and mine was in a mushroom broth, which was light, yet still flavorful. It was a cold day (and for some reason the AC was on in the restaurant), so when my tonkatsu arrived in the bubbling broth, it really hit the spot.

Patio (Thai) ***
Dunhua Road, Section 1, Alley 247, No, 12
(02) 2731-5288


This restaurant used to be called Patara but for some inexplicable reason they changed their name to Patio, making it sound like an Italian restaurant instead. Order the pad thai (best I've ever had) and the lamb chops. They also have a unique pumpkin pudding dessert, with real pumpkin, not the kind you get from a can. Prices are a little more on the expensive side.

Makatoya (Ramen noodles) **
Civic Blvd., Section 4, No. 17 (right before the Breeze, if you're coming from the MRT)
(02) 2752-9393


What sets this place apart is that instead of making their broth from pork bones, which is what most other ramen places use, they make it from beef bones. I've only been here once, and I just ordered their original flavor at the suggestion of a friend, who said that it's the best. The side dishes - like kimchi or fried dumplings - were just eh.

Hmm, I didn't give anything one star. How lucky for me that I didn't have to eat my own vomit instead.

Respect the Coq!

So I've really been enjoying Chubby Hubby's Singapore-based food blog, and he had a great post about how a lot of foodies tend to thumb their noses at that most generic (at least at a lot of restaurants in the States) of meats: chicken.

Was it Anthony Bourdain who said that chefs see chicken as the menu item for people who don't know what else to order? Anyway, Chubby Hubby gives a rather impassioned defense of chicken and ends it with a lovely recipe for his wife's version of Coq au Vin.

Coq au Vin is one of those daunting, oh-so-French sounding dishes that I've never even ordered, much less tried to make myself--and I really didn't even have any idea what it was supposed to taste like. But I was feeling ambitious and the recipe seemed simple (and made my mouth water just reading it), so I figured what the hey.

It'd be silly for me to copy and paste the whole recipe, so I'll just give the abbreviated version here. Oh, and I roughly halved the original recipe, since I figured 4 drumsticks is kinda sorta equal to 2 thighs (we couldn't find thighs), and I didn't want to end up with too much sauce for two people.

So first you need to chop up an onion and a clove of garlic, and dice a carrot and a few slices of bacon (pancetta would be better, but we live in Taiwan):

Okay, so maybe Mario Batali would mock me
for my uneven dicing, but I did my best.

Then, over medium heat, heat up a little bit of butter and olive oil in a heavy pot, put the bacon in and, after that gets some color, add the carrots, onions and garlic. Let the vegetables soften for five minutes or so, then, using some kind of slotted spoon, move everything in the pot to a bowl. In the oil that's left in the pot, brown the chicken on all sides. (Coq au Vin is normally made with rooster, but where was I going to get a rooster?)


Now turn the heat up, dump your veggies and bacon back in, and pour about half a bottle of Gewurztraminer (a sweet white wine) into the pot. Once it's boiling, turn the heat down and let everything gently simmer for about 25 minutes, flipping the chicken every so often.


When the chicken seems like it's done, fish it out and put it aside for now. Now add about a third of a pint of heavy cream (the recipe calls for double cream, but you can't easily get that in Taiwan or even the States).

Season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and sugar (optional) to taste. You'll need a good amount of salt and pepper, and depending on how sweet your wine is, you might want to leave the sugar out altogether. Add some chopped parsley (or dried parsley if you can't get a hold of fresh) and about a quarter pound of regular white mushrooms (cut into quarters). Now just let this sauce reduce and thicken.

Once the sauce is to your liking, just put the chicken back in and let it heat back up. What you end up with is this luxuriously creamy, subtly sweet sauce--and all the veggies and the bacon add different layers of flavor. And the chicken gets nice and tender, and absorbs some of the sweetness from the wine as well. Here's what it looked like on the plate:


Yeah, I know--it doesn't look super-appetizing. But it did taste good, I swear, especially with a nice loaf of French bread to soak up all the extra sauce and a glass of the Gewurztraminer we had left over. I don't know if anyone has suggestions for how to plate this more attractively.

And if I were to make this again, I'd try to cook the bacon a little bit longer than I did at the beginning--rendering more of the fat would have also meant there'd be more oil to brown the chicken in. I kind of flubbed that step. And I do think thighs would be preferable to drumsticks (more meat, less bone).

But anyhow, thanks to Chubby Hubby, it's good to know that you too can eat gourmet French cuisine, without having to go to too much trouble, even on a weeknight.

Better Late Than Never: Thanksgiving Part 2

I wanted to post about Thanksgiving earlier, but apparently Photobucket decided it hated me as well, because it wouldn't load any of my pictures. And Blogger was already being difficult. But after much weeping and fist shaking, and thanks to the kind comments left by people in my previous post, Photobucket, Blogger and I are all friends again. For now.

Anyway, onto Thanksgiving!

Here's our game plan. Yes, Luke actually scripted out a game plan, which I thoroughly endorse! Was that dorky? Don't answer that.

And here is what we made:

(cheddar and scallion biscuits)

(she-jump-up pot)

(sweet potato spears with bacon and scallion vinaigrette)

(cornbread, cranberry and sausage stuffing)

This is our Fantastic Roasted Chicken, which is indeed fantastic. And a picture of our spread. We also made green beans with ginger butter, and squash soup, both of which are in the bottom left hand corner.

And now we are still eating leftovers.

Blogger Hates Me

Blogger, why have you forsaken me? Why is it that when I create my posts and then view them in the preview, they look perfectly fine, and - dare I say - even pretty, but then when I publish them, they look nothing like what it looked like in preview mode? Why won't you center my pictures, even though I center them when I upload them, and they look centered when I preview them?

Why do I keep setting my font to "verdana," but then when I type, it's actually "trebuchet?" Why? Why? Then I have to click the font button a million times until I give myself corpal tunnel syndrome.

And then why do you randomly space my first paragraph 1.5 spaces, but then everything else is single spaced? I do not want it to be single spaced.

I don't know, Blogger. You and I do not seem to be getting along lately. We may have to take a break. You're giving me a facial tic.

A Wedneday Night Dinner

The best thing about living in Taipei is that we have the sort of lifestyle here that allows us to eat out several nights a week - something that time and money never allowed us to do back in the States. Here's a dinner we had last Wednesday:

(clockwise from top: deep fried soft shell crab, spicy tuna,

eel, shrimp and avocado roll, sirloin beef with mushrooms)

This fine Wednesday night dinner was at A-Plus Sake Bar, right by the Eslite bookstore on Dunhua. Good food; prices not bad considering you're eating sushi.

And if you finish eating before 8:00, head over to Ginjer, just a short walk away. Here you find an assortment of cupcakes (50NT each; buy 5 get one free), with flavors like chocolate chocolate, pear, and carrot cake. This was the first time I've had cupcakes in almost a year, I think, and after biting into the chocolate chocolate I remembered how much I like cupcakes, especially ones that are moist and oh-so-chocolate-y.

(We bought several different flavors to try,
but the clear winner was definitely the chocolate chocolate.)

So that was our Wednesday night dinner. Not too shabby for Hump Day.

A-Plus Dining Sake Bar
AnHe Road, Section 1, No. 33
(02) 2731-9266

Ginjer
http://www.ginjer.com/
Dunhua South Road, Section 1, Lane 223, No. 20
(02) 8773-3061