台灣料理 -- Taiwan cooking

[Ian_Lee]

Even though 台灣料理 originated from Fujian cuisine, now it has gained more popularity than its origin. But I would say the best Taiwan food are found in the night time street side eateries of Taipei and Kaohsiung.

If you are just a bit hungry, try the 渡 小 月 麦面 which may just fill up 1/10 of your stomach.

Or try the 清粥 for midnite snack. The congee is cooked with sweet potato and eaten with side dishes like duck tongue, cold bitter melon, pidan tofu, oyster pancake,....etc.

And the best meatball -- 槓丸 -- is also found in Taiwan.

[keith]

Do they have 台灣料理 in China? Just wondering.

[Ian_Lee]

In London I am pretty sure that they don't have 台灣料理.

The best 台灣料理 outside Taiwan should be in Southern California. In Hacienda Height, there is a 7-storey tall shopping mall catered exclusively to everything Taiwan. I used to go there for 清粥夜宵.

[keith]

Yeah, cafes serving midnight snacks are popular in Hong Kong too!

it's a pity 99% of UK cafes close by 5:30 pm...

[Jive Turkey]

I lived in Taiwan for a few years before moving over to HK, and to tell you the truth, I absolutely hate Taiwanese food. The xiaochi isn't just prepared unhygenically, but the ingredients are just a grade above gutter sludge. I am generally pro-Taiwan on just about every other cross-strait issue, but I think Taiwan has the worst food in all of China. They don't even have the variety of a mid-sized mainland city. If you want to eat any regional Chinese cuisine, you end up paying outrageous prices, whereas in HK or especially the mainland, you can find it all for pretty cheap prices and higher quality.

I just don't understand why HKers rave about the garbage that is passed for food in Taiwan. They should be ashamed of themselves. HK is the closest thing to Mecca for Chinese food. A HKer going to Taipei for food is like a Muslim going to Israel for salvation.

If the driving reason for national unification is food, Beijing should be satisfied to have recovered HK and just stop there. If the boys in the PLA think they're going to get a decent bite to eat after fighting to take Taiwan, they are in for a disappointment.

[Ian_Lee]

Generally the food in Taiwan cannot be compared with that of Hong Kong. But there are some special local cuisines that HK don't have. Go try 欣葉 Restaurant in Causeway Bay.

[TSkillet]

Taiwanese food is my least favorite CHinese food, but after a long time, I've now decided that it's the best place to have Chinese food (except for Guangdong). The best Shanghainese, Sichuanese and Northern restaurants I've been to have been in Taipei - or at least Taipei's representative has been close.

[skylee]

Sorry I am going to ask an irrelevant question.

I've read in Jive's post the word "xiaochi", and I just wonder if it shouldn't be "xiao3 shi2" (小食, shi2 being the other pronunciation of "食" when it is a noun)? (Pardon me I am Cantonese-speaking and am unsure about this one.)

[39degN]

it's usually 小吃(chi1). i've rarely heard of 小食 here.

[Ian_Lee]

But anyway, Taiwan's cusine is much tasteful than its origin -- Xiamen's.

Once I was treated to a Xiamenese family for breakfast. Do you know what they eat?

Chocolate congee

They put a piece of chocolate and boiled it inside the rice porridge.

Of course it tastes awful. My friend told me that is what Xiamenese used to eat for breakfast -- I don't know if it is true or not since their family has lived in Philippines for many years (There are many Southern Fujianese in Philippines).

But judged by the fact that there is not even one single Xiamen restaurant in Hong Kong even though there are plenty of Xiamenese, you can imagine how awful their food is!

[Jive Turkey]

We are surely in agreement on Xiamen food. That was a bit unfair of me to say that Taiwanese food is the worst in China. They're still a notch above Xiamen.

But judged by the fact that there is not even one single Xiamen restaurant in Hong Kong even though there are plenty of Xiamenese, you can imagine how awful their food is!

You are so damn right. I have never seen a Xiamen restaurant. I've seen a couple of "Fujian" restaurants (they were empty ), but never a Xiamen restaurant. Opening one would be an insult to the culinary wisdom of Hong Kong's people.

[Ian_Lee]

Even though Xiamen is the second largest city in Fujian, geographically and linguistically it is more related to the Chaozhou region of Guangdong than with Fuzhou (provincial capital of Fujian).

If I were not wrong, the dialects spoken by Xiamenese and Fuzhouren are mutually unintelligible.

But the irony is that Chaozhou cuisine has a very high reputation while Xiamen food is really junk even though it is just half a day's drive between the two regions!