Monday, July 26, 2010

Taiwan Gradtrip (Food) Diary: Day 4 - Kaohsiung

Hi guys - I just got back my 8D7N graduation trip to Taiwan! We travelled to three main destinations in Taiwan: Kenting National Park, Kaohsiung City and Taipei City. The trip was amazing - was filled with fun, adventure, laughs and of course, wonderful food which I am desperate to share with you! In the next few posts I will write about where we went, what we did and the food we ate - sort of like a travel diary so I can remember this fantastic trip. I hope you'll find it entertaining and helpful if you decide to travel to Taiwan in the future!

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
Itinerary: Day 4
Breakfast at hotel > British Consulate at Takao > Ramen Lunch > Fisherman's Wharf > Taiwan Sugar Museum > Shopping at Dream Mall > Liuhe Night Market

To be completely honest, I don't think Kaohsiung has that many places to visit as a tourist and the places we went on Day 3 were not very interesting, maybe it's because the whole day was rainy and dreary (but I'm going to talk about them anyway for the sake of remembering what we did). Picture above is taken at the Formosa Boulevard MRT Station.

Do: Former British Consulate
This beautiful building was built a long time ago, and it is now a museum type of building that has exhibitions displaying information about Kaohsiung's historical relationship with Britain. It takes a few flights of stairs to get up here, and you will be rewarded with a stunning view of Kaohsiung's port. (Info + directions)

Lunch: Ramen Place We Stumbled Upon
We sort of got lost on our way trying to get to the Fisherman's Wharf, and we found this little ramen place on the street and it did not disappoint. I had a Pork Ramen with Shoyu Tamago (soya sauce eggs). The soup was very good - flavourful and rich, whilst the ramen was perfectly chewy. The pork slices were also very tender. NT100 for the ramen, eggs and coke with free refill - very reasonable price!

Do: Fishermen's Wharf
A few restaurants along the harbour and that's pretty much it. We spent some time playing arcade games inside the tiny shopping centre instead! (Info + directions)

Do: Taiwan Sugar Museum
This is the old site of a sugar factory and houses some displays about sugar refining. Lined with trees and flowers, it's a great place to walk around and photograph. There was even an underground tunnel to walk through - the kind where people used to go into during bombings! There is also a shop selling lots of food - ranging from ice cream, black sugar syrup to egg rolls. I bought a red-bean yeast ice dessert (NT 35) - it tasted a little strange, as the yeast ice had an alcohol flavour. I still don't know exactly what it was!

Do: Shopping at Dream Mall
We originally wanted to take a ride on the Ferris wheel on the roof of the mall, but it was raining again so didn't go. The mall is packed full with a wide range of shops, but since most of the stuff was available in Hong Kong we didn't buy much. There is a food court in the basement selling a wide range of food. The curry rice I had there was mediocre through...but the bakery there sells awesome custard-filled buns! (Info + directions)

Eat: Liuhe Night Market
This is the best thing about Kaohsiung! Amazing food condensed along two short streets :) The day we went was just after the Dragon Boat Festival, so there was a parade going on and we even got to see fireworks! Now onto the food:

Deep Fried Cheese
This is basically some mozzarella cheese wrapped with a spring roll wrapper then deep fried. The crispy skin gives way to a delightfully creamy centre, and it came with a wasabi-mayo dipping sauce, yum. NT60/5 pieces





Deep Fried Cuttlefish
The cuttlefish pieces were a bit too salty for my liking but was quite chewy. Very fragrant as it was tossed with deep fried garlic. NT30/packet






Fishballs in Soup

The fish balls were bouncy and chewy and tasted quite fresh. They also sell pork balls, dumplings and vegetables in soup. NT40/bowl






Pepper Beef Buns

My first pepper beef bun in Taiwan. Peppery and juicy beef filling with a crunchy bread shell, yummy!







Papaya Milk

The perfect refreshment after all the deep fried food! I've always loved papaya milk, but the papaya milk in Taiwan is just like ambrosia - chock full of papaya flavour and all the sweetness is from the fruit and not from sugar. I want one right now! :p NT40/cup


Also alot of other things to taste - kebabs, Turkish icecream, seafood, fruits...if only I had a bigger stomach! (Info + directions)

2 comments:

  1. When I went to Taiwan, I ate some pepper beef buns too and they were delicious! Thinking about it makes me want to go back to Taiwan again just to eat some.

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  2. Love free coke refills ;) I love your blog posts about taiwan- all the food looks so good! I'm really hoping to go there someday in the near future......

    The streetfood looks so interesting and yummy too! The street looks so wide! =] The deep fried cheese sounds really yummy....

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