Part of a complete Taiwanese breakfast is fried dough (I said "complete," not healthy). Turning a deaf ear to warnings about long lines, Mike and I went to Fu Hang Dou Jiang, the breakfast spot in Taipei. We waited about an hour, a quick 60 minutes when the line constantly moves and you have a Starbucks coffee in hand.
Essentially, there's sweet and savory. The sweet is a long piece of deep-fried dough the same shape as a churro, wrapped in sesame flat bread and dunked in sweet soy milk. To be honest, it's a lot of bread and if I'm going to have fried dough, I'd prefer it covered in cinnamon and sugar. To my surprise, I liked the savory better. It's a tasty bowl of soy milk curdled into tofu. Okay, maybe that doesn't sound terribly appetizing, but it was really well seasoned and I liked the floating pieces of fried dough on top.
Dinner
We had all kinds of street food items one evening: (clockwise in photo below) oyster omelet, ba wan (a mega dumpling of sorts), noodles, bubble tea and gua bao (a Taiwanese hamburger). My favorites: the tea and the burger. I know, the tea (aka, boba) is kind of a cop-out, but it's really good and it's different from ones you'd try at home (or in Shanghai). Taiwan is the birthplace of bobas, and they do them right, with soft, sweet tapioca balls swimming in milk tea.
The burger was fantastic: braised pork belly (minus the fat for me), pickled Chinese cabbage and powdered peanuts wrapped in a steamed bun. I loved the fusion of different flavors and textures. Every bite is salty, sour and sweet; soft, tender and crunchy.
Looks delicious! Do most people eat out or cook at home in China?
ReplyDeleteI think most people eat out 'cause it's cheaper than cooking at home!
DeleteInteresting.
ReplyDelete