Friday, June 1, 2012

TAIPEI

Basically all I did on vacation was eat and shop.. eat and shop!  Muhahaha.. so don't view these pictures on an empty stomach you have been warned!!! :p

Club sandwich

We flew from Germany to Taiwan and had a few hours layover in Beijing.. and yes the eating journey begins!  Don't you just love asian bread??  Something about it has an inherent sweetness to it that I love!!

Potato Salad

And asian potato salad too!!!  Asian potato salad is so noms.. I love the sweetness.. I'm completely obsessed with kewpie mayo.. unfortunately I haven't been able to find it in Germany ::sadness::

Shrimp Tempura

Eating shrimp tempura after nearly 12 months of not being able to eat it!! HUZZAH!


Landed in Taipei!!  

My dad took us to Jin Din Rou!  Yah Xiao Long Bao's!!  Those of you not familiar Xiao Long Bao's they are these little soup dumplings made with pork.. and basically a little pocket of deliciousness all wrapped up together! muhaha.

I think Jin Din Rou is a Japanese company.. that makes Taiwanese eats.. hahahaha..  if I'm not mistaken it's a worldwide chain.. they HAD a store in Hawaii... but just recently closed down I think in the past few months.. ::sadness:: :(  They have interesting eats like Green tea Xiao Long Bao's and Oolong tea xiao long bao's.

Apple Sidra my all time favorite childhood drink! :)

Fried rice and fried pork chop

Xia Long Bao's

I'm a purist so we got the original Xia Long Bao's.. They're pretty good.. but admittedly Din Tai Fung is definitely better.


On our way home we passed by a lot of food stalls... miss night markets so much!!


Salt & Pepper chicken and Turnip cake w/ Fried Sausage

And so yummy!  We got some of my fav Taiwanese eats.. all of this was $1 US dollar!!! 

Turnip Cake, Chicken Feet, Pork Ribs and Siu Mai

We started the next day with Dim Sum! WOOT!


Shrimp Cheung Fun

One of my all time favorite dimsum eats.. Shrimp in long noodles they put a sauce on it that's sorta like soy sauce but I think it's soy sauce mixed with rock sugar and other goodness.

Fried Shrimp w/ Mayo

OMGOSH this was SOOOO NOMS!!  Fried + Shrimp = Awesomness.  Traditionally this dish comes with a side of sweet mayo.. like kewpie mayo (can you tell I'm obsessed.. this is the 2nd time I've mentioned kewpie mayo in one blog post hahah) but THIS particular dish came with mayo dipping sauce with chopped up Taiwanese pineapples it was SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!  I wanted to ask for a 2nd plate of the dip hahaha.

Hai Gow

Lotus leaf sticky rice

This was super noms.. It's basically sticky rice that's been steamed in lotus wrapping.. The inside was chock full of all sorts of yumminess.. Taiwanese pork sausage, chicken, eggs and mushrooms.


After Dim Sum we decided to go to a local Taiwanese department store called Sogo... But as we were walking there we came upon this magnificence!

OH EMMMMMMMMMMMMMM GEEEEEEEEEE!

::CRIES:: 

But I was so stuffed from Dim Sum UGHHHHHH 

So I just took a bunch of pictures for all of us to drool over.  HAHA.




Looks so good.. especially the last picture it looks like some kind of ham and egg salad sandwich. 


I FOUND IT!!! YAY!!! One of my top goals for my trip to Taiwan was to eat as many yummy things as possible and to buy beauty products.. LOVE LOVE Asian beauty products!

Sasa is I believe a Hong Kong beauty company that sells products from Taiwan, Japan, Korea and China.


SOOO excited I stood outside and took frantic tourist pictures for a good 5 min... while locals looked at me like I was a freak hahahahahah

I was inside Sasa for a good 2+ Hours... after that we proceeded to Sogo which is a giant mammoth department store.. that now has not ONE but TWO giant buildings located right across from each other.. they have everything from clothes to beauty products to a giant grocery store on the bottom level.  What I like to refer to a shopping heaven! Muhaha. Suffice to say we were in Sogo for a good 2+ hours as well..

4+ hours later.....


AHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

But don't worry I promised he would be rewarded and he was rewarded with..........


Mos Burger!!  

The hub's absolute favorite fast food chain.. Mos Burger is a Japanese company that specializes in special meat rice pattie sandwiches.. think of a burger but instead of two buns substitute two rice patties and instead of a piece of beef pattie substitute Japanese style shredded beef.

IT.IS.SO.GOOD.


Fuzzy shot of some of the menu options.. they even offer a fried shrimp burger now!  Didn't get to try it but I regret not trying it now :(


Chicken and egg potato salad 


HAHAHA.

He looks like such a pervert.

I told you he REALLY REALLY loves this place.


YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

Fried Chicken patty

They also have really awesome fried chicken patties.. They are lightly coated in a cornstarch mixture and deep fried.. they are SOOO NOMMY!



I continued to reward him for patiently shopping with me for 4+ hours by heading over to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi.

My super awesome dad gave us these gift certs to this luxury department store. (YAY!  Thanks dad!)

And we were on a mission to spend them! muhaha

The Hub's picked out these awesome grey suede high top sneakers they are sooo cool!  You can't see in the picture but they actually have tiny laser cut outs in them.  They are SO RAD. and yes I said RAD hahahahaha!


He also got this free man bag filled with man beauty products. HAHA.  

Love how in Taiwan every time you buy something you have the opportunity to get something for free.  Feeding into the stereotype that Chinese people love free things ::CRIES::  I cannot lie.. granted I consider myself Taiwanese but REALLY I love free things HAHAH.


YAY! :)  In case you were wondering Shin Kong Mitsukoshi is a Japanese department store (can you tell there's a theme.. Taiwanese people REALLY love anything Japanese).  Anyways this is a luxury mall.. it's actually made up of a couple of buildings.. I think like 4 separate buildings.. not sure.. but it's HUGE!!  They have everythinggggggggggggg in the mall from home goods to clothing to kids toys and a super yummy food court.. It's probably one of my favorite malls in Taiwan!


He's so happy :)  

Maybe now I can finally convince him not to wear those awful Nike sneakers with shorts and jeans BAHAHAHAHA! 


Outside of Shin Kong mall it's a busy shopping and entertainment district.. they have everything from nightclubs to a giant movie theatre in this area and it's located directly across from the infamous Taipei 101!



Taipei 101! :) I love the pretty lights!




Damper baby!  Taipei 101's mascot for the big damper ball on the top of 101!  You can read about it here if you are interested. The Hub's an I went to the observation deck the last time we were in Taipei so we passed on it this time.  Interesting fact the Damper baby's face is "101" :)


By this time we were pretty hungry and we wandered into the giant food court on the bottom of 101.. where we passed by this interesting place.  It looks like pizza baked into a pizza bread cone? Haha we didn't try it though but it looked interesting.. anyone out there try this by any chance?


Got a recommendation from Shiny Pretty Things to try out this place!  Thank you for the rec hon because it was really nommy!! They make super yummy boba drinks.  I had a passion fruit boba drink that had really passion fruit and chopped mango inside with mango jelly!

Fried pork chop w/ lu rou fan and egg and meatball soup 

One of my all time favorite Taiwanese eats (this is considered a Taiwanese speciality and we probably ate this like 3 to 4 times were in Taiwan and yesss it is that good)

The pork chop is lightly battered in cornstarch and it is so juicy.  The meatball soup had fishballs and beefballs in it.. and the spinach was fried with garlic and covered in chunks of tiny pork.  But the real star of the show is the pork and rice bowl called Lu Rou Fan.  It's stewed minced pork that's been stewed for HOURS and is so fragrant and yummy.. the fat kinda just melts into the rice and it's usually accompanied by a egg that's been stewing in the same pot.

Fried Turnip cake w/ ham and egg wrap
                                                              
                                                                 Breakfast!

This is one of my favorite breakfast eats in Taiwan.. Lou Bou Gao which is fried turnip cake and Dan Bing which is this grilled egg crepe with ham.. They sorta fry the egg into the crepe.. so the crepe and the egg mold into one fried delicious mess. YUM!

75 comments:

  1. *droool* I should have taken your warning more seriously. I'm STARVING and now craving Taiwanese food! I love xiao long baos and everything asian that's deep fried! If you can't get kewpie mayo in Germany couldn't you ask friends to ship you a care package? I'm sure they would! I don't know what I'd do without asian food!

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  3. remind me to never read your posts on an empty stomach!!! yummm!!!!!

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  4. ahhhh im going to taipei in november!!!!!!!!!
    ur food photos makes me wanna go NOW!! i cant wait another 5 months :(
    yummy yummy! did u go to night markets???

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  5. OMG the meat rice patties look soooo good !!!!! Sasa haul ! :)

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  6. Good lord so many amazing eats! Awesome food, shopping and beauty...man you are one lucky girl!

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  7. *DROOOOLLL* Look at all the yummy foods. Now that is my kind of vacation.

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  8. So I'm waiting for dinner (vacation at home spoiled by Mommy is the best) as I read this post and have serious food envy now. :P

    I lovee fried Lou Bou Gao. *drools* I didn't try Mos Burger even though I saw it at a few places I went to... I miss the bakeries in Taiwan (they make things that you can't find in the Chinatown bakeries here in the US).

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  9. I used to drink Apple Sidra all the time and I always had to share it with my brother's friends, when they came over. Haha, I wonder why I stopped doing that...the Xiao Long Bao's look great and those are actually my favorite type of dumplings!

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  10. Good thing I'm still stuffed from dinner earlier! Or else my stomach would be rumbling from seeing all these nommy photos :D I knew Taiwan was a place to go and eat but wow...this makes me want to go right now :P

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  11. Lisa, why must you tempt me! I am totally craving dimsum now! especially those long noodles and the wrapped up sticky rice! holy crap! AND I need a rice burger STAT. Also, I didn't know SASA was an ACTUAL store. I just thought it was a huge online shop!

    ♥ laura
    the blog of worldly delights
    the shop of worldly delights

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  12. apple cidra!!!!!!!!!!!!


    and alll the other pictures too they looks so delicious!

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  13. I love it...a blogger with good content. I am now following :) which is a plus. I hope you can check out my site: http://theproverbs.net and FOLLOW. thanks for your time, I am so coming :D

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  14. wow im drooling over all the yummy food pics!

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  15. LISA!!!! omg all your pictures make me miss Taiwan so much! I think that was the best part of my Asia trip, although i only stayed there for a short 4 days. How is it like visiting home?

    I miss the night market and mod burger haha, i swear i got the exact same salad as you got, it was so yummy! I really wish i had a chance to try more yumminess, if only i knew how to speak mandarin! My friend who took us around the city were our translator, but he wasn't always around so we resort to pointing and waving our hands, but you know, it never works out the way we wanted to. Kind of like that coco cat bbt place, i wanted to try this one drink which sounded so awesome, but i had such a hard time ordering. FAIL!!!

    take more pictures =) Enjoy your vacation!

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  16. omgggggggggggg, everything looked DELICIOUS!!!!! Thats so sweet of your papa to give y'all the gift certificates and, I flippin' LOVE your husbands new SHOES! Shoot, I want to get my man a pair of those lol!

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  17. Do more Taiwan posts! This makes me seriously nolstalgic and hungry! Oh Apple Sirrah and about a million other goodies ...

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    2. D'oh - Blogger ate my comment! I was going to wax poetic about Apple Sidra, I loooooove it! Why is apple soda not big in the States, why?!

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  18. o.m.g.
    this food porn is too much to take, my tummy is now rumbling! the club sandwich looks amazing, and turnip cakes? I have never had one but they look absolutely DELICIOUS. I want.

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  19. OMIGOSH OMIGOSH OMIGOSH!

    You have put a warning right at the start and I continued scrolling. It's 1pm and I'm hungry. Not taken breakfast and lunch and oh my, this is killing me!

    I love xiao long bao, har gow, carrot cake, shrimp cheong fun, ji pa (chicken cutlet), MOS burger.

    Great that you returned to your hometown to spend time with your family.

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  20. you make me hungry

    thanks for the sweet comments and visit us again:)

    xx

    selvia

    www.am2pmchic.blogspot.com

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  21. AWWW! U REALLY MAKE ME HUNGRY!!!!! those food was super yummmy! and i guess you really having much joy of fooood there! :)

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  22. thanks for taking us on a trip, lisa! these photos are amazing and the food looks delicious! i am so intrigued about the turnip cake, i want to know what it tastes like. :)

    <3, Mimi
    http://whatmimiwrites.blogspot.com/
    $100 Shopbop Gift Card Giveaway -- Open internationally!

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  23. AHHHH I AM JELLY!!!!! i wanna go back!!! yum yum yum! and yah, the japanese dept stores are all over the place hahaha there's a Takashimaya too, i forget the exact location. the "rich ppl Sogo" makes me sad when i go in HAHAHA

    glad you liked Coco! and so cheap right?! that huge cupe is only ~$1 haha

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  24. You really shouldn't tease me with all these good food. I miss China so much right now, especially all the deliciousness.

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  25. Did you just leave a comment for me, Lisa? Coz I saw it on my email but I couldn't find it on blogger.

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  26. OH GAHHHHHh~!!!! You order everything my parents order when we eat dimsum. No wonder my dad wants me to go to Taiwan with me. To visit my grandma and have some good dimsum. I'm so jelly!! I want dimsum now!!

    Fried turnip cakes are so delicious :O** I like the taro ones too.

    richelle
    www.rarepersona.com

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  27. I shouldn't have read this post (even with your warning) because I am so insanely hungry now. :(

    My mom just got back from a trip to Taipei and I am so envious of the both of you now. Thank you for the mouth wateringly delicious post!

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  28. Holy cow - your post is choke full of YUMMY GOODNESS. You seriously accomplished your mission girl. I always feel like a gluton pig everytime i fly home because i want to eat as much as i can too. We ate a bit here and there and wish our stomaches were bigger. I LOVE...LOVE that sticky rice in lotys leaf, it is my most favorite thing to eat ever!!! My mom used to show me how to make it but i am too lazy. I am seriously suffering severe food cravings, thanks Lisa!!

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  29. Really holy cow... I miss Lu Rou Fan!,,
    And egg crepe for my breakfast..... I really really miss those.
    Unfortunately I live in Singapore that do not have great Taiwanese food....

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  30. I have been wanting to try a Xiao Long Bao for the longest time! XD

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  31. This post makes me want to jump on an airplane and got to Taiwan immediately. I want to do nothing but eat and spend 2+ hours in SaSa LOL

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  32. i love love love xiao long bao!!! i'll never get sick of eating them!

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  33. You always find the most amazing food! I'm starving now.

    http://www.glamkittenslitterbox.com/
    Twitter: @GlamKitten88

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  34. oh my god, you killed me with the bakery pictures ---why, oh WHY can't the bakeries in the states be as innovative as the asian ones????!!!

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  35. Just because of your pictures, I'm going to have to hop on over to dim sum for lunch, like right now. And go to 85c bakery down the street from work to get some bread. I haven't been back to Taiwan since I was 10 years old. Now I must find an excuse to go back! Thanks for sharing! I'm really having Taiwan food+shopping withdrawals

    Kathy
    http://happyfacekat.blogspot.com

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  36. I lost count as well as of place of what is my fav food!!!!!

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  37. Hi Lisa, I love looking at your food pics! It's making me hungry. Lol. I love love Taiwanese food and I think bubble tea is one of the best inventions in the last decade. I miss the street food so much! BTW, are you from Taiwan? Just curious. Have a great weekend!

    xo Jo

    http://whiterosesandcoffee.blogspot.ca/

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  38. So much food! Taipei looks so amazing! I really want to go, especially for the night markets. Lol at the picture of your hubby after shopping! Xia Long Bao's are amazinggg, it's hard to find good ones in London though :( Great pictures!

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  39. Love all the food! I like the Taiwanese eats too..did you eat oyster vermicelli or something? The famous one call Ah Zhong from Ximending.

    I think Sogo is a Japanese dept store instead of a TW store though..

    I like MOS burger's ice milk tea :D

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  40. Serious food porn post! Probably not a great idea to get stuck into this about an hour after waking up with no breakfast in my tummy! I want to move to Tainwan now and never look back. Food, shopping what else could you possibly want?? Oh and free stuff <3

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  41. MMMMMMM yep Bos burger= best burgers ever!! :)

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  42. Can you believe I didn't have Lu Rou fan in taipei - so sad! It is a good thing I ate already. Hi from china!

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  43. Woman, everytime i come to your blog i get hungry. Also, the hightops your hubby picked up are fantastic! I love to see an up close version.

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  44. Delishness!! Looks like you guys went on a eating trip in Taipei!! All the food pics are making me miss Taipei now..

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  45. I love Taipei and Ding Tai Fung! I have still not found a better xio long bau anywhere in the world!!

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  46. WOW! Look delicious...all...all! :)

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  47. im starving right now OH. MY .GOD

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  48. Every time I read a blog post about Taiwan people always mention/posts about all the delicious eats!! Taiwan is def on my list of places to visit...I must make notes of all the good eats :-)

    I wish I could bribe my hubby with some food (sometimes I can)...he likes expensive electronics!! LOL.

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  49. Aughhhh I'm so freaking hungry now....I miss Chinese food so much! Xiao long bao and dim sum are two of my favorite things to eat. The MOS burgers look really good too! I can't wait until I have the chance to return to Asia again..it's been too long!

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  50. We are planning to go to Taiwan next year I am going to google all those places we love to eat!! Just curious if you were planning to sell any of your Chanel bags I almost bought one off Craigslist but it turned out to be a scam. I would love to finally own one

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  51. OMG! Everything looks so good. I want to eat everything, lol. I love Asian potato salad too. Let me know if you ever find the mayo cuz that stuff is so good, it makes everything taste good. It's been years since I've visited Taipei, next time I go, I will know where to go for recommendations on food :)

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  52. OMG, I'm craving for dim sum now, look so yummy !!!
    xoxo
    Christy

    http://www.am2pmchic.com/

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  53. LISA!!! Looks like you guys had a fab time...yo truly are traveling the world...so RAD! lol. xo

    www.frankieheartsfashion.com

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  54. o . my . gosh .

    i'm going to taipei this year (haven't been back since 95). your post is making me so excited! i can't wait! it's going to be epic.


    modern.girl

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  55. Very nice photos! ;)

    http://themadcreationist.blogspot.it/

    Giuseppe

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  56. Lisa you are killing me.... : ) I love love Apple Soda, but luckily I can find it in SoCal. Every time I go to Taiwan, I gain 5 lb..... : )

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  57. Looks so, so yummy! And the shopping looks amazing as well! I want to visit there!

    xo Brunch at Saks

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  58. Wow! Lisa! this is totally food trippin! I love it! Din Tai Fong is the best for their Xia Long Bao! Sasa! I love the store so many beauty goodies! Just came from HK and spent like about 2 hours there! haha!

    vanessa

    http://thepinkmateproject.blogspot.com/

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  59. Yes, it really did make me hungry.
    Thanks a lot lol.

    but um re: bread - I think in asia, milk bread is primarily used therefore it's much sweeter than regular white bread and for sure better tasting that brown bread LOL.

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  60. ooh i love their lu rou fan!! and their fish balls..i tried their turnip cake but it wasnt as exciting as yours lol it was just plain turnip cake which was soso sadded XD.

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  61. Ahhh! Lisa! This post makes me so homesick! Even though I'm such an ABC, I'm a total Taiwan-FOB-at-heart and LOVE LOVE LOVE going back to Taiwan whenever I get a chance. Night markets and food stalls, two of the best things ever! :)

    xx Vivian @ http://diamondsandtulle.blogspot.com

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  62. bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh askdfj;alsjdf;klajsdf;lkajsfd so hungry now! i haven`t been back to tw in ~8 years! i saw the apple sidra and almost died reminiscing all the foods i could eat there. i don`t even care about any shopping, i pretty much stuff as much food into my body as possible! must stop staring at these pictures!

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  63. i just visited taipei as well. you're right about the food, everything is sooooo yummy. if only i'm like a hamster where i can stuff a whole lot more and savor later.

    mos burger just proves how much asian likes rice!

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  64. I am in love with Xia Long Bao, so full of yum! It was a mistake to check out your site while I was at work. You're making me hungry girl!

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  65. Oh man! It's such a mistake reading this post. I'm DYING to have ANY Asian food now. I miss MISS MISS Taiwanese food. The one here in Chinatown is crap. The only saving grace is their Xiao Long Bao. LOLOL! You sound like me. The first thing I do when I get to Asia is 1) Eat 2) check out Sasa!

    p.s. yeah. do tell about healthcare professionals. I nearly puked out my entire dinner when my bros and their mates proceeded to discuss about rectal examination. Plllleeease.

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  66. Looks soooo good. I just got home yesterday and I'm missing all the Asian eats already! I haven't been to Taiwan yet, but I'm hoping to make it there in the next three years - you'll have to tell me all your secrets!!

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  67. oooh xiao long bao - my fav. you're so lucky, travelling so much. I love the greasy street food from the night markets in taipei too :) especially mango ice desserts.

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  68. OMG..I am droooling at the pics....suddenly feeling so hungry.....you sure seem to have enjoyed a good time there!! :)

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