Crowded. Hot. Noisy. The busy market was lined with rows of food stalls. Our first dish was a bowl of boiling hot dumpling in clear soup with chillie sauce and vegetables.
Next, we had oa-tian or oyster cake. It is cooked in these large round griddles. Soft and moist in the center, these cakes were made with eggs, oysters and vegetables.
We also had the stinky tofu! Decades ago, stinky tofu was a staple for soldiers patrolling China's borders. As wars ended and Taiwan's night-market culture developed, so did stronger, spicier and more diverse flavors of stinky tofu. It is now a famous Taiwanese specialty.
Stinky tofu or commonly called tsao tau-hoo is fermented tofu dish which has a very strong odor, is sometimes politely called "fragrant tofu". Its smell has been described as "baby poo," "hellacious" and "sharply foul". My dad had a bite and lost his appetite afterwards. I think its okey, though I would not crave for it. It’s a taste that needs a little bit of acquiring.
We also tried huge Taiwanese sausage which tastes similar to Chinese ham.
After dinner we went to the fruit stand for dessert. Rows of huge mangoes (really HUGE, see photo below) are arranged on wooden crates. Grapes, cherries, dragon fruits are among our choices. We decided get ourselves the giant mangoes so as to compare it to our small but sweet and juicy Philippine mangoes. These huge mangoes are not just pleasing to the eye, but has the nice juicy flesh and sweetness and aroma of this wonderful tropical fruit.
The night was a bit tiring though it was another night of satisfied tummies. Taiwanese street food in general are good. They use fresh and natural ingredients. It is noticeable that they don't use a lot of artificial flavoring which is really good. Food are simple yet are very well cooked. Vegetables are still crisp and meat and seafood are still tender and juicy. In addition to that of course, the food are served really hot, just a few seconds off the fire!
To cap the night off, my sister and I decided to wind down at the hotel, open a bottle of light and fruity red wine from Beaujolais particularly from Appellation Cote de Brouilly Controlée. If I remember correctly, gamay grapes come from this region. Perhaps this is the particular grape variety used for this wine. We paired it with Manchego cheese from Spain (a semi hard cheese coming from sheep’s milk, it has quite a strong and pungent flavor. I really like it), Aged Gouda and St. Agur blue cheese. St Agur is my new favorite so far. I even like it better now than Roquefort which has been my blue cheese of choice for quite some time. St. Agur is a moist, creamy and a mild type of blue cheese that can become an easy favorite even for those that cannot take stronger more pungently flavored ones.
This was it for our adventure today. Tomorrow… Alisan Mountain.
