Another activity packed day today! And once again, I lie under the warm bed covers with a full belly and attempt to regurgitate all I've done today :P
Started the day off trying latte bought from 7 eleven in a really attractive packaging :)
Tasted too sweet to be a latte!!
A few nibbles of leftover pastry here and there and we were off~
Went to the TRA station to book a train to take us to Ruifang station (not to be confused with MRT)
Packed bento set
Tried a new drink from 7 eleven! This drink really had green beans inside hehe. Refreshing and delicious :)
Anti-molest zone???
We boarded the 10 15 train
And reached Ruifang at about 11 10! From there we took a cab up to Jiufen up in the mountains :)
I liked the area as soon as we saw it! Even the steps look photogenic
This place had such a Japanese feel to it
I have no idea what this was, but it looked like one of my fav kuehs so mom bought a few to try!!
This is the taro flavour, there was also chai poh (interesting taste), salted mung bean and another taro kueh. It tasted like Ang ku kueh!! Yummy :)
Walking further in the foodie place, we soon spotted one of the stores Jiufen is famous for (and one of the parts of the trip I was looking forward to) - GRANDMA'S TARO BALLS!
Also got some stinky tofu.
There wasn't just taro balls, there were also green bean, sweet potato, black sesame and various beans. Mom and I got the hot one while dad and bro get the cold one. It was so good!!! The texture was so smooth and QQ and while it didn't taste like anything, it was still a treat to eat and the chewing was fun :)
Behind the scenes
TOPPINGS: green bean, red bean and idk what bean
So colourful! The huge bowl of the various balls
Such a dingy unassuming store
Next up: snails!!!
Tasted like the gong gong one might find back in Singapore. Went well with the spicy sauce it came with and tasted real fresh.
Another food goal in Jiufen: to eat the popiah ice cream!!! We found a stall further down the street selling just that whoopee
Shaving the peanut candy
Wrapping the popiah
The components
Yummmm!!! Icy, sweet and crunchy which went well with the tasteless popiah skin :) I ate most of one coz mommy is allergic to peanuts
Walked around and took some nice photos
With said food goals achieved, we decided to head back to our hotel! Jiufen was a really pretty place which I really enjoyed visiting :)
Spring onion pancake from a shop very near our hotel. I only took a bite and it was too doughy for my liking
After a break, we decided to head out again and took the MRT to Houshanbei, where wufenpu, a popular shopping district was located (and also the famous raohe market!)
Shopping was quite disappointing, tbh and all the shops sold basically the same stuff- winter sweaters and the like. Mom and I didn't get anything in the end...
Dad wanted to bring us to eat sashimi but the store hadn't opened so we walked to Rainbow Bridge in the meantime
The place was love themed or something, even the seats spelled the words.
Sat around for a bit and before long, the sun was down and Raohe st market came alive!
Decided to queue up for the famous Raohe black pepper buns before the queue got too crazy
It was such an eye-opening experience watching the workers stuffing huge amounts of seasoned pre cooked pork and chives into a small ball of stretched out dough! The deftness at which they carried out this difficult task(putting a huge amount of filling into the dough without causing the skin to tear) was also pretty amazing.
Check out the queue!
HUGE ball of meat haha
And the most unique part of this whole process is the baking ( or roasting??) of the buns in a cylindrical oven which will ensure that the skin remained crispy and well cooked.
Finally after much anticipation, we got our buns!!!
Piping hot
It was so amazingly good!!! When eaten hot, the insides still emit steam. The skin was thin and crispy and the fillings were so generous that they were practically exploding out of the bun. The meats was real tender and flavourful. We couldn't stop raving about this for a while!! Certainly a must-try and well worth it ( quite a massive bun for about 45 NT)
By the time we were done, the sashimi shop was open!
A for presentation! The sashimi (mixed) came in a huge boat and in thick slabs.
SO GOOD.
Mom wanted to try sea urchin and so we did!! It was so sweet and creamy yummmmm (but I personally won't be willing to pay 10 dollars for such a meagre portion)
And now for some real street food!
Passed by this store and decided to order
Oyster omelette!!! Finally got to try this Taiwan delicacy. Starchy omelette drenched in a sweet tangy sauce like tomato sauce and tasted much more chewy than the Singapore version. Not sure which one I prefer...
More stinky tofu. This one was real authentic, with no sweet sauces to hide the stench. I still like it though hehe.
BBQ mushrooms! Seasoned akin to fried version. Probably a (much) healthier vegetarian alternative to fried chicken???
SO CUTE.
Usually the tea in bubble tea is the star, but in this case it's the bubble! Filled tapioca starch balls (we ordered the red bean one)
It was ok. Nothing too remarkable.
An unflavourful (to me) pan fried bun.
Jelly filled QQ balls!!! Came in red bean, mung bean and I don't know what else flavoured. Chewy outside with a sweet paste centre. Really liked this(and the fact that it's so cute doesn't hurt too!)
Random drink that tasted good.
That was pretty much all we ate from Raohe and when we walked out we ate at a random store which I didn't take pic of....
Took the train back to the hotel!
Really sweet soft mochi bought from Damsui yesterday which I'm only eating now. Plus some spicy chicken feet.ATE SO MUCH SWEETS TODAY OMG.
Moving on to Yilan tomorrow! Goodbye city life for a bit~
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