Gastronomic Homecoming in Taipei, Part 2

The beauty of traveling with family on an all-expenses-paid trip is rolling in extravagance. For part of the trip we stayed in my grandfather's apartment, but during my dad's speaking engagement we were put up in the Grand Formosa Regent, a beautiful, modern, very international hotel in the Four Seasons chain. Located in a district known mainly for shopping and finance, the hotel is surrounded by banks on every block and huge billboards for luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton. No street food or markets to be found.

The gracious staff greeted all guests with deep bows and impeccable English, many staffers being fluent in Japanese as well. (Of course some Chinese became visibly uncomfortable with this, including my parents, so the staff was quick to switch back to Chinese as needed.)

Our room was spacious and impeccably appointed. Furnished with two fluffy queen beds, a sitting area with sofa and chairs and a few provided magazines (which oddly, often had English on the covers but only Chinese on the inside), and extensive cable TV. The decor was very clean and bright, lovely, and comfortable.

The bathtub was beautiful and deep, leading me to enjoy nightly baths rather than showers. Japan's heavy influence on Taiwan was highly appreciated with the cool robotic multi-featured toilet—everyone can appreciate a pre-warmed seat, right?

Of course, as nice as the hotel was, in a bustling city like Taipei it was still just a place to sleep. Thus, equal importance must be given to the hotel's food. We were able to expense breakfasts in the Brasserie, a buffet-style restaurant. Although it catered to a wide range of guests rather than critical Taiwanese only, dishes were replenished frequently and always tasted fresh, with plenty of items available cooked to order.

I was especially impressed with the pool of honey flowing from a golden sheet of honeycomb. There were plenty of Japanese and Chinese breakfast items for those of us who didn't travel 8000 miles to eat scrambled eggs and pancakes, such as mini okonomiyakis (seafood pancakes), dim sum, congee, and the Taiwanese specialty you-tiao (crullers).

As usual, the attempt to cover so many bases meant not everything could be done well. Steamed barbecue pork buns fell apart too easily. Ham was overly salty. Shui mai was a bit on the chewy side. The less said about the you-tiao the better. But on the plus side, the okonomiyakis were delicious, bacon was perfectly cooked, and I can eat an endless number of turnip cakes.

All in all, good, but nowhere near the quality one can find cheaply in less-fancy Taipei neighborhoods. However, it's a great way to start the day if you aren't paying, in a beautiful and room-adjacent environment.

I'm always amused at how much people in Taiwan think about food—including us! At any point of the day we'd be thinking about our next amazing feast, even if still full from the last.

Beef noodle soup is the pride and joy of a culture already obsessed with deliciousness.

Niu rou mein appears in dozens of forms in Taiwan, but the one most commonly thought of as typical, the variety that Taiwanese proudly state mainlanders no longer make properly, is Sichuan-influenced. Good-quality sirloin is slow cooked to perfect tenderness, while the broth is flavored with ginger, garlic and plenty of chili peppers. Noodles should be thick and al dente. It's a perfect meal, and one I ate often growing up because it's one of my father's favorites.

Taipei recently decided to market this fabulous dish by creating the "Taipei Beef Noodle Festival." We were a month too late to witness the second annual competition but managed to squeeze in two beef noodle visits into our brief visit.

We gave one of the Festival finalists a chance. There are two next to each other on the famous food alley Yongkang Street, both equipped with signs featuring happy cows and newspaper articles posted on their front windows declaring the superiority of their dish. I don't know the name of the one we tried, but one of them was hosting a private party so we tried the other. Here the noodles were round like spaghetti (I prefer a square shape), but the overall dish was absolutely delicious. We got a side order of "Szechuan hot oil wontons," one of my favorites.

My dad's longtime favorite is located near his high school, 16 Tao Yuan Street off Heng Yang Road, near the Ximending subway stop. No sign and no name, but so popular that it's always packed; my father was extra-pleased they did not "feel the need" to compete in the festival. I had to give it to him...this was the best bowl of beef noodle soup I've ever tasted (sorry, Mom). Fork-tender sirloin infused with amazing flavor, perfectly chewy square noodles, a bright red spicy broth I wished I could take with me so as not to miss a drop. The portions are very generous; with a shared side dish of pork short ribs (coated in rice and steamed), none of us finished our bowls except my dad.

Beef noodle soup could never be bad—the basic ingredients are bound to be delicious! However, my dad's favorite had the slight edge, so I highly recommend seeking it out if possible.

The most legendary dumpling restaurant in Taiwan—and arguably, the world—is Ding Tai Fung on Yongkang Street. Every cab driver should know where this is, but if by some miracle a clueless cabbie is found, Yongkang Street is reknowned in and of itself. Once there, passerby can lead the way to DTF.

I have no doubt this Shanghai-style restaurant does many things well, but its claim to fame is soup dumplings—the deliciously thin-skinned steamed sacks of pork (or even better, pork & crab) and a touch of broth. Eating them requires a special technique—pick up gently by the slightly firmer tops and place onto soup spoon, cover with vinegar, bite top open gently so as not to squirt everywhere, then slurp up the rest.

DTF's popularity means excessively long waits. When we headed over on a Sunday the wait was over an hour. We're practical folks, and trust that there are very few truly bad restaurants in Taipei; thus we headed next door to Kao Chi.

So glad we did because we were seated immediately! Kao Chi is another Shanghai-style place, so of course we had the crab soup dumplings...and I could have cried thinking how no soup dumplings in New York even come close to this quality. A chef needs very special skills to create skins this thin that will not break while holding the soup. Even without sampling DTF, these were probably the best I've ever had.

We ordered a couple more of my favorite Shanghai dishes: rice cake stir-fried with pork and green onions and fried tiny buns. Fried tiny buns are also filled with savory pork, but have a thicker, softer dough than dumplings and a pan-fried crispy bottom. Absolutely delicious. We also tried a casserole of crab baked with cabbage, cuttlefish cake, and roasted eggplant with garlic that I chose out of a cold case of small plates. Everything was really fresh and obviously made with care.

With a beer for my brother and sweet soy milks for me and my mom, the total was a mere 985NT after tip ($30). We were stuffed and happy, and probably passed some of the same people in line at DTF on our way out.

Taipei doesn't top most travelers' must-see lists, but if there WERE a booming tourism industry, Taipei 101 would be on the standard itinerary. Currently the tallest building in the world—not counting the antennae on the Sears Tower—Taipei 101 stands at 1,671 feet, features the world's fastest elevator and of course, has 101 floors.

The extremely modern Xinyi district is home to Congress and City Hall, as well as a cosmopolitan collection of shops. More than just another office building, Taipei 101 fits right in the area with its high-end mall and a renowned food court. The medical conference organizers were taking my father to the Chinese restaurant, so our friends took the rest of us to the Italian restaurant on the same floor.

My feelings about going up skyscrapers can be summed up with "meh," but as we were already here, we paid our NT350 ($10) to pile into the elevator. Exactly 39 seconds later we were on the 89th floor indoors observatory deck. The 91st floor outdoor deck actually requires an additional fee, which seemed unnecessary. The views were great, as expected.

The most fun discovery was that in typical Chinese fashion, the folks at Taipei 101 had created an adorable character out of their massive wind damper (a huge ball that offsets building shakes). All of the Taipei 101 paraphernalia was really cute—from cartoony playing cards to mod color-blocked coasters to notebooks featuring "Damper."

The stores in the Taipei 101 mall are way out of my range: Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Lagerfeld. The layout is a little inconvenient, with one floor's escalators not connecting to the next. While many people seemed interested in browsing, the prohibitive prices meant few were actually buying.

The food court was an incredibly sensory experience, with a wide varieties of cuisines represented...many types of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese quick eats as well as weird fusiony items (Chinese + cheese = Italian, natch). Everything looked so appetizing compared to the usual American mall food court, with the help of food models attractively displayed at each of the almost 100 stands.

Dinner was at Diamond Tony's, where our friend knew the chef. We were intrigued at the concept of Italian, Chinese style—not fusion, but Italian as Chinese people believe it should be made.

We were served banquet style, with waiters doling out portions before placing the serving plates on the table. Apps were all pretty good: eggplant parm, fried calamari, and a crab dip served with distinctively Chinese-esque focaccia.

Entrees included fish baked in pastry, garlicky shrimp coated in breadcrumbs, pork filet in a very Chinese black pepper sauce, and linguine which was probably arrabiata but far too spicy for Italian. Another concession to the Chinese palate was that none of our dishes contained much cheese or cream.

Dessert was fruit—guava, cantaloupe, and very sweet oranges—followed by ice cream with mangos, and a sort of odd cheesecake on Oreo crust.

I wouldn't go out of my way for Chinese-Italian again, but it was interesting.

Taipei is fortunate to have beautiful excursions just minutes outside the city that show another side of the island. One of the most popular is Yangmingshan National Park, a beautiful mountain park my grandfather used to visit daily until his health got the better of him.

Taiwan seems to be so much about the eating, shopping, and sights of Taipei that it's easy to forget this is a volcanic island. Its origins led not only to the beautiful Datun mountain range where Yangmingshan sits, but also to numerous hot springs throughout the island as well.

Yangmingshan is easily reached by public transport, but our friend took the day off to accompany us. We didn't have time to explore the larger nature park so we stayed within Yangming Park, with its manicured paths and twisting wooden staircases. It can be a very relaxing place once a solitary spot is found; I noticed a few people meditating near small waterfalls or doing tai-chi chuan on bridges.

In late November the weather was gorgeous and many colorful flowers were in bloom. The mountain views from the park were spectacular. After that we drove up the winding and increasingly foggy path to visit the bubbling sulfur pits, a sight all the small children in the area regarded with wonder.

We then drove to nearby Danshui, a small port which increased in popularity ever since the construction of the Metro connected it with Taipei. Since we were on someone else's schedule, we only ate lunch. Delicious as always! We ate at a market with a restaurant upstairs, allowing us to choose our seafood before cooking. We had whole fish, delicious small squids and crabs smothered in butter. Perfectly fresh and simple preprations.

My brother had made clear he didn't want to do too much running around outside of Taipei. So with one Saturday to daytrip before he arrived, my parents and I headed out to Jinguashi.

Jinguashi is a former gold-mining town, now the site of the newly created Gold Ecological Park. Set in the lovely mountains outside Taipei, the park strives to present the area's history, culture, and unique mineral culture. Despite the increase in local tourism since its opening in 2004, the town still retains its mountain charm. It's a breath of fresh air for those who find Taipei to be too much of a concrete jungle (I am not one of those people).

The bus from Taipei takes less than an hour. We stopped by my parents' friend's house for...well, a mid-morning snack, as we'd already had breakfast at the hotel and certainly planned to have lunch. She was originally from Jinguashi, a minister whose father had been a gold miner. She'd prepared a local specialty, sweet red bean soup with chewy potato starch balls she'd bought in nearby Jiufen—similar to Japanese mochi.

The park itself was interesting. Our 100NT entry let us into the Museum of Gold (featuring the world's largest gold nugget), the Educational Center, and the Crown Prince Chalet, which was built by poor laborers for the visiting Japanese prince. Another 50NT gave us the opportunity to explore a former mine, which in Disney-fied fashion, had been equipped with models of miners hard at work or eating lunch, complete with hilarious voice tracks. We also saw haunting photos of Japanese mine inspections during the occupation. There's also a very simple POW memorial a short ways from the mines.

Of course the best part was lunch. The minister led us to an open-air restaurant on a hill, with a ramshackle wooden kitchen. The place seemed to be the most popular in town. The wiry, continuously-smoking chef hovered over the freezer case behind us and rattled off the available types of fish. We pulled our plastic lawn chairs up to the card tables to enjoy the feast of garlicky clams, fish soup, and decadent taro and shrimp rolls wrapped in fried tofu skins.

One caveat: those needing to use the public restrooms in Jinguashi should be warned only squat toilets are available. These are not uncommon throughout Taiwan, but less common than in China or other Asian countries.

I really wanted to see Jiufen, another former gold-rush town known to be very picturesque; unfortunately it was a market day and looked far too busy/annoying from the bus. We continued on to Keelung instead.