for our first trip of the year,
we are spending 12 days traveling around Taiwan today, weโre taking the High Speed Rail up to Taichung his underrated gem of a city is known as the birthplace of milk tea and is home to some of the coolest cafes in all of Taiwan
right now we're lining up to get our tickets for the high speed railway
i think they're aiming for this one since we're waiting for the train that's a direct stop to taichung
we have about an hour to kill think we're gonna try to look for a taiwanese bento
finally try one it looks so delicious, actually there's a bunch of different ones around the station
let's look for a good one this one is quite small and there's no queue so for just 100 NTD (3 USD), you can have a veggie optionโฆ
a chicken option or a porkchop this one looks like the classic train bento there's quite a line for this one,
so i think i'm gonna check this out so there are classic pork chop bentos... and chicken bentos 180 NTD for 2 bentos
(5.7 USD / 315 PHP) there's also a starbucks, another coffee shop... and a mister donut sichuan pepper hot dogs 7-eleven also has fried chicken bentos family mart has different kinds of tea kumquat, honey and oolong tea more bento options: there's a vegan bento
pork bento, pork and mackerel... and pork shrimp right now we're at the kaohsiung high speed railway station waiting for our train to taichung which will be about 42 minutes you really wanna allot probably an hour to enjoy the train station since it's pretty massive i'm at a 7-Eleven and a Miss Croissant... if you can see me you can do laps... you can do laps... time to board our train so we're looking for our seats right now traveling with sam's family so it's super spacious and they have these trays you can eat your bento on so here's our bento unveiling so this one has a fried pork chop, beancurd,
tea egg and pickled veggies pork chop, tea egg, mackerel, pickles, broccoli so i just took a bite out of this,
i thought it was a pork chop but it's actually fish nice fried fish fillet this is from ralph's bento, it's a fried mackerel mmm... nice piece of fish another thing that i appreciate about taiwanese food is that there's so many veggies in it feel like i've had a crazy amount of veggies on this trip - so how'd you find you first taiwanese train bento?
- iโd do it again what was your favorite part of it? the price our first stop was just a short walk from our hotel an iconic dessert shop in a heritage building originally built in 1927 by a japanese opthamologist miyahara was taichung's largest eye clinic until the 1940s and has since transformed into taiwan's most iconic dessert shop their packaging and design details are so inspiring seed and nut brittle in the shape of old records this antique table was so beautiful rice tea with rose longan honey the line's pretty long to try out their ice cream so many ice cream flavors aside from the ice cream shop, they also have a tea shop decided to have dinner at their restaurant on the second floor assemble your own pork belly buns salted mullet roe fried rice fried rice with mullet roe and salmon salted egg bitter gourd so surprising and delicious - a favorite pick your own ice cream toppings:
milk bear, chocolate, cranberry, rum raisin and nuts we picked lots of pineapple cake a sweet end to our first night in taichung taking a scenic walk home good morning from taichung it's our first morning here and we're getting ready to go out look for some dan bing and coffee
start our day this place is kind of unusual cos you leave your shoes at the front so every day before you go out you have to grab your shoes this giant tree caught our eye yesterday on the way to the hotel
and it's called old tree cafe we also just noticed this group of people across the street
and i think they're sitting down to draw the old tree so the group is here, the old tree cafe is here and ralph found a dan bing place right over here classic breakfast: ham, cheese, egg, green onions cute map of our neighborhood in taichung our first cafe stop is located at a century old building elegantly restored by @hausinc_cafe such a well lit space took home some beans iced americano for sam espresso for ralph their matcha chiffon cake was delicious if you look closely, you can spot design details
from when the space was originally a clinic surprised to find a vintage jewelry store right by our hotel so many vintage earrings love finding unexpected gems like this looking for lunch at taichung's historical second market which has become a go-to for local eats since it opened in 1917 taichung is known as the birthplace of milk tea so we made sure to try this famous stall's no-frills iced black tea - so what are you gonna get?
- probably the fuzhou dry pasta plus the mixed fishball soup hundred pages tofu... mixed fishball soup hundred pages tofu so we have the fuzhou ball, the shrimp ball and the swordfish ball so this really is the fuzhou ball cos it's got stuff inside peppery the noodles had a nice texture - firm yet bouncy out of respect to archie (a qi), we gotta finish this super fresh seafood that you can eat on the counter one thing we learned on this trip is how much taiwanese love sashimi and have developed their own version and style if we weren't full we would have tried some a traditional wet market can be found at the center including local butchers and produce vendors these sausages are very on-trend these fruits are so cute the end of this alley looks to be a shrine noticed a lot of people buying dessert here vanilla ice cream, tapioca pearls in a brown sugar dome this beautiful waterway cuts through the city this chinese language bookstore was opened in 1927 heritage supplies and products can still be found in-store trying the sun moon lake black tea (ink) plus a more modern curation of art-centric products museum of old taiwan tiles locally-crafted and dyed accessories it's got like these caramel dyes love this reworked antique glass fixture now i'm gonna take a pic of ralph lots of camera shops all around the area including some film ones for around 3000 NTD
(95 USD) ralph found this pin on google maps which is supposed to be
this cat's hang out area this this is it... no cat, but this must be the place he's definitely take care of.. some very cute bowls here had to stop and take a photo of this sign time for coffee #2 based on the reviews online, this looked like a serious coffee spot so many choices for coffee beans - a little sour?
- a little sour. - i recommend this one to you ended up taking home these two bags a beautiful cold coffee for a hot day it was quite a walk, but we really enjoyed their coffee they even gave us free drip coffees to try at home taxi jams this homey scone shop in our neighborhood caught our eye topped with clotted cream surprised by the quality of this - so buttery, moist and delicate - aww, so nice!
- they gave us a free slice of cheesecake very light and creamy with just the right amount of sweetness it is rather delicious this bookshop's cat was a scene-stealer his name is spades follow spades on instagram: @annnoyingbs (lol) ralph's second coffee lots of creative, independent shops in this neighborhood like this workshop where you can make your own jewelry ending our last night with a bang since we were celebrating sam's mom's birthday this roast duck restaurant highly recommended by the hotel concierge uniquely taiwanese pickles and sauces first serving is the crisp and juicy roast duck skin served with passionfruit sauce, peppers, hoisin sauce and white sugar sam's mom gets first dibs on skin since it's her birthday first time trying this combo
but the fatty skin and sugar crystals paired so well together second serving is the meat for the duck wraps absolutely perfect duck meat with spring onions and cucumbers try this passionfruit sauce loved these fried radish cakes leftover duck meat on the bone is fried in chilis and aromatics finally the remaining meat is served in congee chinese-style meals are best eaten with family the most delicious memory of taichung on our last morning we went out for taiwanese pork chops taiwanese golden kimchi with turmeric lots of steamed kale michelin bib gourmand pork chop so juicy and perfectly fried this family-run bakery sells a unique banana pastry crisp pancakes shaped into the mold of a banana and filled with a natural banana puree served hot and crisp, right out of the oven with a creamy banana custard filling
last stop is this old school shaved ice shop this dessert shop was full of people each time we passed it overflowing with sweet potato balls, mochi, tapioca and grass jelly i can see why it's such a popular dessert spot time to check-out and take the high speed rail to taipei it's about 1 hour from taichung to taipei thanks for watching
