御爐香豆花, Yu Lu Xiang Bean Curd, KaoHsuing, Taiwan

This shop is just opposite to the Hotel Grand Hi-Lai. Though the shop highlighted its sweet been curd, it offers some other desserts which I haven't come accross.


1. 葉綠素 - yes, the menu does have this term and it's also on the 1st one on the menu. So we asked the shop lady what that exactly is. Her answer is green algae (or kind of seaweed) 綠藻. So out of our adveturous behaviour, we of course had a try. It's really interesting, and personally I like it a lot as it is quite similar to the tiger herbal (崩大碗) aroma. 2. Herbal Jelly (仙草凍) - it's not as good as those I found in Bangkok or Hong Kong. Supposed it should have been a bit tangy.

3. sweet bean curd topped with red/green bean, barley, sweet yam and tangy sago. A pretty good one and good for health too as it has quite a variety of beans and barley. 4. plain sweet bean curd - quite good as it has the burnt aroma and the texture is quite balanced.

5. the shop.

Lon Pao soup dumpling, KaoHsuing, S. Taiwan 龍袍湯包, 高雄, 南台灣

Just like the way I discovered Madam Dragon's noodle shop, I found out there are quite many locals visiting this shop just next to Grand Hi Lai hotel. So it turned out our exploration wasn't in vain.

1. Almost 9 out of 10 customers ordered this deep fried pork chop with noodle. The pork chop is nicely marinated and then covered with battered egg and flour and deep fried in nice hot oil. The noodle is quite nice too with lots of veggie but I don't know why the chef used morning glory as it's not common for Taiwanese noodle. 2. spare ribs noodle soup - also quite nice.

3. double boiled beef soup - a bit oily to me but the taste is good. 4. double boiled ginseng chicken soup and double boiled chicken soup. Both are very oily and I noticed it's quite typical for Taiwanese soup being a big oily. The taste is quite good, but I don't recommend it as it's indeed a bit too oily.

5. mini dumpling with black sesame filling - very nice one! 6. mini dumpling with meaty hot soup inside. I can darely say it's even better than Crystal Jade and Din Tai Feng though I still don't like mini dumpling. The chef made the dumpling skin very thin but chewy enough to hold the soup inside. This is a very special skill and the meaty soup inside is very nice. Perfect dumpling!

7. the pickled cucumber, the pickled white fungas and the dried bean curb with dried mini fish. Average taste but if you want some snacks together with your dumpling, I would recomend you try the pickled white fungas as it's not commonly found in Taiwan.

Dreamland, KaoHsuing, S. Taiwan 夢時代, 高雄, 南台灣

The first time I was in KaoHsuing was in April 1998 and on that trip I was on a heavy mood because I was to set up my network in my new business plan and fierce competition with the other business parties, as I went to Taipei afterwards. At that time, KaoHsuing was just a city to me. 11 years later, it turned out as a modern cosmopolitan but even quieter. The first 2 days didn't impress me much but later on the last 2 days made me re-think about this city.

1/2 Dreamland is a big shopping/entertainment complex close to the Siu Kang Airport (小港機場). On top of it is a Ferris Wheel and a playground. You can spend a whole day there, especially in the book store. I really enjoy browsing the Elite Book shop (誠品書店) and this time I bought some nice books.

3/4. the food court in the basement offering various kinds of local and foreign food.

5. busy food court area. 6. Tan Tsai Noodle 担仔麵 - this noodle derived from a guy called Mr. Hung who migrated from Fujian to Tainan in the late Ching dynasty. Mr. Hung lived as a fisherman but survived hard during the typhoon season. So during typhoon season he would take up a bamboo rod to carry the utensil for cooking a small portion of noodle. So Tan means the bamboo rod. Tsai implies it is a small and humble business. As Mr. Hung sold the noodle for several months during Typhoon season, so he called it as "passing a period of small moon" (度小月) - what a literal term for his name. Now the original shop in Tainan has been over 100 years old. The essense of this noodle is in the minced pork sauce. I kind of like it since the portion is good enough as a snack. Besides, the name already earned our loving memory of Mr. Hung's spirit of surviving and being humble. This noodle is often my recommendation for foreign friends visiting Taiwan.

7. San Sheun Jiao Fu (三商巧福) is a big chain store or may be the first Chinese fast food chain store in Taiwan. It's main dish is beef noodle soup. The taste is quite nice but at a price of NT$70-80 (HK$16-18) for a big bowl of beef noodle, it is worth trying. 8. Kao Hsuing oyster omelette. Personally I don't like it especially that "tomato sauce-like".

9. Hot spicy soup with dumpling. Quite nice and also very cheap NT$80 for both. 10. Taiwanese Bento (便當) - most fast food or lunch box sold at gas station or train station often claim their lunch box as Chie Xheng Bento (池上便當). Chie Xheng is a place in Tai Tung (Eastern Taiwan) and its soil is good for growing rice. Bento is a Japanese name for lunch box. So Chie Xheng is famous for its rice. In fact, we did enjoy quite much on the rice no matter how awlful the food is.

11. beef noodle with pickled veggie - also quite nice and NT$120 for both. 12. my faourite ice - snowy silky ice (雪花冰) - the ice is made of milk; so when it is shred, the texture beomes very silky. Highly recommended!

13/14. more variety of snowy silky ice.

15. this one is with raspberry sauce. 16. the frogs on the playground.

17/18. the Ferris wheel. 19. the swinging ship.

龍媽麵店, 高雄, 台灣

Passed by this shop during my stay at Grand Hi Lai Hotel in KaoHsuing and noticed quite many locals visited this shop. So why not for a late night try by myself only for my favourite rice noodle in minced pork sauce (乾米粉) plus preserved cabbage and a Lo Shui Egg (滷水蛋) (egg soaked in special soy sauce). I got really impressed! So the next day I brought my colleagues and of course Madam Fa (being a taste supervisor and an experienced chef). Then we tried more various food and we were all so surprised! Now that we have a reason to go back to Kao Hsuing.

1. Madam Loen (means Dragon) is in the middle of the photo and her shop. When getting so impressed with her food, we got to chat with her for a while. She also appreciated my tasting for what ingredients she put. Then we got to know each other being so enjoyable in cooking. Madam Loen started cooking since 13 and she started this shop on her own. She claimed to use freshest ingredients and made her own "deep fried red onion" (油蔥酥) - this one is very essential for Taiwanese local food and that's also the important part of cooking - making your own ingredients and this is your style. 2. Pork in thick soup (肉羹) - I think I would have my prejudice by simply looking at the texture of this thick soup. I was so wrong but I don't blame for myself as nobody's perfect. I think it's best Pork in thick soup I have ever tried. Madam put the deep fried fish chunks (大地魚) in the soup and made the whole soup a lot different, just like the way the Cantonese wonton soup having deep fried fish chunks in it. What's more, Madam put the Chinese long cabbage (黃芽白) and the sweetness of the cabbage balance the aromatic salty taste of the fish chunks, just like how much I enjoyed using fried dried shrimp to cook with cabbage. As for the meat, it's not just meat. Madam used her own hand to massage the meat well and made it so soft and chewy, and even like fish cake texture. Highly recommended!!!

3. Dried rice noodle in minced pork sauce (乾米粉) - my favourite! Madam's special minced pork sauce made the noodle so different - sweet and salty taste very balanced! 4. Jia Yi Chicken rice (嘉義雞肉飯) - Why pick the chicken from Jia Yi (a county in the Southern Middle Taiwan). I asked Madam Fa what the difference of this meat to the other chicken meat and Madam Fa simply pointed out the meat is marinated first in salt and it's full of chicken taste. However, I told her I also got amazed with this name because it's not chicken at all but just the Chinese name has the "chicken". It's just with one word prefix - "fire" in Chinese. Yes, it's Turkey actually. Turkey in Chinese has 2 words "fire" "chicken". Jia Yi's turkey is different from the original turkey. I was told the locals of Jia Yi mix the breed of chicken and turkey and have this new breed of turkey - having the taste of chicken but in lean meat. Of course, Madam made this marinated meat so well - not dried at all even though after a long time of marinating.

5. rice noodle in soup - Madam Dragon made the soup so clear but the taste is not bland at all. Madam Fa really enjoyed the soup so much and appraised for Madam Dragon's cooking skill! You can see the deep fried red onion in the soup. Madam just sprinkled it a little and made the soup so aromatic. No need to put much as it will be too overwhelming. 6. Thick chewy noodle (米苔目) - another Southern Taiwanese local food - we all got so amazed at this chewy noodle texture. Must try!

Kao Hsuing 高雄, Southern Taiwan (part 2)

KaoHsuing originally named as Takao (a Japanese sound for "hit the dog"); so the locals named the city as 打狗. The city is in a very strategic position of Southern Taiwan and hence was once a place for various battles during those war times. Now it's a place populated with 1.5 million locals but yet it's still quite a quiet city.
1/2. Just like any other cities, KaoHsuing couldn't run away from all those luxurious branded names boutiques.

3. 新堀江商圈, it's also called as Harajuku of KaoHsuing. 4. the subway of KaoHsuing. Due to the low passenger flow, the frequency is on every 10 minutes.

5/6. this is a very beautiful subway station called "Formosa Boulevard (美麗島)".

7. the local food stall and with the highest Splendor Hotel on the back. 8. a table of Taiwan shape.

9. Pineapple - a favourite popuplar local fruit. 10. palm seed - another local favourite like chewing gun.

11/12. room of Grand Hi Lai.

13. the bath room. 14. the swimming pool

15. the lift lobby. 16. the entrance.

17/18. the city landscape at night.

19. the city in day time. 20. Love River - don't you remember the movie made by Lin Ching Hsiao.

21/22. Love River at night.

23/24. the hottest place for night bazzar in KaoHsuing - Liu He Night bazzar (六合夜市)

25/26. the local food.

27/28. another local favourites.