★日本語訳は、英語の後に書いてありまーす★
From an outsider’s perspective, I think countries such as Korea and Japan have already established defining images in the Western world; For example, when I think of Korea I think of spicy food, I think of all the Korean beauty products, I think of K-Pop. When I think of Japan, I think of Harajuku Fashion, Geisha, Shrines, Mt. Fuji, I think of Anime, Sushi, Ramen, Tempura.
But, if someone were to ask me what objects I associate with Taiwan, I don’t think I would have been able to give an answer. I admit that, even after visiting Taipei a few times, I wasn’t sure what it was that made Taiwan unique from other countries. Because of it’s close proximity to other countries, including Japan, it seems to have absorbed a little bit of culture from everywhere.
Japanese brands such as Daiso and Muji can be seen on the streets, and Japanese restaurants were almost as common as local food. Korean beauty brands also had established shops on street corners, and the restaurant across the street from our apartment was named after the busy shopping district in Korea, Myeongdong.
But this time, on my trip, I realized there’s one thing that Taiwan does right, that will probably keep me coming back to visit for years to come.
The food.
Food in Taiwan is absolutely incredible. There’s a hint of imperfection in almost everything that is made locally, and, as a result, you get some of the most sincere and honest flavors you could imagine, at the most incredible prices. The most fascinating part of the food culture in Taiwan, is that you can find anything you want, almost anywhere. Local food is never more than a stroll down the street, and it’s not so much about where to go, but rather what you’re looking for.
So if you’re looking for local food, here are a few things you should be keeping an eye out for.
The famous Taiwanese “Beef Noodle Soup”, is simply written as 牛肉麺 which should be easily recognisable, even to Japanese language learners, as the Kanji literally mean “cow, meat, noodle.” It’s read as Niu-Rou-Mian (Thank you to commenter 張庭瑞 for letting me know!) Because it can be hard to pronounce things properly with the right intonations in Chinese/Taiwanese, so I should let you in on a secret and tell you that I got along just fine by pointing at things at the menu.. 🙂
Another thing to keep an eye out for is 餃子, which Japanese learners might immediately recognize as “gyoza”, but in Chinese these characters are read as jiaozi. These are chinese dumplings with ground meat and vegetable filling wrapped in dough. Jiaozi are amazing and INCREDIBLY CHEAP! Enough jiaozi to fill your stomach will only cost about $1-2 USD.
We ordered a large plate of 水餃子, boiled dumplings, called shuǐjiǎozi and beef noodle for dinner one night and it made an amazing, cost-effective meal.
Shuǐjiǎozi looks very similar to another Chinese dumpling called “wonton”, but they are totally different. Wontons are usually served in soup, and the dough that wraps them is different than the dough used in jiaozi. (Maybe you already knew this, but I can’t tell them apart in pictures, so I had to look up the difference myself.)
When it comes to trying the best of the best of Taiwanese cuisine, everyone rants and raves about Din Tai Fung. Their specialty 小籠包 (xiaolongbao) is said to be world-renowned as the best, in spite of the dish itself originally coming from Shanghai, in China. Our taxi driver insisted that Din Tai Fung is touristy, and that there are better local places to eat, but my wonderful facebook page travel advisors insisted we try it out, so we did.
To Din Tai Fung we go!
There you have it. You’re looking at a serving of 
Din Tai Fung‘s famous xiaolongbao. Because the restaurant is so popular, we waited 25 minutes outside before getting in. They require you to place your food order while you’re waiting outside, but this ends up being pretty time-efficient, because as soon as you sit down, the food starts rolling out. The xiaolongbao are served hot and steaming fresh, with a mixture of vinegar, soy sauce, and ginger. A server comes by regularly to make sure you never run out of grated ginger to place on top. As soon as you’ve finished a certain serving, a waiter comes again to whisk away the empty baskets and make room for the next dish. The entire experience feels quite rushed, probably because they have so many people outside waiting for seats, but the food is satisfying and filling.
粽子 (zongzi) is a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with various fillings–in this case, ours was filled with pork! This dish, while admittedly mindblowing, was incredibly heavy and filling. It’s a great choice when you’re hungry, but not when you’re trying to eat all the things. You’ll get full rather quickly! As much as I loved this, I wish I had ordered something else and saved room for more food!
At the end of our meal, we had dessert dumplings as well. 迷你芋泥包 (Mínǐ yùníbāo (?) ) are snack sized buns filled with a sweet “taro root” paste. If you are able to eat Japanese red bean-paste fillings, then you’ll love these! Served fresh, the buns are soft and chewy and the paste on the inside is warm slightly nutty/sweet. We also grabbed a half-order of mini black sesame buns, which I absolutely love, although you have to be careful and check your teeth afterwards, because they are bound to leave something black and gritty behind when you’re done (as black sesame paste tends to do.)
Overall, the dining experience at Din Tai Fung is more or less, what you’d expect it to be. It’s more expensive than average local dining, but the food quality is reliable. It’s a good place to go to experience a little bit of everything, although, without knowing what the “standard” taste of each item is, it’s really hard to judge if Din Tai Fung really is “the best” or not. I would have been happy to continue eating at local food stalls and little restaurants for a cheaper price, since I’m not educated enough to know the difference in quality at this point.
Another interesting place we visited during our stay though, was a rather trendy-looking restaurant near our Airbnb in Da’an, called “Sanhoyan“.
From the presentation and style, I thought Sanhoyan would be a chain-restaurant brand, or franchise, similar to Din Tai Fung, but it looks like there is only one location in all of Taipei. I actually found this restaurant on Yelp when I was searching for something a little special for my last night in Taiwan, and I wasn’t 
disappointed.
First we ordered some shrimp fried rice with 蘿蔔糕 (luóbogāo), or as we call them in Japan, 大根餅 (daikonmochi). These are turnip cakes made of shredded radish and rice flour. They are soft and chewy, kind of like the “turnip” equivalent of McDonalds Hashbrowns (in terms of size and consistency, but more delicious of course!)
Since this restaurant prides itself on introducing a “new style of Taiwanese food”, everything is served with an added bit of flair and style. The must-have item on the list was “hedgehog shaped pork buns”, which were so adorable I almost didn’t want to eat them at all. The outside of the bun is crisp and flaky, and inside is a pink sweet-pork filling. As adorable as they are, though, they are a little bit greasy and filling, so one is probably enough per person if you’re ordering a lot of food like we did.
Finally, if you’re visiting Taipei for the first time, there are two more things you absolutely must try: the ever-iconic bubble tea, and mango shaved ice.
Bubble tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980’s, but now it’s popular all over the world. Most bubble tea are tea-based drinks with fruit or milk, shaken to create bubbles, and therefore “bubble tea”. (Contrary to popular 
belief, the “bubble” does not refer to the black tapioca pearls that are commonly served inside the drink.) In Taipei, tea-stands can be found on almost every street corner, and larger, more recognizable brands will have English translations written below each menu item, so thankfully, ordering one isn’t too much of a daunting task!
As you can probably deduce from the picture above, I ordered the “tropical special”, which was passion fruit, coconut jelly, and tapioca pearls. I didn’t expect the passion fruit to include seeds, so that was a bit of a culture shock for me, but my friend laughed and explained to me that I can swallow the seeds–I had no idea! For future reference though, you can’t go wrong with an original Tapioca Bubble Tea. Simple is best, especially if you’re trying bubble tea in it’s home country for the first time. After you get a feel for how it’s ~supposed to taste~, then I recommend being more adventurous in your choices.
Finally, especially in these hot and humid summer months, you absolutely have to try Taiwan’s famous mango-shaved ice. Where I live, in Japan, fruit is insanely expensive, and you would never expect to see it in such abundance, at such a low price. Compared to Japanese かき氷, or Korean patbingsu, Taiwanese Mango Shaved Ice is on a completely new level of amazing.
You may remember how I earlier described Taiwanese food as “imperfect” and “honest”, and that’s something I LOVE about eating here. The mango is fresh, and it’s apparent in the way that it doesn’t always taste sweet, because no two fruit are the same. The taste is inconsistent, but it’s natural. They don’t use any artificial flavorings or use frozen fruit to preserve the quality. What you see is what you get, and I mean that in a good way.
As the shaved ice milk melts, it becomes a consistency similar to ice cream, but the taste is a lot lighter. This makes the taste of the mango stand out all the more. It’s so refreshing, and a perfect source of vitamins on a hot day.
For three nights and four days, I was surprised at how LITTLE money we spent in Taiwan. Because transportation is cheap, we took taxis all around the city (when we could have saved money by using the cheap and convenient MRT instead, admittedly.) We ate two “expensive” dinners at Sanhoyan and Din Tai Fung, when we could have stuck to local restaurants and filled our stomachs on $2-5 USD. We bought souvenirs at the airport for our friends and co-workers back in Japan, and even then, we only spent about $600 USD total, or rather, $300 per person during our four day stay.
We weren’t necessarily travelling on a budget, but I really do think that if we had tried, we could have reduced that cost by half.
Since we over-estimated how much money we would need in Taiwan, we ended up with a lot left over. I’m actually pretty happy about this, though, because that makes it all the more easier to go back. (Next time, I’m going to make sure I diet and exercise and lose a little weight before coming, so I won’t feel bad about gaining any.)
実は、今まで「台湾」と聞いたらピンと来たイメージはなかったです。カナダ生まれの私にとっては、例えば日本だと「芸者、寿司、侍、忍者、お寺、富士山、アニメ、ラーメン、ファッション」などの「代表的な物」がたくさんあるし、韓国だと、やっぱり「キムチ、美容製品、K-Pop」などのイメージが強いです。
実は今まで仕事などの理由で台湾に来たことはありましたが、日本のお店も多くて、韓国のブランドや、アメリカのブランドのお店もたくさん並んでいたりしてて、台湾ならではのものははっきり分かりませんでした。
だけど、台湾の台北市にやってきて何日間過ごしたら、台湾の特徴が分かりました！
食べ物です。
台湾の食べ物は安いし、量が多いだけじゃなくて、味もとても良い意味で「素直」です。変に調味料で味をごまかしたりしないから、違う店で同じ食べ物注文しても、味が全然違います。食べ物大好きな人たちによって、台湾は遊園地のような存在ではないかと思います。
どこにいっても、台湾料理のお店たくさん並んでありますので、今回は「何処で食べたか」というより、「何を注文したのか」を紹介した方が良いと思いまし
た。
とりあえずは、牛肉麺です。文字通り、牛肉の麺ですが、読み方は「ニュウロウミェン」です。煮こんだ牛肉と小麦の麺でかなりシンプルですが、やっぱり定番です。外国生まれ、日本育ちのの私にとって、中国語を読むのはとても無理ですが、日本語を勉強しているおかげで、漢字ぐらいは読めます。日本から訪れる方も、きっと中国語を話すことができなくても、漢字見ればなんんんとなく分かりますでしょう。漢字ぐらい読めば、メニューで指差せばどうにかなります！
次のオススメは、安く、たくさ〜ん食べれる、どこでもある餃子です！これは「ギョウザ」ではなくて「ジャオズ」と読みますよ。お腹いっぱいになるまで食べても、安いところでは、１００円〜２００円ぐらいしかかかりません！水餃子もオススメです！
最初は、同じ中国料理であるのワンタンに似すぎて、違いがよく分かりませんでしたが、調べたら、包む生地が違うらしいです。ワンタンと水餃子は違います！笑 一応、その注意点を！
オススメの店は何ですかと、海外の方に聞かれると、やっぱりほぼ９８．６２７％の確率で「ディンタイフォン」と答えます。鼎泰豊(ディンタイフォン）の小籠包（ショウロンポウ）は世界一位と言われているほど美味しいですが、台湾でお世話になったタクシーの運転士さんによると、「もっと美味しくて安いところたくさんあります。」ですって。
だけどやっぱりせっかくの台北だから行かないと、きっと後悔するぞー！という勢いでお店の前に並びました。２５分ぐらい待たされてから、お店の中に入りました。待っている間に、注文をフォームに書き込んでいて、お店に入った時に、スタッフに渡しました。やっぱり、大変人気なレストランなので、出来るだけ皆さんに早く対応できますよね頑張っているようですね。
テーブルに座るとさっそく次々と注文したものが出てきます。やっぱり最初に食べたのは、小籠包（ショウロンポウ）です！ たしかに中に入っているスープが美味しかったです。
しかし、正直あんまり小籠包の基準が分かりません。美味しいと思いましたが、世界一かどうかは、私は判断できません。笑
次はチマキでした。餅米の中に豚肉が入っていました。美味しかったです！かなりお腹いっぱいになりますけど。たくさん注文したいならば、これは友達と分けたほうが良いかも知れないですね。
最後に、デザートとしてミニ里芋饅を注文しました。小麦の皮に包んだタロイモがほどよい甘さで食べやすかったです。胡麻饅も注文して、食べて美味しかったんだけど、やっぱり黒い種が歯に挟まれる可能性があるので、タロイモの方がオ
ススメです。気をつけましょう! 笑
台北で過ごした最後の夜に、もう一つの面白そうなレストランを見つけました。台湾の伝統的な料理を、現代的なスタイルで食べれる、オシャレな店の、叁和院(サンホーヤン)でした！ 値段的には、台北にしては高いかも知れないですが、日本のレストランだと、割と普通の値段でした。
それより、メニューが中国語意外にも、日本語も英語も書いてあって便利でした。一品一品の写真もしっかり載せているから、安心して頼むことが出来ます。やっぱり、サンホーヤンの特技は、プレゼンテーションです。炒飯がピラミッド型で出てくるし、上に数の子も載っていて、オシャレでした。味もすごくよかったです。ほかにも、大根餅と煮込んだ豚肉と、タイガー模様の小麦の皮を注文しました。締めとして、ネット上で話題になっていた、とても可愛いハリネズミの形をしている豚パン、注文してみました。日本の豚まんをイメージして頼みましたが、中身が甘くて、外の揚げパンが、ハリネズミの針の部分でカリカリした食感して、想像したよりも美味しかったです。最後に出てきたのが残念に思ったほど、好きでした。（お腹いっぱいになったごろに出てきたので。）
せっかくの台北旅行なら鼎泰豊(ディンタイフォン）も良いけれど、やっぱ私見たいな若い女性には、叁和院(サンホーヤン)の方をオススメしますよ！デートにも、良い感じでしょう。★
最後にオススメするのが、台湾のタピオカティーです。タピオカの出身地である台湾だとコンビニの数以上、ティーのお店がたくさんあります。初めて飲む方には、とりあえずオリジナルのタピオカミルクティーから、是非飲んでみてください。お店によってメニューが違ったりしますが、ミルクティーは必ずあるし、外れがないと思います。
そして、フルーツ大好きな方にも、台湾のマンゴーかき氷を大変オススメします。夏の暑い日々にぴったりなデザートです。日本だと、マンゴーを大量に安く食べれないので、この機会に是非！ 日本と韓国のかき氷とはまたレベルが違います。氷より、ミルクで出来ているので、溶けていけばアイスクリームみたいな味になります。フルーツもたっぷりだからビタミンも多いでしょうね。個人的に、台北のかき氷が一番好きかも知れないです。きっと、また台北に戻ってきたら、これを一番最初に食べたいと思います。
三泊四日で台北に居ましたが、最後にびっくりしたのは、どれだけ両替したお金が残っていたかっていうことでした。友達と二人で台湾にいって、遊びましたが、タクシー代、食事代、買い物、そしてお土産などを含めて、使った金額が一人３万円を超えなかったです。
３万円って大した金額かどうかは、人によると思いますが、私たちは節約のつもりで観光してたわけじゃないです。もし例えば、タクシーに頼らず、電車などで移動したり、買い物を減らしたり、または高いレストランよりローカルのところで食事したら、今回使った金額がかなり減ったと思いますよ。
せっかく両替したお金だから、使ってない分を日本に持って帰りました。いつかまた台湾に行くと思いますので、その時にまた使いたいと思っています。:)
I wondered if it was too good to be true.
zzz
どういう一日を過ごすかについて悩んだりして最高でした。住宅街の真ん中にあって、道から、人の声と、バイクの音がずっと聞こえて、本当に台湾人の生活を体験しているんだなーと感じました。やっぱりホテルだとこういう気分に中々成れないですよね！！
ミカエラの Asia Travel Diaries