April 2023 – mmm-yoso

Toulouse – Les P’tits Fayots

April 29, 2023 mmm-yoso European Restaurants, France, French Restaurants, Toulouse, Montpellier, Carcassonne, and Occitania, Travel

After a nice day of checking out the Markets and doing some exploring, we decided to do a bit more walking before dinner.

We also decided to drop by a couple of places I had on my "list" to try and make dinner reservations for upcoming nights. Many of the restaurants I had on my list didn't do online reservations and required a phone call. Unfortunately, my French is beyond hideous, so we decided to try and appear in person to make reservations. Unfortunately, since this was a weekend, it was big time fail.

On this night though, we had dinner reservations. It was quite a blessing in disguise. I mentioned in an earlier post, that I had tried to get a private tour with Elyse Riven who heads up Toulouse Guided Walks and is often a guest on one of my favorite podcasts, Join Us in France. Unfortunately, Elyse was I believe out of the country at the time, so we downloaded her VoiceMap audio tour. Elyse was kind enough to make some recommendations for dinner and also for visiting Albi, which is where we were headed the following day.

One of the places she recommended and was on my "list" was Les P'tits Fayots, a nice little restaurant that does small, shareable plates. And they did online reservations!

The location is on a side street, the restaurant quite discreet.

The Missus enjoyed the fact that veggies were well represented on the menu and also enjoyed the wine selection. The service was very warm and friendly. Toulouse is a lot ore laid back than Paris!

The first item up was the Pomme de Terre Confit & Hareng Fume. Wonderfully earthy potatoes confit which was paired nicely with the savory smoked herring.

The mustard creme added a bit of punch and along with the starchiness of the potatoes helped handle the umami-heavy herring.

Next up; the Sable Emmenthal Noisette.

Basically Emmenthal and hazelnut biscuits; this was quite an interesting combination. The celery cream was interesting; we actually enjoyed the greens and herbs the best, nice texture and a touch of bitterness.

Sucrine & Ouef Mollet. You know the Missus and eggs right?

The Missus loved the runny soft boiled egg and even the creamy Mornay Sauce, which was very balanced in terms of butteriness and cheesiness. She also loved the sucrine, a lettuce that seemed like baby romaine, it tastes so clean and the shaved Parmesan and mild sauce added so much savory notes to the dish.

The last dish was actually our favorite. The Langoustine Boullion.

The Langoustine was so tender, sweet, and oceany. And that broth was seasoned perfectly, with just enough salt to highlite the touches of sea faring flavors. Bread with this……

We really enjoyed our meal. It was our favorite of our stay in Toulouse. We loved the service and the food!

Les P'tits Fayots
8 Rue de l'Esquile
31000 Toulouse, France

Toulouse – Marché Victor Hugo, Marché des Carmes, and Musée de l’Histoire de la Médecine

April 28, 2023 mmm-yoso France, Markets & Grocers, Toulouse, Montpellier, Carcassonne, and Occitania, Travel

**** No restaurant in this one; just a couple of markets and some exploring!

We put in a bit of mileage of the "footmobile" variety during our first full day in Toulouse.

First thing in the morning we headed off to the huge Marché Covert Victor Hugo.

A market has existed in this spot since 1827 when it was named Place du Marché-au-Bois. The square was renamed Place Victor Hugo in 1886 and in 1892 the renovation to a covered market was completed.

I was told there are over 200 stalls in the market, including several restaurants on the first (second floor in US) floor, which we'd revisit later on during our trip.

As you can imagine, there are fromageries, boucheries, numerous produce stands, and so forth. You can easily identify the more popular vendors here.

While not super crowded, it was busy enough at 8am on a Friday morning.

Marché Victor Hugo
Place Victor Hugo
31000 Toulouse, France

There are also many shops and restaurants surrounding the market, but because it as fairly early in the morning most were closed. We'd return here later in the day.

As you can tell, it was a overcast and drizzly day. Not serious rain mind you; but just enough to wet the streets and irritate you!

We headed south doing the "lèche-vitrine" ("window licking" – window shopping) thing along the way. And before you knew it, we were at Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Toulouse. So we popped on in for a quick look.

There has supposedly been a church on these grounds since the 3rd Century. The first Cathedral was constructed here around 1078 AD.

We stopped for a coffee break before heading west. There was a museum I was interested in that was across the Garonne River. But since we were in the area, we decided to stop in at another covered market, the Marché Couvert des Carmes.

A smaller market that wasn't quite as bustling as Marche Victor Hugo.

Marché des Carmes
Place des Carmes
31000 Toulouse, France

We crossed the river on the Pont Neuf.

And found the tiny, Musée de l'Histoire de la Médecine. We had already visited the Musée de l'Histoire de la Médecine in Paris, so we thought it might be fun to check out this one.

Like I mentioned above; the museum is tiny, but there are some interesting exhibits.

The most interesting was the collection of death masks and skin afflictions.

Musée de l'Histoire de la Médecine
2 rue Viguerie Hotel Dieu-St Jacques
31300, Toulouse France

So, of course after viewing all of this, we needed to grab some lunch. So, we headed back to Place du Capitole and the Christmas Market (this was in late November) and grabbed some sandwiches and tartine.

Before heading back to our room to freshen up.

For some reason, we weren't particularly tired and the Missus wanted to check out a chocolate shop so we headed back to Place Victor Hugo. We first stopped at this shop.

Did you know that the flower of Toulouse is the Violet? In fact, Toulouse is known as the "City of Violets". And while it wasn't really the right season; you could still find violet products in some stores.

And the Missus got what She was looking for here. Some tea. We'd end up making "Le Goûter" a routine while spending two weeks in Paris later during this trip.

Cafés J. Bacquié
5 Place Victor Hugo
31000 Toulouse, France

We also stopped by this chocolate shop.

They sold pieces by weight here. The Missus enjoyed the confections here a lot and we'd end up returning to buy a lot before leaving Toulouse. I'll post on it later.

This post is getting rather long; so I think I'll stop here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Takeout From Spicy House

April 27, 2023 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

The weather was fairly warm before we left for Taiwan. During one of my shopping trips to Nijiya, for some reason I was craving Sichuan Liang Mian. So, I decided to give Spicy House another takeout try.

Spicy Houe Rev 01

Ordering was fast an my food was ready when I was done shopping.

The bag felt pretty hefty and when I opened the Sichuan Liang Mian I knew why.

Spicy Houe Rev 06 Spicy Houe Rev 07b My goodness, this was a lot of noodles. I moved the noodles to a large plate, which turned out to be a good idea. Because when I poured the sauce over it there was all this "stuff" on the bottom.

It seems that SH doesn't mix their sauce for takeout orders. They just pour it into the container. The sesame paste, garlic, and ginger was all stuck on the bottom. I needed a spoon to get it on the noodles. Then I mixed it real well.

Spicy Houe Rev 07

Well, the noodles were brittle, the overall flavor seemed watered down.

Spicy Houe Rev 08

Kinda sad overall. I wish we had some good Sichuan here in San Diego.

Spicy House
3860 Convoy Street #105
San Diego, CA 92111

Yiko Yiko Soft Opening – A Quick Look

April 26, 2023 mmm-yoso Bakery, Desserts

The Missus was looking for some dessert (other than pineapple cake) to go with the tea we brought back from Taiwan. So, She thought we could stop by Uncle Tetsu. I mentioned reading that Yiko Yiko had opened while we were in Taiwan and maybe we should check them out. So, we headed on off to Mercury Village Shopping Center to see if they were open.

YikoYiko 01

And indeed they were.

YikoYiko 06

They're in soft opening mode and unlike what I and many other folks thought, it's not a cheesecake purveyor. I read in the Eater post that the owner is from Xi'an and the menu, at least right now is limited to what's on the hand written list.

YikoYiko 03

And on this evening, they were out of several items as well. The Missus wanted the Sea Salt Caramel Cake, but they were out.

As you can see by the "case", there's not much.

YikoYiko 04

And there were even three people still working in the kitchen at this time of the evening.

YikoYiko 05

The Missus chatted with the young lady working in Mandarin and ended up ordering the Mung Bean Cake ($15).

YikoYiko 07

From left to right, red bean, matcha, and white bean flavors.

The Missus enjoyed this and I had a taste….I enjoyed the red bean the best. These aren't sweet confections and go really well with tea. The ingredients are all organic according to the young lady. Not overly eggy or buttery, these have a nice smooth texture. And since I really don't have much of a sweet tooth (you can tell by the lack of dessert posts, right?), these did fine by me. The Missus thought they went well with the tea we got from the shop of a Tea Master in Shiding, Taiwan.

YikoYiko 02

No, this stuff isn't cheap, but according to the Missus the quality is worth the price.

The shop is still in soft opening mode, so availability of items and the hours may vary.

So, if you stop by, let me know what you think.

Yiko Yiko
8008 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Mom’s Pho and Grill

April 25, 2023 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

As I've mentioned many times before, I always appreciate all the tips, notifications, and recommendations I receive from all of you! And I'll say it again, I don't think this blog would still exist if not for all the wonderful comments and emails I get. Way back in October of last year, FOY "Laurie" mentioned that that the old "ABCDE" (American-Born-Chinese-Dining-Establishment) in Tierrasanta Town Center had closed and was going to be replaced by a Vietnamese Restaurant. Laurie was good enough to keep me appraised on the situation in comments of various posts.

Recently, recovering from the crazy adjustment in weather from 85 degree (not the bakery) and humid Taiwan, to chilly 50 degree San Diego had me wanting some noodle soup. It was time to get back out there and get some pho. Now here's the crazy thing. Since the start of the pandemic, the number of times I actually had pho in a restaurant totals……three! Yes, the guy whose done 150+ posts on pho only had three bowls dining in over the course of the last three years. And one of them was in Montpellier, France!

So, it was time to get back on that pho train and since Laurie had told me that Mom's Pho and Grill had opened back in January, I decided that it would be a good place to have my first bowl of pho in over 6 months.

Moms Pho 01

The restaurant opens at 9am; I got there at 930 and was the only customer in the place, which is spacious, clean, though a bit on the dark side in terms of lighting.

Moms Pho 02

The woman working led me to a table and handed me a menu. I quickly noticed the standard accoutrements laid out on the table.

Moms Pho 03

Not wanting to hem and haw over the menu; I just went with Deluxe Mom's Pho without looking at the price ($16.99).

I was in for a bit of shock when the sprouts and basil hit the table.

Moms Pho 04

Is this the standard post-pandemic plate these days? Good lord, perhaps there's bean sprout supply chain issue? While waiting for my bowl to arrive I counted the bean sprouts, all 16 of them. This was even more shocking since I had gotten us Bun Rieu from Phuong Nga the day before and this is what I unpacked at home for our two bowls.

Anyway, my bowl soon arrived with a nice-looking beef rib floating on top.

Moms Pho 05 Moms Pho 06 The broth looked very light, yet cloudy, and had what I call the "San Diego sweet" pho broth flavor. At least it wasn't overly salty, but it also lacked beefiness.

The noodles were in the typical clump in the bottom of the bowl and was on the mushy side.

There was quite the variety of meat in this. It was supposed to have rare steak, but I couldn't find any. The beef that I thought could have been rare steak at one point in recent memory was dry and tough. The brisket and flank were dry and lacked flavor.

Moms Pho 07 Moms Pho 08 There were two strips with nicely done tripe and some very thinly sliced tendon which also wasn't bad. And of course there was that beef rib. The meat on the rib was quite tough and as you can see trying to get it off the bone resulted in the meat peeling off in one large piece. It did have a decent flavor, but was quite chewy. It definitely wasn't like "Dem Bones from Duyen Mai".

As a whole, I think Laurie summed it up well when she said that it was pho ""not to offend" somewhat toned down".

Still, I wanted to try some other items from the menu and happened to find myself in the area again. This was going to be a takeout visit. I really didn't feel like trying any of the Com Tam, stir-fry, or bun dishes. And since it was, ahem, "Fry-day", I decided to order a couple of appetizers to go.

I went with the Cha Gio and decided to try out the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings. Both items did well on the trip home.

Moms Pho 09

The Cha Gio (3 for $5.99) was nicely wrapped and because of the layers more hard than crisp.

Moms Pho 11

The filling was slightly porky in flavor and was highly prosessed so you really couldn't tell what was in there. The nuoc mam cham was overly sweet and needed more fish sauce.

Moms Pho 12

The Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings (8 – $11.99) were actually not bad.

Moms Pho 13

More on the crunchy side, these were perhaps a bit over-fried as the flesh was on the dry side. It wasn't overly salty, and the wok'd garlic-chilies-scallions-onions gave it a nice zip. This won't make me forget any of our favorite versions of Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings, but it was decent.

The gentleman working here is quite nice and friendly; the woman working is quite reserved. Perhaps I'll return when I'm in the area to see how the place is doing.

Mom's Pho & Grill
10645 Tierrasanta Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92124
Current Hours:
Daily 9am – 830pm

And thanks to Laurie for letting me know about this place and getting me to pho-rage for pho again!

Thanks Laurie!

Taipei – The National Palace Museum and Lunch at Dian Shui Lou

April 23, 2023 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Travel, Xiao Long Bao

Our next destination in Taiwan was to be Taichung. Usually, I'd arrange for transportation and time our arrival to close to check in time at our destination. This time though, there was a little problem. Apparently, there a holiday Qingming Jie (清明节 – "Tomb Sweeping Day") which is big deal in Taiwan. Traditionally, during this period families visit the gravesites of their ancestors and clean (thus the "sweeping") the sites and present offerings. This was a Saturday and the start of a 5 day holiday weekend where it seems everyone travels. Well, I had a heck of a time arranging transportation and in the end we'd juggle the HSR (High Speed Rail), TRA (Standard Rail), and Private Car hire to get us to our destinations. There were no HSR nor TRA tickets available during regular hours. I finally managed to get us a high speed rail ticket form Taipei to Taichung that left at 545 pm. And our hotel was nice enough to hold our luggage.

So, this gave us more time to explore Taipei. We really wanted to visit the National Palace Museum. There was one item we really wanted to see, the Jadeite Cabbage, dating from the Qing Dynasty, it is probably the most popular item in the museum. In fact, folks I know from Taiwan have called it the "Mona Lisa" of Taiwan!

Initially, the Missus wanted to walk the 5 1/2 miles to the museum! But I was kinda bushed from the 12 miles plus we'd walked the previous day and taxis were so reasonable in Taiwan, so I talked Her into getting a cab. Which turned out to be fun. The Missus got some good dining tips from our drivers and some input on the place we had lined up for lunch!

We arrived and paid admission, then headed to where the main treasure(s) of the museum are, only to find that the Jadeite Cabbage was on loan! Oh well, at least got to see this.

Can you guess what it is?

It's called the "Meat Shaped Stone" aka the "Dongpo Rou". Sure does look like it, yeah? Here's the version we had in Hangzhou….

Vacation 2010 02 358

Man, do the Taiwanese have a thing about food or what? So, while we missed the "Mona Lisa" of Taiwan, I' dubbed the "Dong Po Rou" the "Venus de Milo of Taiwan"!

All kidding aside, the collection here was amazing.

IMG_6594_02

We were especially impressed with all the jade carvings and vessels. Some were so tiny and of course in keeping with the food theme, see the "eggplant" snuff bottles?

The carvings and designs were so intricate.

There's quite a bit too see here, but we enjoyed the ceramics and jade collection the best.

Of course, in typical fashion, when there's just too much to see, like when visiting the Louvre, we called it after about 3 hours.

I think the next time we visit, we might arrange for a private or small group tour to get the most out of our visit. After all, we gotta see that Jadeite Cabbage right?

It was time to head off to lunch. During our walk the previous day, we passed a location of Dian Shui Lou, a restaurant that specializes in Jiangsu and Zhejiang style dishes and also serves Xiao Long Bao. According to the Missus, the poster outside the restaurant indicated that DSL had beaten DTF for best XLB in Taiwan! So, we decided to head off there for lunch.

In the basement of the museum is info desk and the friendly folks there will call taxis for you. When the woman asked where we were headed, the Missus replied "Dian Shui Lou, Huaining Street." The friendly woman told the Missus that her family often goes there for celebration dinners!

A cab was called for us and we were given the Taxi's number, clearly visible on the vehicle, and instructed where to wait.

Our Taxi Driver this time around was super chatty and was quite enthusiastic about food. In fact, he made a recommendation for Taichung, his daughter lives there, and for a place we'd visit later in the trip. He said he preferred DTF over DSL though.

The restaurant wasn't very busy when we arrived, though it filled up quickly thereafter. I believe folks with reservations were guided upstairs. The decor is quite upscale.

Of course, after seeing "Venus de Milo" we had to order the Dong Po Rou.

The fat on this was quite velvety, but the meat kind of dry. The flavor was a lot milder, lacking in the sweet-soy, ginger, and slightly pungent tones I'd used to in this dish. It also had a bit too much of a greasy mouthfeel for us as well.

We also ordered the Crab Meat Rice with Egg Yolk.

Lovely looking dish, but the rice seemed to have the texture close to congee which we didn't care for. Not much "crabiness" to this as well. The egg yolk added a touch of velvetiness.

We also ordered the combination Xiao Long Bao. Which in retrospect might have been a mistake.

It's because our favorite was the traditional pork version. First off, the wrappers were too doughy for us, second, some of the dumplings, especially the versions with basil and the shrimp and gourd were really bland. Of course, there was the "19 folds make it better thing"……but as far as we're concerned, you can have 30 folds….if there's a lack of flavor and "soup" and the texture is not to your liking it doesn't really matter, does it? I could go on in detail about each flavor, i.e. the shrimp and gourd didn't have enough "soup" and was really bland, etc……but I won't. I'll only say this wasn't as bad as what we've had here in San Diego. Still, we weren't particularly impressed.

Our favorite dish of the meal was the Bittermelon with Salted Egg.

Nice puckery-astringent taste with the savory-salty flavor of preserved egg. This was quite interesting and satisfying.

We also ordered the Chou Doufu here.

But while being nicely fried; crisp exterior, creamy interior, this was not especially savory and funky.

As a whole this meal was our biggest disappointment of the trip. Still, in terms of damage, at least from the US point of view; at $60 this wasn't too bad.

Dian Shui Lou (Huaning)
No.64 Huaining St
Zhongzheng District, Taipei 100 Taiwan

And we got to see what I call the "Venus de Milo" of Taiwan…..

Taipei – 2/28 Peace Memorial Park and Ningxia Night Market

April 22, 2023 mmm-yoso Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Travel

After lunch at Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles we decided to slowly make our way back to the hotel for a break before heading out in the evening.

But first, we would stop at one of the hundred of tea/boba shops for some light refreshment.

We ended up making 2-4 "tea stops" everyday….these places are so inexpensive….our drinks would usually be 30-35NT$ – think $1 -$1.15! We stopped at so may places that I just couldn't keep up with documenting them.

We made several stops on the way back.

This one is the Taiwan Provincial City God Temple.

This temple is dedicated to the "City God", Chénghuángshén (城隍神).

This was quite a busy and colorful temple. This page has more info if you're interested.

There was one last stop for us. A few blocks away was a large and pleasant park, where the National Museum resides. On this day, there was a group of students looking to take what seemed to be school yearbook photos?

The park was lush, green, and quite pleasant, especially with temps hitting the 80's with the equivalent humidity.

It was fun watching folks enjoying their lunches; or in the case of this pooch trying to get a squirrel to play with it.

This park was established in 1908 by the Japanese; the first European style park in Taiwan. It was then renamed Taipei New Park when the KMT took over. The current name is in recognition of what is called the 2-28 Incident. Which is detailed on this sign (click to enlarge)

Event which led to Taiwan being under Martial Law for 38 years.

Hard to imagine all of this taking place in such a peaceful green area.

We got back to our room and took a nice nap in airconditioned luxury.

For dinner, well, we thought it would be a nice night to finally go to a night market. After doing a good amount of research, we decided on Ningxia Night Market. I know many folks recommend Shilin Night Market, but after doing some reading, it seemed that night market has many more tourists. We'd have our choice validated by several cab drivers during our stay. The best quote was "Shilin is the place where tourist and young people go to spend money on things they don't need. Ningxia has better food and less crowds."

We decided to walk the mile and half to and from the market.

When we arrived, except for a couple of stands, things weren't too busy. Things would start picking up a few minutes later.

Ningxia Market stretches along a single street, lining both sides of the avenue. There are also restaurants on the street as well with any choices.

We decided to walk the length of the market before making our choices.

My first choice was a Scallion Pancake with Salted Egg Yolk.

This was crisp, fairly light, the eggy flavor coming thru quite distinctly.

Of course, once the Missus saw…well, more liked smelled the "fragrances" from this booth Her mind was made up.

The chou doufu was still being fried up, so we were guided to the table behind the booth.

Soon enough, the Missus's stinky tofu was delivered. Man, the smell was quite potent, though nothing like what we had in China.

And in terms of chou doufu, this was "all bark and no bite". It was crisp and smelled the part, but was very mild in flavor. I guess the Missus's rule for me still goes "if you can eat it; it isn't stinky enough!"

As we walked back down the street we saw this stand.

These looked good so we ordered some. After ordering, the mushrooms were refried to heat and crisp up.

Crisp and earthy enoki and two types of oyster mushrooms.

We'd enjoyed the vibe at the Ningxi Night Market, though I think the Missus had gotten Her share of fried food and really wouldn't order much for the rest of the trip!

We also enjoyed the walk back which took us thru some other neighborhoods in the Datong where places seemed open a lot later than where we were staying. There seems to be more younger people and boutiques and other shops the Missus enjoyed.

I was kind of bushed when we got back to the hotel. I guess I was a bit our of shape and not used to putting in the mileage like we do in, say Paris?

Obviously, I slept well.

Thanks for stopping by!

HitH – Bay Hill Tavern

April 19, 2023 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

Strangely, before setting out to do these H(anging) i(n) t(he) 'H(ood) posts, I hadn't actually dined in at Bay Hill Tavern. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it always seemed that the place was super busy, though I did purchase beer to go and then did takeout during the pandemic. But, even though BHT is but three blocks from our house, I never felt the need to visit…until I started this series of neighborhood posts.

HITH BHT 01

BHT does get pretty busy, especially on weekends. The Missus and I decided to pay a visit on a Tuesday night and got some seats at the window. I hadn't been too impressed with the food on my takeout visits and we decided to not order those items. Service was very friendly and even though the place was soon packed, the folks working were very nice.

We ordered two items, starting with the Short Rib Tacos.

HITH BHT 03 HITH BHT 04 This was fine, the beef tender if a bit on the salty side. The guacamole is the "MVP" here as it helps to temper and balance the flavors. The tortillas are standard issue, brittle, and not especially strong in terms of maize flavor. This is a very hipster type of item. The salsa verde has decent heat and acidity.

We also got the "Dirty Fries", the Missus actually enjoyed the beer cheese, which had some nice savory-milky tones, without being overly sharp in flavor.

HITH BHT 05

The bacon added a nice dose of salt and the sour cream actually added a bit of milky-acidity to the dish. This is best eaten with some haste as the fries tend to get limp fairly quickly.

I will often try to make multiple visits before doing a posts. And for a place in my 'hood, well, there's no reason why I shouldn't. On my next visit, which was done solo, I sat at the bar. The folks working the bar, Jennelli, Sam, and Jules were so friendly and welcoming. It seems that this is where the "regulars" sit. What's great is that they also are willing to make suggestions for various dishes with customizations. Like this version of Dirty Fries…..I was told to try it out with a fried egg on it.

HITH BHT 05b

With less sour cream, the gooey egg really added to the dish. Loved the fact that the staff volunteered customizations.

A few weeks later I noticed Roasted Mushroom Tacos on the menu, so I ordered that.

HITH BHT 09

These were pretty good. The earthy, nicely seasoned roasted mushrooms, the pickled onions added a nice sour-pungent flavor, the flavor of the tortillas, while still not quite up to the task in terms of texture did well with the mushrooms, the arugula added some nice peppery-bitter tones. The only thing I didn't care for was the goat cheese, I thought the milky-sour flavor detracted from the overall dish.

On my next visit, sitting at the bar, I mentioned this and was told "lets just order it without the goat cheese."

HITH BHT 10

I was also encouraged to order it with different salsas on the side. Along with the salsa verde, it was suggested to try the habanero salsa as well. Truth be told, these tacos, in my opinion were flavorful enough without the salsas.

While the food was nothing exceptional, I really enjoyed the folks working here. They were really warm and welcoming. In fact, I felt more comfortable and welcomed here than at Fast Times. So maybe, after all these years, I've actually found a place for "pau hana time" in my 'hood.

Bay Hill Tavern
3010 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours:
Sun – Thurs 11am – 9pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 10pm

Taipei – Exploring Wanhua and Lunch at Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles

April 18, 2023 mmm-yoso Niu Rou Mian, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Travel

We decided to spend our first morning in Taipei exploring the historic Wanhua District, which includes the Ximending Pedestrian area.

We walked past Taipei Main Station, then took a left at the North Gate (Cheng'en Gate).

One of five city gates in the city, it is the only one of the gates that still maintains its Qing-era appearance.

As we walked down Yanping Road we quickly noticed that many shops, including coffee houses don't open until at least 11am in the area. It was interesting to see folks doing prep and cleaning work along the way.

We then headed to the Ximending area, called the Ximending Youth Shopping District, and often described as the Harajuku of Taipei. There's some interesting funkiness and fashion in the area. We passed an street that was totally given to tattoo and body piercing shops.

Though it wasn't very crowded; we believed that 9am was too early for the young and hip to be about; especially on a weekday (this was a Friday). Though we did see quite a few "influencers" along the way.

They were easy to identify; Taiwan seemed quite casual in dress and these folks dressed up quite a bit. They also seemed to have a small entourage with them and acted like they "owned" whatever area they were in. It really seemed that it was "all about them". We'd try to avoid them at all costs during our trip.

We decided to head on over to Longshan Temple and passed quite a few red brick buildings. These are said to be Qing-era structures.

We saw a sign that said "Bopilao Historical Block", so we decided to follow the sign, which lead us to a street lined with red brick and wooden buildings that have obviously been restored.

This is Bopilao Historical Block.

You can read more about it here.

We enjoyed checking out these historical buildings. The street was amazingly quiet.

Most of the buildings were closed, but we found one that was open and had some interesting history and photos of businesses that used to occupy the street.

The quiet was soon interrupted by the sound of chatter outside the building. We found Taiwan to be pretty quiet, at least in terms of folks talking. It was definitely more like Japan/France than China on that note.

Well, guess what? A group of influencers and their entourage had taken over the street.

There were actually eight of them in total. It was time to head on out.

Longshan Temple was only about a block away.

We hadn't really read up on religion in Taiwan and were surprised to see how religious people were here!

There's an interesting combination of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism called Chinese Folk Religion that is the most practiced in Taiwan.

The most popular hall seemed to be for the deity of Love and Marriage.

There's a park across from the temple, but it seemed occupied by homeless folk, which seemed, at least to us, quite a rarity in the city. I later found out that the area near here used to be the "red light district" of the city.

From here, we decided to head to our lunch destination. It was still a bit early so we stopped at a couple of other temples along the way.

This is Qingshan Temple.

Qingshui Temple. You can read about the "Nose Dropping Divine Progenitor".

Our last stop before lunch was at a square with this red brick building.

This is Nishi Honganji Square, once the site of the largest Japanese Buddhist Temple in Taiwan. A fire in 1975 destroyed the temple, leaving the Shuxin Hall and the Bell Tower.

We had decided to get some Niu Rou Mian for lunch. I looked at my "list" of places close by and we chose one. Of course finding it; even with Google Maps was interesting. By now, the Missus came to realize that folks in Taiwan were quite helpful and She asked a gentleman at one of the businesses close to where Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles was located. He quickly pointed into the doorway of the large building we were standing at and told the Missus it was downstairs in the basement. Apparently, the Wan Nian Building is a popular shopping mall and in the basement is a maze of eating establishments. We just did a circle until we found our destination.

Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles.

It was just about 1045, the place opens at 1030 and there was just one other party in the place when we arrived.

A table was pointed out and we sat. From our dinner the previous night, we knew to check off what we wanted from the ordering pad. Another wrinkle here was that there were side dishes in the fridge; you just head on over and pick out what you want.

This is what we chose.

Each one of these dishes is 40 NT$ ($1.30/US).

Man, this stuff was so good.

The cabbage was crunchy, yet nicely sour. We had quickly noticed that what we were eating here in Taiwan wasn't overly salty and this meal was no exception!

The Jellied Pork had a nice crunch and toothsomeness.

The young man whisked away the tofu and pidan and soon returned it to the table with a thick soy sauce drizzled on it.

Loved the beany tofu, the soy sauce had a nice umami, with a light sweetness. The Missus loved the pidan.

Based on the previous night's dinner, we also ordered some jiaozi, this time the pork and chive version.

My goodness! This was one of the best versions we've ever had. The wrappers were so tender, with a perfect "chew" to them. The filling had a nice, balanced pungent porkiness to it and was so tender and juicy. This resets the bar for what we now expect in restaurants.

And then it was the Niu Rou Mian.

So, first the good. The knife cut noodles are probably some of the best I've had, al dente, but tender, a wonderful texture. I now have a reference point for what the Taiwanese call "QQ". The beef is wonderfully tender and deeply flavored. Were this fell short for us was the broth. While it wasn't overly salty and the richness and tongue feel was excellent, it was kind of weak in the beefiness.

And since this place is a Michelin Bib Gourmet restaurant, we expected more.

Still, we loved the jiaozi and side dishes and the price for our lunch came out at 430 NT$, think $14/US…… Geez, it's really hard to complain, right?

Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles (in the Wan Nian Building)
108 Xining Rd.
Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan

COMC – EE Nami and De Cabeza El Unico

April 16, 2023 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Mexican Restaurants

Not sure if it's old age or what; but jet lag is kicking my butt. So, I thought I'd just do a quick Clearing Out the Memory Card post for tonight while I clear out the cobwebs.

Lunch at EE Nami:

Our dinners at EE Nami had the Missus wondering how lunch was. So before leaving for Taiwan we made a lunchtime visit.

EE Nami Lunch 02

The Katsu Combo was good, the Missus loved the scallops.

The Missus really wanted to try the Katsu Sando. Man, the portion size was quite large.

EE Nami Lunch 01

The katsu seemed a bit dried out and the shokupan….the Japanese bread lacked the mild sweetness and was on the dry side.

I think we'll stick with dinner from here for now.

EE Nami
4706 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Takeout from De Cabeza el Unico:

Temps in Taiwan were in the high 70's to mid-80's with humidity over 80 for most of our trip. So, returning to the current weather in San Diego was a bit of a shock. The Missus was freezing and wanted something rich and comforting. Takeout form De Cabeza was an easy choice.

COMC De Cabeza 01

Since this was the weekend I got there right at 8am to avoid the weekend crowd.

Of course we got the Cabeza en su Jugo.

COMC De Cabeza 02

While the tortillas were on the hard side this time around; Jesus wasn't there so perhaps the QC was falling short a bit.

Still, that rich and beefy soup did hit the spot.

COMC De Cabeza 03

De Cabeza/El Único
1043 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Thanks for dropping by. I'll be back tomorrow with a new post!