This is a pretty long post, so I'm going to try to keep the verbiage to a minimum.
After our late lunch at Taichung Rou Yuan we took the short walk back to our hotel and took a break. For dinner, we decided to visit another night market. We didn't feel like getting a cab to Fengxia Night Market, which is said to be the largest in Taiwan. Instead, we decided to take the 20-30 minute walk to the Yizhong Street Night Market instead.
Along the way we strolled thru Taichung Park, which has a large man-made lake.
Folks in Taiwan really know how to relax and seem to be very social.
As we crossed Jingwu Road onto Yizhong Street, things didn't look too busy.
But one block further down….well, man it was super packed.
It was just overwhelming to say the least.
Some of the lines were crazy. We walked from one end of the road to the other end. Not only were the stands busy, but the shops that line the street with everything from food, to cosmetics, gifts, clothes, and knickknacks were as well. As we hit the far end of the street, things calmed down a bit, the crowd seemed a bit older and there was even some seating…..
From here we took a quick loop around the stands again and found our places.
This booth made Rou Jia Mo, which looked good. It wasn't the typical Shaanxi style rou jia mo like we had in Xi'an, but featured and light and almost flaky bread, not like the typical "baijimo" (flatbread). This was very tasty.
This booth was selling XLB like dumplings.
Which were being made on the spot.
You placed your order, was given a number. When your order was ready it was called out.
These were pretty darn good…so porky!
Because we'd had a huge breakfast and a late lunch; this was enough for us. Plus, even though this was a bit of fun; the crowds were getting to us.
We took a quieter, roundabout way back to where our hotel was located.
On the way back, we decided to drop by Miyahara again.
As I mentioned in that earlier post; Miyahara is owned by Dawncake whose main store we visited earlier. This place has all kinds of "stuffs" that you never knew you needed.
While this fanciful, "Harry Potterish" shop used to be an ophthalmology clinic, it's now known for all their stuffs and the ice cream served here is super popular. We loved this "punny" sign.
After all the walking we'd done, we slept quite soundly.
The next morning we woke refreshed.
And availed ourselves of the nice and huge buffet breakfast.
The variety was impressive.
Our train to Chiayi was not leaving until 120pm, so we packed and stored our luggage at the front desk and headed out to do some additional Pineapple Cake shopping for my MIL. On Ziyou Road we found several shops selling pineapple cake, after having tastes, two of them past muster and we bought some.
I thought that the Pineapple Cake from this shop was the best I tasted during our entire trip.
Of course, I don't have much of a sweet tooth, and I've had my fill of Pineapple Cake so don't even ask me to taste any……
We saw a location of Ten Ren Tea and having visited the SF location many times were curious. We walked in and were greeted by the sweetest woman.
The Missus loved one of the Oolong Tea's and was told it's a limited crop and is only sold in this area and is not exported so the Missus got it.
While chatting with the woman, the Missus was constantly cracking up. Later She told me that the woman was dissing other tea producers, but doing it in the most "sweetest" way that She couldn't help but crack up!
We did a bit more exploring.
And took our required tea break.
And even headed back to Miyahara…..
Before heading back to the hotel, picking up our bags and making the short Taichung Station. We weren't catching the HSR, so we could leave from the station in the city.
The original Taichung Station has become a historical park and the structure along with the very modern station next to it makes quite the juxtaposition of buildings.
The old rails have been converted to sitting and dining areas….
And of course, there was yet another craft market going on!
Of course we had a train to catch and did not have much time to dally, so my wallet was left unscathed!
And soon enough we were off to our next stop! Chiayi!
Thanks for stopping by!
The the outrageous price of NT$45….yes, I'm kidding, this equates to about $1.45/US we got a bowl with a large dumpling which was fried before entering the thick miasma of a sauce. The wrapper had a pleasant, somewhat glutinous chewiness. The sauce was thick, quite savory, with a hint of sweetness. The meatball was very tasty, though a bit on the tough and chewy side. The combination of flavors was excellent. And this was pretty filling.
I enjoyed sitting right outside the shop. The view of the plantation style houses reminded me of our trips to Honolua "small kid time" to see my grandparents.
We had enjoyed the fact that everything from the pasture raised beef, to the brioche buns, to the mushrooms in the mushroom burger is local. The Missus had really enjoyed the mushroom burger the last time and of course, this being Parker Ranch territory, I needed to have that Big Island Beef Burger.
This was cooked a bit past that, but the burger was so beefy! I requested just a touch of mustard, which combined with the wonderfully sweet and acidic tomato really helped to balance out the beefiness. The beef was a bit toothsome; but that's the deal with pasture raised beef made from cuts like chuck and brisket.
The coconut crust was a bit too sweet for us. There were also spots where the coconut was burnt, adding a rather unpleasant bitterness to the dish.
The Missus loved Her coffee and wanted to buy a bag. So, we went in and took a look around and could not find the coffee. So we asked Brian who told us he had two bags left behind the counter. He sold us one. It was $95! The Missus just absolutely loved this coffee.
We were interested to see what effect the "time of Covid" had on Suisan and it was soon evident. Gone are the tables out front. You wait in line in front of the shop, there's a limit to the amount of folks they let into a shop at any one time.
We came across what looked like a hotel….it turned out to be the Splendor Hotel, with a bunch of vendors selling all sorts of plants and crafts. The Missus read one of the signs and noticed that the building is called "Park Lane" and on the third floor was something called "Taichung Sixth Market". Since it was still early and Dawncake didn't open until 10 we decided to check the place out.
The Missus really loved the yamaimo and the meat was buttery, beefy, and so tender.
