Odd, unusual, or just different, the country’s cuisine is perfectly capable of delighting and surprising in equal measure. Photos courtesy of Chopstick Travel Visitors to Taiwan may well have experienced locals gleefully offering them unaccustomed foods, in order to impress and perhaps enjoy a good-natured joke at the guests’ expense. For example, stinky tofu is…
From smashed avocados to beetroot lattes, the city’s restaurants and cafes are catching on to the latest international eating trends. There’s something wonderfully devilish about an otherwise health-oriented brunch place that also serves a wide range of alcoholic beverages. After all, a piña colada is the perfect accompaniment to a plate of poached eggs. The…
I love the sounds of the Feng Cheng restaurant, one of my favorite places to eat in Taipei. I try to sit by the kitchen door, so I can hear the stove, roaring as loud as a blast furnace smelting iron. There’s a crackle and sizzle as the cook tosses something – maybe shrimp –…
You wouldn’t be alone if the first things you think of at the mention of Wyoming are big swaths of farming and ranch land and beautiful natural scenery. After all, the western U.S. state is known far and wide for its superior-quality agricultural products, especially its premium-grade beef. But it may surprise you to know…
Meal delivery is changing rapidly and growing exponentially due to the online-to-offline revolution, which offers easy online ordering, customized offerings and speed. Thinking Curry (微想咖喱) operates out of a back alley on Wuxing Road, not far from Taipei 101. Providing the option of three curry flavors – Indian, European, or Japanese – it was so…
By Steven Crook and Katy Hui-Wen Hung “My father was born in 1926 in Tamsui. My mother was born in 1930 in Tokyo, where my grandfather (who was from Banqiao; my maternal grandmother was from Tainan) worked as a financial advisor until 1946. During the war, both of my parents ate hiromaru lunchboxes, with the…
Once in a while, try something out of the ordinary, or even downright bizarre. Taiwan has so many excellent restaurants – at all levels of the price scale – that it’s really hard for a diner to go wrong. But where to go when you tire of the conventional choices and you’re in the mood…
By Steven Crook and Katy Hui-Wen Hung “My grandmother cringed at the very mention of sweet potatoes. She was born and raised in Tainan, and when she was growing up, sweet potatoes were all her family could afford to eat. In later life, the thought of eating sweet potato in any form repulsed her. Even…
Authentic Thai cuisine is no longer hard to find in Taipei thanks to changing tastes and more outbound tourism. The Taiwanese have always been ambivalent about spicy food. Some Taiwanese revel in the explosive effects of chili peppers on the palate (consider the popularity of spicy hot pot here), but just as many balk at…
Katy Hui-wen Hung and Steven Crook discuss their newly published book. Katy Hui-wen Hung: I grew up in Taipei, studied in the U.S. from 1984 to 1986, and have lived in the UK since the late 1980s. Some years ago in the UK, I got to know Marlena Spieler, the acclaimed cookbook writer. Marlena, an…
