Celebrating birthday at Chamonix teppanyaki restaurant, Taipei

A very unique dining experience in Taipei

Few days ago my lady invited me to a restaurant to celebrate my birthday. She didn't tell me where we will be going and I also didn't want to know. When it comes to surprises, she's very creative. Last year she brought me to dine on top of Taipei 101 and I knew that this year she'll come up with something similarly awesome. And I was very right about that: We went to a teppanyaki restaurant in Songshan, Taipei's eastern district. The restaurant is called Chamonix 夏慕尼 and serves Western food prepared in front of you on a hot plate, which is called teppanyaki (鐵板燒) and was invented by the Japanese after the II World War (source). It was my first time to such a restaurant. I've seen some of them on my several trips around Asia, but I never had the chance to try the food and see "the show", which is part of the experience. I want to introduce the restaurant to you, because I really loved it and I'm sure many of you would love it, too. I hope this post will be useful to those, who look for a good teppanyaki restaurant in Taipei.

This is how things went: My lady has reserved a table for us at 17.30 and we had to rush to get there (the trains were crowded). Once we reached the right station, we took a cab, that brought us to Guangfu Road, where the restaurant is located. This is what we saw:

The restaurant on the other side of the road.

This is the establishment, that took its name from a popular French winter sport resort.

Once we went inside, my girlfriend confirmed the booking and we were sent up to the first floor to our seat. Generally around 10 people sit at the iron plate. At the beginning, you're given drinks (water, champagne) and the menu, which is in Chinese and English. The price of dinner is always same: We paid 980 NTD per person (around 23 Eur or 33 USD in March 2011) and that included drinks, which were constantly refilled, and following courses: amuse-bouche, three appetizers (breads and butter, a soup, a salad), entreé, main course, side dish, dessert and another drink. I have to say that I was very very full and completely satisfied with the service (the waitress spoke English to me) and the food, which was truly delicious.

Images from the restaurant. If you want to read the menu in Chinese click here.

Our chef was very skilled and friendly, even spoke some English to me. He would sometimes explain what he's doing and also give us tips how to eat. I liked that a lot.

See a video of how he prepares a steak and cuts it in small pieces.

1st course - Amuse-bouche: Very yummy. They told us to eat from right to left.

2nd course - first appetizer: Breads with butter. Very tasty as well.

3rd course - second appetizer: Soup. My lady's soup on the left, mine on the right. I had thick mushroom soup, which was excellent. Hers was very tasty, too.

4th course - salad: My lady chose a fruit salad. Good choice.

I chose the Mediterranean salad and it was one of the highlights of my dinner. I really recommend you this one. The sauce is to die for and the meat is really tender. I loved it.

The chef was working hard for all 10 of us. Admirable.

5th course - entreé: Fried chicken and fried fish. It wasn't bad, but not really something that would make my taste buds explode. Next time I rather try something else.

6th course - main dish: American styled beef steak, medium rare. It was so soft and juicy, it was truly a divine experience and together with the salad another highlight of the whole dinner.

7th course - side dish: We got a small bowl of rice after we finished the steak and I was already so full, I could hardly eat it. The taste was good, but I could've as well skipped it.

See a video of duck flambé, it was the first time I've seen it from so close.

After we finished all the yummy foods at the hot plate, we were asked to move to another part, which looked like a small café. Like anybody else, we had our deserts and drinks there.

This is the separate part, where people eat desserts.

8th course - dessert: I had ice cream and coffee, my lady had a delicious cheese cake.

And then came a part I have not anticipated: Two waitresses brought me a small cake, lit a candle and started to sing happy birthday to me. I was really shy, because all other guests were starting to look at our table (and my blushed face). It was a very sweet gesture and a moment I will not forget. I'd like to thank my girlfriend for bringing me to this lovely restaurant.

My birthday cake.

Funny story: Right after my birthday song was finished another interracial couple (Taiwanese girl + White guy) sat down behind us. The girl wanted to give him the same surprise, but he must have seen me and how everybody looked at me and politely declined the song. At that point I realized that it's very common for Taiwanese girls to bring boyfriends to this restaurant. Maybe they should rename it "Happy Birthday Restaurant", but then it wouldn't be so interesting.

Chamonix is definitely worth a visit, I highly recommend it to everyone. My tip: Be very hungry, before you go there, because the food is really abundant. Best is, if you reserve a table before you come (most people do so). Not sure, if they speak English, but you can try. In case they don't, ask a Taiwanese friend to reserve it for you. You can also go directly to the restaurant without reservation and wait there, but that might not be such a good idea, because I think they're always well booked.

How to find the restaurant?

View Larger Map

The easiest way to go to Chamonix is to take the MRT Train and exit at Nanjing East Road Station and then take a cab to the restaurant (you'll need 5 minutes). You can walk, too, but it may take a while (15-20 min). If you chose so, walk eastwards along the wide Nanjing East Road (南京東路). The first interesting building you'll see is the Taipei Arena, a large multi-purpose stadium. When you pass by that building, you're halfway through. The restaurant is located near the intersection of the Nanjing East Road and smaller Guangfu Road (光復路). Once you arrive there, turn right into the Guangfu road, the restaurant is on the left side (viewing from north to south). Check my photo above to see how it looks like from outside.

[My FOOD IN TAIPEI page][My TAIPEI page][All photos and videos by MKL, 2011]

Related: [A Taiwanese girl's experience in Chamonix, 2010]

My blog is 3 years old today

Please hold down Ctrl when clicking on a link, it will open in new tab

MKL gathering material for a blog post, @Miramar, 3/2011.

Exactly 3 years ago I wrote this post and I had no idea where my blogging journey will bring me. I just started a simple blogspot blog and ranted about my daily life few times a month. It took me over a year to start updating regularly and almost a year and a half to get a group of loyal readers and commentators. I decided to expand my blog by adding another one for informative articles and another one for bigger photos, yet gave them the same design and name, so that all three blogs feel like one. Then came an increase of haters, recognition, awards, criticism and more criticism, which surprised me a lot and made me look like a very important person. But those who follow me for a long time, know that I don't feel that way. I still feel I'm running simple blogspot blogs, sharing my passions for Slovenia, Taiwan, Taipei, traveling, photography and many other things. Of course I enjoy getting more traffic and more comments, but that's all that is. I'm not making any real money (only few bucks with Ad Sense, which I plan to remove soon), I don't write advertorials, I'm not associated with any organization, everything I recommend, from food to interesting places to visit, is purely because I believe that others may enjoy these things as well. And I'm planning to continue this way, but I think I may update less, because I will be very busy in the near future. If you want to read some of my best or most popular posts, go to my best of page.

My plans for the near future:

• I want to be one of the best resources on traveling to Taipei (and Taiwan). Once I finish visiting all the famous parts of the city, I will write detailed guides for travelers and link to my posts.
  
  
• I want to be the best resource on night markets in Taipei and Taiwan. I have blogged in great detail about 20 night markets so far and I hope I will manage to introduce over 50 by the end of the year. What I try to do is be systematic and thorough, something that many websites and blogs lack.
  
  
• I will continue blogging about the places I visit in Taiwan or elsewhere and share them with you. Expect a big series of posts on Tainan, Hualien, Penghu and Kinmen in the future.
  
  
• I'll post a lot of Chinese vocabulary, because I'm currently learning to write and read Chinese. I think it will be useful to those who are also learning Chinese, so stay tuned.
  
  
• I will make few changes on the layout, but only minor ones, because I'm generally happy with the way it is.

Thanks again to those who still stick around and read my blog(s) and comment (or don't comment). The main blog is here and will remain here. If you're a big fan of me, you can subscribe to my 2nd and 3rd blog as well. They will however be a lot about Taiwan and may not be updated regularly in the future. If you feel like getting updates of all my 3 blogs on one platform, please follow me on my recently established Facebook page. We're a small community, but steadily growing.

Happy birthday to my blog.

To those, who like statistics: As of today, I have written over 1000 posts, made over 50 pages and received nearly 10.000 comments. I have 233 subscribers in Google Reader, between 700-1000 daily visitors. All together in the past 3 years I have almost 300.000 unique visitors and nearly 700.000 page views and the trend is constantly on the up (stats count all 3 blogs together).

Tienyuen Temple 天元宮, Danshui

Taking photos of cherry blossoms

This weekend my girlfriend brought me to a very interesting place. We went to the Tienyuen Temple (天元宮) near Danshui. The weather was not so good, we had gray sky and it looked like it will rain at any time, so at first I wasn't very enthusiastic to go with her. She actually didn't tell me, that we'll gonna see an impressive temple, she only said we're going to see cherry blossoms. Yes, Taiwanese love to see cherry blossoms and take a lot of photos. I like to see them, too, but I prefer good weather. But then I remembered how beautiful they were last year in Seoul's Yeouido and that motivated me to eventually follow my girlfriend.

We took the MRT to Danshui and then a bus to an area nearby (took us around 20 min).

Click here for a bigger map

The ride with the bus was a real adventure. Going to the temple was fine, because we had seats. Going back was something else, because we had to stand and the bus was full.

Can you spot a foreigner?

After 20 minutes we finally came to the famous temple, that attracts a lot of visitors in March, when the cherry blossom season is at its peak. The temple belongs to a very young religious group (formed in the 20th century in China). The belief is called I-Kuan Tao (一貫道, lit. the consistent path) and is quite popular in Taiwan. The followers are known to be vegetarians. If you want to learn more, read about the religion here. According to local sources, the Tienyuen Temple's origins date back to the 1970s, but more parts were added in the 1980s. The most famous building, the 5 storey round tower, was build in 1992. It was in recent years, that young Taiwanese like to come here in huge masses every spring to take photos of the cherry blossoms (sakura). For me personally, the temple is more fascinating and I hope I can return on a brighter day and with less people to take more photos and enjoy the view.

Here are some impressions from March, 2011:

A statue above the fountain in front of a big paifang, that marks the entrance.

Food vendors on the left, masses of people on the right. The cherries are up there.

This is the famous round shaped tower in old Chinese style. Nearby are the cherries.

The building is really impressive, it resembles the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

The never ending masses of Taiwanese sakura fans. Impressive as well.

The Tienyuen temple as seen from the tower.

A detail of the round tower.

The inside part. We went up to the first floor to enjoy the view.

The view was great, but if the sky is blue, it must be much much better.

My girlfriend took a lot of photos of the cherry blossoms. Good job!

The cherry blossoms and the round tower.

Taiwanese taking tons of photos at the same time.

Because only few cherries were in bloom, huge crowds gathered around them, consisting mostly of young people, usually couples. The girl would pose and make cute faces, while the boyfie would take photos of her. It was very adorable. Now I know that young Taiwanese have another passion: Cherry blossoms. It was really a fun experience. If you want to visit, you need to hurry up, the cherries won't blossom too long anymore, maybe for a week only. We took the bus 801 opposite of the Danshui MRT Station (here) and paid 23 NTD one way per person (46 all together is a little more than 1 euro). There are also free shuttle buses provided.

If you want to see better photos of the sakura and the temple, check these Taiwanese blogs:

• 淡水天元宮賞櫻花 by yoke0918
• 淡水天元宮櫻花 by Nick Lee
• 天元宮 photos on Pse100i.idv.tw
  

[My DANSHUI overview][All photos by MKL, 2010]

Japan Quake 2011: The things I've learned

Some things, that have popped into my head these days

In the last 4 days my blog had over 6000 visits, because I was updating on the situation in Taiwan and Taipei right after the horrific earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11. Even in this very moment people are still googling things like "Is it safe to go to Taiwan", "Has Taiwan been affected by the tsunami" or "Will Taiwan be hit by the tsunami" and coming to my blog. All this makes me think about life and people, be it the ones close to me or the ones I've read and hear about in the media. Here are some things I've learned or realized these days and I would like to share them with you.

1 Reporting on Taiwan in English sucked

Check some of the comments I received on my previous post:

"I stumbled across your blog while looking for news on Taiwan. Thanks so much for the update (it's the best I've seen yet)!" by Bunny

"Thank you for the updates, you're currently the best source on the web." by Tim Poultney

"Thank you. Sitting half a world away wondering about my wifes family. Google search for tsunami taiwan 2011 gave me your site, and your news was the only I could find, better than CNN and BBC afas the situation for Tawian." By Anonymous

I was lucky to be at home, when the quake hit Japan. I felt I need to report the things I saw here in Taipei, share my view from Taiwan, especially after CNN announced that the tsunami might hit us as well. Those two hours were very nerve-racking and even though I knew Taipei will be safe, I was really worried for the good people in Keelung, Ilan, Hualien and Taitong. Interestingly, it seemed that nobody was really prepared for a huge tsunami here, life continued pretty normally even after these things were reported and warnings were issued. It was a surreal feeling, as if people knew that nothing will happen. Luckily, they were right, but I'm still wondering, why people seemed to be so indifferent. Who knows, maybe my perception was wrong, but that's how I saw everything. It is sad, that I was one of the best sources in English about what's exactly going on here. Don't news networks know that people are hungry for news? Some were planning to fly to Taiwan these days, some had friends and family here and of course they were worried.

2 People don't really know a lot about Taiwan

Those foreigners, who are here, are experts on Taiwan. We know every spot, every city, we know how close we are to China and how far from Japan. But generally, people don't know a lot about this country. That also includes my mum. She knows where I am, she knows it's in East Asia, close to China, Japan, Korea... but that's all. Most people just can't imagine how Taiwan really is. Even, if you see tons of photos and videos, it's still not enough. You need to come here and then you'll realize how wrong your idea of Taiwan was before you came. I know that happened to me and I am well traveled, always interested in geography and I see myself as fairly well educated. But Taiwan was something else for me, when I first set foot on the island: The smells, the noise, the scooters, the people, the languages, the architecture, the food... so many new things for me and of course most of them were a pleasant surprise. Some of them were challenges, but I overcame them very quickly.

3 New things to worry about

Being in Taiwan not always easy, especially when you think of of the tricky political situation and China's missiles pointed at us. I'm still not used to this, partly because I've nearly missed a real war in 1991. Although we were lucky back then, I won't ever forget the fear I had felt when the conflict was unfolding. And now in addition to the fear of war, the recent events in Japan added a fear of a big natural disaster happening here as well. We have nuclear power plants and a high population density and that's something that does make me feel a little uneasy. I really really hope that Taiwan will not experience anything comparable to the quake and tsunami in Japan, but that's all I can hope for, I have to say I feel a little helpless in all this. I don't like remarks of the sort "nature is angry". Nature has always been this way, these quakes are normal. They just happen in heavily populated areas and do a lot of damage to the people, that's why we feel very shocked and saddened. Had a quake of the same magnitude happened in Antarctica, how many of us would really have these apocalyptic feelings right now?

4 Disasters bring out the best and worst in people

These days you can read all kinds of messages, some will touch you, some will appall you. It's incredible how humane and helping people can become in such catastrophic times and also how vicious and evil some others can be. I guess that's what you get, when half of the world is connected via internet. The most funny thing is, that even though the internet is the biggest information source in the world, some people still don't have a good understanding of Pearl Harbor, World War II and Nagasaki and Hiroshima. One of the things I have realized these days is how stupid people can be, sometimes so deeply stupid, that I'm not sure whether I should laugh or cry or do both at the same time. It is just mind boggling.

5 Life is precious, we have to cherish it

These days we see how short and precious life can be and how fast it can end. It must be so saddening for those people who argued with someone on March 10 and the next day he or she was gone forever. We can't reverse the events in Japan, but we can learn from them. We can at least try to be more sensitive to the people we love and cherish small things life much more. Live your life every day as if it was the last time. Do things that you never have thought of doing before, be spontaneous, be friendly, spend time in nature, surprise your dear ones... just appreciate life.

Photo on the left is Queen's Head, located in Yeliu. For me, "she" is the symbol of Taiwan. I think as long as she stands there and rules over Taiwan so proudly, I will feel safe and secure.

Read more about Taiwan here>>

Taiwan tsunami warning: We are safe!

I'm currently in Taipei, Taiwan, watching the news. Latest updates on top!

LATEST UPDATE: Taiwan is safe to visit! No tsunami here. The food is fine!

A useful link: Taiwan lifts tsunami warning

Nobody here worries about radiated food, please don't panic. Food is holy for Taiwanese and if any serious radiation would've been found, it would've been reported already. If they find a small thing, that doesn't mean food is unsafe here. Please don't worry about food, radiation and tsunamis. Taiwan is 2200 km away from Fukushima, that's almost twice as far as Chernobyl and Central Europe. Come to Taiwan and enjoy your holidays. We're safe here!

12. UPDATE: Really the last update, Taipei 12.01 pm local time

This will really be my last update. It's now Tuesday, 4 days after the Japan quake and tsunami and I want to make it clear for everyone: Taiwan is safe. Traveling to Taiwan or Taipei is very safe. We had no quake, no tsunami, no damage, nothing: We were lucky. Whatever you planned for your Taiwan trip, go ahead, everything's fine. It's Tuesday now, the weather is cloud in Taipei, around 15 degrees maybe. The coming Friday will be sunny, the rest of the days may be cloud or even rainy. The only thing you need to prepare may be an umbrella. Everything's running smoothly in Taipei, so please don't have any worries. We were not hit, thank god. But we keep getting scary images from Japan and of course that worries us. But nobody has any fears of things like this happening to Taiwan these days. We do worry about quakes, but they're usually of lesser magnitude. And the worst evil are typhoons here, but they come in late summer and autumn, so please again: Don't worry. Taiwan is safe. Hong Kong is safe, Malaysia is safe. This was a Japanese tragedy and we should only think about how to help Japan to rebuild their country. My hearts goes out to them.

11. UPDATE: The next day, Taipei 11.10 am local time

Today is Saturday, March 12, one day after the epic earthquake and a devastating tsunami in Japan. Taiwan was lucky and hasn't sustained any damage, the tsunami warning turned out to be false, only 15cm "big" waves hit the northern coast. Taipei seems to be a little foggy this morning, but it's not so cold. The rain stopped and I'm happy about that. Let me make this clear: Everybody in Taiwan is ok and traveling here is totally safe. So please, no worries, no panic, no fears: We're fine here. Wish everybody a lovely day.

10. UPDATE: We're fine, Taipei 19.24 local time

I can now say with most certainty that Taiwan has avoided a tsunami. I've seen on TV, how the authorities released some fishermen from Keelung, who were priorly evacuated. Life's getting back to normal here and that's obvious when you switch on the TV: All the news channels are now only reporting on Japan. Taiwan was very lucky this time, probably because of the location. It's located too far to the West and somewhat covered by Okinawa and other islets in the region. We dodged a bullet today, that's for sure, but it's always good to be prepared for the worst and not take these things lightly. We've seen what the tsunami did to some parts of Japan and and that was pretty scary. Taiwan is safe and everybody should sleep well tonight. I may update again tomorrow for those who plan to travel to Taiwan and want to be updated on the situation here.

9. UPDATE: Everything looks fine, Taipei 18.43 local time

Thank you everybody for your kind comments. From what I've seen on Taiwanese TV just now, there won't be any tsunami hitting Taiwan, people are safe. If you have love ones here, don't worry. All that happened were some high waves, that's all: No real tsunami here, no casualties, no major damage. I won't update as often now, but in case something very unexpected happens, I will update again (although I feel that's very unlikely). Thank you for following my updates and I'm very happy that Taiwan and all the people here are safe and sound. I hope the rest of the Pacific area will be safe as well. Thanks again. It was a pleasure to help you.

8. UPDATE: Still waiting, Taipei 18.24 local time

One whole hour has passed now and still nothing happened in Taiwan. The media is only reporting on Japan, but there are no official statements saying that the tsunami threat has passed and that Taiwan is safe. I do feel that it's unlikely that Taiwan will be heavily hit, but I am not sure, only speculating. I hope we don't get a very unpleasant surprise. More updates from me soon.

6. UPDATE: Still waiting, Taipei 18.24 local time

Some said it's possible that Taiwan has avoided a massive tsunami due to the location (by Cindy Sui). The internet is incredibly slow around this time, I guess many people are curious about what's going on. I'm watching Taiwanese news and they only report about Japan now, no reports about Taiwanese coastal cities. So I guess there won't be anything major happening here. I have no proof for that, but because the experts said the tsunami should've hit Taiwan over 30min ago, however nothing happened, I feel a little less anxious now. Still feel sad for people in Japan.

5. UPDATE: Still waiting, Taipei 18.04 local time

Still waiting for the tsunami to arrive Taiwan. I guess the estimate was not accurate. If there are any changes and something big happens, I will update again. It's getting dark now in Taipei, the weather is cold and rainy, like for many days now. It may be a little hard to see the waves coming now.

4. UPDATE: There will be no tsunami in Taipei, Taipei 17.51 local time

Waiting for the tsunami to hit Taiwan at any time now. I've heard the waves are arriving at the coast of Taiwan right now and they're smaller than expected (maybe 15cm to 1m), according to Anthony Chen, ETTV Journalist. Let's hope for the best.

3. UPDATE: There will be no tsunami in Taipei, Taipei 17.24 local time

There is no tsunami expected in Taipei! No tsunami warnings for Taipei! Taipei should be safe. Tsunami may hit Keelung, Hualien and other parts on the eastern coast within 10 minutes! Tsunami is estimated to hit Taiwan at 17.40 local time (9.40 GMT London Time)!

2. UPDATE: Taiwan tsunami maps and predictions, Taipei 15.53 local time

Here are some maps for your reference. As you can see it's very hard to predict which exact areas of Taiwan might be hit. I think Taipei is generally safe, because it's not close to the sea and surrounded by mountains. For more predictions, scroll down:

Show bigger map

As you can see, the west coast including Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung should be safe, but places on the north and east like Keelung, Yilan, Luodong, Hualien, Changbin, Chenggong, Donghe, Taitung and parts of Kenting national park, as well as Guishan Island, Green Island and Orchid Island should be hit by the tsunami. We don't know for sure and I don't want to spread panic, but please be careful, if you're in one of these places. Don't go near the beach in the upcoming hours. Better stay in upper floors or go to mountainous areas.

1. UPDATE: Taiwan will be hit by the tsunami, Taipei 15.09 local time

Japan's been hit by an 8.9 earthquake 1 hour ago, which is a huge magnitude. And now I'm watching the tsunami erasing everything on its way in parts of Japan's east coast. It's frightening. The water is unstoppable. And I've heard Taiwan might be hit by the tsunami as well (via Taiwan Central Weather Bureau), it's estimated that it will arrive at 17.30 local time around Taiwan's northern and eastern coast. That's in about 2 hours.

If you're in Keelung 基隆 (tsunami estimated to hit at 17.32), Yilan 宜蘭, Hualien 花蓮 or Taitung 台東 (tsunami estimated to hit 17.36), possibly Kenting (I'm not sure), please go away from the coast as further as possible. I think Taipei, Hsinchu, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung should be fine. I can't be sure (I'm just guessing), but I think there is no reason to panic on the western part of Taiwan. The eastern part however should prepare well! I hope the authorities are monitoring the situation and are prepared for possible evacuations and immediate help. I will update this post, in case there are some further developments.

Luodong Night Market, Luodong

One of the most crowded night markets in Taiwan

My girlfriend told me, that the Luodong Night Market 羅東夜市 was one of the biggest, most famous and most crowded night markets in Taiwan. When I heard that, I wasn't really sure, whether to believe it or not. After all, Luodong is a less known small town in the scarcely populated northeastern part of Taiwan. But once I was there, I've realized that was completely wrong: This night market is huge! But not only that, it's even more crowded than most night markets in Taipei. I think only the one near Shida draws crowds, that could be comparable to the ones in Luodong. When it comes to food, I have to say I was a little disappointed, but that's probably because my expectations were too high. I definitely need to return more times before I can give preciser answers about the culinary delights of the market.

MY IMPRESSION OF THE LUODONG NIGHT MARKET: This is a night market, that's probably not suitable for every tourist, because the crowds are huge on weekends. Those, who want to avoid them, visit during the week. We had to wait for 20 min to try a popular snack, some queues are very long, the longest I've ever seen. There are two central streets, that are the most crowded, other parts are ok. Some stalls are so popular, that even if you manage to order your snack after a long wait, you won't find a free spot at the table to eat it. You can eat finger food while walking, but it's hard to do so with a soup. See my video from the central area:

WHAT KIND OF FOOD IS COMMON: There are all kinds of foods available here, because the market is really huge, so I'll mention only few. I've seen a lot of green onion cakes 蔥油餅 (cōng yóubǐng) sold here, they're definitely yummy, because the lines were long. Probably the most famous and crowded stall is selling lamb soup with mutton 當歸羊肉湯 (dānggueī yángròu tāng) and an uncle is selling the soup for decades, he's very famous. It's amazing, how many people queued for that soup. For us it was too many, we decided to revisit on a less crowded day and try it. Another famous snack found in Luodong and Yilan county is bu meat 卜肉 (bǔròu). These are small pieces of tender meat coated with batter, seasoned and fried in wok. Another popular stall was called Longfong chicken thighs 龍鳳腿 (lóngfòng tueǐ), but we haven't tried it as well. I saw meat and vegetables on skewers was popular as well as a stall selling steam stuffed buns commonly known as baozi 包子 (bāozi). When it comes to desserts, there's a sort of ice cream found on many stalls throughout the night market. It's called ice with tapioca pearls and red beans 包心粉圓 (bāoxīn fěnyuán), definitely a very delicious treat.

MUST-TRY FOOD AT LOUDONG NIGHT MARKET: I haven't tried much food, but the dishes mentioned above are all worth to try (only skip meat on skewers, if you're a Westerner). I think, if you find yourself there on a less crowded day, go and try the lamb soup, it's really famous. The chicken thighs also look yummy as well as the green onion cakes. I definitely recommend you the ice with tapioca pearls, it's really delicious, because it had one of my favorite flavors: coconut. I think you can find a lot of food here, that will satisfy your taste buds. But from what I've learned, don't always expect something superdelicious, just because the line is long. More about that below.

Let me show you my photos of the Luodong Night Market in Ilan (March 2011):

This is the Luodong train station, built in a classic Chinese style.

You have to walk straight from the station and then turn left.

In about 5-10 min you'll be at the night market.

This is a map of the night market area. Click on the photo to enlarge.

This is a shopping mall nearby.

Slowly approaching the central part.

Shops.

This street is very crowded and many popular stalls are located here.

Now you believe me.

POPULAR SNACK: CHESTNUTS

My girlfriend bought chestnuts. They were ok.

We walked further to check some stalls. There was also a covered market area.

POPULAR SNACK: SCALLION MEAT SKEWER 蔥肉串

We saw this stall selling scallion meat skewers. Because of the big queue, I wanted to try it.

Nearby was a popular shop selling fried baozi. The queue was long as well.

We were waiting 20 minutes for this! The longest waiting time for me ever.

Finally it was our turn! We bought 1 skewer, it cost 35 NTD (less than 1 Eur). The meat is pork and it's very chewy. I made a mistake and bit off a part, which proved to be very tedious to eat. They should be eaten wholly. The taste is so so, nothing special, definitely not worth waiting 20 min.

I made a funny comment about this photo and my girlfriend laughed. Can you guess of what this has reminded me?

Here you can get all kinds of candy.

This stall is very popular, they sell a dessert named. More about it at the end.

This is my artsy fartsy version of the Luodong crowds.

POPULAR SNACK: BU MEAT 卜肉

I liked this snack the best, the meat is very delicious, I highly recommend this snack.

This part was less crowded, but I wanted to go where most people are found.

My girlfriend made a very dirty comment about this snack. What do you think she said?

This area is very crowded, because some of the traditional stalls can be found here.

And people kept coming...

POPULAR SNACK: LAMB SOUP WITH MUTTON 當歸羊肉湯

This uncle is famous here. He's serving this soup for many many years, he's a legend. I'm glad I got a photo of him, he was very busy, as if he's in his own world. His stall is the most popular in Luotong.

This stall is also very popular.

We were slowly approaching the end.

POPULAR SNACK: MEAT ON SKEWERS

My girlfriend bought this meat skewer. I strongly don't recommend!

I'm not sure, what meat it was, but when I tried it, it was so awful, that I almost couldn't eat it. It was sour and chewy and the taste was really bad. It was the first time something like that happened to me and I've tried all kinds of stuff here before, from chicken testicles to a cooked frog... but to swallow this was really tough. I don't recommend to Westerners., Malayisans and Singaporeans might like it.

POPULAR SNACK: ICE WITH PEARLS AND RED BEANS 包心粉圓

This was the highlight of my Luodong adventure to me.

It's ice and tapioca pearls merged together, the same ones that are known from the bubble teas commonly sold around Taiwan. I really liked the taste and I highly recommend this dessert to you. But if you're two people, you can share one, the portion is pretty big.

HOW TO FIND THE LUODONG NIGHT MARKET? SEE MY MAP:

LUODONG NIGHT MARKET IN CONCLUSION: This is one of the most crowded night markets in Taiwan, it attracts a lot of people from other parts of Ilan county or even from Taipei. It's definitely a big adventure to visit on a Friday night, but you need to have a thick skin and be used to crowds. If you're not, you were warned: It can get pretty crazy. Food wise it may not be among the top 10 night markets in Taiwan, at least not for me. But I have to say I need to try more in order to give a better judgement on this. When that happens, I will update this post.

[FOOD in TAIWAN][My TAIWAN page][My TAIPEI page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

[My TAIWAN NIGHT MARKETS list][My MAP of Night Markets in Taipei]