4ever Discovering
Yongkang Street: A Little Piece of Food Heaven
The Best Place to Spend If You Only Have One Day to Eat in Taipei
If you’re like me, you think about food a lot: what am I going to eat for dinner?, what should I pick up for a snack today?, and did I save enough room for dessert? (always yes). One of the best parts about discovering a new city or country is the different food you can try. It’s always interesting when you are ordering off of a menu written in a foreign language; you never exactly know what is going to be served to you! Lucky for us, we had some friends suggest some traditional meals to try in Taipei so we weren’t always forced to play the menu “Press Your Luck” guessing game.
On a Sunday afternoon, Emily and I decided we were going to be a little adventurous and try some local cuisine recommended to us. After over 3 months of living in Taiwan, I thought it was about time to dive into our Asian culture. There is one street in the heart of Taipei that is solely known for their food. It is called Yongkang Street and has the best of everything you can try in the city. We took the MRT to Dongmen, and followed the signs and the crowds to the infamous street, ready to feed our hungry bellies!
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One cool fact about Yongkang Street is how everything seems to be CNN rated. A good selling feature for a restaurant here is to advertise how much Americans love their food! If you see a sign that says “CNN No.1”, it means you are probably in for a good meal. Emily and I decided to stick to the tourists we are, and make sure we only eat at the very best: CNN approved restaurants. What better way to make sure we are experiencing the finest cuisine than to only eat at the #1 hotspots around.
We were able to try 3 very local (and very delicious) meals when we walked down Yongkang. I’m sure we could have tried more, but you can only eat so much before you start to lose your tastebuds. Here is a little info about our food experiences, all within 100 meters of each other:
1. Beef Tomato Noodles: If you’re looking for a nice hot soup on a chilly day (which are limited here), this is the meal to eat! We’ve ate this meal on more than one occasion, and every time it just keeps getting better! With big chunks of beef in the soup, you are really getting a bang for your buck when you order this delicious meal. This restaurant is so busy, you just sit wherever you can find a seat. That means you might have three different groups of people eating at one table, and hey, that’s totally normal. Emily and I ate with a group of 8 others once. I have to admit, I felt like they were watching me eat so I had to make sure my chopstick game was on point. I need to show the locals that I can eat like them!
2. Mango Shaved Ice: This tastes as delicious as it sounds! Nothing seems wrong about ice and mango, right? Absolutely. This is like your dessert when you’re walking down Yongkang, but if you’re like us, you can eat it first and spoil your main course! This meal is huge; Emily and I split one and we were still full after. It’s funny because you wouldn’t think ice would be so filling, but it was hard to make a dent in this one. We ate at Mango King, which offered many different flavours of their prize and joy. Of course, we stuck to the most popular choice this time and told ourselves we would try something different the next time. I would 100% go back and eat Mango Shaved Ice; however, I would make sure to eat it on a hot day. Emily and I made the mistake of trying it on a colder night (very rare), and we were a little chilly while eating it. Definitely a good choice for the summer months!
3. Soup Dumplings at Din Tai Fung: In order to make our experience as Asian as it could be, we made sure to try the world-famous soup dumplings. This restaurant was originally founded in the 1950’s and has since then, been expanding globally. In 2013, Din Tai Fung was named to #1 restaurant in Asia, and can be found all over the continent. Of course, Emily and I had to try it! We waited with the mass amount of other people and took a number. You can choose to either sit inside and wait for a table, or order takeout. We decided to get our dumplings to go (we couldn’t be bothered to wait 40 minutes for a table). Even with our takeout order, we had to wait 15 minutes. When food is this popular, you can expect a long wait. Our motto is “whatever has the longest line, has the best food”. You can’t argue with this logic. It’s like choosing a stand at Ribfest back home. After our long, anticipated wait for our food, we could see what everyone was waiting for. Next time we will try to go at a time where it won’t be as busy (probably never), and try to get a seat in the restaurant.
After a long day of eating, Emily and I ventured back home to sleep off our food comas. I love trying new foods from different countries, and strolling down Yongkang street did not disappoint my appetite. This is a great place to go if you only have one day in the city, and are looking for some local cooking. Coming to Taiwan and eating beef noodles, mango shaved ice, or soup dumplings, is the equivalent of going to Canada and eating poutine. It is just one of those things you have to do! Next time, we will make sure to try some new dishes and keep adding them to the list!