4ever Discovering
Tainan: Where You Come to Fill Your Stomach
You Haven’t Tried Taiwanese Food Until You’ve Been to Tainan!
Emily and I have been busy completing our Taiwanese bucket list, and trying to finish everything we need to do before we leave in 2 short weeks! Having traveled around the North, East, and South coast, all we were missing was a weekend getaway to the West to make our trip around the country complete. We booked our tickets to Tainan, and got ready to prepare for a weekend of eating. We were told this is where you must come if you want to experience authentic, Taiwanese food. And boy, did we ever bring our appetite!
To make our trip to Tainan that much better, we had our local friend join us to show us around. She lives here, and travels from Taipei to Tainan every weekend to go back to her home. This was a great opportunity for Emily and I to have, yet another, great weekend where we could be guided around by our local friends. To top everything off, we also stayed at her house so we didn’t have to book a hostel. (I’m telling you, you need to save money any chance you get). We took about a 4 hour bus ride to Tainan from Taipei, and were pleasantly surprised to be upgraded to the fancier bus. Now, something you need to know: buses in Taiwan are already comfortable. Compared to our buses in Canada, these coach buses would be considered VIP back at home. So to get upgraded was just icing on the cake. There were only about 20 seats on the bus because everyone got their own massage chair. Each seat was equipped with its own personal TV and outlets, where you could choose from their list of TV shows and movies (just like on an airplane). It made the 4 hours fly by, and after watching Mother’s Day, we were in Tainan before we knew it.
The best part about living in Taiwan is all of the friendly people Emily and I meet every day. We always feel welcomed here, and have been offered gracious hospitality every chance we get. I’m giving a special shout-out to our friend for her AMAZING hospitality, and kindness to invite us for the weekend. As soon as we walked in the door, we were greeted by her parents, and were offered a plate of fruit in case we were hungry. Unfortunately, it was after midnight and we were more tired than hungry, so we went to bed and prepared for our next big day. It’s incredible how warm and welcoming people can be; it reminds us there are still good people left in the world!
Emily and I knew coming to Tainan meant one thing, and one thing only: FOOD. We have been told by multiple people, this is the best place to travel to if you are looking for delicious food. And let me tell you, they weren’t wrong! Of course we saw a lot of cool landmarks around the city too. We borrowed our friend’s scooter and drove around to see all of the main attractions of Tainan. There were a lot of temples in the city, so naturally we walked around the area and explored Confucius’ first temple. Emily and I noticed that we actually had to pay to get into a lot of the attractions, so this was one of the only ones we decided to splurge on (and by splurge, I mean pay $2). In case you didn’t know, Confucius was the first great Chinese teacher and philosopher. We actually celebrate Teacher’s Day in Taiwan on September 28 because that is Confucius’ birthday. It was pretty cool to walk around the gardens and see all of the unrestored buildings. I didn’t feel any smarter walking around the area, but I’m sure being around Confucius’ temple must have had an impact on me somehow. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.
Another neat area we paid to walk around was the Treehouse. This was literally a house, covered in banyan trees. There were so many trees and branches, you couldn’t even really see the structure of the house anymore. The most interesting part about banyan trees is their branches. Walking around the Treehouse, it seemed to be just a lot of roots growing around the building. But, you never know if they are roots, or actually just the branches themselves. Banyan trees are very popular in Taiwan; we’ve seen them on multiple occasions, and every time I see them I still find them just as beautiful as the last time. This was particularly cool because we could walk around the house, and feel like we were standing inside a tree. If you’re looking to take a break from all of the delicious food, take a walk around this Treehouse! It is definitely something worth seeing.
Alright, now it’s the time you’ve all been waiting for: LET’S TALK FOOD. If you know me and Emily, you know we loveeee to eat. Eating is a part of learning a new culture, and we (usually) take the chance to try new dishes (when we aren’t craving burgers). I will give you a breakdown of what we ate in Tainan. Just know, everything was delicious. I wish I had 3 stomachs to eat everything again, and not feel full enough to roll around on the floor. Prepare yourself; this may make you hungry! Here’s what we ate:
1. Homemade Spring Rolls: These are filled with shrimp, garlic, cabbage, bean sprouts, tofu, and pork. Believe it or not, they actually only start selling them in spring (hence the name ‘spring’ rolls). All you need to know is that these are delicious. We had them for breakfast.
2. Fresh Mango & Yellow Kiwis: Mango season has arrived in Taiwan! They were sweet and delicious, and we ate them in a way where we just sucked the mango from a hole in the skin. We didn’t cut them open or anything. And I know what you’re thinking, did the yellow kiwis taste different from the green ones? Not at all. They taste the same!
3. Pork Balls in Sweet ‘N’ Sour Sauce: The texture of the balls was very sticky and gooey; they weren’t necessarily my favourite, but the inside was good! And who doesn’t love sweet ‘n’ sour sauce?
4. Mango Shaved Ice: A popular treat in Taiwan, especially when mango season is upon us. Emily and I had already tried the mango flavour, so I opted for mixed fruit this time. When the ice melts (because it is so hot outside), the dish just becomes fruit juice. Very refreshing.
5. More Delicious Pork/Shrimp Balls ( Taiwanese ‘Bao’): These were delicious! It was just ground pork and shrimp inside, with egg yolk. It sounds a little odd, but we had them twice! Emily and I also found A&W Root Beer, Dr. Pepper, and Canada Dry Ginger Ale at the store that was selling them, so of course it was one of our favourites.
6. Cheesy Ribs: We went to the Flower Night Market and found this treat. They were your every day rack of ribs, with melted cheese on top. For someone who doesn’t eat a lot of ribs over here, this was a great find!
7. Bacon-Wrapped Grilled Cheese: This is exactly what it sounds like: deliciousness on a plate (except we weren’t given a plate to eat it). This grilled cheese was wrapped in so much bacon, you couldn’t even see the bread. Not to mention it was THICK bacon. Our friends had told us about this before we came, so when we went to the night market, we were in search for it. Thankfully we found it!
8. Pizza-Stuffed Bun Sandwich: These buns are roasted in charcoal, and are nothing short of delicious. We’ve tried the original black pepper ones before, but the pizza bun was something new. I don’t know which one I like better!
9. Deep-Fried Ice Cream: Nuff said. I got mint chocolate chip AND vanilla. Splurge.
10. Ice Cream in a Tube: This is a Korean-style ice cream, where you get chocolate and vanilla soft serve in a corn tube. The picture looks a little funny (you might think something else at first glance), but get your mind out of the gutter! This was delicious.
Now that you have your low-down on what we ate in Tainan, I hope I have convinced some of you to come here and try it for yourself! Along with the food, it was great to see some of Tainan’s history around the city. This is the one of the oldest cities in the country, so there are tons to see if you are a history buff (or a food buff like us). You can also take a trip to the beach and relax with all of your food (just like we did too). Either way, there is something for everyone in Tainan. I think Emily and I had an even more exceptional trip because of the warm hospitality we were offered. When you have a beach, good friends, and delicious food, how could you not have a great weekend?
