164. Taiwan Day 1: Must Have Rice Balls from Eastern Ice Store Down Lane 216 / 到216巷就是要吃東區粉圓 (Taipei: Da An District / 台北市: 大安區)

After finishing lunch at Du Hsiao Yueh (度小月), my aunt and I strolled down Lane 216, one of the most famous little back streets in all of Taipei.  We swung by Eastern Ice Store (東區粉圓冰店), an extremely popular rice ball dessert shop in Taiwan.  They are known for their chewy rice balls (粉圓 / Mandarin: fen yuan), a smaller variation of Japanese mochi that is commonly submerged under an covering of shaved ice and other sweet toppings.

Whether it is for chilled red bean soup, grass jelly, or sweet dessert tofu, the toppings range from taro rice balls, almonds, stewed peanuts, chunks of sweet potato, pineapple, passion fruit syrup, or strawberry jam.  Other choices include extra red beans, konjac jelly, white wood ear fungus, barley, and sweetened condensed milk.  The options really run the gamut.

I added the classic taro rice balls to my cold red bean soup; I loved how the rice balls were so elastic and chewy.  I also chose the almond tofu, a jello that merely looks like tofu but is actually just almond infused agar agar.  Of course, everything was topped off with a good amount of condensed milk, and I helped myself to a few extra scoops of ice... available for all customers in the strongly air conditioned seating area around the corner from the counter.  Thank goodness for Eastern Ice Store in the dead middle of summer on a sub-tropical island.  Until the next meal (give me about an hour), let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

Eastern Ice Store (東區粉圓冰店)
台北市大安區忠孝東路四段216巷38號
No. 38, Lane 216, Zhongxiao East Rd., Sec. 4, Da An District, Taipei City

ML - 20130630

Post 71: Taipei - Atkins Impossible (Taipei: Datong District / 台北: 大同區)

When Anna visited Taipei during my trip this summer, she commented that there was bread everywhere in Taipei.  The first time that she said there was bread everywhere, I laughed and didn't say anything in response.  The second time Anna that said it (about an hour later), I passed her observation off as something a first time visitor to Taipei would say.  The next time that Anna mentioned it, she said, "Wow, there really is bread everywhere here," so I actually gave it some thought.  Everywhere I looked there was some sort of bakery... whether traditional or modern, whether truly Taiwanese or influenced by the Japanese or French, whether a brick and mortar store or one of those little shops inside the metro station... Anna was right.  I guess I had never noticed it because bakeries were literally everywhere.  For bread lovers in Taipei, the Atkins diet is simply impossible.

I've decided to post on the moment I realized that Atkins was truly impossible for me.  It was when I was walking around Zhongshan Station, and a window display full of bread caught my eye.  I didn't even look up to check the name of the store.  Knowing that I wanted what I saw (not even hungry at the time), I walked into the shop and picked up a tray and tongs immediately.  It was Ijysheng Bakery (一之軒時尚烘焙) that I had walked into, and this is what I picked up:

Cod roe French bread (明太子法國麵包)

Nothing can keep me from anything that has cod roe... even if there's just a little bit.  Lucky for me, this loaf of French bread has cod roe all over the top and in between the top and bottom crusts.  The cod roe gets toasted after it gets smeared over the bread, which means two things: the cod roe essence is completely baked into the bread, and it can't escape the bread.  This cod roe French bread can't escape from my mouth either.  Cue evil laughter... my aunt sliced it up for me, and it was all gone before she could return from the kitchen.

Shenmu tree bread (神木麵包)

The idea is that the little swirls of this red bean bread represent the inner vascular tissue and outer bark that run through the length of the tree.  What may be water and sugar that typically run through xylem and phloem in a tree is butter cream and red bean in this faux chocolate bread.  With just a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top, shredding the fibers of this fluffy, sweet bread apart is only half the fun of eating it.

High rise cheese toast (高達起士吐司)

A crispy, cheesy crust, a pillowy soft interior, and cubes of heavenly cheese throughout... what more could you want from a mini loaf of cheese bread? I love tearing the slightly burnt crust of cheese off the top first and then picking out the little cubes of cheese lodged in the niches of the bread.  The only thing better than this is a second loaf.

Chocolate popsicle (巧克力冰棒)

I picked this up for one reason only: it looked cool.  I mean, it's bread in the shape of a popsicle, and it even has the popsicle stick holding it all together.  I wasn't the only one who thought it was cool.  Apparently, my little cousin did too because while I was polishing off the cod roe bread, he picked up the chocolate popsicle bread and chomped down on it.  Sadly, I have no idea what it tastes like, but the swirls of chocolate and the crushed peanuts on top sure look tantalizing.

German cheese (德國鹹乳酪)

I'm not sure what exactly constitutes this as German cheese... but if I were to name the pastry, I would simply call it a ham and cheese quiche.  Why? Well, because it's simply a ham and cheese quiche.  It's buttery and crumbly (instead of flaky) on the outside, and it's buttery and creamy on the inside... and it's even better reheated in the oven.

Aside from the fact that I ate everything in sight (including French toast with a fried chicken filet sandwiched in the middle and two grilled Taiwanese sausages from the vendor next door), I would submerge my fork into another one of these Taiwanese-German quiches... and another mini loaf of cheese bread.  Oh, and that cod roe bread too.  Yum.

On a slight tangent, Ijysheng Bakery produced an overly emotional, heart-wrenching melodramatic video about a boy's dreams of his mother's hand-made mochi.  I got a good enough kick out of it to share with everyone.



Some of my favorite bakeries in Taipei include Maison Kayser in the basement floor of Breeze Center (微風廣場) and chain bakery Sun Merry (聖瑪莉).  There's also another bakery inside Sogo that makes an almond and chocolate, double crusted wheel of bread with chocolate hazlenut ganache spread inside (pictured above).  My favorite bakeries in the Los Angeles area include Cuban rooted Porto's Bakery, the French influenced but Japanese owned Frances Bakery in Little Tokyo, Taiwanese chain JJ Bakery, and the ever popular 85°C Bakery, which sprouted from its roots as a coffee house in Taiwan.

My love for bread is too great.  Just last month I scarfed down four small loaves of squid ink garlic cheese bread from 85C with half an hour of purchase... bread addiction, much? Sorry Atkins, you'll never win me over.  Until the next carb crazed moment, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

Ijysheng Bakery (一之軒時尚烘焙)

台北市 大同區 / Taipei City, Datong District

南京西路 33號 / Nanjing West Road, No. 33
捷運中山站 2號出口 / MRT: Zhongshan Station, exit no. 2
台北牛乳大王對面 / Directly across Taipei Milk King

ML - 20110906

Post 68: Taipei - Never Too Far from Dessert

No matter where you are, you are never too far from dessert in Taipei.  Around every corner, at every intersection, and down every alley, you can find a plethora of post meal refreshments such as handmade mochi, shaved ice, fresh tropical fruit, milk tea, and ice cream.

One of my favorite sweets is mochi (麻糬).  Although the invention of mochi is usually accredited to the Japanese, the Taiwanese have their own balls of rice cake as well.  Whereas the Japanese mochi is filled with sweet pastes such as red bean paste or peanut butter, the Taiwanese version is often not filled at all.  Taiwanese style mochi is dense the entire way through and is also much smaller in size.  The mini mochi balls are commonly rolled in peanut powder, black sesame seeds, granulated sugar, or a combination of the above.  The flavor factor is on the outside rather than enclosed within the layer of pounded rice.



Mochi can even become a form of entertainment at some dessert shops.  I found this out at Sweet Rice Ball (雙連圓仔湯), where I was served one giant blob of mochi (燒麻糬) plopped within a sandstorm of peanut powder, black sesame seeds, and little bits of sugar crystals.  A few toothpicks were placed alongside the enormous sphere of congealed rice.  My aunt picked up the toothpicks and started puncturing the rice cake.  After she had perforated the rice cake, she separated it into a dozen or so miniature mochi balls and rolled them around in the sweet peanut and sugar mixture.  She did it so quickly that I didn't even get a chance to try it for myself.  But no worries... I saved my energy for chewing the ridiculously elastic and malleable sticky rice balls.  No chocolate, no syrups, no heaviness.  Just naturally and slightly sweet.  It's even more fun to eat because it can be popped into your mouth in just one bite.

Sweet Rice Ball also serves shaved ice, which is one of my favorite chilled desserts.  Shaved ice is one of the most powerful ways to combat Taipei's horrendous heat and humidity.  What I like about the shaved ice at Sweet Rice Ball is that they not only have the traditional shaved ice toppings such as red bean, peanuts, and mochi, but they also have lots of unique toppings that other shaved ice shops don't offer as well such as sweet taro paste, corn, and white wood ear fungus.  I would choose this over artificially flavored, multi-colored snow cones any day.

If traditional or unique shaved ice toppings isn't your thing, count your blessings because Taipei has a wealth of shops that serve mango shaved ice and green tea shaved ice. Literally around the corner from world famous dumpling house Din Tai Fung is a shop that specializes in shaved ice called Smoothie House (思慕昔). What's cool about the shaved ice there is that fruit and condensed milk has been infused directly into the ice.

Every part of the dessert is covered in either fruity mango ice, fragrant Taiwan mango (艾文芒果), or golden yellow mango ice cream, so every bite of shaved ice tastes like a milky avalanche of sweet, tropical mango.  It's not even shaved ice or shaved snow anymore.  It's like a shaved mango bonanza. 

The matcha green tea shaved snow here is just as good.  It is as green as Kermit, which means the flavors of Japanese green tea have been truly conquered every part of the ice.  The hill of green tea ice is covered in a mound of sweet, soft azuki bean, and topped off with a panna cotta that is smooth and supple.  It tastes like an East Asian Christmas party.

If healthy is your thing, then you are in luck.  Taiwan is one of the best places in Asia to get fresh fruit.  With its sub-tropical climate, harvesting tropical fruit such as bananas, guavas, lychees, mangoes, mangosteens, pineapples, and wax apples are no trouble at all.  Fruits from Taiwan are, in a word... beautiful.  The first thing you notice about the guavas at the sidewalk fruit stands is the bright color of the fruit.  It's nothing like the pale pink that we get here in the States or in our cartons of Kern's Nectar.  Its fruitful fertility beckons you over the stand, which is when you smell the utterly fragrant scent of the bananas, mangoes, and pineapples.  Those are smells that literally open your eyes and take your breath away.  It's no wonder that the Taiwanese have one of the highest rates of fruits and vegetables consumption in all of Asia.

If you're like me and hate peeling and cutting fruit, then skip the fruit stands and grocery stores altogether.  Instead, head over to a café that serves afternoon tea.  My favorite place to munch on juicy, succulent fruit is in Tamsui, a district of New Taipei City on the edge of the coast.  Red 3 Café (淡水紅樓咖啡館) is atop a staircase that appears to have a million steps.  But the hike to the top is worth it.  There are ample fruits in the afternoon tea selection, and of course, there is a view overlooking the Tamsui River.  Did I mention the beautiful castle that sits halfway to the top? A reward for your efforts on the brick Stairmaster, no doubt.

Too full from dumplings or beef noodle soup and can't hold down another bite? Well, Taipei offers the best iced beverages around.  There are tea houses everywhere that serve fruit infused tea and milk tea.  You may even see some familiar stores such as Quickly, Ten Ren, and 85C.  If you are craving a Frappuccino, Taipei is abound with three or four-storied Starbucks stores.  Almond milk tea? You got it.  Crash milk with grass jelly? You got it.  Lychee flavored Slurpee from 7-Eleven? Not even a problem.

What you may not know, though, is that Taipei also has plenty of coffee houses.  Taiwan is not a major player in the coffee bean industry, but its climate makes for rich and aromatic coffee beans.  Cama Café is brews its Joe (Chou in Taiwan?) to order.  From first hand experience and according to A Girl Lost in Taipei, you can smell their coffee from way down the street.  Their iced chocolate is also good.  It's not just syrupy sweet... it's packed with chocolatey cocoa punch.  Just enough sweet to seal off your appetite.  Oh, and it's just plain cool that they delivery your coffee on bicycles.

Anywhere you go in Taipei, you will find a dessert that is sweet enough for your palate.  Personally, though, I'd say you can't leave Taiwan without having some fresh fruit and some shaved ice.  Until next time, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 201109XX