Taiwan – street food heaven found in the nightmarkets. Hualien.

Hualien is the city in TW all tourists frequent on the way to Taroko Gorge.  The night life is non-existent but the nightmarket is spectacular.  If you get a chance to visit Hualien, stay at a minsu.  It’s very easy to eat local.  Yogurt with excess probiotics in the morning to line the stomach or fruit to kick start the metabolism and you’ll be good to go for the rest of the day.  Taiwan nightmarkets have a large disproportion of food offerings in the fried variety so you will need cold beer to wash it down.

busy on a wednesday night

Grilled Corn.  30 min wait during peak hours in the evening.

Hualien Night Market’s grilled corn.

Hualien Night Market’s fried squid. As big as a hand.

Fried Squid.  Go with the half serving (just tentacles) as one full serving will prevent you from eating at other vendors.

A Taiwanese stable food – stinky tofu.  This is a must try on every travelers visit to a nightmarket in Taiwan.  We chose this joint in Hualien:

Hualien Night Market’s stinky tofu

Stinky tofu is pungent.  You will not be able avoid the smell so long as the nightmarket is in session, the scent is everywhere within a 2 block radius.  It tastes a lot better than it smells.

Hualien Night Market’s stinky tofu and pickled vegetables

Another dining option would be the noodle vendors.  A typical family run business that operates at all hours of the day.  Taiwanese people love their noodles.  The freezer shows the cold dish variety that is available.

soup kitchen

This is their open kitchen.  The soup broth is always simmering. Everything is made fresh.

I had the fresh noodles with bean curd.  I asked for the vegetarian option but it had to come with meat as the soup stock is made with pork.

Taiwanese soup noodles

Michelin Star Restaurant – Sang Kee in Wanchai

Hong Kong has the Michelin Dining Guide.   If you plan to eat Michelin quality food in Hong Kong, please eat Michelin quality Chinese food.  There’s no need to eat Michelin quality French, Italian, Greek (*insert any other nationality) food in HK as it will never measure up to the authenticity of food available back home.  Sang Kee was awarded a michelin star and they can be found in the guide book.  The restaurant is located in Wan Chai off ground level.  You would not know about this place unless you search for it.  It’s traditional in the sense the restaurant has been plying its trade for many years and recently received the accolades.  The waiters are older gentlemen to which I would assume are now family.  If you take away the table cloth, dining in this restaurant would be similar to home style cooking.  The prices are not extravagant if you are use to NA standards.  I ordered the following menu items and would recommend it to others:

The daily soup, $100hkd for a pot big enough to feed all the diners at the table.  Soup was good.

Fried squid, this is one of their signature dishes which most tables will order.  It’s tiny.  I could not get over the fact the portion was a small pittance.  It would have been better to serve the contents in a smaller dish.  Don’t bother ordering fried squid at chinese restaurants, everyone will tell you they excel at it.  It was not greasy but it lacked the crunch that normally follows fried foods.  The oil was fresh for this batch as the colour of the squid will show.  Dish price $100.

Lotus Root cakes.  One of their signature dishes.  Restaurants that charge a higher price, similar price points to Sang Kee will actually use lotus roots in the cake.  Sang Kee’s lotus root cakes use a combination of minced pork and fish paste.  The highlight being they taste good and each bite having the lotus root crunch.  Dish price $100

Nothing too special about a dish of veggies with minced pork over top.  We needed a veggie dish.  Dish price $80

dessert – free.  It’s a rice pudding with alcohol.

My first michelin star fine dining restaurant in the cantonese tradition.  The total bill came to $400 for two people.  Not bad at all.  With all chinese food, it’s best to go with a large party so you get to sample more signature dishes.  They had about 8-10 signature dishes which I would assume they do in the most traditional fashion without cutting corners.  It’s fine dining inside a non-descript building off ground level.  Book in advance if you want an opportune time.

This post is an outlier, I do not intend to review Michelin star restaurants for the blog as Michelin guide already guarantees high quality food.  My goal is to find restaurants with high quality food outside the Michelin guide.

Directions to this restaurant:

From the outdoor soccer field at the Wanchai sports center would be the perfect landmark to set your bearing.

turn right after crossing the street.

walk past the circle K and look for the sign.

Walk through this door and take the stairs/elevator to the first floor.