Exploring the numerous Taipei dining options is a big task.  Thousands of restaurants, food carts, and street vendors offer nearly every dish from across the globe, making it possible to have a hamburger, hummus, and haggis all in the same day.

Buy we are in Asia, so let’s feast Asian style!

Here are 3 more great meals we’ve shared in Taipei

Budget Meal

Dumplings are a staple of Chinese cuisine.  These delightful creations are a mix of diced meat and vegetables, wrapped in a thin skin of wheat dough, which is then boiled, steamed, or fried.  A nearby restaurant, Zhou Pang Zi (周胖子), makes a great dumpling

Boiled Dumplings Stuffed with Minced Pork and Chives

Boiled Dumplings Stuffed with Minced Pork and Chives

Often, dumplings are served with small side dishes and a hot and sour soup.

Hot and Sour Soup

Hot and Sour Soup (Tofu, Cabbage, Carrot, Vinegar, Hot Pepper)

Stewed Tofu, Eggs, and Seaweed

Stewed Tofu, Eggs, and Seaweed

Zhou Pang Zi (周胖子) also serves a wonderful flaky bun filled with slow cooked beef, known as a shao bing (燒餅).  This thing literally melts in your mouth and is my personal reason for returning to this restaurant

Shao Bing

Shao Bing

The bill for 2 people who ate too much:

15 dumplings (10 pork, 5 beef): 120 TWD ($4 or ~$0.25 each)
Shao Bing stuffed with beef: 60 TWD ($2)
Hot and Sour Soup for two: 50 TWD ($1.67)Tofu, Egg, and Seaweed side dish: 50 TWD ($1.67)

Total bill: 280 TWD (~$9.33) – about $4.75 per person

Midrange Meal

Shabu Shabu is the sound this great dinner makes as it simmers and boils in front of you.  This meal not only tastes great, it is an experience.  Qi Min is our favorite place to get this dish, which is the front end of an organic farm that raises a wide variety of vegetables, grass-fed cows and sheep, and forest raised pigs.  They also offer home delivery of all of their bounty at reasonable prices

Sitting side by side with your fellow diners in front of a personal cooking surface, you prepare the finest of ingredients, typically a mix of in season vegetables and thinly slice raw meat or seafood.  These are cooked in a small pot filled with a miso or tomato base soup.

Shabu Shabu Restaurant

Qi Min (齊民) Shabu Shabu Restaurant

Just a few seconds of simmering and the beef or pork is ready to savor.  Having raw meat in front of you might seem odd to Westerners, but give it a try. It doesn’t get more fresh that this!

Fresh Veggies and Thinly Sliced Grass Fed Beef and Forest Ranged Pork

Fresh Veggies and Thinly Sliced Grass Fed Beef and Forest Raised Pork

The bill for 2 people:

2 orders of vegetables and meat:  588 TWD ($19.60) – About $10/person

 

Living Large

Taiwan dining is heavily influenced by the years of Japanese control of the island, and Teppanyaki restaurants are a big part of that

A chain of them called Chamonix is a pretty swanky place with a French twist, offering wonderful things like ribeye steak with foie gras and duck breast cooked in apple brandy

A set meal here consists of 7 courses with appetizers, soup, salad, fried rice, beverages, and dessert.  For fun it is prepared to order in front of you on a giant cooking surface.  Service is outstanding.  We went once with my Chinese class, and one of my classmates said, “I feel like a princess!”

Fire!

Fire!

Rib-eye Steak with Foie Gras

Rib-eye Steak with Foie Gras

Duck Breast Cooked in Apple Brandy

Duck Breast Cooked in Apple Brandy

It is a lot of food, so it is a good idea to exercise some self restraint or there will be no room for dessert

Chocolate Cake With Vanilla Ice Cream and Carmelized Bananas

Chocolate Cake With Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramelized Bananas

Before going, be sure to check out their website and get yourself a 10% off coupon :)

Total bill for 4 people:

4 set meals: 4120 TWD + 10% service charge – 10% off coupon = 4120 TWD (~137) About $35/person

 

It’s been a great few months of exploring the Taipei food scene.  We still have some time here and will continue to explore.

Have you had a great dining experience in Taipei that you would like to recommend?  Please share in the comments.  And why not consider sharing this post on Facebook or Twitter?

Happy Travels and Happy Dining

Jeremy and Winnie, Go Curry Cracker!