Life In Da Burbs

20060517 006 , originally uploaded by gkao007 . May 17th at the Shangri-La Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan **click here for some photos**

If you've read any travel brochures about Taiwan, you most likely have stumbled upon this name. The famous Din Tai Fung has become the "shao long bao" king of the island and is now established in various other big asian cities. Here are pics of the dishes we enjoyed tonight.

Taiwan Beer. Try it, you'll like it...

Shrimp and Pork Wonton Soup...

Chicken Soup : It seems all chicken served in Taiwan is free range. It's so good.

The famous Din Tai Fung Shao Long Bao

Din Tai Fung Shumai

Stirfried veggies

Tan Tan Mien

Lychee and Lien Bu : Some indigenous fruits of Taiwan.

My parents took J and I to a Shanghai restaurant for dinner tonight. We asked for seafood, something light. Needless to say, our eyes got the better of our judgement and we ordered a massive meal. I'm not complaining though. It was great.

Flash fried mien bao. Mien bao is a steamed bun. The stringy layers makes it very hard to make but gives it a great tooth feel. It was new for me.

Baby shrimp. The only thing I like more than wok stir fried shrimp is a lot of wok stir fried shrimp. We had a lot of wok stir fried shrimp. Awesome.

Baby snow peas. I usually don't like peas but I have to say, this was delicious.

Fresh eel with yellow chives. Totally different from what you get at chinatown... I think it's just the freshness of the eel. It's so tender and fresh flavored. It's just so good.

A very good bottle of ShaoShin wine. We enjoy the wine warm as we enjoy the dishes served during dinner.

A special dish of the restaurant. Raw crab, frozen then sliced. You are to enjoy the cold meat and tomalie. Very flavorful and delicious.

Whole shark's fin in shang-tang broth base. On top, you will find cilantro, chinese smoked pork, and bean sprouts. This was cooked for 3 days.

This fish is only found at one of the river deltas near shanghai. Considered a river fish, it's extremely boney. If you look closely, there are slices of chinese smoked ham placed on top of the fish before steaming. This is considered unimaginable in french cooking but for the chinese... it's one of the best ways to bring out the subtle flavors of delicate fish. Hey, it tastes amazing, and I'm not argueing with 4,000 years of history.

Chinese sweet date puree sandwiched in pan seared crepe like dough. I haven't had this in 6 years... Oh so good.

Family picture right after a great shanghai dinner tonight.

A quick snap shot while taking a breather at the photo studio today... Tuxedos rock!!!

This restaurant has a special place in all our(ABC kids) hearts. Usually the first pit-stop of any Taiwanese kid like myself travelling back to Taiwan in the summer to visit family. Traditional favorites a plenty done really really well. Almost better than mom's or grandma's with the luxuries of not having to cook for days. You go and eat all the things you missed so much in the states and when you are done, you don't even have to do the dishes... I love that. I hope these pics will shed some light into the great culinary heritage of Taiwan. Enjoy.

Loh-Bah : First braised for 3 hours, then steamed for another 2 hours, this pork belly dish will rival any other in the world. Any great chef will tell you ingredients come first, and in Taiwan, you will find some of the best piggies in the world. Notice the pics of fresh pork bellies found in the markets. Even to an untrained eye, you just know when something is so good. The tell tell signs of good marble meat is the color contrast of the meat to the fat. The fat has to be a beaming clear white which you will see in the attached photo. And the meaty portion is a dark solid red.

Ra-A : Baby clams marinated in chinese shao-shin wine, soy sauce, sugar and tons and tons of garlic. It must be season because these bad boys were so plump. J loved them very much as well. It is a great accompaniment to the Hang Tsu Beh.

Hang Tsu Bee (Congee) : Taiwanese sweet yam congee.

Lumpia Gau : This is my all time favorite taiwanese dish. When we landed at CKS airport, I was on a mission to find some Lumpias and devour them asap... The wrapper is one of the hardest things to make. Translucent when held up to the light yet, strong enough to hold in all the goodies. Bean sprouts, eggs, minced meat, carrots, cilantro, peanut powder, and a whole bunch of other goodies wrapped in a taiwanese burrito like shell. Oh, it's soooooo good.

Hang-Tsu-Hyo : The leaves from a young plant of the Hang-Tsu sweet yam. This is sauteed with garlic and splashed with shang tang soup stock to steam.

O-Ah-Chen : This is only good if made properly. This was made properly. Baby oysters, tender sweet yam leaves, and mountain yam puree all in an egg omlette. Served and eaten much like korean pajeon.

Ge-Kun : Pieces of free range chicken with water chestnuts, and spices all wrapped around a soy film yuba sheet and deep fried. Accompanied with a chili sauce as a condiment. Another staple of taiwanese cuisine.

En-Chang : Roughly 400 years ago, en route to Japan with the world's first rifles, Portuguese sailors landed on the shores of Formosa(Taiwan). Refueling and bartering with the locals, these western sailors left a piece of their culture behind here on our shores. These En-Chang sausages are served with sliced garlic, cilantro and julienned scallions.

Really soft mochi with pulverized peanut powder. Oh, and mom.

To finish a typical taiwanese meal, a bitter tea is usually served. This is somewhat of a palate cleanser/digestive.

i'm kinda excited to visit taiwan later this month. a lot has changed since i was there in 2000. taipei 101 for instance is now the world's tallest building. quite an accomplishment for a country of 23 million and roughly the size of maryland and delaware combined. the architectural and engineering marvels of the building are amazing.

OK, this may be a little egotistical for naming a sauce after myself, but I honestly believe I have discovered the best sauce for accompanying a roasted chicken. First off : Basic Roasted Chicken. Pat dry and discard any innards in the cavity. Throw a small halved onion and 2 cloves of garlic into the cavity. In addition to a few sprigs of thyme and 1 T of butter. Truss the bird and rub salt, pepper, garlic all over. 40 minutes in a 400 degree convection oven. Take out and let rest for 10 minutes and carve. Secondly : Sauce de Poulet George Finely(as small as you can) mince one small onion, and one clove of garlic. Heat up a sauce pan and sautee the onion and garlic in olive oil. Stir rapidly moving the ingredients so it does not stick too much to the pan. When translucent, deglaze with Sake. Yes, Sake. I find the gentle japanese rice wine a better substitute for any white wine. When the sauce pan is close to evaporated, add the jus from the tray where the chicken was roasted ...

I was back in the kitchen yesterday after a long "i'm too tired to cook" phase. We had some Poussin from D'artagnan in the fridge so naturally the menu was set. I threw some garlic cloves and a speck of butter into the cavity, rubbed it with white wine and sprinkled it with salt and pepper. Heated the oven to 375. It was perfect after 30 minutes. As a side dish, I sauteed some zuccini, mushrooms and onions with garlic and olive oil. You can never go wrong with a little veggie fricasse. A glass of chilled white wine and some portuguese rolls topped off the meal.