Hey Hive/Steemit!
So if you didn't catch the last couple of posts, we're currently on a brand new journey to Taiwan! This was back at the end of 2016 and was the second new year we spent overseas together! It was also my first time visiting Taiwan and I was really excited so here we go!
Last week, we spent New Years' Eve by taking a nice leisurely stroll in the beautiful Taichung Park and rang in the new year watching fireworks in our local night market!
It was quite the night and we didn't turn in until pretty late the next morning so we slept in quite a bit on New Years' Day.
1 January 2017. Sunday.
By the time we left the apartment it was late afternoon. But at least we got enough rest to walk and explore because the first place we went to was another market! I think most restaurants were closed that day so we had to go back to Yizhong Street night market to look for food.
The first stall we came across was this really cute waffle stall called Waffle House! And it smelled so good we decided to give it a try.
I really liked their logo and it was even on the packaging when we got our waffle!
We bought a peanut one as usual since it's our favourite flavour of waffle. I think it was alright, but it wasn't as crispy as I thought it would be. And I think there wasn't enough peanut butter. But it was alright I guess.
There weren't that many stalls open in the night market yet since it was still pretty early in the evening. But we did manage to find a small Japanese shop that sold udon and tempura so we decided to try it.
It definitely looked like those small izakayas you'd find in Dotonbori. And the interior looked really cozy, with just a couple of small tables. But the dark wood furnishings and pendant lighting did create a cafe-like aesthetic.
We ordered a bowl of udon and some tempura dishes to share since I wasn't too hungry after eating that waffle.
The udon came first and I think it tasted alright, may be a tad plain for my liking though.
Soon later, our tempura arrived! We ordered a prawn tempura, some mushroom and veggies and fried tofu.
The prawn was really long! And it tasted really good too! I think the mushroom and veg was quite yummy as well. The batter they used was nice and crispy and savoury. The tofu did get a little soggy on the bottom since it was on some sauce but it still tasted good at least.
After that we headed to the nearby arcade! Since we found out about it yesterday we were quite curious to see what games they had in there. And we were surprised to see that they actually did have Mario Kart arcade machines! It was the older version compared to the ones we played in Japan but still.
We played a couple of games and I won! Don't be fooled by Sean pretending to win. š
After that we were hankering for some snacks and came across this really tantalising-looking shop!
All the puffs and tarts they had out in display looked and smelled so good! We couldn't resist so we got one of each to try.
The puff was so gooey and creamy! Every bite made the cream ooze out of the puff that it quickly became quite messy.
Here's some messy creamy foodporn:
I think the tart was an egg custard tart but it could've been egg cheese tart too. I'm not too sure, but it did look amazing!
The crust was crispy and slightly sweet with the sugar glaze and the custard was a little runny but not as messy as the cream puff. A nice balance, really.
And the last thing we tried for the day was from this stall selling very aromatic egglet waffles:
Sorry for the poor picture quality but the lighting wasn't too good.
These were probably the least impressive of all the snacks we've eaten. It was really plain and didn't taste like waffles much. And it was also a little dry. A poor follow-up to the delicious cream puff and tarts we'd just eaten but oh well.
[Since this day was a little short I thought I'd tag on the next day too since it was also pretty short.]
2 January 2017. Monday.
We were going to travel to our last stop on our Taiwan journey today! It was time to bid farewell to Taichung as we were gonna be taking a train to Kaohsiung!
But first, lunch!
I don't remember where this is from, but it must've been nearby our Taichung apartment. It looks like a really filling tendon meal though.
Unfortunately I didn't really have time to take many photos today since we were probably busy packing our luggage and heaving it all the way up the bus to the train station then up to the high speed rail.
I think the trip by high speed rail from Taichung to Kaohsiung is about an hour so either our train was pretty late or it must've taken us quite a while to find our way to our apartment because the next photo I have is of the apartment at 10pm.
If I recall correctly there were a couple of rooms we could choose from, one of them being this one that was pretty big:
But in the end we got this one that was cozier. Or actually there might've been a mix-up with the booking or something. I'm not too sure, but this was our room regardless.
It was comfortable enough. Not as big as the other room but still.
The apartment building was really nice though. And the lift lobby had this lounge room beside it that had so many bears!
It was so cute! But I did wonder how long they've been sitting there and how clean they were though.
Just below our apartment was this 24 hour hotpot buffet restaurant and we were pretty hungry after not eating for almost 12 hours since lunch so we decided to check it out.
It was a little cool outside so hotpot was the perfect meal to eat and warm up.
I remember it tasting really good! It might've been us practically starving but the soup was yummy, and the meat and vegetables were really tasty too.
Sorry about my hair. I think I had just woken up from a nap. And that shirt is baggy btw it's not my belly I promise.
I think the name of this restaurant is 大å¼čæē¾ and it may be a chain. Google classifies it as a fondue restaurant for some reason. I guess hotpot is a Chinese version of fondue..? Not really though.
Anyway, I remember Sean liking this hotpot restaurant a lot so it must've been good. And I think it was cheap too. It quickly became our new favourite spot for midnight eats. I'm not sure if it's still there though.
But that's pretty much all for today! Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCatās Travels #82 (Taiwan): A Booming New Year! š
