Cover image source: klook.com
Hey Hive!
I apologise for the lame title, or should I say flame title hehehe.
Anyway, I'm really excited for this contest because I don't believe I've ever written about street food before! And this is also the first time I'm writing about our trip to Taiwan in Dec 2016! So yay! I'm looking forward to going in-depth into that trip in my Travel series; but all in due time.
So the restaurant, or stall I should say, that I want to share today is from the very famous Shilin Night Market in Taipei!
Source: Flickr
If you've been to Taipei you'd be familiar with this place for sure, since it's among the top must-visit tourist spots there.
But just in case you haven't, Shilin Night Market is one of the largest night markets in Taipei. It encompasses two distinct sections sharing a symbiotic relationship: a section formerly housed in the old Shilin Market building, containing mostly food vendors and small restaurants; and the surrounding businesses and shops selling other nonfood items. Side streets and alleys are also lined with storefronts and roadside stands. Cinemas, video arcades, and karaoke bars are also prevalent in the area.
Anyway, upon arrival in Taipei, we spent our first night exploring Shilin Night Market! We took a walk around almost the entire market, and our dinner consisted of various snacks and street food!
The first snack we bought was flame-grilled beef cubes!
This is one of the many famous street foods you can find in Shilin Night Market, and the smell of the beef was too tempting to pass up.
There are quite a few different beef cube stalls in Shilin, and I think more people would recognise this one:
We did see quite a few of these stalls around, but it was always crowded, so we just decided to try a random beef cube stall. We figured since they were pretty much using the same method; how different can they taste right?
I think the thing that was different about the stall we chose is they had grilled pork as well, so we decided to try a mix of both beef and pork.
It was really cool seeing them cook the meat on the spot with the blowtorch too, and only heightened my anticipation (and hunger) to try it!
As part of the order, you can choose a seasoning you want for your meat. There are quite a few options to choose from, such as lemon pepper salt, cumin powder, curry powder, cheese powder, paprica, and even teriyaki sauce. We didn't know which to pick, so we asked for a recommendation and they suggested Himalayan pink salt. We didn't know what it was, but it was the top choice so we decided to go for it!
After a couple of minutes of waiting, we got our order!
It actually tasted really good! The meat was tender and juicy, albeit a tad oily. The salt was a little much at some parts, but it definitely seasoned the meat really well. I would say that the beef is definitely better than the pork in terms of tenderness though. The pork was slightly more chewy, but the beef was really good! I can see why it's famous. It reminded me of the Kobe beef we ate in Nankin-machi (Kobe Chinatown).
There are many different beef cube stalls but I think they all taste pretty much the same. But it's definitely worth a try if you're ever in any night market in Taipei!
I can't wait to share more night market snacks the next time this contest rolls around again, so stay tuned!
Thanks for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Restaurant Information
Cube Steak & Pork
111, Taiwan, Taipei City, Shilin District, 111, No. 65, Section 5, Zhongshan North Road
This post participated in the Tasteem contest Street Food
[//]:# (!pinmapple 25.089661 lat 121.526212 long d3scr)
