Taiwan: Sweet & Salty

Today I’m featuring more flavours!

Sweet Desserts

Sweet: tofu pudding. Long queue here at their second chain store.
I ordered one with mini pearls (tapioca). Good, too sweet, maybe?
Bubble tea from the mother/father of all bubble tea, Hanlin Tea House.

The origin of bubble tea / pearl milk tea is debatable. Two teahouses have claimed to be originators. One of them is in Tainan, Hanlin Tea House. Their bubble tea is quite good (maybe still too sweet for my liking).

Did you know the ingredient for the tapioca – powder made from the roots of the casava plant – comes from Brazil?

Salt Fields

Salty: Sunset at the salt fields, and no, I did not taste the salt.
There were areas of this field that allowed the public to walk on and scrape the salt fields. Here is a pile.

Night Market

Night market round 2! This one is definitely much busier. It’s as big as the Richmond Night Market, but with mostly food stalls.
Sweet: deep fried sweet potato balls. 地瓜 is a specialty here (?). Delicious.

One thing I learned about myself: I don’t eat in order of flavour. When I see sweet, I eat sweet. I see salty, I eat salty. I’m surprised, even though I shouldn’t, that others choose to eat salty foods first and then eat sugary foods last. Like a finale to a song, they don’t eat salty foods anymore after eating their dessert. Is it weird I eat salty foods again after my dessert?

Salty: Deep fried mushrooms!
Sweet & salty: Corn.

I’m not usually a fan of eating corn because it’s a hassle. I don’t like the fibre stuck in my teeth and it can get messy. (Some have suggested cutting the corn off the cob to make it less messy; it works, but still not a fan.) In Taiwan, they are doing something right.

They prepare it by loosening the kernels of corn with a stick while roasting the cob. When I eat it, it is hassle free and the cob looks clean when I finish. Plus, the sauce that they glaze it with is simply mouth-watering.

Quail eggs… (did not try)
Barbecue octopus… (did not try)
Lawyer delicacy?… (did not try as it looked like a dessert and I felt like I needed something more substantial)

I did not find a lot of veggie-friendly meal-sized foods, mostly just light snacks. Maybe I did not look hard enough.

 

安平/台南

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