Blog de las Letras

     One of Taiwan's most famous "delicacies" is the aptly-named stinky tofu. Stinky tofu comes in many forms from stewed to deep fried, but in all its iterations, it is tofu that has undergone a lengthy fermentation process which gives it a deep, complex flavor and a BIG smell. One could even say, a stink. This might be our first stinky tofu, from a night market near our apartment     We have a bit of a history with stinky tofu. Karen found some in a supermarket in California, and we tried to cook it for our housemates. Matt was unable to even sit downwind of it, let alone eat any. Karen tried a bite and gracefully declined to eat more. We believe that maybe we didn't prepare it correctly- but our Taiwanese housemate actually really enjoyed it, or claimed to. So when we got to Taipei, we knew we wanted to give it another try, but we weren't sure we'd be able to do it when the time came. This stinky tofu was served at a small sit-down restaurant we ducked into...

  Xing Fu Tang's pearls did not disappoint. At first we felt their tea-less product was a cop-out, but we came to appreciate the caffeine-free option. The night markets stole the show in Taiwan, but we didn't lose sight of one of Taiwan's most famous foodie inventions: boba milk tea. Here are some questions you might have about boba in Taiwan: Q: Is boba better in Taiwan? Answer: Not necessarily- we're lucky to have a lot of good boba milk tea options in the Bay Area, and the boba was similar on average. We followed a tour guide's recommendations to try a boba at Milk Cha (known for the best milk), Tien Ren (known for the best tea), and Xing Fu Tang (known for excellent tapioca pearls). Milk Cha wasn't much to write to home about, but Tien Ren does have excellent tea flavor, and the Xing Fu Tang pearls are among the best. Xing Fu Tang claims to have invented the tapioca pearls, and they do a brisk business in the Ximen District, drawing people in with an open ki...

     In our two weeks in Taiwan, we ate at a night market about every other evening. Night markets are the epitome of Taiwanese food culture, and we wish we could bring night market culture back to the US with us! Once, while eating a quick stinky tofu, a Taiwanese woman asked us if it was our first time trying the pungent dish. We started chatting, and when we told her how much we enjoyed the night markets, she said, "well, of course, we all need our night markets," which sums up how we've come to feel as well. So, what is a night market? The entrance to one of Taipei's largest night markets Meat and veggies stuffed into a sticky rice log - a little spicy and very tasty! While Karen waited in line for the sticky rice log, Matt looked for a well-known oyster pancake vendor. He had to hop out of the way of a cart pulling a few hundred eggs and crates full of oysters. On a hunch, he decided to follow the man pushing the cart, which led him right to the window selling th...

  We know our readers like pictures of food. We have a lot of photos that just never made it into a blog post, so we'd like to share them here, in no particular order: Takoyaki - grilled octopus balls Matt is actually not a big fan of Takoyaki Soba This platter was served at an Onsen in the Tokyo suburbs. The soba noodles are dipped into the sauce and then eaten. In fact the bottom of the noodle platter is actually slotted. A lot of people make the mistake of pouring the sauce over the noodles and flooding the tray. One of our last meals in Tokyo was this soba at a highly recommended soba restaurant. Our takeaway? Soba is good but not our favorite. Yakitori - grilled skewers These are the mystery skewers from our blooper reel post . We tried to ask what kind of meat it was using only pantomime. Some we liked, others not so much. The avocado skewers were a surprise hit. We later went to a highly recommended gourmet yakitori place. It was tasty and Matt could see himself having the o...