Stinky Tofu...aka chou doufu (fermented tofu)
At times when you walk through the night market, the smell will hit you in the face. You think that any reasonable person would not put it in their mouth. Afraid to try it as a child, I grew up and wanted an adventure.
Not your normal crab at the Lui He Night Market.
The Biggest Shrimp I have ever seen at the Lui He Night Market.
Lui He Night Market Continued...
At this street food vendor, you will see: Scallion stuffed pig intestines, sea cucumbers (not urchins), some variety of crabs, frogs, sigh...other things I can’t identify.
Liu He Night Market
Welcome to the famous Kaohsiung night market, and it happens to be on the same street where my grandma lives. It has become a tourist place, however. One can see Chinese, Japanese, and Europeans there. There might be hundreds or even thousands of a variety of street food in Taiwan, and this night market represents only a handful. Translated, street food is “small eats” in Taiwan. There is also very little English written there, so eating is surely an experience.
Ecletic. You can eat and buy all you want.
Hot Pot
One of my very favorite cuisines in Taiwan is hot pot. It consists of having a pot of simmering broth, and you cook vegetables, thinly sliced meat, seafood, and dumplings/wontons within the pot. The food is then dipped in a special sauce. We went to a buffet hot pot restaurant which had plentiful meats and vegetables, desserts, beverages, and even chicken tenders, fries, and onion rings. Of course you wouldn't place the latter items in the hot pot. Notice the waffle. Taiwanese people love waffles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's oddly placed on the sushi plate.
Before plate: Clam, goat, mushroom, and leafy vegetable
After plate: Plain delicious
Where else would you see some sort of seafood/clam (called"竹蟶"in Chinese or named solenacean) like creature next to frog legs and hearts (hearts from unknown).
Dumpling House
Dumpling AKA potstickers are made with meats, seafood, or vegetables within a wrapper made of flour and water. We call them shuijiao. They can be steamed, boiled, or fried, and are usually accompanied by a soy/vinegar/ginger sauce. We went to a restaurant specializing in this. But honestly, my mom makes the best!
Another type of egg
My cousin wanted me to try this too. They call it egg pudding. The process is slicing off the top of an egg, cleaning the shell, then placing in "pudding," and then baking it. Ok, the verdict: it's not pudding, but really more like creme brulee without the toasted sugar on top. It tasted wonderfully, with specks of vanilla.
Bird Egg?
We traveled to my cousin's wedding, taking about 4 hours by bus. For lunch, we stopped at a restaurant, and had it family style (with a variety of foods in the middle). I have not tried this, however.
Taiwan (Kaohsiung) Market
I love Taiwan, I consider it my second home. Here is a quick video of my mother and I walking home from the market. Going to the market is like having a farmer's market everyday. Ok, more realistically, it's like a big one stop shop market. You can buy clothing, street food, jewelry, seafood, meat, shoes, you name it.
How fresh is fresh?
And they will clean it for you too, if you want.
Mom is a good negotiator of prices.
