Tea drunk

I have just attended my tea class and I am tea drunk now. We tested almost 30 different types of tea in one day. We started drinking from around 11 am to about 4 pm. I wonder how those testers can survive. Gosh.....

My Clay Kettle Exploded

I just bought a new clay kettle exactly last Saturday in Yingge. Tonight, I was extremely stupid. I was thinking maybe I could eliminate the bad odor by heating it empty. So I rinse the kettle with water then put it on the gas stove and cranked up the fire without the lid on. In seconds, I could see the water evaporating outside the body of the kettle. Then, I saw that the top part of the kettle still wet but not very sure. So, I switched on the light above the stove and suddenly BOOM. It exploded to pieces right in front of me. The pieces were all over my kitchen. My left ear was unable to hear for a few seconds. I was fortunate not to have any injury. However, I lost my very first clay kettle. It's really sad. I haven't even taken pictures and it's now in pieces. I am extremely sad and stupid.

My Second Chinese Painting

This is finally my second Chinese painting...

Tao Ban Wu

Yesterday, I received a 50% discount coupon for two at Tao Ban Wu in Hsinchu. I didn't know what to expect from this restaurant. My husband and I went there without knowing anything. When we got to the building, we were confused because the first floor had nothing except a small area of empty lobby and then stairs. So we went to the second floor and was impressed by the real lobby. It was nice and welcoming.

We had to make reservation to get the seats. When I checked out the menu, it was actually a fix course for NT 499 + 10% service charge. They have some selections on the appetizer, soup, main course, dessert, and drinks. We took sometime to decide because it's in Chinese and very limited pictures of the dishes for our reference. Anyhow, they did not have the vegetarian option in that menu. So we ordered based on the menu given. After we were almost ordering the dessert, the waitress said the vegetarian option was another menu. I didn't know why I didn't ask earlier. Anyhow, it's just way too complicated to check out the vegetarian menu again. I was not interested in the vegetarian menu because in Taiwan, most of the normal (non-vegetarian) restaurants had less appetizing vegetarian food. I might as well get the non - vegetarian dishes with the least amount of meat or fish. Besides, my husband would finish my meat or fish.

First course: Appetizer

Oyster Mushroom: Tasty Sauce

Second Course Option 1

Appetizer: Tomato Salad – love the sauce and the combination with the chocolate colored sauce, it was excellent.

Second Course Option 2
Appetizer: Seafood and fruit salad – this is just as tasty as the tomato salad. 

Third Course Option 1 & 2
Soup: Creamy Asparagus Soup with Seafood and Herbal Chicken Soup - The creamy soup tasted like cream of mushroom soup. It felt rich. The chicken soup was refreshing and not thick at all. Love them both.

Fourth Course Option 1
Rice: Deep Fried Rice Ball - It’s a bit too hard for my taste. The rice tasted ok.

Fourth Course Option 2

Rice: Steamed Rice - The taste was excellent. Love it. I could have more. Love the presentation too.

Intermittent: Mulberry Vinegar Juice - Supposedly the drink would reduce the oily taste from your mouth.

Fifth Course Option 1

Main Dish: Beef Steak with Garlic - We asked for 50% cooked but when it came, the beef was more like 30% cooked. So my husband didn’t really like it. Even though he said the beef was soft.

Fifth Course Option 2

Main Dish: Grilled Pork and Fish - The sea salt was good :P I didn’t eat the pork or the fish. My husband did. He said the pork was tough and he felt like eating ham. As for the fish, it was just ok. We didn’t know what type of fish it was though. In the picture, you can see the pink vegetable. It was pear pickled in some sort of plum alcohol. It was good.

Sixth Course Option 1

Dessert: Tiramisu - It didn’t taste or look like tiramisu at all. It tasted like birthday cake made in Indonesia. So yeah, don’t order this one.

Sixth Course Option 2

Dessert: Cheese Cake top with Ice Cream - One word “Delicious”. 



For drinks, we ordered the Okinawa Brown Sugar Milk Tea and the Chrysanthemum Tea with Medlar and Dates. The milk tea was way too sweet. the Chrysanthemum was good. So you decide. 

Overall this place is worth to go. The ambiance was more towards fine dining. The food was served one after another instead of all at once. This was refreshing after all the Chinese style dining in Taiwan. The service was excellent. We never ran out of tea or the plum juice, empty dishes were cleared up after done, and very friendly. 

Restaurant Name: Tao Ban Wu (陶板屋)

Address: 新竹市北大路338號

Tel: 03-526-5160 (Call to reserve before you go. Normally it’s full)

Open Hours: 11.30 am – 2.30 pm; 5.30 pm – 10 pm

Website: www.taoban.com.tw 



Btw I just found out that they have the English menu online. (http://taoban.com.tw/menu_eng.htm)

Alishan Trip

We finally went to Alishan for vacation. It was very misty when we got there. On the way up, the visibility was about 10 meter.



We went for a walk to check out the food. However, the food was not great there. And I had heartburn since I got there. For the two days trip, I didn't enjoy it as much if I was not having heartburn. Anyhow, the food in the area was a rip off. It was not good either. The instant noodle in 7-11 was much better. The restaurants offered a lot of hot pots though. We were not hot pot fans. So figured what we had to go through.

In the morning, we went to watch the sunrise. However, it was cloudy therefore we were only able to watch the clouds and the mists. It was pretty too.

 

Anyhow, we went downhill and came to one coffee shop/restaurant/motel (Taiwanese called it mingsu). The place was pretty. I think if I ever wanted to go to Alishan again.I will rent a room at this place and just enjoy a relaxing day. This is their website: www.lauya.com

Indonesian Bakmi

It's been a while since we ate Indonesian style of noodle. We have heard of this small store for awhile now However, we only got the chance to try it today. The food was ok. Not as great as the real Indonesian bakmi that you can get in Indonesia.

Name: Toko Indonesia (印尼麵飯食／貨品)
Address: 新竹縣芎林鄉文山路322巷2號 (google map use this: 新竹縣芎林鄉文山路322號 - the store is inside a small alley infront of a Taiwan power company)
Tel: 03-592-4872

Japanese Ramen Address

I have the address for the Japanese Ramen restaurant that I mentioned before.

Name: Da Hai (大海豚骨拉麵)
Address: 新竹市錦華街10巷19號
Phone: 03-542-7698

Open Hours:
Monday - Friday: 11 am - 2 pm; 5 pm - 9 pm
Saturday - Sunday: 11 am - 9 pm

If you google map the address, you should be able to see some reviews too.