Cirrus - Asian Food in Sapa @ Vietnam

With so many restaurants to choose from at Sapa Town, I am glad to have received recommendations from a friend who was there a few months earlier! But, I was puzzled with the location on Google Map since the building right in front had a souvenir shop; definitely not a restaurant!

Turned out the restaurant was on the second floor! Not exactly comforting news for those bringing elderly parents who might have difficulties climbing up the stairs. On second thought, visitors to Sapa are likely aware that climbing & walking are inevitable activities. 

Commanding a high review score of 4.8 on Google Maps from over 300 reviewers, it's a small outfit and on a good day, without the constant mist we encountered on our trip, you could look out for a good view of the town.

What surprised us most, however, was when the friendly chef cum owner, Mr Adrian Chua, came over to make small talk. Aside from the warm hospitality, we were caught off guard by the accent of his English; strangely Singaporean. 

I asked and he was indeed from our little red dot! In addition to being a chef at numerous five star hotels and restaurants, Mr Chua was also one of the judges for Iron Chef Thailand 2013! Well, accolades aside, my priority still lies with food. 

Combo Cloud Hotpot - let's begin with the hotpot, which was one of the things that most people will crave for when the weather is freaking cold! p.s. that's the reason why I don't quite understand the popularity of hotpot in Singapore! 

Let's throw in the plate of vegetables, corn, tofu and mushrooms! 

Noticed the plate of sliced fish? They were the Sapa sturgeon and "locally raised in the cold mountain streams, known for their quality and nutritional value".

Soup was flavorful and definitely stomach warming for the 11 degree celcius weather! Ingredients were fresh and a special shout out for the sturgeon fish . The taste was similar to batang fish, albeit nicer, and while there were bones; they were flexible with the ease of crunching through them with our teeth!

The combo included a few other dishes; like the above sapa fried bamboo rice. Looking all pretty, the texture was sticky and generally bland with just a dash of salt. Eating it with the accompanying crushed peanuts didn't help increase its palatability.

Thai grilled pork meat salad didn't amaze; like a plate of grilled pork stir fried with vegetables in my honest opinion. It would have been better should the pork be grilled longer for a deeper, smokier flavour. 

This serving of fried chicken wings with caramelized fish sauce reminded us of the steven chicken from orchid live seafood, with a sweeter, Korean style marination that appealed to our taste buds! So impressed were we; we went to order an additional ala carte serving! 

Flaming Pineapple Beef - as the name suggested, this shall be a visual treat, with the pineapple being lighted like a bonfire! For us, the hot flames had the additional advantage of warming our hands!

Insides of the pineapple after the flame died down; a rich and thick beef broth that was yummy, although nothing quite beats the tenderness and taste of the beef, latter of which was infused with the natural zestiness of the pineapple! p.s. not enough beef to go around.... 

 

Rock Sprouts with Garlic - said to be available during winter with a taste similar to asparagus and kailan, my own take was that they were more like broccoli stems, although crunchier yet not as hard. 

=====

Pretty good meal, especially the hotpot and the flaming pineapple beef! Taste wise, I would say Singaporeans will definitely be comfortable with it. Do note that the restaurant would be moving soon. Do keep a lookout on their website. 

Address

29 Xuân Viên, TT. Sa Pa, 

Sa Pa, Lào Cai 330000, Vietnam

Map

As above.

Website

https://cirrussapa.com/

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Combo Cloud Hotpot - 857,000 dong

Flaming Pineapple Beef - 280,000 dong

Rock Sprouts with Garlic - 55,000 dong

Click here for my summarized itinerary of my 3 Days trip to Sapa

Taking the Bus No 7322 from Chiayi Train Station to Alishan National Forest @ Taiwan

Since it would have been my second time to Alishan National Forest, I was hoping to take the old school forest railway train up the mountain. Alas, it was not to be as the tickets were quickly sold out online and even a last minute check onsite at Chiayi train station didn't result in any good news.

There's always a Plan B, and sometimes, Plan C. Plan B involved the use of public buses to bring is to Alishan National Forest. And this plan required me to navigate a website, using my rudimentary grasp of the Chinese written characters. 

Costing NT$240 (about S$10) for each person, the troublesome part was that I had to print and collect the tickets from one of the many Family Mart convenience stores in the country. QR codes would have been so much more convenient....

Worst part was that we had to navigate the self-service kiosk! As a foreigner who is more acquainted to reading English, I gave up when I saw so many options under transportation! On buses, there were four to choose from and nothing described the bus no 7322 that we would be boarding!

With the help from one of the busy staff member from the convenience stores, we finally managed to get our tickets roughly half an hour before the arrival of the bus. Maybe due to too many tourists who collected their tickets at the last minute, there's a new notice on the website informing customers to do so at least the day before. 

Let's not await the bus at the bus stop, which was right in front of Chiayi Railway Station. Incredibly easy to find and if you fail to do so; just ask one of the many friendly Taiwanese around.

There's even a large sticker indicating this would be the correct bus stop for bus no 7322. It's kind of amazing to see bus numbers going to the thousands since in Singapore, bus routes numbered just about 300 plus, and the highest bus number is 993. 

10.05 am and we were finally boarding bus no 7322. Nothing fanciful about the bus; there was a luggage compartment for our cabin luggage and seat configuration was two by two. 

Starting our bus journey.

And blessed by this blooming tree! 

Bypassed the imposing 嘉邑慈玄宮 temple. In total, it was said that Taiwan has over 15,000 official temples for both Taoism and Buddhism. Unofficially, the number was said to number at least 33,000! 

In my first two visits to Taiwan (in 2014 and 2023), I wondered why so called rivers were so narrow and dry. Turned out they served a preventive purpose, specifically during the annual typhoon season, when the island would face heavy rainfall.

Climbing up the mountains!

Sharing a trivia here; see those tall slender trees that looked like a very thin coconut trees? Want to guess what they are? According to our tour guide for my 2023 trip, they were betel trees! Yes, the one that gave us the betel nuts said to be stimulating, and could contribute to a higher risk of oral cancer! 

It's just so mentally comforting to see the mountains next to us. Another view that calm my soul would be that of the beach view, where there's nothing beyond the horizon, and we only have the water, the sand, the sky and the clouds above us.

Tea plantation. The mountain tea from Alishan, under the a type of Chinese tea known as oolong,  is renowned globally, and said to be "exquisitely sweet candy-like, floral and fruity". Well, I am no tea connoisseur. 

Getting higher and higher. 

Another tea plantation and there were plenty along the way. For a more immersive experience, staying in a minsu, similar to a B&B, is said to be less touristy. Many to choose from although I didn't opt for one as I am scared it would be too boring. Furthermore, we would likely require pricey, private transport.

Toilet break at about 11.40am at this place known as Shizuo (23°28'23.1"N 120°41'50.4"E). It started drizzling! Not good news for us as I would want to explore the natural trails and do so in the rain would just be too inconvenient! 

Incredible mountain view! 

After a journey that took us almost three hours, we finally arrived at the Alishan transport station, which was the final stop and the entrance of Alishan National Forest! Time of arrival, 12.40pm. 

=====

Click HERE for 11 Days, 10 Nights Taiwan Trip: Summarised Itinerary for Chiayi Alishan (嘉义阿里山) - Kaohsiung (高雄) - Tainan (台南) - Taichung (臺中)