Shilin Big Head Dragon Oyster Omelette (大頭龍蚵仔煎) @ Shilin Night Market [Taipei, Taiwan]

I was warned to manage my expectation for the oyster omelette in Taiwan as the texture and taste were not that similar to what we can find in Singapore despite an almost identical cooking style.

Oh well, advice taken and it's therefore with a mentality that i am trying something new when i stepped into the underground Shilin night market food street in seek of this recommended stall known in Chinese as Big Head Dragon. 

For those who have difficulties finding it, just note it is located right beside the washrooms! We were once again too full to order anything else except for the oyster omelette at NT$50 a plate! 

The first thing that caught our attention was definitely the pool of brownish sauce right in the middle; not exactly evoking an appetizing image if you know what i am imagining in my head.

I must admit i prefer Singapore's crispier version although this Taiwanese style was actually pretty good in its own way; more eggs were used, the richness of oyster flavour could not be disregarded and the potato starch wasn't as excessive as some of the oyster omelette stalls in Singapore! 

Special credit to the savoury sauce (honestly, i don't know what it consists of) but it sure was tasty! 

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Location

Underground Food Section

Shilin Night Market

Price

NT$50 per plate

Wan He Lou (萬合樓) - Battle of the Lobster Porridge @ 65 Maude Road [Jalan Besar]

After that memorable bowl of lobster porridge at Orchid Live Seafood, i did an online search and found another restaurant famed for the same dish; Wan He Lou!

As you could have probably guessed, it took me a really long time to finally give it a try; thanks to the Great Kon who suggested this place for dinner a week ago.

I am cutting to the chase by diving straight into food! There is only so much i can say about ambience and decor given my limited vocabulary. Oh, i do like those bird cage lanterns hanging from the ceiling. 

Crispy Lotus with Salted Egg

Frankly, these would make for a fantastic ready-to-eat snack while watching a movie and we thought sales might just fly if they are to be put in convenient vacuumed packs! 

Key seller was definitely the yummy layer of salted egg flavouring encompassing the thinly sliced lotus roots! Granted it wasn't as excessive as the salted egg crab from Yijia; it was still formidable in its own right as something we would enjoy munching on. 

Pan Fried Kurobuta Pork

I am not a person who places brand-name meat as top priority since the usual increase in prices doesn't really commensurate with a much better taste. But this pan fried kurobuta pork took my breath away with its tenderness and juiciness! 

Yellow Gravy Crab Meat Tofu

At first look, the green gelatine stuff wasn't exactly 'right' for tofu and we were proven right; it tasted like jelly on tofu and was too weird for liking despite a gravy filled with pieces of crab meat!

Green Dragon Vegetable

Said to be one of the signature dishes on the menu that was rarely served in other dining establishments, this was indeed unique even though i found it to be more chive-tasting. I honestly don't mind chives; so long they are not in such big portion. 

Signature Chicken

A better name would be signature chicken drumlets; to name it as chicken and then to see unsatisfying drumlets being served was quite a letdown. They were not fantastic although the dark, savoury sauce wasn't too bad. 

Tofu Pudding (Tau Huay) Ice Cream

What would be the image in your mind when you hear of this tau huay ice cream? For us, it was obviously not ice cream IN tau huay; which was exactly the case. It didn't help that cheapo chocolate ice cream was used and to think we paid S$3.90 for it! Thank god we only had one! 

Signature Lobster Porridge

Star for the day and the one dish i was really looking forward to!

Compared to the epic one i had in Orchid Live Seafood, the broth was richly flavoured yet only lightly infused with the most important essence that makes or breaks the dish; the lobster. Boiling the porridge with ginger might help to bring out the flavour. 

On the lobster meat, the texture was a bit mushy and i wondered if it was as fresh as those served in Orchid Live Seafood which were taken straight (alive and kicking) from the glass tanks.  

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Location

65 Maude Road

Opening Hours (Daily)

Lunch: 11am till 2.30pm

Dinner: 5.00pm till 10.30pm

Reservation

6294-8057

Website

www.wanhelou.com

Price

Crispy Lotus with Salted Egg (S) - S$11.90

Pan Fried Kurobuta Pork (S) - S$14.90

Yellow Gravy Crab Meat Tofu (S) - S$13.90

Green Dragon Vegetable (S) - S$9.90

Signature Chicken (S) - S$11.90

Tofu Pudding Ice Cream - S$3.90

Signature Lobster Porridge (350g) - S$29.90

[Subject to 7% GST]

Culprit Caught for Plagiarising My Review - Orchid Live Seafood

{UPDATE} 
Check out my update here after you have read through this post. Orchid Live Seafood has officially replied me!


The kids are sleeping now and i finally have time to work on the upcoming post on a restaurant that was famous for its lobster porridge; as all decent bloggers would do, i would usually search for some basic information i could include for the benefit of my readers.

Top on the search engine was www.lobsterporridge.com.sg and it appeared to be from Orchid Live Seafood; the very same place where i had my first taste of lobster porridge! It was an unforgettable experience and i couldn't stop myself from clicking the link.

It is appears to be the official website of Orchid Live Seafood with a mouth-watering picture of their signature lobster porridge! I don't remember much about the history of the restaurant so i thought it would be insightful to check out "about us".

Wait! The photographs looked familiar!!! I did a check on my blog and yes, the website is using my photographs (with no credit, by the way). I am pissed and at the same time, amused by the actions of some people (even bloggers) who attempt to crop the photographs so that they don't bear the 'mark' of the original photographer. 

What took the cake was the article for "about us". Notice the similarity in the sentences?! To confirm, you may refer to my review HERE. I don't profess to be a good writer and it was indeed an honour to be plagiarised. But it is also a matter of integrity!

Time to leave a message for the operator! =_=

Let's see if he / she would reply.  

Ma La Sang Wild Boar Sausage (瑪拉桑山猪肉香肠) in Shilin Night Market - The Best Taiwanese Sausage @ Taipei [Taiwan]

Digging deep into my memory, the first time i had Taiwanese food in Singapore should be at a pasar malam where there was a queue for Taiwanese sausages! I was hooked and for a long period of time, could not resist paying for a stick whenever i chanced upon a stall at the night market. 

In my recent Taiwan trip, i have had quite a number of Taiwanese sausages and although nicer than their Singapore counterpart; the only one that made us walked back to order again would be the above stall located at Shilin, father of all night markets in Taiwan! 

Featuring the highly acclaimed wild boar meat using traditional aboriginal marination, this was easily the best i had in my nine-day trip! And this was surprising because the person in charge was diligently cutting away the charred bits that should have made the sausages even more delicious (at least to me).

Just look at Alex's delirious expression; it was extremely juicy with soft, tender meat that was perfectly grilled. That's not all; the taste wasn't overly sweet yet the flavour remained intensely rich (we opted no extra sauce by the way)! We had four in total and i can tell you confidently; we should have gone back for three more! 

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Location

Intersection of Danan Rd and Jihe Rd,

Shilin Night Market, Taipei, Taiwan

Map

As above. For my review on Jihe smelly tofu, click here.  

Price

NT$35 for one

Three for NT$100

For an overview of my 9 Days, 8 Nights Taiwan Trip [Cingjing (清境) - Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) - Taichung (臺中) - Taipei (臺 北)], click HERE.

Dian Shui Lou (點水樓) - Voted Most Popular Xiaolongbao Restaurant in Taiwan

Din Tai Fung originated from Taiwan and although i failed in my attempt to check out its original store at Yongkang Street, i did manage to have xiaolongbao in Taiwan after all. 

Because of the above poster with its proud proclamation to all passersby that as far as popular vote was concerned, Dian Shui Lou had supposedly an upper hand over Din Tai Fung!

How not to try right?! 

The lack of a queue (probably because it was way past lunch) didn't deter us from stepping into the Chinese restaurant and ordering too much for just the two of us. 

Fried Rice with Shrimps

虾仁炒饭

Singapore's Din Tai Fung was famous for the same dish and we thought it would be appropriate to draw comparison between the two competitors. Verdict? Normal. 

Red Bean Paste Dumpling

豆沙小包

Once again, i could not resist ordering the dou sha xiaolongbao as i would usually order them in Singapore!  By the way, i am so glad to have gone for the small serving with only five dumplings!

Skin was thin but my main concern was with its low level of sweetness! From the way the paste twirled in my mouth, it was obvious each of them was handmade with varying textures felt during the eating process. 

Dumplings with Crab Roe & Meat

蟹黄小笼包

Honestly, i was expecting this to be a total letdown! 

Turned out they were the better ones; break one apart and be prepared to see pieces of REAL crab meat! The delicious crab flavour was noticeable right from the very first bite! 

Custard Bun

奶皇玉露包

Just had to ask for a serving to see if there would be any difference from our local style.

In my honest opinion, it was a great sense of injustice towards the buns; the generous custard filling was a perfect balance between sweetness and saltiness yet the dough had to be so thick and tough! 

Shanghai Xiaolongbao

上海小笼包

The most popular xiaolongbao was finally on the table!

One word; oily! In addition, the meat's seasoning didn't meet our expectations; lacking the yummy flavour i loved so much from Malaysia's Dragon-i and D'Shanghai. Maybe it is indeed Taiwan's number one but in my heart, it's not even in the top three. 

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Location

64, Huaining Street, Taipei, Taiwan

[Just further down from CityInn Taipei I]

Price

Fried Rice with Shrimps - NT$280

Red Bean Paste Dumplings (5s) - NT$95

Dumplings with Crab Roe & Meat (5s) - NT$250

Custard Bun (2s) - NT$90

Shanghai Xiaolongbao (10s) - NT$200

Opening Hours

Lunch: 11.30am to 2.30pm

Dinner: 5.30pm to 10.00pm

For an overview of my 9 Days, 8 Nights Taiwan Trip [Cingjing (清境) - Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) - Taichung (臺中) - Taipei (臺 北)], click HERE.

Candy Crush Level 252 - The Game That Never Seems to Stop!

I have succumbed to the temptation and downloaded Candy Crush; it was too irritating to see most people on the trains playing the game, many of them around my parents' age! How can i lose to them?!?!!?

Whatever the point is, i had been diligent and so far, managed to clear more than 200 stages to get to my current position (honestly, i did sacrifice quite a bit of my weekends and blogging time). 

As this game has been around for so long, i really don't see the point of blogging about it until i got to level 252; amazingly, this time-limited stage never seemed to end and i was excited to see it crossing over 500,000 points after a while! Till then, my maximum was only about 350,000. 

Looking at the constricted score counter, i wonder what would happen if i have the chance to cross a million points; would the counter stop accepting the points or would the game crash!? This curious cat mentality compelled me to keep going. 

About to breach the counter!!!

And it comes to naught; the font size got smaller just to accommodate the higher score. I could have attempted for another 9 million points but i figured time could be better use elsewhere (like finishing my postings on Taiwan)!

Final score as above!