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Food Archive
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What’s the deal?
This one has bamboozled me for years. Why, oh why do market vendors announce that something is “25 NT each, four for a hundred!” like that’s some kind of deal? I’ve asked people and invariably got blank looks. “It’s 25 NT. Four for a hundred.” Some of the more wily, rascally types down the market […] -
Salt, Stodge and Sarapatel: Getting Stuffed in Salvador de Bahia
Never one to miss a trick, my son Herbie was immensely tickled at the name of the first airline we used in Latin American: LAN. “Felix would love it,” he said of his little brother who, much to my regret, I could not afford to bring along on this six-week trip. Herbie was referring to […] -
Forget the pears. Sanwan (三灣) is all about the beef noodles
Anytime I take a break from a spot of frenetic one-handed Internet surfing these days, to see what’s afoot on the Taiwan blogosphere it seems I come across some bozo muscling in on my territory. If it’s not old Turton gliding through the serenity of Liyutan and holding forth on the wind-turbine protests at Yuanli, […] -
Trinity Indian Stores
Perhaps not from the very minute I started this blog, but fairly early on,I realised that, with a fair number of blogs relating to Taiwan already out there, I wanted it to be a little different. I don’t mean stylistically, though that too, but in the actual content I would present. Generally I try not […] -
Corresponent’s luncheon
I don’t know which continues to surprise me more: Taipei, or one of the city’s foremost flâneurs. The other day, the Inveterate Bede promised a surprise for lunch and delivered. We were meeting to sign some application forms for a challenging day trek up and down Yushan in December. (My signature has me acknowledging the old rogue […] -
Xiao Liu Shougong Lamian (小六手工拉麵)
One of the things that makes me laugh about the various accusations of restaurant roachery (OK, some of these incidents are pretty gross) that surface from time to time in Taiwan is the fact that, in my years here, I’ve seen the hardy pests in dozens of eateries of all levels. From wet market shacks, […] -
Ban Taiwanese pork NOW!
“Tests in Taiwanese pork showed the presence of salbutamol sulphate, an additive specialists describe as 2,000 times as toxic as ractopamine. The product stays inside the animals for a long time and at high levels, according to toxicologists.” I posted this quote from a Taipei Times article on Facebook yesterday. My purpose here is not to […] -
Houlong’s Innards
Having shed a few pounds of late, I did rather pig out this weekend. Here are some delectables from Saturday night in Houlong (後龍), Miaoli County(苗栗縣). My father-in-law is back from Oz for a spell and we went out with my sisters-in-law and their new additions to the fam. We pretty much always go to […] -
Turf War on Taoyuan Street
Furtive as a street-corner stool-pigeon, Mr. Sun peers from behind a pillar and beckons with that palms-down flap that baffled me when I first saw students use it to signal for assistance, fresh off the plane, a decade ago. I cross over. “You know why they don’t want you taking pictures?” he asks. There’s no need […] -
And throw away the key!
NB, it has come to light that the story I mention in this post was mistranslated. Ms Liu did not receive a custodial sentence but a fine and a suspended sentence. There is also evidence to suggest a personal vendetta on her part. Let’s start with some home truths. Anyone who doesn’t eat beef noodles at a […]
