Do Beef Ribs Stall on Big Green Egg

Editor's Note — This story complements the Culinary Journeys Television serial, airing monthly on CNN International. You can run across more of the show here: www.cnn.com/journeys. Share photos of your own Culinary Journeys on Instagram with the hashtag #CNNFood for a take a chance to be featured on CNN.

Taiwan (CNN) — Small eats, and a lot of them, are the large affair in Taiwan.

Recently voted past our readers as the best nutrient destination in the globe, the culinary philosophy here is consume often and eat well. Sure, at that place's the internationally accepted three-meals-a-day dining format -- but why limit yourself when you lot can make like the Taiwanese and do gourmet snacking any time of day?

The Taiwanese majuscule, Taipei, has about xx streets dedicated to nutrient. Every fourth dimension you lot think you've found the best streetside bao, the most incredible stinky tofu or mind-blowing beef noodle soup, there'south another Taiwanese nutrient shop that surpasses information technology.

The island's food is a mash-up of the cuisine of the Min Nan, Teochew and Hokkien Chinese communities, along with Japanese cooking techniques. It's a culinary love-in with diversely delicious offspring.

Arguments almost Taiwan'due south all-time nutrient take chances ruining relationships and lifelong friendships. Food: information technology's serious, it'south respected, it's all excellent when y'all travel to Taiwan.

Note: Foods, not the restaurants, are the stars in this list. Restaurants recommended here are ones nosotros trust. But at that place are plenty more we haven't tried. Still.

Get a quick taste of Taiwan'due south capital as we tour five of Taipei's hottest restaurants. Video by Black Buddha.

i. Braised pork rice

"Where there's a wisp of smoke from the kitchen chimney, there will be lurou fan [braised pork with rice]," goes the Taiwanese maxim. The popularity of this humble dish cannot be overstated.

"Lurou fan" is near synonymous with Taiwanese food.

"Lurou fan is the more ordinary and down-to-earth dish for whatsoever Taiwanese," says Rae Lin, founder of dearbnb, a Taiwanese travel website. "From your mother's version of lurou fan to the i served in a restaurant, it'south the one dish we truly can't live without."

A good basin of lurou fan features finely chopped, not quite minced, pork belly, tedious-cooked in aromatic soy sauce with five spices. There should be an aplenty amount of fattiness, in which lies the magic. The meat is spooned over hot rice. A piffling sugariness, a piffling salty, braised pork rice is comfort food perfected.

two. Beef noodles

Yous know a dish is an obsession when it gets its own festival. Beef noodle soup inspires competitiveness and innovation in Taiwanese chefs. Everyone wants to merits the "beef noodle king" title.

Whether you lot're visiting the trendy Pin Chuan Lan'south rib-eye steak noodle restaurant or have fabricated a foray into the offset makeshift noodle shack yous spot, it's almost impossible to have a bad beef noodle experience in Taiwan.

Lin Dong Fang's beef shanks with al dente noodles in herbal soup are a perennial favorite. The streetside eatery's underground weapon is the dollop of homemade chili-butter, added last. But many locals adopt a stall without a sign on Tao Yuan Street (once you spot the queuing crowd yous'll know y'all've arrived).

Information technology's and so famous that the store is now synonymous with the street, dubbed "Tao Yuen Street beefiness noodle" -- well-nigh supporters don't actually know its real proper name is Lao Wang Beef Noodle -- and has inspired a few other wannabes on the same route.

Lao Wang "Tao Yuan Street" Beefiness Noodle, 15 Tao Yuan Street, Zhongzheng Commune

iii. Oyster omelet

Here's a snack that really showcases the fat of the state in Taiwan. You've got something from the sea and something from the soil. The eggs are the perfect foil for the little oysters, which are easily constitute effectually the island, while sweetness potato starch is added to give the whole matter a gooey chewiness -- a signature Taiwan food texture.

No wonder the soup was voted all-time snack to represent Taiwan in a poll of 1,000 Taiwanese past Global Views Monthly a few years dorsum.

4. Bubble tea

Chewy and refreshing.

Hiufu Wong/CNN

Chimera tea represents the "QQ" food texture that Taiwanese love. The phrase refers to something that is especially chewy, like the tapioca balls that grade the "bubbles" in bubble tea. It's said this unusual potable was invented out of boredom.

Chun Shui Tang and Hanlin Tea Room both claim to have invented bubble tea by combining sweetened tapioca pudding (a popular Taiwanese dessert) with tea.

Regardless of which shop did it start, today the city is filled with bubble tea joints. Variations on the theme include taro-flavored tea, jasmine tea and java, served cold or hot.

Hanlin Tea Room , 313, Section 2, Minzu Road, Tainan City; +886 6 221 2357

v. Milkfish

How popular is milkfish in Taiwan? So popular that information technology has its own themed museum in Anping and there's a milkfish cultural festival in Kaohsiung.

The bony fish might pose a challenge for amateurs, just it's loved for its tender meat and economical toll tag. Milkfish is prepared in numerous ways -- in a congee porridge, pan-fried, every bit fish ball soup or braised. For home-style preparation, retro Izakaya-style restaurant James Kitchen serves pan-fried milkfish with lime. A bowl of scallion lard rice is a great complement.

vi. Slack Flavor danzai noodles

Y'all've gotta love a place called Slack Season, and it should be ane of the showtime stops on whatsoever culinary trip to Taiwan. The iconic eatery originated in Tainan about a century agone.

A fisherman sold noodles during the slack fishing season and the place became and then successful he quit his original trade altogether. The signature bowl of Slack Flavor noodles is served in shrimp soup with bean sprouts, coriander, minced pork and fresh shrimp. The bowl of comforting flavors is so addictive that a man from Tainan supposedly ate xviii bowls in a row at the restaurant.

7. Pan-fried buns

Like the fluffiness of cake and the crunchiness of white potato chips? This pan-fried bun gives you the best of both worlds.

The buns are made with spongy white Chinese bread that'southward pan-fried on the bottom. Suspension one open and you reveal a moist, porky filling. A Shanghainese staple, the Taiwanese version differs in two ways: it'south slightly bigger and it hits the pan upside-down.

Hsu Ji, Shida Night Marketplace, Taan District, Taipei City; +886 9 3085 9646

8. Gua bao

Beloved Gua Bao: You're the Big Mac of our eye.

Hiufu Wong/CNN

In spite of a wave of bao madness overseas in recent years -- a lot are overpriced and underwhelming -- the best gua bao however comes from the island. It's a hamburger, Taiwan-style.

A steamed bun sandwiches a hearty filling of braised pork belly, pickled Chinese cabbage and powdered peanuts. The filling is chopped into small pieces and mixed together and so there'south a bit of everything in every bite. Accept a large mouthful and you become salty, sour and sweetness flavors and greasy pork pond in your mouth.

Lan Jia's famous gua bao has peanut powder sprinkled on information technology for extra sweetness.

9. Atomic number 26 egg

It's called "iron egg" because it'south so tough. These chewy little eggs, dyed black from long braising in soy sauce, are a highly addictive Taiwanese nutrient.

Often fabricated from quails' eggs, the protein balls are cooked for hours in soy sauce then air-dried. The process is repeated over several days until the snacks get tough and acquire the desired chewiness.

Seaside A-Po , 151-1, Jhongjheng Road, Tamshui; A-Po, 135-one, Jhongjheng Road, Tamshui

10. Pineapple block

This iconic Taiwanese pastry -- mini-pies filled with candied pineapple -- is one of Taiwan's all-time food souvenirs. For 1 of the top pineapple cake experiences there's SunnyHills, which uses only local pineapples. The issue is a darker filling, rougher texture and sourer gustation than most.

The pies at other shops are filled with a mix of pineapple and chewable bits of winter melon. They have a fruity sweetness and a golden casing of crumbly, buttery pastry. Stores that replace pineapple completely with wintertime melon to cut costs are committing a big no-no.

xi. Tian bu la (Taiwanese oden)

You lot tin add soup to the scraps and slurp it up.

Hiufu Wong/CNNGo

Tian bu la refers to fish paste that'southward been molded into various shapes and sizes, deep-fried, and so boiled in a broth. Before eating, the pieces of solid fish paste are taken from the broth and smothered in dark-brown sauce.

Doesn't audio like much, but tian bu la delivers enough of sweet flavors and chewy textures, making it a beloved Taiwanese nutrient. The food is basically a Taiwanese take on Japanese oden, with more sugariness, tougher fish cakes and a signature sauce. When you finish the bits of fish block, there's more to come up.

Nosotros recommend getting some soup from the vendor and adding it to the remaining sauce in the bowl. Mix and drink the resulting season flop.

Simon Tian Bu La, 95 Xining South Road, Wanhua District, Taipei Urban center; +886 2 2331 2481

12. Ba wan (Giant meat dumplings)

Ba wan is a Taiwanese mega-dumpling. Made with a dough of rice flour, corn starch and sweetness tater starch, information technology looks virtually translucent after cooking. Pork, veggies and sometimes eggs are stuffed inside and gravy poured on top.

A small staff inside the wet market in Kaoshiung's Hunei Commune offers freshly handmade ba wan. Comport in mind they usually sell out before apex.

Hunei wet market place, 17, Lane 16, Renai Street, Kaohsiung; +886 7 699 6612

thirteen. Fried craven

Taiwan deserves a special identify in the fried craven hall of fame. Not just has it fabricated the behemothic fried chicken cutlet -- Hotstar Chicken Cutlet -- a cult legend (which has swelled from one street stall to an international franchise owner), but its popcorn craven is dangerously addictive.

The chicken is chopped into seize with teeth-sized pieces, marinated, dipped in concoction and deep-fried. A generous sprinkling of common salt, pepper and deep fried basil complete the morsels.

"Fried chicken stalls are definitely ane of Taiwanese people'south favorite belatedly night eateries," says Rae Lin. "Stalls ordinarily offer a range of food like calamari and sweet potato."

Taiwan's First Popcorn Chicken Store, 530-1, Bei'an Road, Zhongshan Commune, Taipei City

14. Flaky scallion pancakes

There are few things more than flavory than the sight of a flaky scallion pancake being slowly torn apart. Add cheese and egg fillings to maximize the visuals. This night market staple needs to be devoured in a few bites to ensure it stays steaming hot and chewy.

15. Oyster vermicelli

A bowl of groovy oyster vermicelli should have a thick, flavorful soup base while the thin rice noodles and oysters retain their distinct texture. Some people add chopped intestines to add a new dimension to the soup. It's a gooey, slurpable dish with an intense, briny taste.

16. Stinky tofu

This could be the globe's premier dear-it-or-detest-information technology snack and Taiwan does it just right. The "fragrant" cube of bean curd is deep-fried and draped with sweet and spicy sauce.

If you hold your nose, it looks and tastes simply like a apparently ol' slice of fried tofu, with a well-baked casing and soft pudding-like center. Just what'south the fun in eating that? Inhale deeply and savour the stench. The smellier, the better.

17. Sweet potato

Information technology'due south gilt. Information technology's in the shape of Taiwan. What's non to like virtually sweet potatoes?

Hiufu Wong/CNN

Leaving taste, olfactory property and nutritional value aside, the sweet tater stands out for one item reason -- "it's shaped a bit like the isle," says Peter Lin, founder of local tour visitor Topology.

One of their local tours allows travelers to volunteer to sell potatoes with local vendors. Taiwan-grown sweet potatoes are added to soup, with ginger, then roasted in ovens converted from oil drums. They're then ground to a flour and added to other dishes to give them texture, or fried into sugariness potato fries.

As long every bit the love root vegetable is in it, Taiwanese dear it.

18. Shaved ice mountain

One good matter about the hot, humid and stormy Taiwan summers? It's a great excuse to consume shaved ice mountain. A pile of shaved ice is heaped with fresh fruit and flavorings, such every bit mango pieces, juice and sweet condensed milk.

Food blogger Joan H from A Hungry Girl's Guide to Taipei recommends the traditional version -- red edible bean stuffed tapioca shaved water ice.

"Originating in Yilan, my favorite version of this dessert is from Sister Wei Heart," she says. "Scoops of creamy shaved ice topped with honey and condensed milk with a side of chewy boba stuffed with ruby-red beans."

Mango shaved ice at Smoothie Firm, fifteen Yong-kang St., Taipei City; +886 2 2321 3367

For classics there's Sis Wei Heart, 35 Jiaoxi Route, Section 5, Jiaoxi Township, Yilan County, Taipei; +886 3 988 9566

19. Pepper cakes

A must-endeavour at Rao He night market place, pepper cakes are crispy pastry pockets filled with juicy pork that's infused with the effluvious seize with teeth of blackness pepper. Baked on the wall of a dirt oven, the pies are a succulent ode to the pepper plant. Guild more than ane or you'll have to look in the long queue when you inevitably become back for more than.

20. Dumplings at Din Tai Fung Dumpling House

Veteran eaters break a pocket-sized hole in the wrapper and sip the soup.

chen xiaofeng

Xiaolongbao may be a Shanghainese delicacy, but some argue the Taiwanese perfected them. Taiwanese restaurant Din Tai Fung does its Shanghai comrades proud with its succulent pork-soup dumplings.

Din Tai Fung'south bite-sized xiaolongbao have a consistently high quality. Their cardboard wrappings concur rich hot goop and tender pork meatballs. Gasps can exist heard intermittently at Din Tai Fung as diners brace for the scalding hot soup that squirts out upon biting the dumpling.

21. Fish ball soup

What's better than fresh seafood? Balls of fresh seafood, of class.

Handmade fish balls in Taiwan tend to have more air in the ball, thus allowing more than goop to be soaked up. They too take a bouncier chew.

Jiaxing Fish Brawl, No. 21, Lane 210, Department 2, Yanping North Route, Datong Commune, Taipei Urban center; +886 two 2553 6470

22. Ribs stewed in medicinal herbs

This is the Taiwanese version of bak kut the, the Chinese meat soup that'southward as well popular in Singapore and Malaysia. In Taiwan, the soup is slow-cooked in Chinese medicinal ingredients, extracting the essence from pork bones and more than 14 nutritious herbs, roots and dried fruits.

It's yummy and good for you, too. Information technology's likewise a great way to go along warm in winter. There isn't much meat on the lean basic, but the point of the dish is the soup. Locals pick the bones up and suck the juice off. Y'all might be considered strange if you don't do the same.

Nanya Night Market, Nanya East Route, Taipei City

23. Goose

Geese, bred on Taiwan farms, are never wasted. From skin to blood, they're made into succulent dishes.

Despite its proper name, Ya Rou Bian (Duck Meat Bian) only sells Taiwan-raised geese. Every bite of the juicy goose meat with slightly smoked pare tastes like a commemoration of poultry. Or you could try one of Bistro Le Pont'southward bowls of steamed rice topped with goose, chili oil and 10.o. sauce. The rice grains are an platonic vehicle for goose fat and flavor.

24. Ding bian cuo

Painting the wok with rice slurry to make ding bian cuo.

Courtesy Wu Jia

Ding bian cuo is a bowl of glace rice-flour pasta. To make it, rice-flour batter is poured along the side of a huge heated wok, sliding and spreading along the hot metallic to form slices of noodles. When dried, the sheets are cut into smaller pieces that go the thin and chewy noodles used in ding bian cuo.

Wu Jia ding bian cuo is a century-quondam family business. Its version of the dish is served with handmade pork cakes, shrimp cakes, cabbage, daylily and bamboo shoots.

25. Mochi

These glutinous rice balls are as soft as marshmallows and filled with sugariness or salty ingredients. The nigh traditional mochi are filled with red bean paste and rolled in peanut powder. In recent years, strawberry jam, sesame paste, light-green tea jam and peanut paste take get popular fillings. You tin learn how to make mochi at the Royal Taiwan Mochi Museum (around $5 per person).

26. Anything braised with Lantern soy sauce

Lantern Lu Wei worries most flavor, non your schedule.

Courtesy Ada Yeung

No matter what you choose from the Lantern Lu Wei food stall, it'll accept on the sense of taste of the signature five-spice soy sauce. It'due south a little sweet, not too salty and aromatic, made with cloves, star anise, cinnamon and other spices.

Option your preferred ingredients and the chef will cook it in a pot filled with the special sauce. It's a perfect light meal before a big nighttime out. You lot should expect to wait in line as the chef never rushes -- he takes his time to permit the the food to absorb the sauce.

27. Tube rice pudding

Glutinous rice and Chinese mushrooms are fried with seasoning and stuffed into a bamboo tube together with pork and egg. The tube of rice is steamed again to further soften the texture until it becomes a cylindrical pudding.

Da Qiao Tou started making its rice pudding in a stall under a bridge more four decades ago. The business has since expanded just the rice pudding has stayed the same. Information technology'south best when topped with the homemade turnip-laced sweetness and spicy sauce.

28. Taiwanese breakfast

The three best dishes to kicking off your day with in Taiwan? Sesame flatbread, deep-fried Chinese donuts and soy milk.

Food blogger Joan H. says her favorite breakfast is from Fu Hang.

"I honey the thick sesame apartment bread at Fu Hang because it has a slight sweetness, a thin crispy layer and soft eye from coming straight out of the hot metallic barrel," she says. "Many sesame flatbreads are dry and flaky just Fu Hang'southward shows why in that location'due south ofttimes a half-hour await in that location on the weekends."

29. Pig'due south blood rice pudding

This mix of squealer's blood and sticky rice is stuck on the finish of a stick like a lollipop. For the final Taiwanese touch, the pudding is coated in a sweet peanut powder.

Basketball star Jeremy Lin named sus scrofa'south blood rice cake as one of his favorite snacks on a visit to Taiwan. If it's expert enough for Lin, it's skillful plenty for us.

Xiao Li, No. 1-3, Lane 136, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei Urban center; +886 2 2368 3417

30. Three-cup craven

3-loving cup chicken is cooked in a loving cup of rice wine, a cup of oil and a cup of soy sauce. Fresh basil, chilies and garlic are then added to this Taiwanese culinary triumvirate, resulting in an irresistible combination. Some kitchens offering a different version of three-cup chicken that includes a loving cup of wine, a loving cup of sesame oil and a cup of sugar.

Ban tiao: rustic taste, rabid post-obit.

Hiufu Wong/CNN

31. Ban tiao noodles

Ban tiao (flat rice noodles) has such a rabid post-obit that many Taiwanese will drive hours in search of the almost authentic bowls. The thick, flat, glace noodles made from glutinous rice are part of the Hakka culinary tradition and best sampled in Kaohsiung's Meinong district.

Stir-fried ban tiao with pork has a rustic taste and texture. Many notice the dish more comforting when served in hot soup.

Meixing Street, Meinong district, Kaohsiung

32. Horng Ryen Jen Sandwich

You may wonder -- why on earth would someone travel to Taiwan for a ham and cheese sandwich? (The bread isn't even toasted.) Converts will tell you they were once disbelievers besides.

Some say it'south the unbeatable combination of ham and a layer of paper-thin fried egg. Others say it's the buttery and sweet fresh foam and clandestine mayo.

Most agree it'south the counterbalanced flavor of all these ingredients, sandwiched in a four-layered philharmonic, that makes it a hit. The sandwich even stirred a Horng Ryen Jen import craze in Hong Kong.

Horng Ryen Jen Cake , 1F, 122 Ziyou Road, Section 1, Due west District, Taichung; +886 four 2226 8787

Horng Ryen Jen Block, 493, Zhongxiao Due east Road, Section five, Da'an District, Taipei City

33. Aiyu jelly

Wobbly and adequately tasteless, aiyu jelly takes on the flavor of whatsoever it's eaten with. You can add information technology to lemonade and shaved ice for a refreshing summer drink. The jelly gives the liquid a fun gloopy texture.

34. Pidan tofu

Pidan tofu: beloved at 2d seize with teeth.

Black, white and seemingly banal pidan tofu isn't a likely candidate for "love at offset seize with teeth" fame. Just after a few tries it becomes a minor addiction for many eaters.

Pidan, or century egg, is a duck egg preserved in dirt with seasonings. With time, the egg white turns into a translucent black jelly and the yolk develops a unique flavor. It's topped with sesame oil, vinegar, soy sauce, coriander, chopped spring onion and, sometimes, pork floss. Mash it up and it'due south ready to eat.

Widely available at local restaurants

35. Steamed spring rolls

Every Taiwanese household has its own recipe for run bing. To draw it as the non-deep-fried version of a spring whorl would be unfair, equally "run bing" (steamed jump roll) was invented before the popular Chinese version.

During festivals, families get together at the tabular array to take a run bing wrapping party. Each person chooses their ain fillings from a buffet and rolls their own run bing. In improver to serving delicious run bing, Shin Yeh at Taipei 101 offers an incomparable view of the city.

A spinoff of run bing for summertime is filled with ice cream.

"I telephone call it an ice cream burrito, but it essentially uses a sparse flour crepe to wrap scoops of Taiwanese ice cream with peanut candy shavings and, if you dare, fresh cilantro," says food blogger Joan H.

"I really liked the i I tried at the front end of Sheng Keng Lao Jie. The vendor adds a touch of sea salt to the peanut processed that heightens the sweetness and flavors of the wrap."

36. Spicy hotpot

Taiwanese are mad for spicy hot pot. The bubbling pots of goop are filled with all sorts of Chinese herbs and spices to create a rich flavor for all the raw, fresh ingredients that diners will dip into it. New hot pot places pop upward in Taiwan every day, each with a gimmick to attract insatiable hot pot diners.

There's all-yous-tin can-eat hot pot and yakiniku served at the same table; at that place's bubble tea hotpot for the jaded. Only the traditional local darlings with ginger craven soup base or lamb-themed hot pot are still going strong.

While Taiwan'southward spice levels don't come close to Chongqing's, they're pretty piquant. In the perennial hot pot favorite and celeb-magnet, Taihodien, you'll find a glam Taiwanese hot pot experience.

37. Chicken wing rice roll

The chicken wing rice roll makes the incommunicable possible -- eating chicken fried rice in a night market place with 1 hand. A boneless chicken wing is blimp with fried rice and marinated in a heavenly combination of sesame oil and secret sauce.

Information technology'south and so good it started a chicken-wrapped rice craze in Kaohsiung's Ruifeng night market, inspiring variations such as kimchi fried rice and curry rice.

White shirt non recommended when eating this one.

Hiufu Wong/CNN

38. Giant pork balls soup

The best pork balls are made from fresh meat that's been hand ground and pounded with a mallet until it attains a doughy texture. The giant pork assurance in stock soup from Taipei's Ningxia Night Marketplace are as large as a baby'southward fist.

Their size, every bit well as the air holes pumped in the meatballs during the pounding, locks in an amazing amount of juice and flavor. The Chinese name illustrates the experience of eating one vividly -- the literal translation is "bursting-juice giant pork assurance."

Pork assurance are sometimes mixed with ingredients such as Chinese mushrooms and cuttlefish to enrich texture and add flavor.

Lychee-rose bread: the Rafael Nadal of baked appurtenances.

Hiufu Wong/CNN

39. Wu Pao Chun Baker Breads

"Bread? In Taiwan? Seriously?"

We know what you're thinking -- but this isn't merely any breadstuff we're talking about. It's from Wu Pao-chun, a earth baking champion with many award-winning loaves to its name.

The bakery'due south lychee-rose breadstuff fifty-fifty won the international baking competition Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in 2010. It's made with mullet wine, lychee and rose petals.

Wu Pao-chun as well won the Louis Lesaffre Cup in 2007 and a silver medal at the 2008 Baker Globe Loving cup. Another signature of the shop is wine-longan staff of life, made with smoked longans, French wine and California walnuts.

Wu Pao Chun Bakery Kaohsiung, 19, Siwei third Lingya District, Kaohsiung City; +886 7 335 9593

Wu Pao Chun Bakery Taipei, 88 Yanchang Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City; +886 2 6636 5888

40. Biandang

A lot of Taiwanese have a honey-detest human relationship with Taiwanese biandang (bento), the takeaway lunchbox that packs rice with a primary dish (usually a type of meat) and small, oft unappealing side dishes such as fried and preserved vegetables.

It's a convenient, quick, cheap (less than $3) and by and large decent way to consume.

Biandang isn't one of the most delicious foods in Taiwan, only it's a staple for countless working parents and busy urbanites. Bento with chicken cutlets is a good biandang choice.

Plant at convenience stores and major high-speed rail stations effectually Taiwan

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Source: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/40-taiwan-food/index.html

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