Beef noodle soup is a classic taiwanese staple dish. Walking in the city, I was bombarded by restaurants blazing red signs touting their award winning beef noodle soup. Where, indeed, is the best?

The beef noodle soup was actually introduced to Taiwan by the Chinese Muslims and have since become a staple dish in the Taiwanese culinary arsenal.

Like many deeply rooted culinary dishes, beef noodle soup had as many renditions as cooks. Some people make it with a light, clean soup, while others serve up bowls of deep, dark broth. Then, there is matter of the beef: should it be a straight cut? Or, should it contain some tendon?

Given I only had two days, I decided to go to a place Joanne’s parents suggested. It’s a place called Lao Zhong, and it’s tucked away in the Zhong Shan district near the center of Taipei.

Given my weak Chinese reading skills, I simply asked them which kind of beef noodle soup they are famous for. The answer was the half beef half muscle gelatin. After a short wait, a piping hot bowl of soup appeared.

Unlike the broth in pho, the Taiwanese beef noodle broth has a more assertive and straightforward beef taste. The particular broth I had was the light kind. The beef was tender, and easily snapped when bitten into. The tendon rounded out the flavor of the broth and beef, and added a lusciousness to the dish.

A video montage of some of the footage I shot with my flip while in Taipei.

Taiwan 2008 from James Yu on Vimeo.

Places in the video:
CKS Memorial
Shilin Night Market
Shida Night Market
Ximending District
Taipei Contemporary Art Museum
Taipei 101
Taipei MRT (Subway)
Starbucks

Standing at just over half a kilometer, Taipei 101 stands tall over Taipei. Until the Burj Dubai building is complete, Taipei 101 is still the world’s tallest building. It also has the world’s fasting ascending elevator, which takes you up to the 89th floor in 37 seconds flat. For some reason, I had thought the elevator would give you a nice view of the city as you shot up like in the ending of Vanilla Sky. But alas, it is internal.

Once you’re up in the 89th floor, there’s nothing to do but just gasp at the breathtaking views. The view of the buildings looks like you’re literally playing Sim City.

Other than the views, there’s usually some exhibits on the inside. You can also view the gigantic spherical damper that is used to stabilize the building in case of earthquakes and typhoons.

Well worth the $12 to get up there.

Check out my other pictures from my Taipei trip on Flickr.

Stopped off at one of those Mister Donuts I was seeing everywhere.

Yes, I know I’m talking with my mouth full.

Here are some more random observations while walking through Taipei:

• Plastic black rimmed glasses are very popular. When young people wear glasses, it’s most likely plastic and black.
• For a city that’s so clean, I’ve actually found it hard to find waste baskets.
• Food stands rarely offer napkins, even if what they’re selling is extremely messy.
• Rarely do you see homeless people or the police.
• In San Francisco, there’s usually a high number of SLRs. I rarely see anyone holding SLRs in Taipei.
• No iPhone.
• People are very nice and welcoming.
• People don’t seem like they’re in a big hurry, unlike cities like New York.

The Shilin Night Market is the largest and most well known night market in Taiwan. Spreading out north from the Jiantan Subway Station, the market is a veritable playground of trinkets, games, and most importantly, food.

When setting foot inside the market, you’re immediately bombarded by intoxicating smells, sounds, and sights. It’s easiest just to see for yourself, so here’s the video of my quick walkthrough:

Shilin Night Market Walkthrough from James Yu on Vimeo.

In essence, most of the food is a late night eaters dream. A lot of it involves frying, meats, and savory spices. Perfect after a night of drinking.

There were two main agenda culinary agenda items for me: stinky tofu and oyster omelets.

Oyster omelets are a starchy omelet fried with oysters and topped with a red sweet sauce. There are tons of vendors that hawk this item throughout the market–it’s sometimes known as the unofficial national dish of Taiwan.

Stinky tofu is one of those controversial dishes–you can smell it from a mile away, and yes, the smell is as pungent as any smell can be. It’s basically tofu that has been fermented with various fish and other seafood as a base. The texture of the tofu becomes spongy, and the taste is very complex. Thankfully, it’s one of those things that taste very different than it smells.

Usually, it’s served with some pickled vegetables and a good dollop of chili sauce.

I also had some barbecued mystery meats, including chicken tailbones (which we throw away in the US). It was a bit chewy, but very flavorful due to the high fat content.

I spent the rest of the night walking around the market. There’s a whole section devoted to those claw machine games where you fruitlessly try to win a cute stuffed animal. Some of them, like this one where you win bodyless Chip heads, were actually a bit disturbing.

You can catch all my Taipei pictures in my Flickr set.

A few quick hits:

• The stark humidity took my breath away as a San Francisco native used to cool dry weather.
• The fog, on the other hand, I am used to.
• The subways are efficient and clean.
• Taipei 101 is amazing, like sim city.
• WiFly, the city Wifi, rocks. It’s a little spotty, but has enough coverage for me to tweet and flickr.

More photos and videos to come later today, or tonight, depending on where you are. Cheers.

Just landed in Taiwan. I’ve concluded that humans aren’t made for 12+ hour flights.

I tried to time my sleeping schedule as best I could, but I still got up at around 3am Taiwan time. I’ll try to bust through the day so I don’t collapse tonight.

On the plus side, they had in flight individual entertainment, which included a selection of new movies on demand.

And I opted to get some rice porridge, pressed soy tofu, and fresh fruit to start my day:

Now, to find my taxi ride.

Saw this great big lonely husky outside of Basil Canteen (which is a great Thai place that’s actually open late in SOMA, by the way. And yes, it’s better than Osha.)

I got to see and play with the Tenori up close at the San Francisco Apple Store. It’s a neat little sequencer device that is really easy to play with and create creative electronic music.

I took a little video of Ray performing on the Tenori. He makes it look incredibly easy.

Ray Performing on the Tenori from James Yu on Vimeo.

Makes me want to buy one, but at $1200, the price is a bit steep.

(By the way, I’m loving my new Flip Mino so far)