KT's Blog: My Top 10 Foods in Taiwan

One of my father's British friends once told me: "We English people eat to live, but you Taiwanese people live to eat!". THIS IS SO TRUE! Here I would like to share with you my top 10 foods of Taiwan. I will make this list longer if I have more time.

1.	Bubble Tea
		Bubble tea should be called pearl milk tea to match its original name in Chinese. There are many bubble tea shops in Taiwan, but the best is Ten Ren tea. Unlike other shops, Ten Ren also sells high quality tea. Their bubble tea is more expensive but taste different with better tea leaves. They also have several restaurant in Shi-Lin that use tea as ingredient in their dishes, which are tasty and special. The secret of best bubble tea is customization. You can decide how much sugar or ice you want. I usually have 1/3 sugar and less ice.
2.	Din Tai Fung
		My favorite restaurant! Din Tai Fung is best known for steamed dumplings, but I want to say that all foods they sold are good. My favorite steamed dumpling is the one with shrimp and loofah. The spicy dumpling and fried rice are also very delicious. Din Tai Feng can be found in the SOGO department stores. It's hard to miss it with so many chefs making dumpling in the window.
3.	Beef Noodle
		One of the most famous foods in Taiwan! There is even a beef noodle festival in Taiwan. For beef noodle I prefer local restaurants like Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle or tomato beef noodle in my neighborhood (Tian-Mu). The beef noodle of Din Tai Fung is also good.
4.	Mango Shaved Ice
		Mango is a super juicy and sweet fruit native to South Asia. Mango and shaved ice (sometimes with ice cream) are a perfect combination. However the best season to have mango is summer.
5.	Fried Chicken & Squid
		Fried chicken and squid are most popular food in night market. Taiwanese fried chicken is also called popcorn chicken. It consists of bite-sized pieces of chicken, coated and fried with flour and seasoning mixture. But I don't eat it very often because it is high-fat and deep-fried. It's so delicious and so evil.
6.	Braised Pork Rice
		Braised pork rice, or minced pork rice, is a Taiwanese traditional food. This is a steamed rice with ground pork marinated and boiled in soy sauce served on top. Formosa Chang serves very good braised pork rice. Their chicken rice is also worth a try.
7.	Pineapple Cake
		Pineapple cake is a pastry containing butter, flour, egg, sugar, and pineapple or white gourd jam. It is sweet and best have it with tea.
8.	Oyster Omelet
		This is one of the most common dish in night market. Fresh oyster fried with eggs is yummy, and I like to add sweet-spicy sauce.
9.	Pig-blood Rice Cake
		Don't be scared by its name. Pig-blood rice cake is made by rice but use pig's or duck's blood for seasoning. Okay, maybe it still sounds scared, but it tastes like a rice cake. Once being selected as weirdest food in the world by Virtual Tourist, pig-blood cake is a good choice for adventurous tourists.
10.	Stinky Tofu
		Best choice for adventurous tourists. It smells stinky but tastes very good. Honestly speaking, I seldom eat it. Stinky tofu is also popular in China.