I had my 1st meal in Taiwan at the historic Grand Hotel. It was my 1st clue that the food in Taiwan is fantastic. Some of you might be recall that I didn’t start out loving the food on my 2015 trip to China. For days, I could have killed for a Panda Express. I did not have any trouble in Taiwan at all. For lunch I got sautéed beef julienne with black pepper sauce. Sounds a little French, doesn’t it? Regardless, it was right up my alley. Off to great start.
I had dinner at another Taipei landmark, Shilin Night Market. The specialty of Shilin Night Market is oyster omelet. I’m not a fan of oysters, but I was willing to try it. I ended up at a no-frills restaurant that didn’t serve it. That was just fine. I got shrimp fried rice. Like I was going to go to China–People’s Republic of or just plain Republic of–and not get fried rice. It was delicious. Taiwan was turning out to be the best place for food I’d been since my 2012 trip to Southeast Asia.
The little hole-in-the-wall was also my 1st lesson in Taiwanese restaurant culture. If I wanted a napkin, I just pulled one off from the dispenser hanging on the wall. I would learn other insider food-service knowledge throughout my trip to East Asia.
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