Food Heaven

While the first half of the day was turning out to be pretty boring and I thought the day was a lost cause, Ali and Niki took me to a new part of Jhong Li to walk around and kill some time.  It was awesome :D

Johan had the car for the evening so we took the free shuttle bus from the HSR station which took us right into the heart of Jhong Li.  We hopped off the bus and took a walk through this outdoorsy shopping district for young people.  Most of the streets were closed off to traffic and lined with trees and little shops.

Near the end of one of the streets, on the corner was this dingy looking place along a main road.  The place had no walls so it was open air to the street.  Niki was excited.  She loved this place and after we ordered I understood why.  They made this fantastic desert of fresh fruit mango icecream on top, on a bed of mangoes on another bed of shaved Sprite ice (Ali thinks this is the special ingredient) on another bed of mangoes.  Mango heaven for $1.70.  It was delicious.  I couldn't believe this hole in the ground made such fantastic tasting desert.  Apparently the place has been open for over 50 years.  Though I guess it wasn't too hard to believe because the place looked like it hadn't been re-furnished for 50 years.  Even the mixing machines had large motor belts and gears all exposed, which could easily take off a curious child's fingers.

After the desert we walked to the Sogo Shuttle Bus which would take us back to the Sogo shopping area.  We were lucky!  The bus was there about to leave.  We ran over to get in but crap; It was full.  The driver wouldn't let us on so we grabbed a cab for $2.75.

It was still hot out despite being 8pm so we went into the Sogo Shopping Mall and headed downstairs into the food court/grocery store area.  We walked through the grocery store observing the different types of imported food they have.  Ali had been reading about a new beer that is coca-cola flavoured.  We went in search and found it!  We bought the tallboy for $2.  We were able to crack it right open in the grocery store and yeap, it tasted just like cola! haha.  Well you could tell it was beer still, but it was probably 70% cola taste and 30% beer.

Coca Cola Beer and Cookies

Diner time was quickly approaching and Ali and Niki were having a debate over where to eat.  Niki wanted to go back to the BBQ place we went a few weeks ago, while Ali wanted to go to this all you can eat Thai place around the corner.  After several minutes, Ali gave in and we went to the BBQ place.  Unfortunately for Niki the place was jam packed with over an hour wait!  There was no way we were waiting that long to eat, so we walked to the Thai place which was still quite busy but we managed to get a table upstairs.

The menu fortunately had English, and every dish had a picture, but I let Ali order because he knew what was good and I trust his taste in food.  Soon after ordering the food started coming to the table, and after 10 minutes there was a massive amount of delicious dishes that I had never tasted before!  What I have pictured below isn't even everything that we ate :)

On the left a papaya salad, and on the right a sea food salad.  The dressing was this spicy lime concoction that was amazing

raw prawn with lime and chilli sauce topped with tomatoe and chilli and cilantro.  phenominal flavour going on here

fish cooked in a lime/chilli sauce

foi gras encrusted chicken with cilantro and some tamarind sauce

skewers of chicken in a coconut sauce, tofu in some thai sauce the back left
shrimp bread in very back, and back right curry rice with raisin and pinapple

Everything tasted amazing and there were many new flavours that I hadn't had before.  I was thinking about my Mom the whole time knowing that she would absolutely love it there.  Oh!  And Ali treated me to the whole thing which was so nice of him.  The all-you-can-eat costed about $14 so it was expensive in Taiwan terms, but for a westerner it was amazing value!