under "adventurous eater" see also "The Pipster"
Fellow 台大 alumna kitsuchan asked what I ate at TaiwanFest because she understands these things.
The English translations on the signs were kind of weird. They were neither literal translations nor the conventional translations for some of the more popular dishes. So English-only speakers at TaiwanFest might have gotten surprised.
Here's what we ate (four of us):
--one 大雞排 which I think they called fried chicken? This is a dish where you take a chicken breast and slice it in such a way that it stays in one piece but is thin and flat and larger, then bread it with a thin, crispy five spice powder coating, and deep fry it. Then you can put spicy powder on it. This cost $6 for something about 2/3 the size of what would have cost me 50NT in Taipei, but worth it by Vancouver street food standards I though.
--two 大腸包小腸 which they called "Taiwanese hot dog" but which means "a little sausage in a big sausage". It's a typical, sweet and savory Taiwanese pork sausage placed into a split rice sausage and drizzled with Taiwanese BBQ sauce. $6 (typical street hot dog price)
--one 蛋餅 which they called "egg crepe", the green onion pancake with egg and filled with corn because they were out of ham. This wasn't that great. I think $5. Not worth it.
--two hurricane potatoes with I don't remember how they're called in Chinese, the fried spiral-cut potato on a stick. I had this in Danshui but there the potatoes were fried like chips. Here they were fried like french fries. $5 for two.
--BBQ meat on skewers. Lamb, chicken, beef, prawns, and filled buns. I think there might have been another kind we didn't try. The lamb was definitely everyone's favorite. It was 4 for $9 or 2 for $5. We got six.
--one fish 甜不辣 or Taiwanese-style tempura which they called "fried fish". I didn't actually try this one, and my SIL didn't think it was very good. $5
For drinks, there was a Brita booth giving away free paper cups of water, so that's all we drank. We are cheap. LOL.
All of those prices include tax, so it was about $41 for the four of us (plus one baby) to eat until we were full, which isn't bad. Of course, the same amount of food would have been like $15 in Taiwan, but meh.
Now the crowning glory. While we were waiting for the skewers to be ready, Pippa walked up to some young women who were eating 臭豆腐 stinky tofu, and asked them if she could have some. They asked me if it was alright and I said it was alright with me if they wanted to share but that I doubted that she would actually like it. She took a whole chunk and walked around eating it! It was amazing. You could tell she was surprised with the first bite, but then she took another, and she happily nommed away at it while walking around.
Unfortunately she tripped and it got on the ground before she finished it but she ate a good half of this chunk. So like three square inches of stinky tofu. Wow.
Foodie baby is adventurous baby.
My SIL took pictures but I don't have a copy of them yet. I will definitely share a picture of her eating stinky tofu when I do.
The not-crowning glory was that Vancouver was once again no-fun city and stuff was shutting down at 7pm at Saturday night. We went again today at about 5pm and things were shutting down at 6. Vancouver! WHY DO YOU SUCK AT NIGHT.
The English translations on the signs were kind of weird. They were neither literal translations nor the conventional translations for some of the more popular dishes. So English-only speakers at TaiwanFest might have gotten surprised.
Here's what we ate (four of us):
--one 大雞排 which I think they called fried chicken? This is a dish where you take a chicken breast and slice it in such a way that it stays in one piece but is thin and flat and larger, then bread it with a thin, crispy five spice powder coating, and deep fry it. Then you can put spicy powder on it. This cost $6 for something about 2/3 the size of what would have cost me 50NT in Taipei, but worth it by Vancouver street food standards I though.
--two 大腸包小腸 which they called "Taiwanese hot dog" but which means "a little sausage in a big sausage". It's a typical, sweet and savory Taiwanese pork sausage placed into a split rice sausage and drizzled with Taiwanese BBQ sauce. $6 (typical street hot dog price)
--one 蛋餅 which they called "egg crepe", the green onion pancake with egg and filled with corn because they were out of ham. This wasn't that great. I think $5. Not worth it.
--two hurricane potatoes with I don't remember how they're called in Chinese, the fried spiral-cut potato on a stick. I had this in Danshui but there the potatoes were fried like chips. Here they were fried like french fries. $5 for two.
--BBQ meat on skewers. Lamb, chicken, beef, prawns, and filled buns. I think there might have been another kind we didn't try. The lamb was definitely everyone's favorite. It was 4 for $9 or 2 for $5. We got six.
--one fish 甜不辣 or Taiwanese-style tempura which they called "fried fish". I didn't actually try this one, and my SIL didn't think it was very good. $5
For drinks, there was a Brita booth giving away free paper cups of water, so that's all we drank. We are cheap. LOL.
All of those prices include tax, so it was about $41 for the four of us (plus one baby) to eat until we were full, which isn't bad. Of course, the same amount of food would have been like $15 in Taiwan, but meh.
Now the crowning glory. While we were waiting for the skewers to be ready, Pippa walked up to some young women who were eating 臭豆腐 stinky tofu, and asked them if she could have some. They asked me if it was alright and I said it was alright with me if they wanted to share but that I doubted that she would actually like it. She took a whole chunk and walked around eating it! It was amazing. You could tell she was surprised with the first bite, but then she took another, and she happily nommed away at it while walking around.
Unfortunately she tripped and it got on the ground before she finished it but she ate a good half of this chunk. So like three square inches of stinky tofu. Wow.
Foodie baby is adventurous baby.
My SIL took pictures but I don't have a copy of them yet. I will definitely share a picture of her eating stinky tofu when I do.
The not-crowning glory was that Vancouver was once again no-fun city and stuff was shutting down at 7pm at Saturday night. We went again today at about 5pm and things were shutting down at 6. Vancouver! WHY DO YOU SUCK AT NIGHT.