The Taiwan Adventure 2: : June 2025

I got off track there for a while, but I’m back. I’d like to say I got too busy to do this, but I wasn’t. Sometimes being a little creative, (And I’m emphasizing “little”), is a bit taxing. I made a couple of videos with Elizabeth, which will be coming out soon, I went and did some birding, I went to the Tea Shop, and I’ve been writing sermons and Bible studies for the church, so that left me only about five days a week to work on this. So, let’s just call a spade a spade, I got lazy a bit. In my defense though, I didn’t retire so I could get another job. See, I can justify even laziness if I put my mind to it!

So, here we go! Recently, Eric and I decided to do an afternoon of “street fooding” and I thought maybe I could share that with you. Street food is kind of a big deal. I don’t really think of myself as a foodie, but people who do, consider Taiwan to be a “Food Destination.” Food is very important to the locals. There are restaurants everywhere. The things that I gravitate to are either a restaurant in someone’s garage or food carts that are scattered all over the city. I have to be careful about not going to those places too often, though, because it’s a lot of deep fried and bready things. Cholesterol and Blood Sugar are important things for me to watch carefully. I also don’t want to get fat so, there’s that!

We hit a number of street food carts in Bade District, and I wanted to share the delights we found there and some other things we didn’t do on this day:

Oyster Daddies 蚵嗲

Fresh, Hot Oyster Daddies

There is a type of deep-fried dumpling called a 蚵嗲, (pronounced as Ke diuh). The syllable for 嗲 contains the radical meaning dad. So, I refer to them as “Oyster Daddies”. They are delicious. I absolutely love to eat oysters. I like them raw with a spicy sauce on them. I like them cooked fried teppanyaki style. I especially like them as deep-fried dumplings. The cost about $50NTD (about $1.60USD.) One of them makes an excellent snack, and two is enough for a lunch.

Tang Bao 湯包

Nice Steamed Tang Bao

Tang bao (pronounced Taung Bow) translates to Soup Dumpling. This is a dumpling that is filled with pork and a bit of pork soup. It is steamed in a circular bamboo steamer that stacks one on another called a小籠 (pronounced shiou long) small steamer. So, these are often called小籠包. It’s served with little strips of ginger which really adds to the taste. One long, about seven dumplings costs about $70NTD or (about $2.40USD) and is enough for a light meal.

Cong Zhua Bing 蔥抓餅

Cong Zhua Bing on the Griddle

Cong Zhua Bing (pronounced tsong jwa bing) is a flaky scallion pancake. It is made with scallions kneaded into a dough made from potato starch, then fried on the grill. There is another type called Cong You Bing 蔥油餅 (pronounced tsong yo bing). The difference is that Cong You Bing is flat (like a thick flour tortilla), and Cong Zhua Bing is pulled apart a bit and it becomes thicker and flakier. They can be fried on an egg and the sauce is added. You can have your choice of regular or a little spicy. I like a lot of sauce on mine and an egg. The price with an egg is $45NTD ($1.50 USD). Without an egg is $30NTD ($1.00USD) One serving is enough for a light lunch.

Zhen Zhu Nai Cha 珍珠奶茶

Oolong Tea about to become Zhen Zhu Nai Cha

In the United States zhen zhu nai cha (pronounced jen ju ni cha) is called Boba Tea. In Taiwan Boba is slang for large breasts so it is called zhen zhu nai cha which translates as Pearl Tea. You can have it made with any type of tea like Green Tea, Black (Red) Tea, or Oolong, and any level of sugar you want. The pearls are made from tapioca flour and black sugar. They’re delicious chewy little pearls. I won’t go into a lot of detail because it is so popular in the US, but I will say that it was invented in Taiwan. The cost of one drink made with Oolong tea and Pearls is about $70NTD (about $2.40USD) at Milk Sha. Try getting it for that price in the US.

Gua Bao 刈包

Braised Pork Being Added to Man Tou

Gua Bao (pronounced gwa bow) is sometimes called the Taiwanese Hamburger. It's made with a steamed bun called man tou (pronounced mawn tow) that is cut and filled with Braised Pork, Cilantro and Peanut Powder. Not that wimpy Peanut Powder that you can buy in the States, I’m talking about the good stuff, real Peanut Powder. There’s a place about two blocks from my apartment that sells these bad boys. The lady that owns the place likes me, so she makes nice fat ones for me. They are super delicious. Price is about $60NTD each (about $2.00USD). One Gua Bao is about what I would have for lunch.

我有一段時間偏題了，但我回來啦。我本可以說我太忙沒時間，但其實並不是。有時候稍微動點腦筋（我強調是“稍微”），也會讓人覺得累。我和莎白拍了幾支影片，馬上就要出來了，我去賞鳥，還在為教會準備講道和查經材料，所以我能投入在這件事上的時間其實只有大約每週五天。說句實話，我就是有點懶。不過幫自己辯護一下，我退休不是為了再去上班。你看，只要肯努力，連“懶”都有藉口！

好了，開始吧！最近我和Eric決定來個下午的“街頭美食之旅”，所以想跟你們分享一下。街頭美食可是大事一樁。我雖然不自認是個“吃貨”，但行家都說台灣是美食之都。食物對當地人非常重要，餐廳到處都是。我偏愛那種在車庫裡的餐館或散落全城的美食攤車。不過得小心別太常去，因為很多都是炸的、麵糰類的，膽固醇和血糖是我要注意的點。我也不想變胖，這也很重要！

當天我們在八德區拜訪了好幾攤街頭美食，現在來分享我們吃到的精采美食，以及那些我們這天沒吃到的：

🦪 蚵嗲（Oyster Daddies）

有一種炸餃叫做「蚵嗲」，字面上「嗲」這個字帶有「爸」的部首，所以我戲稱它為 “Oyster Daddies”。這道小吃超好吃。我超愛吃蚵，無論是生食搭配辣醬，還是鐵板煎炸，我都愛。尤其是炸成小餃子的這款，一顆賣大約 NT$50（約 US$1.60）。一顆就是極佳的點心，吃兩顆就可以當午餐了。

🍜 湯包（Tang Bao）

湯包就是湯汁豐富的肉包。裡頭包著肉和一些湯汁，用堆疊的圓形竹蒸籠蒸熟，這種籠子叫「小籠」，所以有時也被稱為小籠包。通常會搭配細薑絲一起吃，更添風味。一籠約七顆，售價約 NT$70（約 US$2.40），一餐剛剛好，吃得舒服又不過量。

🥞 蔥抓餅（Cong Zhua Bing）

蔥抓餅是一款層次酥脆的蔥油餅。蔥揉進地瓜粉麵糰裡，再放在鐵板上煎。還有一種類似的叫「蔥油餅」，差別在於蔥油餅是比較扁像厚墨西哥餅，蔥抓餅則是拉開有層次、酥脆厚實版。可以加蛋和醬料，醬甜得恰到好處、蛋增加飽足感。我喜歡加滿醬和蛋。加蛋 NT$45（約 US$1.50），不加 NT$30（約 US$1.00）。一份當輕 lunch 很剛好。

🧋 珍珠奶茶（Zhen Zhu Nai Cha）

在美國叫珍珠奶茶，俗稱 Boba Tea。不過在台灣，“Boba”在英文直譯是“大胸”，所以我們就說“珍珠奶茶”：珍珠是用木薯粉和黑糖做成的，Q彈好吃！可以選綠茶、紅茶或烏龍茶，還可以選甜度。我不多說了，因為在美國已經非常流行，但提醒一點：珍珠奶茶是起源於台灣。像 Milk Sha 的烏龍珍珠奶茶大約 NT$70（約 US$2.40），想在美國用台灣同等價位買，很難吧！