It’s Golden Week in Japan! What’s Golden Week? You might have read in previous posts that I’ve gone out on weekdays, and that’s because I got the day off since it’s a public holiday. Golden Week essentially is a week in May when there are 3 public holidays in a row (not exactly sure how that came about), and because it’s a string of holidays, a lot of people take the opportunity to travel, mostly domestically, or not. Of course, this also means that plane tickets skyrocket during the period, but if you want to get out, what else can you do? I’ve even heard that if you want to travel to or in Japan, you should avoid Golden Week because everyone will be traveling and prices will go up. However, because I don’t know how long I’ll be in Japan and having days off is a luxury, I did want to take the opportunity to travel somewhere, even if it was just the May 3-7 period (the 3-5 are the actual holidays).
At first I was thinking about just travelling domestically and taking a casual solo foodie trip to Osaka (my boyfriend would need to work on the weekdays so he probably wouldn’t have gone with me), but once I started talking to my family about travel plans, originally my dad was going to be in Taiwan that week to go to China for business the week after, so it almost aligned perfectly we could hang out and see each other in Taiwan at the same time. Unfortunately, my dad’s plans ended up falling out, so I’m just taking a solo trip to Taiwan and staying with my grandma, sponsored by my family (huge thanks to my family!). Technically, since the golden week holidays are only from the 3rd to the 5th, I also was only going to go on the 3rd and not take Monday or Tuesday off to save a bit of my nenkyuu (not that I would have minded using 2) and because I thought my dad would only be there starting the 3rd anyway, but my parents encouraged me to go earlier and spend a whole week, so I ended up taking two days off of work.
April 29th: We left home at our usual time, and stopped by Family Mart before getting on our bus. Right now, there’s a Pokémon collab featuring three new frappes, and my boyfriend and I both got the muscat one.
As a muscat enjoyer, I liked this one a lot, and particularly appreciated the small grape bits at the bottom of the drink. It was our bus drink, and we ended up arriving in Sapporo around 10:20. Neither of us needed to do or get anything in Sapporo proper, so we just got on the airport train, making the next one just in time before it was going to depart a minute later. Amazing timing.
My flight wasn’t until 4, so we had plenty of time to get food. Before heading over to our restaurant of choice, I bought a keychain from the Ainu shop for my grandma as a gift, as I thought that an Ainu is still Hokkaido special and a particular aesthetic.
Today, we ate at Drive In Itou, a butadon place at the airport. I guess Tokachi is also known for pork, which is why they’re featuring the butadon at this airport. There was a little bit of a line when we got there around, which isn’t bad by line standards, and if there is one, it had to be good right? The line moved pretty quickly, and a little before we were at the front, a waitress came to take our order to make the process even more efficient.
I just got a regular butadon, but my boyfriend got a extra helping of meat and an onsen egg. The bowl is a little small by my standards, but I think it’s pretty typical Japanese sizing. I wish the regular one had more meat, but I guess that’s how they get you, and my boyfriend’s bowl and portion of meat definitely looked fuller.
We still had quite a bit of time to kill before I could even check in my bag, so I went to go check out the Cafe Sky Library I spotted the last time. I think it’s connected/associated with the Portom hotel, because it was super fancy and also felt very luxurious. It was overall a pretty cool experience, and I ordered their 3 cake set, along with a rooibos mint lemon tea for my boyfriend. The three cakes I chose from the case were the strawberry shortcake, franboise, and the shantifromage (these were in katakana, and all I know is that they’re some kind of french names so I pieced together what I could into English). I liked the classic strawberry shortcake the best; it was light, fluffy, and a good overall strawberry shortcake. I think the Fromage one was a cheesecake, and as a cheesecake-is-ok person, it was fine. The franboise one was like a raspberry cream cake situation, and as a fancy cake it was nice, but I’m not a huge raspberry person either. There was actually one other choice in the showcase, but I thought these looked the best, so that’s why I chose these ones. They all ended up being berry-ish, which was funny.
Interestingly enough the library had quite a few English book selection, and there was a bunch I was interested in but didn’t have enough time to peruse all of them. I did end up finishing a book called A Dictionary of Japanese Food, which I found both educational and helpful and eye-opening.
We left the cafe and I checked-in my bag when 2 rolled around, said bye to my boyfriend, and then headed off to security. Security wasn’t too long, and the immigration line this time around was also pretty short. My plane did get delayed, though it seemed like most of the international flights that day were getting delayed due to late airplane arrivals. I rode Eva Airlines this time, and I managed to get a Hello Kitty plane!
And now, for an airplane food review! I was going for the chicken and noodle dish, which was Teriyaki Chicken with Salt Fried Noodles. I will admit that I tried looking up the menu beforehand so I could have my choice ready, and also, I’ve been obsessed when it comes to food lately. The meal also came with an appetizer (Pepper Ham with Spicy Cod Roe and Potato Salad), some fruit, and the site says steamed bun, but it was more of a already packaged Japanese sweet. Maybe it’s because we were coming from Japan, but there was quite a bit of Japanese products in this set. Oh, I had a coke the first drink round, but an apple juice the second time around.
I mostly chose the chicken because I didn’t want the other option, which had pork and ginger (which I assume is shogayaki) as the main, and I don’t like ginger. The potato salad was actually not bad (as someone who thinks general potato salad is just ok), and it was kind of creamy and chunky. There was a slight spice, probably from the cod roe, and I really liked the pepper ham. As for the main, the chicken was relatively saucy and a standard teriyaki sauce, and pretty tender. The noodles weren’t bad, a bit soggy, but also pretty peppery, and tasted a lot like the Shio Yakisoba kyushoku (I later realized that the menu name literally says salt fried noodles, which is essentially shio yakisoba). The fruit I was happy with, since it was pretty sweet, especially the kiwi. The bread they gave out was super flaky and crispy, but I wish mine wasn’t that deflated. I considered saving the red bean bun (which was essentially just a packaged Japanese red bean pastry), but since it looked like it recommended to be fridged, I just ate it then. It had a dorayaki consistency and taste, just not shaped like one, and I always like a good red bean pastry.
Overall, the first half of the flight was prett smooth, but the second half encountered quite a bit of turbulence. I did get to watch around 4 episodes of a drama I’ve wanted to watch for a while!
The immigration line wasn’t too bad, and customs was just a walk through a “green” aisle if you had nothing to declare.
My dad had arranged for a car to pick me up to drive me to my grandma’s place, and as soon as I walked out from customs, I immediately saw my name. We went to go pick up the wifi-router I rented for the week, and then I was off into Taipei proper! The ride was pretty smooth with not much traffic, and I met up with my grandma in no time. After dropping off my suitcase at her place, I asked her if I could get boba, since it’s my first night in Taiwan, and I’m not wasting any time and getting boba right away. Good thing there’s options near my grandma’s place! I ended up going with Wushiland, since it’s the nearest place to my grandma’s house.
My grandma offered to steam me some buns, and I’m not going to say no to food, especially since a bit of time had passed since I had food on the plane. Yes, that was supposed to be dinner, but it was time to start eating good food…She steamed a veggie bun and a meat bun for me!
April 30th: This was my first full day in Taiwan! Today the plan was to go to dim sum for lunch, and pick up a transportation card. I woke up pretty early, probably because my body was used to waking up early Japan time, and since I wanted to eat Taiwanese breakfast, I didn’t really feel like going back to sleep. My grandma took me to a breakfast place across the street, and I got a less sweetened soy milk, you tiao (fried bread) with bing, and an egg bing.
Man, Taiwanese soy milk just hits different. It’s more soy-ish, creamier, and somehow taste better than any other soy milk. Maybe it’s because I grew up with Chinese soy milk, but it just hits all the nostalgic notes. The you tiao was amazing, and I love myself a good fried bread (man, I wish I brought some back with me or something). The bing that came with it was pretty good, and flaky, though it tasted a little pastry-like, and I’m not sure if I waited too long, but I would have liked it a little crispier. I know dan bing is pretty popular, but as someone who doesn’t like the flavor of plain eggs, I thought it was just ok.
After breakfast, we chilled for a bit at home, and then left a couple hours later to take the MRT (the local Taiwan metro/train line) to get me a transportation card, get me used to the MRT system, and go to a SOGO department store, where my grandma made a reservation at a fancy dim sum place.
We arrived a bit early, so we explored some of the basement level food areas. We ended up buying a few things at a general snacks shop, and then took the elevator up to the 10th floor to the dim sum place.
Overall I thought the food was fine, and though the menu had a ton of stuff on it, we only went for the small dim sum items. I think my grandma didn’t think the food was that good despite it being on the higher price end and the fancy vibes. Funnily enough, I expected places catering to tourists to have English on the menu, but this menu only had Chinese and Japanese. Good thing I can read Japanese and I’m already familiar with dim sum menus, but I never expected there to be no English.
We headed home right after lunch, and on the walk home from our local MRT station, my grandma brought me to A Nice Holiday, a drink place which she wanted me to try. You can read about it on my boba blog!
I was very full from lunch, plus I just bought a drink, so I needed to go walk off all the stuff I just consumed. My grandma gets tired easily after going out in the morning, and I wanted to go out and do my own sightseeing, so a bit after chilling at home I hopped on a bus to Huashan Creative Park. It’s suppsed to be like an artist park, with small cafes and shops and featuring artwork.
Before I actually got to the park, I figured Simple Kaffa’s flagship store was in the area, and though they’re a well-known coffee shop, I heard their matcha roll cake is pretty good. When I got there, there was an insane number of people waiting outside for dine-in, and the take-out line didn’t look that bad. I only cared about the matcha cake anyway. Unfortunately, when a guy came to take my take-out order and I asked if they still had the matcha cake, he said they ran out, so I left and continued on to my original destination of Huashan Creative Park.
The park itself was, ok? I expected more bigger art piece displays, but it was more of an open grassy area that hosted a bunch of small local artist pop-ups, and led to a bunch of small warehouses that housed small shops also selling local goods and cafes. I tried to window shop as much of the shops and park that I could, and I did really like the vibe of the local businesses and vendors doing their thing. At one point, I walked into a building, and then walked out, only to walk into the climax and conclusion of some gymnast performer doing a stunt on a stack of chairs. That was crazy.
When I felt done with Huashan, I decided to walk over to Da’an Forest Park, which seemed to be a famous spot in the area. It was a massive park with lots of greenry, a giant lake, an amphitheater, and other typical park things. If you like parks you’ll like this one.
Towards the other end of Da’an Park, there was a tea house, called Wistaria Tea House, I wanted to check out, so I headed over there to check out their selection in case I wanted to go back for tea time (spoiler, I didn’t end up going back, but perhaps on a separate trip). It’s not just any old tea house, as it has historical significance, and I hear they do afternoon teas. Their teas did look expensive though (which seemed up my mom’s alley). Some ladies came in after me, and I opened the door because I was next to it to be nice, and they started talking to me and the employee had to say “don’t talk to her, she’s a customer”. Which reminds me…
It was getting late, the ride home would take a while, and I had dinner plans with my grandma, so I quickly got on a bus home. She said to be home by 6:30-7, so I was pretty on time for that. My grandma wanted to take me to hot pot, and she found an iron pot place near her house, so she wanted to take me there to eat. They had unfortunately run out of rice for the day by the time we went (how is that even possible in an Asian country?), and so we each had to choose a noodle. I wanted beef, so I chose a sirloin cut from a bunch of different choices that had weird names so I didn’t entirely know the difference, and apparently here they give you the choice of lightly stir-frying it for you before putting it in the hot pot. I agreed just to see what it was about, and it was quite interesting. I don’t think it entirely made a difference flavor wise, and the beef tasted like normal, Chinese-marianted, cooked beef, but super thin, and came out right from a hot pot. The bowl of veggies also felt just right, and it even came with a pork blood block, which was my first pork blood. I actually quite liked it.
So my grandma wanted to ask an employee to refill our stock, and she saw a lady bending over the side of a table, and asked that lady to help us out. The lady was super nice and did, and when my grandma complained that she wasn’t refilling our stock anymore, the lady said she was just eating here and to wait for another employee to help. Later, when I had grill problems, that lady would come over from her table to help, even though she was a normal customer.
On our way home, we stopped by a bakery next door to my grandma’s complex that opens late. I got an oreo muffin/steamed cake thing, and I guess the bakery uses Hokkaido milk. I noticed a carton in the window with the Yotsuba brand milk on it, and I told my grandma it was Hokkaido milk because I recognized the brand. My grandma then went to tell the cashier that it was Hokkaido milk, and the cashier just looked confused as she told my grandma that yes, they use Japan milk. I guess most Japan milk would be Hokkaido milk.
Oh, and the day after my grandma was going to teach me how to ride the bus with my card. She was shocked to find out that I only rode the bus after I went out and about on my own, and she kept bragging to anyone that I was amazing and could take the bus by myself. It’s not that hard with a phone, and most bus systems in Asia are similar…
May 1st: Today my grandma’s plan was to take me to Taipei 101 to go get Ding Tai Fun! It was also incidentally was a national holiday in Taiwan, so the breakfast place across from our complex was closed. We ended up going to a pan fried bao place across the corner that also does breakfast items, and I got a soy milk, a meat bun, a veggie bun, and we bought some frozen mantou to go. They were so big! The soy milk and fresh buns ended up being pretty good, though as a perosnal preference I would prefer them to be crispier.
Then we chilled at home until 10, when we wanted to hop on a bus to 101 for DTF.
We arrived and took a number, and since we were there early and a small party, we only had to wait around 20 minutes. I did some shopping in the basement floor area near the DTF, including buying some tea for coworkers and myself, and buying some boba snacks from a souvenir snack shop, because I have an addiction to boba labled items.
I’m not sure how it is at other DTFs in Taiwan, but at this one, once we sat down, the lady indicated to use the QR code on our table card to scan and order menu items on our phone. I’d say this is pretty normal from an American and Covid perspective, but my grandma was pretty shocked at this, and since she doesn’t bring her phone out with her, wondered how they would handle that. I’m sure that they would do things the traditional way in that case.
Anyway, either I haven’t had xiao long bao in a while, or being in Taiwan really makes a difference, but these were the best xiao long bao I’ve ever had. Something about the skin texture in this batch was just different, even from the other DTF experiences I’ve had (and I’ve been so many times back home). It was somehow delicate, yet still somewhat thick, and had the perfect amount of soup inside. I also ordered a bunch of my other favorites, including some of their appetizers and the green beans (which are an appetizer here I guess), and my grandma chose to get some stir fried veggies, hot and sour soup, and the pork chop fried rice.
After lunch, I went back to the Starbucks Reserve next door (it’s a reserve, but it’s kind of tiny, and doesn’t really have that many special drinks), and bought a 101 exclusive mug. God, Taiwan is on par with Japan with the super aesthetic sakura merchandise, and I wanted everything, but I just stuck with a good sized mug that was pretty and had a bit of 101 on it. Then I went to the Tax Return counter at 101 to get some money back. It wasn’t a lot, but it was some.
Since we ended up with a bunch of baggage, since I bought stuff, and my grandma got some DTF takeout, we decided to just bus home to put it all down, and so she could rest for the rest of the day. I still had an entire afternoon to spend, so I decided to first go to Sunny Hills, a pretty famous pineapple cake store. Incidentally, I spotted a Sunny Hills to-go store near our DTF at 101.
Sunny Hills is famous, and also pretty unique because they let you taste test their pineapple cake for free! Who’s turning down free food? They give you a piece, along with a cup of tea, and the idea is if you like it, you’ll buy their products. Aside from that, their pineapple cake supposedly doesn’t contain as much added sugar and more just real pineapple, so it’s supposed to be more sour than other pineapple cakes. Also they’re more rectangular when the normal shape is more square, and I guess they’re more expensive. I was worried there would be a wait, but when I got there, there wasn’t too much of a line, and I even got in faster probably because I was just one person.
Apparently my mom said I had their pineapple cake before and I didn’t like it, but I don’t remember this, and I’m sure my taste buds have matured sincie whenever. The tea was a nice, a classic, Taiwanese oolong. As for the actual pineapple cake…I actually quite liked it! It was very crisp, and not as fall-apart buttery lik other pineapple cakes. The filling was very pineapple-y, and I liked that it wasn’t too sweet. I personally didn’t think it was sour tasting, but I suppose in comparison with other ones it’s not as sweet. Most of their boxes were in small packs, and I ended up purchasing a 2-pack of their pineapple cake and a 2-pack of an apple version for myself.
I guess I was feeling productive, in a shopping mood, and I was talking about pineapple cake bakeries with my grandma, and Chia Te happened to be kind of in the area, because after I finished at Sunny Hills, I walked over to Chia Te, which is Taiwan’s most famous pineapple cake bakery. I was talking to my family, and since I wanted to get some kind of omiyage for my coworkers, I figured pineapple cakes would be pretty representative, and I was recommended to go to Chia Te, since they’re famous, and sweet, which would probably suit my Japanese coworkers’ palates. I did expect a line, and I would say that even around 3pm, the line wasn’t too bad when I got there, and it did keep growing after I got in line. I think they were sold out of some things, according to some papers stuck on the window, but nothing of note to me, and they still had plenty of stock of their more popular items. I ended up getting a whole bunch of pineapple cakes as omiyage and for myself, a couple strawberry versions for myself and my boyfriend, a mochi cake for myself, and they had a fresh chocolate dessert thing, and as a chocolate fiend, I had to get that.
After spending a bunch of money there, I officially finished omiyage shopping (could finally check that off!), and with a giant bag of sweets in hand, I walked down the street to a Truedan branch, my boba spot for the day. Read about it on my boba blog!
I still had some time in the day left to do some solo exploring, so I went to another sort of historical building art park called Songshan Creative Park. This park also had a few open nature areas, a few big art pieces, and a few small interconnected buildings that housed some galleries and independent artist merchandise booths. I think the majority of this park used to be a tobacco factory of something according to something I read, and there’s also a small mall/taller shopping complex on one end. I may have also spotted a LeTao in the area, and as a Hokkaido resident, that was pretty funny…
It was getting late and a little dark at this point, so I headed home for dinner, where my grandma picked up a Taiwanese meatball wrapped in a mochi with spicy sauce, steamed half a mantou from the grilled bun place around the corner, and a savory zhongzi, a sticky rice dish steamed in bamboo leaves.
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