How to eat xiaolongbao?

如何吃小籠包?

If you ever find yourself in a fine Chinese styled restaurant in Taiwan (or likewise China), you might want to try some steamed dumplings or steamed baozi, that are prepared in bamboo baskets named long 籠 (小籠 means small basket). One of the most famous dishes prepared this way are xiaolongbao 小籠包, very delicious steamed buns (Chinese baozi 包子) with a unique twirl on top and a very delicate (almost translucent) skin, of which the latter is also typical for Chinese dumplings (or jiaozi 餃子). Because of that similarity xiaolongbao are commonly mistaken for dumplings in the English speaking world. See a steamed dumpling for your reference and notice the typical "half moon" shape they have. But that's not the only thing that makes them distinct, the ingredients are different as well.

There are of course more types of xiaolongbao, but one of the most popular variants is filled with pork and gelatine, which then in the process of steaming turns into a soup. Because a lot of foreigners don't know how to eat that kind of steamed buns, I decided to write a little tutorial, so that you won't find yourself in a tricky situation among your Taiwanese or Chinese friends and eat them the wrong way.

The typical traditional Chinese xiaolong or little basket, made of bamboo.

Steamed xiaolongbao. Do you know, why there are 8 in a basket?

Notice the twirled tops, so typical for this sort of steamed buns.

A very delicious xiaolongbao, prepared in the Golden Chicken Garden in Taipei.

How to eat xiaolongbao?

There are several ways to eat them. I will describe and recommend to you the most common and convenient way, the one that my wife prefers. Please follow these steps and refer to the photos for a better understanding:

1 Hold chopsticks in your right hand and a spoon in your left.
2 Take the bun out of the bamboo basket and dip it in a soy sauce with ginger.
3 Put the bun on the spoon and bring it together with the chopsticks close to your mouth.
4 Bite a small hole in the bun's edge and place it back in the middle of the spoon.
5 While the soup flows out on the spoon, lift up the bun with the chopsticks.
6 Wait few seconds for the soup to cool off and then drink it.
7 After that you can dip the bun in the sauce again, if you like, it's optional.
8 Eat the xiaolongbao in one or two bites and enjoy the delicious flavor.

The most important steps for your convenience.

A common faux-pas can be a too hasty bite and the hot soup will either burn your mouth or even worse surprise you and drip out on your or your friend's clothes. Not sure, how likely that is to happen, but it's not impossible. Just keep in mind that the soup inside the xiaolongbao is hot and needs to be released and cooled off, before it can be drunken. Don't just put the whole bun in your mouth.

With all this said, I think the best way to eat xiaolongbao is to observe your Taiwanese or Chinese friends and copy them or ask them to help you. I'm sure they will be very happy to assist you.

Other variants of eating xiaolongbao are:

1 Put the bun in a soup and eat it like a soup dumpling. Some shops prefer this way.
2 Poke a small hole in the bun's bottom with chopsticks to extract the soup, skill is needed.
3 Some shops offer straws to drink the soup inside. You don't believe it? Look here!

The meat inside a xiaolongbao can vary, but the most popular is pork.

I hope this will help those who go to China or Taiwan for the first time. If you have any questions or additional tips, please submit them in the comments below.

[My TAIPEI FOOD page][My TAIWAN FOOD page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

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Yanping North Road Night Market, Taipei

A traditional night market in the old Taipei

Yanping North Road Night Market (延三夜市 a.k.a. Yansan Night Market), officially Yanping North Road Section 3 Tourist Night Market, is a traditional night market in Taipei, located in the Datong district, one of the oldest parts of the city. This is one of the least known tourist night markets in Taipei and features some unique traditional Taiwanese dishes. It's truly worth a visit, especially if you live here. If you're just on a short trip in the city, skip this one and visit the famous ones first.

MY IMPRESSION: This is a night market located on the sidewalks of a busy road. The main part is reserved for cars and scooters, who whiz by in huge numbers, which kinda affects the whole atmosphere of the night market: It just doesn't feel you're at a real one, it feels more like a sidewalk with stalls (and that's what it actually is). However, it has a lot of history and many traditional food places and stalls, which kinda makes it interesting in its own way.

WHAT KIND OF FOOD IS COMMON: The food is like from from decades long ago. Maybe the 1950s? 1960s? No idea, but it tastes pretty good. It might not be the best night market food I've ever tried, but it's definitely interesting and worth to try. You may not see the usual traditional Taiwanese food such as oyster omelettes, but at least you'll have something different, something unique. This night market is great for those who are tired of the usual food and the atmosphere and want something else.

MUST-TRY FOOD AT THE YANPING NIGHT MARKET: I would recommend you to try the muachi 麻糬 and the meat dumplings 湯圓, those were my favorite snacks here. Another must try would be the popular "chicken roll" 雞捲 and the cut tomatoes 蕃茄切盤. More about them below.

Let me show you some of my photos of Yanping Road Night Market (Apr 2011):

Scooters rushing by on a busy Yanping North Road.

The housing here is of very low standard.

Stalls on the other side.

POPULAR STALL: SHI FAMILY FRESH MEAT DUMPLINGS 施家鮮肉湯圓

This shop is very famous here, so we decided to visit it.

The interior design is a mix of several decades, but mostly the 1970s.

The menu and the prices look appealing to a price conscious Taipeier like me.

One of popular and standard Taiwanese starters: Cooked yam leaves. Yummy.

Boiled squid, which was previously dried. Quite yummy as well.

On the photo you can find the famous meat dumplings or 湯圓 (tang yüen), literally "soup circles". The special thing about this dumpling is the dough, which is made from glutinous rice. It's very delicate and special in taste, definitely the must try dish, if you come to this night market. The price was 45 NTD.

And then we went out on the street again and tried...

POPULAR STALL: CUT TOMATOES 蕃茄切盤

This traditional stall was also very popular.

I was so amazed, when I saw this dish, called 蕃茄切盤 (lit. "tomatoes cut") in Chinese. I was like: "They sell cut tomatoes and sell them as a dish? Wow..." It was interesting for me, because cut tomatoes are a very basic and cheap food in Slovenia, which people eat at home like a snack. We would never eat this outside, but for Taiwan this is normal. After all, eating out daily here is as normal as not eating out very often in Slovenia. The best thing about these cut tomatoes was the sauce, so I definitely recommend to try this dish. The price was 50 NTD (1.2 Eur), a little hight, if you ask me. It's two cut tomatoes after all.

This is the sidewalk at the night market.

POPULAR STALL: YE FAMILY 5 SPICED CHICKEN ROLL 葉家五香雞捲

This dish is famous for this area, popular with people, who like traditional food.

In fact, the stall had a huge line and they really work hard to fry as many rolls as possible, because this is the only dish they sell. The name 五香雞捲 "five spice chicken roll" is deceiving, my girlfriend said inside is no chicken, but pork. The name 雞捲 comes from Taiwanese "gê gèn" which means "extra roll", actually meaning "extra dish from left-over food". And because "gê" sounds very similar to the word for "chicken" in Taiwanese, the Chinese character for chicken was chosen to name this dish. The outer part of the roll is made of tofu skin, the inside is filled with onions and pork, but can be also with other kinds of meat. We paid 45 NTD (1 Eur). The taste is ok, maybe not my favorite food, but definitely interesting enough to recommend it to you.

POPULAR STALL: MUACHI 麻糬

This is a famous muachi stall, which we had to visit.

Muachi is a Taiwanese word for 餅 mochi, the traditional Japanese snack, eaten a lot during the lunar new year. Muachi is very popular in the southern Chinese kitchen, I've tried it in Malaysia and Singapore as well (see a photo here). But this one here (on photo above) was the best I've ever tried. If you're here, please try this muachi, it's so soft, warm and delicious. Maybe I'm biased, because I love muachi (and peanuts) in general, but the quality is really good. And the stall is very popular.

This is the end of the Yanping Nort Road. It was dark, when we left.

To go to the night market, take the Red Line train to Minquan West Road MRT station and then transfer to the Orange line in direction to Luzhou and exit at Daqiaotou MRT Station (1 station away). Exit at Exit 1 and wak straight for 1 minute, then turn right and you're there. (Map by Google, click on it for a Google Map).

IN CONCLUSION: This is one of Taipei's most unique night markets. I think most foreign visitors might find it boring, but those of us, who live here, might find it quite interesting. In the end it's up to you and your personal preference. But the muachi is very good and can be the only reason to visit this night market.

[FOOD in TAIWAN][My TAIWAN page][My TAIPEI page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

[My TAIWAN NIGHT MARKETS list][My MAP of Night Markets in Taipei]

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Tai'an 泰安, Taiwan's tofu village

A small aboriginal village in Miaoli County

Tai'an 泰安 is so far the smallest village I have ever seen in Taiwan. It's located in Miaoli County 苗栗縣, about 30min away from Miaoli City by car, in a small and long valley, an area known for being the home of Taiwan's Atayal people. My wife and I together with her family went on a short trip to this beautiful region. We decided to visit this tiny village, famous for hot springs and tofu, out of curiosity. I had not heard of Tai'an before, but now it's definitely a place I will remember. Why is that so, read further below.

Show bigger map

Tai'an is truly a tiny village, a micro village. There are three small lanes, few tofu shops and that's it! If you ever decide to go here and wonder, why you came all the way from the civilization to this small village at the end of the world, don't say I haven't warned ya! I think the best reason to visit Tai'an is to go to one of their famous hot spring hotels, but more about that later. If you just come, because you've read about a famous "Tofu Old Street", you made a big mistake. I think on the way to the onsen, you can make a short stopover and try the tofu, if you must. But if you don't, you won't miss a lot...

Let me show you some photos of Tai'an from May, 2011:

This is where we parked the car, in front of the township office.

The nature is beautiful here and probably the no 1 reason to visit.

The village is squeezed between a hill and a river. Cute.

This is the biggest junction in the area. One part goes deeper into central Taiwan, another one goes up to the famous hot spring hotels.

After crossing a small pedestrian (?) bridge, you are in central Tai'an.

The central part with tofu shops and a police station (they must be busy!).

This is truly a sleepy village.

Stinky tofu is sold everywhere here.

The "famous" Old Street.

Something about this photo makes me melancholic... It's like it's stuck in some old times.

We decided to try the tofu at the most popular shop: Qingan Tofu Shop.

The funny thing was, when we arrived here and all tables were occupied and people were munching the tofu, many of them turned to us (and me), while trying to chew the hot tofu. Their mouths were half open and I thought the image was very comical. Of course 15 min later I was like them, haha.

This is what we ordered:

Black tofu (80NTD), not bad.

Black tofu from close, full of pepper.

Bamboo soup (50NTD) and tofu in salad (60NTD).

Fried tofu balls (80NTD), my favorite.

Sautéed tofu (60NTD), not bad.

We paid 380 all together (we ordered 2 soups), we were 5 people. We got full, but most of us felt the food is too expensive and just very average. Everybody liked the fried tofu balls the most. If you must try the tofu here, don't expect too much.

As soon as we finished the meal, we decided to go back.

This is the way to some famous hot springs in the area. I wanna visit next time.

This is Onsen Papawaqa, one of the most famous (and expensive) hot spring resorts in Taiwan. I heard that staying overnight costs over 5000 NTD (120 Eur). Click on pic for more (courtesy of the resort).

The Houlong River (lit. Dragon Back River) passes by and continues to Miaoli City.

Aboriginal art (?)...

If you come Taipei to Tai'an, you will feel like you came to another country. The time stands still here, nothing is going on in this village. All you'll see is tourists trying to eat the hot tofu and chewing it with open mouths. I think it's definitely one of the highlights here. For more action it's better to visit one of the hot springs, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I will return to this area, I really love the nature. If you work 12h a day in Taipei, Tai'an feels like heaven (with a smell of tofu, though...). Read about the same trip in Chinese>>

[My TAIWAN TRAVEL page][TAIWAN][All photos by MKL, 2011]

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Top 5 strangest characters in Taipei Metro

If you're like me, someone who's taking the Taipei Metro almost every day, I'm sure you must have noticed quite a few characters in your daily routine. During the work week, I spend almost 2 hours a day in and around the trains. And what else is there to do than observing people. Now I have to say that Taipei Metro is probably one of the best in the world and people here are just too polite and too normal for me to write a very funny posts about them. I've seen real weirdos in the Seoul Metro and by that I mean people who really crept me out. However, Taipei also has a bunch of strange characters roaming around the subway. But they're not strange in the sense that they are weird people per se, it's rather that they stand out by not behaving according to the subway etiquette or to put it bluntly: They seem to be so caught up in their own world that they forget others around them.

I have made a top 5 of these strange characters, listed from bad to worse and worst:

1. The Sleeper

This type of commuter is sitting on the priority seat and sleeping or pretending to sleep. By that they blend out everything around them such as elders or pregnant women, who are in desperate need of that seat. Sadly I see this type quite often lately. But for every bad seed, there's like 5 people who do the right thing and pass the priority seat to the right person. I need to praise my wife here. She's the type who would sometimes block an empty seat and pet an old person or a pregnant woman on the shoulder and redirect them to the seat. She's really a very kind person.

2. The Blocker

This type of commuter is also quite common. They are either blocking the main door or one of the seats. No idea, why some, who need to travel like 10 stations, have to stand near the door and then always block others, who want to go out. It's really a crazy crowd every morning, especially from the Main Station to the City Hall Station. I think, if you have space to leave the door, go inside. And then there's the type who stands in front of an empty seat, but doesn't want to seat down. I see others are eying the empty seat, but are too polite or shy to ask him to move aside, so that they can seat. If I intend to stand (for some reason), I usually move away from an empty seat. If I can't, I rather sit down. I know many would like to seat, they're tired, so blocking an empty seat is a little rude, if you ask me.

3. The Screamer

This type is not so common, but I heard them few times: For some reason they scream in one of the station and I have no idea what has happened. All I see is people at the station are looking in the same direction and the ones in the train (when the door opens) are trying hard to hear what's going on. Usually it's not enough time for them, the door closes and just like me, they keep wondering. I guess I'm the most clueless one. And I guess sometimes it's not so bad to not know what's going on. But the screaming is definitely not pleasant to hear.

4. The Jumper

This type is sadly also very common. Every morning, when I change the train at the Main Station, it's really crazy. The crowds are unbelievably huge and there are officers (officers?) trying to get people in order by whistling and fumbling, no, just by whistling, but they remind me of Taiwan's famous traffic policemen, where I always wonder, how much effect they really have on the traffic. Anyway, there are always long queues every morning. People sometimes wait 10 minutes for boarding the train and 99% of the people will wait patiently until it's their turn to get in, but there will always be someone, who will appear out of nowhere at the last second before the door closes and place him/herself in the tiniest spot available. That for me is of course understandable human behavior, people are late and use this way as the last resort. However, I don't condone it, it's still wrong, because the rest of us are still waiting.

5. The Pusher

This is for me the strangest Taipei subway character. Just like before, I see this every morning at the Main Station. It's basically "the Jumper", but with the difference, that he (usually it's a she) pushes everybody inside to get the last free spot and then gets in. Luckily I've only observed this from the outside the train, I wasn't jet pushed by the pusher. I hope one day I can make a short clip of that, I think it would definitely be a YouTube hit. Dear Pusher, I know you are late, frustrated and hyperactive, but pushing people so directly is a bit over the top. I've seen the shocked faces on many pushed commuters, it's definitely not a pleasant experience for them.

There are of course many other strange characters, but not occurring as often and not so significant as these 5 and hence don't really add any value to my post's topic. I need to say I really think Taipei Metro is for me personally the best in the world. Not only the service is top, the Taiwanese people are really a pleasant bunch to commute with, I truly have a great experience. But I have to say that taking a subway train every day is really tiring. But for me, I still prefer it over a car and scooter.

How about you? Do you have any interesting stories to share from the Taipei Metro or from any other one? What are the strangest characters in your subway? Please share, I'm curious.

[My LIFE IN TAIWAN page][Photo by MKL, 2011]

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