Eat-venture in Liuhe Night Market, Taiwan

Kaohsiung, 13 November 2010

Liuhe night market is one of the biggest night market in Taiwan. It is located in Kaohsiung City. The night market is located at Liuhe Road which is used by the locals to travel for their daytime activities. In the evening, this road will be transformed to a food night market for the locals and the tourists for their dinner and supper. There is quite a variety of food there.

This papaya milk shake stall is the most popular. Celebrities around Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong come to this stall for famous papaya milk shake and left their signatures on the signboard. One notable celebrity is the Taiwan President Mr Ma likes the papaya milk shake. The papaya milk was thick, cold, refreshing and absolutely delicious.

President Mr. Ma also likes the pepper meat biscuit from one of the stalls and he left his signature on the signboard. As the name describes, it is a kind of biscuit with meat fillings. The meat fillings are seasoned with salt and pepper. The biscuits are roasted in a special oven and till they are golden brown. The biscuits are tasty and the meat is moist. It is very delicious.

The oyster bun is a local food of Kaohsiung. The bun is filled with plenty of oysters, one egg and spring onions. The bun was deep fried in the hot oil wok. The oyster bun is removed from the wok once it turns golden brown. It must be consumed hot so that it is absolutely tasty.

Oyster omelette is a dish originated from Fujian province in China. It is very popular in the South East Asia Chinese communities. The Taiwanese version is thicker than Singapore and Malaysia versions because a lot of starch is added to the omelette. Pork lard is added distinct flavour to oyster omelette and make it absolutely delicious. I still prefer the Malaysia and Singapore version because less starch is used and the omelette is not "sticky".

Fermented bean curb, also known as "stinky" tofu is a famous snack in Taiwan. it is commonly found in the night market. It has a beautiful name called "Golden Bricks". Although it has an unbearable smell, stink tofu is quite delicious.

The ice cream is thick and absolutely delicious.

The old TV game console brings back my old memories. This is my first TV game console. It is interesting to find it in Liuhe Night Market. Who will buy it if there is PSP, PS3 or Xbox 360?

Snake meat and chicken bishop are some interesting ingredients loved by my scottish gourmet friend. And they are also found in Liuhe Night Market. I guess he will love Liuhe Night Market very much.

9 January 2011 Dinner

I cooked two dishes for my dinner again. One was Braised Chicken Wings with Carrots, Mixed Vegetables, Cherry Tomatoes and Cabbages. The other one was Watercress Soup with Dashi, peas and corns. 

I created Braised Chicken Wings with Carrots, Mixed Vegetables, Cherry Tomatoes and Cabbages recipe. All the ingredients found in my kitchen were left over. So I made use of them and came out something healthy, amazing, colourful and absolutely delicious.

I remodified Chef Ramsay's Watercress Soup recipe and came out with Watercress Soup with Dashi, Peas and Corns. I made use of bonito broth and add western ingredients into the broth and made the soup a Japanese-Western cuisine. The soup was tasty but with too much flavours because of Dashi. The soup was tasted complicated. I guess simple is the best. I will recreated Chef Ramsay's Watercress soup one day.

Best Restaurant in Taipei

Din Tai Fung, 8 November 2010

Din Tai Fung, a famous Taiwanese chain restaurants in the Chinese communities. She specializes in absolutely delicious Xiao Long Bao, a kind of small, steamed, dedicated dumplings. It has a long and interesting history and the history of Din Tai Fung can be found at http://www.dintaifung.com.tw/en/about_a.asp. Din Tai Fung flagship restaurant at Xinyi Road in Taipei was awarded one of the top ten gourmet restaurants by The New York Times on 1993 and the Top Asian Cuisine by The Miele Guide 2010 and 2011. Since it is highly commended by the top food ctitics, I want to see whether Din Tai Fung Flagship Restaurant does justice to Xiao Long Bao. So I started my eat-venture once again to this legendary restaurant for a fine dining breakfast experience. I ordered Spicy and Sour Soup, Truffle Xiao Long Bao, Shrimp Dumplings and Meat Dumpling in Spicy Sauce.

Since it was in November, the weather in the morning was quite cool. The best way to start a cooling morning was to drink Spicy and Sour Soup. Spicy and Sour Soup is originated from Sichuan Province in China, where the local cuisine is famous for spiciness. The soup is a bit of spicy, sour, salty, fresh and fragrant.  The proportion of the pepper, salt and vinegar must be at the right proportion to prefect this absolutely delicious soup. Again, this soup was absolutely appetizing.

The Shrimp Dumplings were absolutely beautiful and amazing in colour. The shrimps were steamed perfectly. They were fresh and tender. The dumplings contained the juice of the meats, which were also in the dumplings. The shrimp dumplings were absolutely delicious.

The main highlight for the restaurant was Truffle Xiao Long Bao. A certain Michelin Three Star French chef had tasted the Xiao Long Bao at the same restaurant. He suggested to the owner that truffle should be added to his Xiao Long Bao to increase flavour, scent and excitement to his customers. The owner did headed for his advice and came out Truffle Xiao Long Bao. It was full of truffle aroma and it had a bit of pungent taste from the truffle. The juice from the meat was absolutely delicious when I ate Xiao Long Bao with ginger and vinegar. The only phrase I could describe this dish was “best thing on Earth”.

The last dish was Dumplings in Spicy Sauce. This dish was also originated from Sichuan Province in China. Dumplings in Spicy Sauce was absolutely fresh, spicy yet tasty.

After my wonderful breakfast, I met a family of three from Hong Kong. They flew to Taipei for tour and dropped by Din Tai Fung Flagship HQ for fine dining breakfast experience. If my memory serves me right, there are currently two Din Tai Fung restaurants in Hong Kong hold a single Michelin Star each. I believe Din Tai Fung flagship restaurant in Xinyi Road at Taipei will get her Michelin Star soon.

Xinyi Restaurant
No. 194, Xinyi Road Sec. 2,
Da-an District, Taipei City 10651, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
(intersection of Yunkang St.)
TEL:886-2-2321-8928

Business hours :
Mon-Fri: 10:00-21:00
Weekends & Public Holidays: 09:00-21:00

Metro Taipei：
Daan Station(Muzha line)

Scrambled Egg with Corrissants, Back Bacons and Cherry Tomatoes

Allez Cuisine, a French phrase means Go Kitchen. I am a man of my words. So I will go back to my kitchen and start cooking. I have no experience in the kitchen but I will try my best to cook absolutely delicious cuisine to do justice to my name of this blog, Allez Cuisine. I had my own Henckels chef knife, Professional "S" graded, to prepare my ingredients.


This recipe is from Chef Gordon Ramsay. He cooks this for his family every Christmas morning. I recreated this dish for my dinner tonight. I replaced the smoked salmon with the back bacon. The scrambled egg is absolutely delicious.

Food Adventure in Taichung and Tainan

Taichung and Tainan, 18 October 2010 to 18 November 2010

I went to Taichung to search for some humble yet absolutely delicious Taiwanese cuisine. In the month of October, the weather was cooling and it was the best time to go to Fengjia Night Market, the biggest night market in Taiwan. It was a great place to “settle” my dinner. There were plenty food stalls to choose from, this made me a happy glutton. There were fish eggs, fried squids with wasabi, Big Intestine with Glutinous Rice, pig blood cake (大肠包小肠) and oden (a Japanese winter dish consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon radish, konnyaku, and processed fish cakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth). The one I liked the most was the fried squid with wasabi. The fried squids were crispy outside but chewy inside. Wasabi was the prefect sauce for the dish. It was absolutely delicious.

In the month of November, since it was approaching winter, the cuisine that did justice in winter is ginger duck soup (姜母鸭). A certain kind of duck was selected for the soup. It was fried with ginger and other ingredients and was brewed with chicken and duck broth. Rice wine may be added to increase flavour and made this soup simply irresistible. Side dishes such as pork livers, pork intestine, and golden needle mushroom and bean curbs were cooked with the ginger duck soup, just like steamboat. The soup and the side dishes were tasted together with the mee suah (rice vermicelli). This dish was awesome.

The rice tube pudding (筒仔米糕) was tasty as well. It tasted almost like rice dumplings. The dish was almost prepared the same way as the rice dumpling too. The glutinous rice was cooked with stewed pork and was steamed in a small metal container. So the steamed rice pudding took the form of the container and so it was known as rice tube pudding. The rice tube pudding was delicious.

Rice Cake (碗粿) was a popular street food in Tainan, it was absolutely delicious. It tasted almost exactly like Chwee Kueh (水粿) from Malaysia and Singapore but more flavour and more ingredients. Pork, dried shrimps, hard-boiled eggs and other ingredients were mixed with the glutinous rice juice in a bowl and the mixture was steamed. The taste was simply irresistible.

My next stop will be Ding Tai Fung, the flagship restaurant in Taipei. Stay tuned, folks.

Justin's Signatures

Taipei, 16 Oct 2010

Cruising aimlessly in Taipei City, I accidentally found Justin’s Signature, a flag ship French restaurant owned by Chef Justin Quek. Chef Quek founded the legendary Les Amis, a well-known French restaurant in Singapore. He sold Les Amis and venture overseas such as Shanghai and Taipei to introduce the Chinese what is French cuisine is all about. He used to own La Petite Cuisine Brasserie, one of the top 5 restaurants in Taipei. He closed down the restaurant and setup a new restaurant called Justin’s Signatures in Taipei City this year. I cannot miss this chance to taste his artistic creation.

Justin’s Signature is simple decorated yet gorgous, classical music is played throughout the whole restaurant and it is definitely a place for fine dining. Justin’s Signatures could be one of the top 5 restaurants in Taipei end of this year, in my opinion.

I ordered a 7-course dinner for my eat-venture experience. The first course was Gillardeau Oyster served with Aruga Caviar and Citrus Vinaigrette. La Gillardeau was fresh and the taste was spot on. However I prefer shaved ice added in the oyster as well. This would bring down the temperature of the oyster and brought out the natural sweetness of the oyster and the taste of Aruga Caviar and Citrus Vinaigrette.

The second course was the Autumn Sensation and it consisted of 4 small appetizers. They were Goose Foie Gras Gateau, Cep Gratin and Cherry Tomato Confit, Duck Confit with Parsley Jus, and Boudin Noir Royale with Mousseline Potato. The four appetizers were exciting and tasty, but I preferred Boudin Noir Royale with Mousseline Potato because the taste was absolutely absolutely delicious.

The third course was Line Caught Pacific Catches and French Chanterelle. It was actually Brasied Fish Fillet in Chanterelle Nage, Sherry Vinegar. The sauce was creamy and enhanced the taste of the fish fillet. The fish fillet was well seasoned and it was absolutely delicious. This is one of my favourite dishes in the menu.

The fourth course was Live Marine Lobster, light smoked and pan-roasted, served Duck Gizzard, Red Wine reduction. Chef Quek did not forget to introduce duck gizzard, which is a popular snack in Taiwan, into French cuisine. The lobster and the duck gizzard seemed to be an odd combination but both ingredients brought out the contrasts of each other and they were absolutely delicious. The freshness, tenderness and the natural sweetness from the lobster simulated my taste bud. The gizzard was chewy and tasty. The two ingredients definitely worked together and made this dish very exciting.

The fifth course was U.S. Beef, roasted to medium rare with Sautéed Sweet Bread, Wild Pepper “Ma-Gao” sauce. The beef was absolutely tender, delicious and juicy. The accompanied Wild Pepper “Ma-Gao” sauce added sweet and peppery flavour to the beef without overpowering it. The sauce and the beef were absolutely complemented to each other. However I still preferred to taste the beef without any sauce. I wanted the beef to “speak for itself”. In fact in my humble opinion, the juice in the beef is the best sauce.

The sixth course was Avant Dessert. It was guava juice with apple cider vinegar. It was tasty and refreshing. It helped to sooth my digestion system and ready for the real dessert. The last course was Chef’s Desserts which were Chocolate and Seasonal Fruit Creation. The desserts were tasty and sweet, but no that sweet. A cup of coffee with Petits Douceurs was the prefect way to end this sumptuous dinner.

The service is good and there are several menus you can choose from based what you can afford. This restaurant is high recommended.

Address: 17, Lane 265, Sector 2 Dunhua South Road, Da-an District, Taipei 106

Telephone:+886-02-2736-8000

Website: http://www.justinquek.com/

Beautiful Taipei, Tasty Street Food

Taipei, 16 Oct to 17 Oct 2010

Once again I stepped into the land, which is well known for street food, Taipei. There are quite a number of night markets in Taipei, the most well known night in Taipei is Shilin Night Market. You can take a subway and stop at Jiantou station at 8pm to reach Shilin Night Market.

There is quite a variety of street food in Taiwan. What I like most are stinky tofu, Taiwanese style fried chicken cutlet, tempura and stewed pork over the rice. Stewed pork over the rice is absolutely delicious. The savoury of the stew pork with plain flavor of rice is absolutely spot on. I will return to Taiwan for just the dish.

What I preferred to enjoy the most is eating stewed pork over the rice at Tamsui Fisherman’s Wharf and watching the beautiful sunset at the same time with a cup of papaya milk shake. The feeling was simply awesome.

I would be going to Justin’s Signatures for fine dining experience. Chef Justin Quek who established the well-known Les Amis in Singapore found Justin’s Signatures in Taipei.  I will write a separate post for Justin’s Signatures. Stays tune folks.