Restaurant Review -- Dragon Boat zongzi (Shimen)

Dragon Boat Festival starts tomorrow, and with it (or indeed before), starts the mass consumption of zongzi (粽子; sticky-rice tamales).

Also traditional around this time are health warnings from government health departments against over-indulgence in these high-calorie, fat-and-salt laden items.

Finding non-meat versions can be quite tricky (though many vegetarian restaurants produce them at this time of year). The most famous zongzi manufacturer in northern Taiwan, the Liu Family (劉家) in Shimen District (石門) of New Taipei City, for example, has no meat-free zongzi despite producing around a dozen different flavours.

One hundred meters past Liu's there is a vegetarian outlet, however, which has been in operation for more than two decades.Previously NT$20 for each bamboo-leaf-wrapped snack, the price had risen to NT$25 by NOMM's visit last week.

To NOMM's taste, they are not that exciting (zongzi are judged by the quality of their fillings), but at least vegetarians can join in the culinary part of this weekend's activities.

Text copyright Jiyue Publications 2012

Restaurant Reivew: Buddhist hospital B1 (Xindian)

Last year NOMM tried to order a vegetarian meal in Mr. Brown coffee shop in the Muzha district of Taipei City. "Tried" because while there was one item on the menu, when questioned in detail the staff admitted that the "free" soup was made with a meat stock.

Visiting the Taipei Tzu Chi General Hospital last week--which by coincidence is just a couple of kilometers west of the above-mentioned store--we were surprised to find a completely free vegetarian Mr. Brown coffee outlet.

In fact, the hospital basement is a set out as a food court, and since the hospital is run by the Buddhist Tzu Chi foundation, all outlets meet the organization's vegetarian criteria. There are around half a dozen restaurants, ranging from Taiwanese rice, noodle, and snack meals to Western sandwich bars, and even a Family Mart convenience store, selling only the meat-free section of its food and drink range.

Address: No.289, Jianguo Rd., Xindian District, New Taipei City, Taiwan


text copyright Jiyue Publications
apologies that photographs are temporarily unavailable

Restaurant Review -- Mushroom Noodles (Danshui)

To survive in the restaurant business with only one item on the menu is awesome; to persuade the author of this column to eat mianxian (麵線; a.k.a. "thin, slimy noodles") is barely less impressive.

These two feats have been achieved for 12 and 2 years respectively by Su Xianggu Mianxian (素香菇麵線; “Vegetarian Mushroom Noodles”) on Zhongshan N. Road, a short distance north of the Qingshui Zushi Temple (清水祖師廟) in Danshui (淡水).
One product; three prices: small NT$30, medium NT$40, large NT$50.

What more is there to say?

Well, only one. Last year the restaurant’s founder sold up, and the new owner, while continuing to sell the noodles, has added half a dozen other dishes to the menu. These include yam-flavored tofu and mung bean noodles (山藥阿給), which NOMM will return to sample soon.  

Address: No. 251, Zhongshan North Road Sec. 1, Danshui District, New Taipei City (台北縣淡水鎮中山北路一段251號)
Telephone: 0935620261
Hours: Tues~Sun; 06:00~14:00 (plus Mondays if 1^st or 15^th of lunar calendar month)
 NOMM fake-meat/processed-food index: 2 (low)


Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2012
[photos temporarily unavailable]

Restaurant Review: good food at a good price in tourist town (Yingge)

With northern Taiwan enjoying its first sunny Sunday of the spring, it was not surprising that many people chose to shake off their winter cobwebs by cycling the hour or so west along the Dahan River bikepath to Yingge (鶯歌), one of the island’s oldest ceramics towns.

There is still no sign of a fully vegetarian restaurant up on the “old street” tourist centre. An increasing number of stalls offer meat-free snacks, however, including one selling stinky tofu and lu-wei (滷味; marinated tofu, mushrooms &c.).

There are three vegetarian restaurants immediately outside the railway station, and with two of them closed for some reason, the third, Amitoufo (阿彌陀佛; meaning the “Amitha Buddha” but no English) was doing excellent trade. Housed in more of a tent than a building, it has been in operation for just 8 months, and its owners claim to have been busy since then whatever the weather.

Basically it is a noodle/dumpling place—with more than two dozen items on the menu including no less than 3 kinds of dumplings: hongyou-chaoshou (紅油抄手), shuijiao (水餃) and huntun (餛飩)—as well as some unusual additions.

NOMM tried four classics: sesame-paste noodles (麻醬麵; NT$40), shuijiao dumplings (NT$45), boiled leafy greens (燙青菜; NT$30), and a mixed plate of tofu/dougan (豆乾; dried beancurd) (NT$55), and one unusual item: vegetarian oyster omelet (素蚵仔煎; NT$45).

The noodles and greens both had fake meat in their sauces but otherwise were fine, the dumplings surprisingly did not, and their tastiness did not suffer as a result. We were told not to add sauce to the lu-wei as the beancurd had been marinated to a family formula, but were encouraged to dunk the dumplings in chili sauce as this was also home-made by the owner’s mother.

The non-oyster oyster omelet was the real surprise, as it did not contain the fake-meat oysters so typical of this dish (non-egg omelets can also be ordered for vegans) but rather had bamboo shoot, bean sprouts and seaweed as additional ingredients. An excellent meal for two for NT$215 in a dog-friendly, friendly restaurant.

Address: “Beside the rear entrance, Yingge Railway Station,

Jianguo Road

.” (according to the business card)

Tel: 0928-068272

Hours: 11:00~20:00, Wed~Mon, 2^nd and 4^th Saturdays also closed

NOMM Fake-meat/processed food index: 2 (low)

Text and photos copyright Jiyue Publications

Feature: Interview with Bruce's Kitchen's Bruce

Last Saturday, we ate at Bruce’s Kitchen in the Ankang (安康) area of Xindian (新店), New Taipei City (a review will appear soon). Yesterday NOMM met with Bruce to find out more about his restaurant, his vision for a “different” kind of vegetarianism in Taiwan, and future plans. [This is the beginning of the interview, more will appear when time allows.]

NOMM: Perhaps we could start at the beginning: What led you to open a vegetarian restaurant up here in the hills overlooking southern Taipei.

Bruce: I opened my first restaurant in 2002. But its origins date back about three years earlier, to the 921 Earthquake [of September 21, 1999]. I was living in Taipei, on the 5^th floor of a building near Wuxing Street, and suddenly in the middle of the night, the house started rocking, and plates and glasses and stuff was thrown off shelves and smashed on the floor. The next day, after the dust had settled, I brought my wife and daughter up her to the single-story farmhouse where I had grown up and which was then unoccupied. We felt safe here, and enjoyed the clean air, tranquility, and the distance from the chaos of Taipei. We decided to renovate the place and relocate here. I had always enjoyed cooking, and so later we decided to share our special place with other people, and open a restaurant.

NOMM: But not immediately?

Bruce: We immediately planted a herb garden, as I am passionate about herbs in cooking, but at that time I wasn’t even a vegetarian, and my first idea was to open a regular Italian-style restaurant in this nice location. Earlier in my life I’d lived in South Africa, and my favorite restaurant was had a simple menu—just pizzas, pastas and lasagna—but a great location in the vineyard country near Cape Town. That was kind of my ideal. Open style. Part of the environment.

But when we first lived here, I still had my own design company in Taipei doing post-production work. In that industry you tend to work at night and sleep by day, eating unhealthily and drinking too much. It was for my health that I became vegetarian in 2000. I am a Buddhist, but Buddhism for me is about the teachings and meditation, nothing to do with diet. And unlike Taiwan’s Buddhists, I eat onions and garlic. As someone from northern China [Bruce was born in Taiwan but his father, mother and four brothers were all born in pre-Communist China], I can easily go without seafood and meat, but without garlic I will die.

I had also decided not to work in an office again, and my wife backed my idea. For a year we lived on her income, and I traveled around Taiwan learning as much as I could about cooking and running a restaurant.

NOMM:

Restaurant Review: -- Something warm on a winter's night (Pingxi, New Taipei City)

 

With lots of people heading east from Taipei to the former mining valleys of Pingxi (平溪) District (née Township) for the seriously romantic, spuriously traditional, and decidedly non-environmentally friendly Sky Lantern Festival (天燈節; Jan 26~Feb 6), NOMM cycled out in yesterday’s rain to find a vegetarian restaurant offering sustenance to visitors.

For a while it looked as though none of the clusters of “old streets” (actually cute railway-side rows of shops) of the various communities along this—one of only three branch lines in Taiwan—was risking losing the tourist dollar by providing wholesome, unfried fare, but finally one was found at the far end of the strip in Shifen (十分) Village.

Blue flags attract diners with the restaurant’s name Xiang Yuan Sushi (鄉緣素食; no English, but meaning something like “Hometown Affinity Vegetarian Foods”), and promotes these as “healthy, fresh, hygienic” (健康、新鮮、衛生).

The Chinese-only menu lists simple rice and noodle dishes, boiled and sautéd leafy greens, and soups, which were selling well on this miserable winter’s day.
 
NOMM ordered rice in curry sauce (咖哩燴飯; NT$60) and a side of vegetables (趟青菜; NT$30). The latter was on the small side, and NOMM could easily have eaten more of the former, not because it was small but rather because it was moreish. Not a usual favorite, nevertheless something about it worked on this occasion. Moreover (and unlike the greens), it was free of fake meat.

XiangYuan has been open since last year, when its owners “moved back” to their hometown, though perhaps they still work elsewhere during the week as the restaurant is only open on weekends and holidays.

Pingxi Lantern Festival is definitely a mist-see for visitors and residents alike. Go in the evening with a date to appreciate the full romantic effect. But to avoid a guilt-ridden return journey it is perhaps best to watch other people’s lanterns rather than launching one’s own flying incendiary device over the forested hills between Taipei and Yilan.

 

Address: No.122 Shifen Street (十分街122號)

Tel. 02-2495 8239

Hours: Saturdays, Sundays and holidays; 12:00~17:00

NOMM fake meat/processed food index: 2 (low)

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2012

Restaurant Review: -- Fulong Railway Lunchbox (Fulong, New Taipei City)

Chishang (池上) in Taitung County (台東), Alishan (阿里山) in Chiayi County (嘉義), but most of all Fulong (福隆) in the old Taipei County are all famed for their railway lunch boxes. Originally (and still) sold to passengers from the station platforms, these towns also now have lunch box restaurants in the nearby streets, and indeed, there are Fulong and Chishang lunch box providers in neighbouring towns and further afield.

Having tried and failed to purchase a vegetarian lunch box on the platform, NOMM bought one from the nearest store, at No.5 Fulong St. (福隆街).

The omens looked good, there was even a sign taped to the counter listing the ingredients, and translated into English by the owner's daughter.

The vegetarian version listed "rice, marinated dried tofu, cabbage, dried radish, seaweed, marinated gluten, vegetarian ham, pickled cabbage, corn, carrot, potato, bean" all for NT$55.

NOMM passed on the vegetarian ham and was rewarded with an extra portion of vegetables.

Here ended the good news. The food was gross. Perhaps walking further from the station might work, but when NOMM tried this, we were asked, "Do you mind if the vegetables are cooked in lard?"

Perhaps a packed lunch is advisable for a day at the beach.

                                                   Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

News Brief: School lunch kickbacks case expands -- Prosecutors

The scandal of elementary and junior high school principals in New Taipei City (新北市; formerly Taipei County) taking kickbacks in the provision of school lunches has exploded, the China Times reports today (full Chinese-language article here; presumably the Taipei Times will cover this story tomorrow). 

Yesterday, November 10, the Banciao District Prosecutors Office (板橋地檢署) again directed the search of 7 junior high and 13 elementary schools, and arraigned four principals and one food provider to appear in court. Investigations also discovered that some elementary school principals, after receiving cash from providing companies, also held positions evaluating committee members at other schools, for which, shamefully, they further took bribes. 

Prosecutors said this was not a case of “established practice” but was criminal behaviour, and principals involved must be brought to justice with all due haste.

                                                                 Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

Photo: Crab festival in Yeliu

Shortly after dawn, 漁山 168 steams into Yeliu Harbor

Sorting crabs on the quayside, Yeliu

                         Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

News Brief: School Principals Arraigned for Lunch Kickbacks

More than 10 elementary-school principals from New Taipei City (新北市; formerly Taipei County) are being investigated for allegedly accepting kickbacks from school-lunch providers, the Taipei Times reported today (full article here).

The Banqiao District Prosecutors’ Office said it had arraigned six principals for questioning and had searched nine schools in Banqiao (板橋), Xinzhuang (新莊), Luzhou (蘆洲), Sanxia (三峽) and Shulin (樹林), as well as 10 lunch manufacturers, which supply as much as between 80 and 90 percent of the city's elementary school meals.

Preliminary investigations showed that lunch dealers might have bribed principals to receive better evaluations, enabling them to make bids to provide school lunches, the office said. Some principals were receiving up to NT$300,000 each semester, it added.

A Chinese-language article in the Liberty Times quoted a parent as saying that meals were so cheap at NT$40 that he didn't think they could be healthy for his daughter so he gave her a packed lunch everyday, and how much more true that must be if the principal was also taking a cut.

                                                          Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011