Restaurant Review: Cheap, cheerful and healthy (Puli, Nantou County)

One good thing about getting away from big cities is that prices can come tumbling down; one bad thing is that so too can quality.

This is not the case at TianCi Vegetarian (天慈素食; “Heaven’s Compassion” [no English]) in Puli Township (埔里), gateway to the mountains of Nantou. NOMM stopped there at the start of the famous Wuling (武陵) bike route last year, and two of us feasted for a total of NT$140 before the climb to Taiwan’s highest road at 3250 m.

Perhaps prices have gone up, but last year they included:

fried rice/noodles – NT$20~25

dumplings (水餃) -- NT$3.5 each

soups -- NT$20

leafy greens -- NT$20

marinated tofu, &c. -- NT$10~20

and with Dragon Boat Festival not too far away, they have zongzi at NT$20

Address: 262 Nanchang St (南昌街)

Tel: 049-2996312

NOMM fake meat/processed food index: 5 (moderate)

Text © Jiyue Publications 2012

Apologies no photos

News Brief: Woman fights back against misleading advertisement

When the Mother's Day cake with 30 whole strawberries on top (as seen in advertisement) arrived with mere bits of strawberries instead, Ms. Zhou got a bellyful of anger, reports FTV today (Chinese-language article here).

The manufacturer claims it is still strawberry cake, the Consumer Protection Commission (行政院消費者保護會) is so far siding with Ms. Zhou.

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

News Brief: Food wasted in Taiwan

Statistics compiled by the Environmental Protection Administration show that Taiwanese in 2010 wasted 2.75 million tonnes of food, the equivalent of 20 years of -consumption by 260,000 low-income households, DPP legislator Lin Chia-lung was quoted in an article about establishing a food bank in today's Taipei Times (full article here).

Another interesting fact (assuming true) from the article is that:
US Department of Agriculture statistics show that more than 46 million Americans, or about 15 percent of the US population, lived on assistance provided by food banks last year, Lin said.

News Brief: 'Nuclear' fruit and vegetable origins re-labelled

A Tokyo vegetable and fruit wholesaler has been caught relabelling produce originating in the nuclear meltdown zone of Fukushima Prefecture by putting "Made in Yamagata" stickers, reports ANN News (Japanese-language article here), courtesy of an English translation by EZSKF (here).

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]

News Brief: $39 food to cost $49

[apologies for failing to track food news lately]

Among all the recent stories of food price hikes comes one in today's Liberty Times (Chinese-language article here) saying that food items in Daiso stores (大創百貨)--where everything costs a flat rate of NT$39--will now be priced at NT$49.