[Taiwan] Eating in Yilan 宜蘭美食

Last week I wrote about my trip to Yilan with college friends. In case you missed that post, read it here
[Taiwan] Bed and Breakfast at Yilan 卡幄汀民宿

I mentioned in the last post that my friends planned the entire trip.  But you know what’s better than having friends that plan your trip? That's right, friends that also plan your meals! They say birds of a feather flock together, is it surprising that my friends are all foodies just like me?  Plus all of them have been to Yilan multiple times, so I left it all up to them.  

[偽單身二] 看過上一篇, 再來看看這趟在宜蘭吃的美食吧！

Here's the list of what we ate over two days:

1. Wu's Ice Cream 吳記花生捲冰淇淋

Our first snack stop was a Taiwanese ice cream stand.  When I was a kid, there was always some ice cream carts that sell these type of ice cream right outside my elementary school. Unfortunately they are not as common any more, so it brings back a lot to f nostalgic memories.  

We waited about 15 minutes, it's because it takes a bit of time to make each one “ice cream burrito”

I call it a burrito cuz that's the closest looking thing I can think of in America. It starts with a tortilla/crepe, but much thinner and airy. On top of it is shaved peanut candy.  It's a big block of peanut candy, hand shaven as each ice cream burrito is being made. It has to be that way so its fresh and crunchy. Shaving that peanut candy block is quite a work out I must say .

There are three ice cream flavors, taro, pineapple, and red bean. I LOVE taro anything, so that's what I got. Finally, topped off with some cilantro (yes, Taiwanese eat cilantro with anything, we are cousins with the the Mexicans). SO DELICIOUS!

這種花生卷冰淇淋現在很少見了, 不過好在我家旁邊樂華夜市裡也有賣, 我每次回台灣都有吃. 這家吳記比較不一樣的是花生糖是現刨的 (用看得都很累）, 還有芋泥冰淇淋吃起來很天然, 不像是加了人工香料.  

Next to the ice cream stand was a stall that sells "green onion cake" that had an even longer line! It's not normal green onion cake, but green onion cake with egg and deep fried.  It looked really yummy, I wish someday I can go back and try some.

冰淇淋隔壁賣蔥油餅的排隊排好長～～～原來是炸蔥油餅包蛋的那種, 看起來好好吃噢
我現在一邊打字都一邊流口水
這次去宜蘭比較遺憾的是沒吃到蔥油餅, 三星蔥不是很有名嗎？沒吃到蔥油餅太可惜了

2.  Oven Roasted Chicken 大灶雞

Our lunch on the first day was at a very traditional Taiwanese stir-fried restaurant. By that I meant no decor, no service, big round table (even though we have only 4 people) with ugly red plastic table cloth. You don't see many of these in Taipei anymore. The dishes are all traditional Taiwanese family-style dishes, except for their specialty “roasted chicken” .  I didn't even know Taiwanese eat roasted chicken!

這種好像吃辦桌的店我真的好久沒看到了, 有種走進鄉土劇的感覺
這道鹽酥皮蛋好特別, 我不知道皮蛋也能這樣料理, 哪天自己試試看

這隻雞上來時我真是愣住了
我們才四個人是要怎麼吃一隻雞啊？
而且雞又沒切是要怎麼吃？

When this whole roasted chicken showed up at our table I was quite confused? How do you eat this without carving knife? And no mashed potatoes?? Next thing I know, one of my friend picked up the gloves that was delivered to our table along with the chicken, and started TEARING it apart! Soon he broke it to small enough pieces for the rest of us to pick up with chopsticks.

結果原來是要自己戴手套把雞大卸八塊…
好在我同學以前吃過, 很熟練的就把雞剝好了

Now if you’re wondering how is this different from the Costco rotisserie chicken (ok, maybe you didn't, but I did), it’s much juicier. You’ll see why in a moment. The meat was also to be dipped in small dishes of salt and pepper.  In addition, there was also a bowl of “chicken oil” to be mixed in with rice.

附送的雞油是讓人淋在飯上吃的.  好香好好吃噢！

As we were leaving the restaurant, I saw that the chicken were being roasted out in the front in these large oven. One of the cooks invited me over to take a peek inside, then I realized there was a big dish at the bottom to catch juices and oil, which was served with the chicken.

烤雞的地方就在大門口, 離開時我隨手拍了幾張照片, 結果就被圖中那位大叔叫住, 叫我過去
因為聲音有點大我嚇了一跳, 想說糟糕要被罵了…. 
結果不是, 那位大叔是要我靠近一點拍裡面！！還一直問我有沒有多拍幾張
厚～大叔, 你也不要這樣嚇人…

Roasted chicken in oven like these is a “Yilan specialty”. There are restaurants all along the street with big signs that say “roasted chicken”. Just look for one with lots of people.

We made a brief stop at a souvenir shop to get some Yilan snacks. The most well known Yilan snack is "cow tongue cookie".  It's called "cow tongue" because of its elongated oval shape.  It's really a thin cookie with honey filling.  Get the one in the packaging shown in the picture, it's more expensive than others, but it's worth it. 

牛舌餅不用多介紹了吧？同學說只有比較貴的那個牌子才香才好吃
我以前對牛舌餅的印象是還好, 所以只買了五包, 一包留在台灣給oc爸媽
其他的我帶回美國才吃, 不曉得是外國的月亮比較圓還怎樣, 我在美國吃的時候覺得好好吃噢！
本來一包要給oc弟的我就自己吃掉了

3. Le Temps Bistrot 食光

We had originally planned on going to the Lo Tong Night Market for dinner, the biggest in Yilan, but it started drizzling, and we wanted to get back to the bed and breakfast to see fireflies before it's too late. So we ended up picking a random western restaurant near where we were.

I wouldn't say this place was good, but it wasn't bad. I think the most interesting thing here is that they make French/Italian-inspired dishes with Taiwese / local ingredients (Spaghetti with Shaoxing wine?). It was a cute restaurant, if we weren't rushing, it would have been a good place to chat all night.

晚餐本來要去羅東夜市的, 但開始下雨又想回民宿看螢火蟲所以臨時改變計劃.  這間是隨便在路上看到的, 我同學看上它很有氣氛.  我那個同學認識了快20年我到現在才知道她喜歡吃有氣氛的地方, 每次回台灣我都找他吃夜市說… 

我一直以為這家是義大利餐廳, 剛剛找餐廳連結時才發現原來是法國餐廳. 嗯～其實我覺得它就是一家台式西餐廳啦
很多宜蘭在地食材做的西餐, 還滿有創意的

4. “Just Right" Xiao Long Bao 正好鮮肉小籠包

The next day we had xiao long bao for lunch. No, not Din Tai Feng, but a small street vendor. Now, usually street food is fast right? We waited 1.5 for our food! And it was 4 plates of xiao long bao! Good thing there was a tourist spot nearby, so we went there while waiting for the food.

I don't think any food is ever worth more than 20 minute wait, so I would not encourage anyone to do so. But it really was pretty good, especially for NT$60 per plate of 10 xiao long bao. It's a different flavor from Din Tai Feng. It the line is ever less than 20 minutes than by all means, stop by and get some!

十顆小籠包才台票60??? 難怪排隊排到令人傻眼. 我們等了一個半小時吧？
好在隔壁是宜蘭文學館, 所以去那晃了一下
雖然不是鼎泰豐但我真的滿好吃的耶
我覺得很難拿它跟鼎泰豐比, 因為口味完全不同
鼎泰豐是沾醋跟薑絲, 這家只有辣椒醬
不過等1.5小時真的太誇張了…

4.  Uncles 魷魚大叔

After lunch we had to head back to Taipei. But before we bid farewell to one to another, we had one last dinner in Taipei. Ironically it's a new Korean restaurant. There are a lot of Korean restaurants in Taipei now from Korea, probably because of popularity with Korean drama. 

This one in particular called Uncle specialized in rice cake with fried octopus. I have no idea how Koreans come up with a dish like this. The main draw is that the waiter cuts up the octopus in front of us.  Btw, Taiwanese waiters are super nice, the guy who served us actually held up the octopus up until he verified with all of us that we all finished with picture taking.  

這家在臺北不是宜蘭喔
好像我回去的那時剛開的, 報紙也有介紹
這家的招牌是火焰魷魚起司年糕, 還不錯吃啦, 但我覺得噱頭的成分比較大
我們的服務生好可愛, 來剪魷魚的時候為了我們拍照提著魷魚提了半天
還一個個問 ”照片照好了嗎？慢慢照沒關係“ 

Lastly, remember any meal is a good meal when in good company! 

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