Day 1: Rao He Night Market

After walking in rounds and even asking a local where the night market was (His reply was that it was a few MRTs away!!!), Jac and I managed to arrive at the gate of the night market. Though the gate is straight and narrow, there were many people squeezing through it. The food gods were drawing people to them.

We caught our very first whiff of Chou toufu or Fermented bean curd, and the smell was strong enough to lead us to the stall. I'd my very first chow toufu when I visited Taiwan in 1994 and then in 2008 when I was in China. Here was the oportunity for me to have a go at this "smell toufu". 

It looked like it was the crowd's favourite. We were squeezed with others at the same table and in a very while, four pieces of "chou toufu" were served to us. NT40. Haw haw, Day 1 in Taiwan and we were going to stink up our mouths. As the saying goes, "do what the locals do". So the first piece went into my mouth. AWESOME!!!! The smell was horrendous, but the warmth that emitted from the "chou toufu" just gave my stomach that oomph!

Roaming the streets, we picked up the Taiwan sausages (taiwan xiang chang) , and small dumplings (Shui jiao) both for NT35 each.

One of the most patronised stalls along the night market was the pork ribs soup dish (pai gu). A red banner stretched across the stall - Jin Lin Shan Xiong Di they called themselves. I counted, there were really three brothers and they definitely looked related. They had their wives there as well. Gets too long and complicated if we include the wives and children in the stall's name, I guess.

Their speciality also include goats meat and braised pork on rice (lu rou fan). We tried only the pork ribs soup with rice and the hot soup brought out the perspiration in me, even in that cool 22 degree climate. NT70 was worth it! Tender meat and can you see that whole entire tub of chilli they left for me? Yum yum!