Today I’m going to chat with you about eating. In fact, I have already written an article on Taiwanese food, but I always feel that there is one place that needs to be written separately, and that is the Shilin Night Market in Taipei. It seems that as long as there are Chinese people, there are no people. I don't know about this night market. Except in China, my personal real experience is that I have talked about this night market with local Chinese in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and it seems that everyone highly respects this Taipei night market. Don’t look at me having a good time chatting with others. In fact, I hadn’t been to Taiwan at that time, and I was really a bit of a dog to lift the curtain. It’s all about the meaning of this mouth. I can only use my imagination to imagine this gourmet paradise that all Chinese agree with. . I personally have been engaged in the catering industry. It was 25 years ago in 1994, and I sat there in stages until 2006. Although there were a few years of gaps in the middle, I still think I have a little understanding of the catering industry. Of course, the deepest experience is the hardships of being in the catering industry. If it is not a large-scale chain restaurant, it is really difficult for outsiders to understand the painstaking efforts of the owner.

Taipei Shilin Night Market

If we Chinese are ranked second in the world in food research, I really can't imagine who has the guts to take the first place. In western countries, just like when I went to the UK, I wanted to taste the world-famous cuisine of the British Empire, which was once known as the empire on which the sun never sets. As a result, I got three answers: the first is French fries, and the second is French fries. Fish, the third is fish with chips. It seems that there are only three "food" that can be sold in the whole of the UK. I am also free. I really bought chips and fish to taste what it tastes like. It happened to catch up with the rain that day and I was so hungry on the shore of Lake Windermere. For half a day, I guess everything tastes delicious. But when I really put fish chips in my mouth, I only remember that it was oily and greasy, so greasy that I even forgot what fish chips taste like. Let’s talk about eastern countries. Japanese food is good, but the taste is too simple. It depends on the freshness of the ingredients and the arrangement of the dishes to attract attention. South Korea is a place that relies on kimchi to support the national catering culture, and India is a place where the entire national catering industry will be paralyzed as long as there is no such seasoning as curry.

Snacks at Shilin Night Market

To say that we Chinese rely on the large number of people to create Chinese food, and there are also a lot of Indians? In terms of the support of ethnic characteristics for food, China has only 56 ethnic groups, Russia has 193 ethnic groups, and New York City has more than 1,000 ethnic groups, which are more than China in this respect! The reasons for its long history, vast land and abundant resources, and rich ingredients? No, corn and wheat as the staple food, peppers, onions, and garlic as condiments, as well as vegetables such as tomatoes, spinach, lentils, eggplants, and cucumbers are not native to China. They are all exotic species. Neither carrots nor flax are native to China, and their natural conditions are not superior. But the Chinese seem to be uniquely talented in making delicious food, changing simple ingredients into countless changes on the stove. I remember that the standard of a good chef in Chinese food is not that you can make a hundred dishes, but whether you can change a dish in a hundred ways. Western food recipes seem to have to be added to the menu to make it, but the menus of Chinese restaurants must be streamlined and then streamlined.

Baked giant scallops at Shilin Night Market

No way, we Chinese are so smart, plus we like to eat, know how to eat, and dare to eat, and our cooking skills have really reached a superb level. I remember that after Chaplin had dinner with Premier Zhou, he couldn't help but asked when he was parting: "Mr. Prime Minister, can you tell me how the sweet liquid got into the round dough? Neither the prime minister nor the translator understood what it meant, and it took a long time to realize that he was asking about glutinous rice balls. Chaplin really couldn't figure out how to wrap the liquid with a ball of dough, and how could there be no seams in this ball of dough? Tangyuan, which is so simple in China, is an incredible food in the eyes of foreigners. When talking about food with Americans, it’s nothing more than whether this Berg is better or that Berg is better. Regular BBQ and steak are considered hot dishes, and vegetables are simply salads. It is called no loss of nutrition. Now a single tablet can contain all the minerals and vitamins needed by the human body. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to take the tablet directly?

Food at Shilin Night Market

Only when the ingredients from all over the world are in the hands of the Chinese can they be found in the right place. The methods of making them are endless. Let’s not talk about them because they are too complicated. Let’s just take the most basic and simplest noodles, such as Sichuan Dandan noodles, Shanxi noodles, etc. Knife sliced ​​noodles, Shaanxi Lanzhou noodles, Fujian longxu noodles, Jiangsu hollow noodles, Wuhan hot dry noodles, Beijing fried noodles, Henan stewed noodles, Yanji cold noodles, Yibin burning noodles, and Xinjiang pulled strips. . . Too much too much. I even heard a saying that the history of spaghetti and Chinese noodles is the same. It is so bizarre. The Qishan saozi noodles originated in the Zhou Dynasty has a history of 3,000 years. How can it be compared? If not, the 4,000-year-old noodles unearthed in Qinghai are all there. The founder who wants to compete with us for noodles? The pronunciation of pasta already has the answer: "deadly"! Besides, in my opinion, most spaghetti are slices, which is a completely different field in Chinese food. If these are all noodles, then there are countless Chinese noodles.

The fried stinky tofu at Shilin Night Market is very popular

My personal most interesting noodle eating experience was in Los Angeles. Since I have stayed in the United States for a long time, I suddenly wanted to eat Chinese food. I did not expect that a Lazhou Ramen opened in Los Angeles, and I immediately rushed to the accelerator. The store is open. Once you enter the store, it is no different from the domestic store. There is a large transparent glass between the front hall and the back kitchen, so that customers can rest assured that no matter who they are, they can clearly see the ramen making process. I saw that it didn’t matter, and immediately let out a pig squealing with joy. A Mexican was wearing a white chef’s uniform and a white chef’s hat, and he was stretching the noodles there. His dark complexion, white clothing, and flour were dynamically integrated into one In the picture, the noodles between the hands are stretched in a good shape, and the ramen is shaken from time to time to smash the ramen on the thin noodles of the chopping board, making a crisp "boom" sound. How can a Mexican with short limbs and a thick neck get into Malan ramen? the back kitchen? The funniest thing is that he can still understand professional Chinese words like "two thin, big wide", and skillfully control the thickness of the ramen in his hand.

Huazhiyao in Shilin Night Market


Well, let’s talk about our Taiwanese food, and talk about our iconic brand of Taiwanese food – Shilin Night Market. The night market is naturally lively at night. It happened to be a very hot day in Taipei. I came out during the day and took the MRT to many places. I played until dark before I started to go to Shilin Night Market. I have to say that in Taipei under the high temperature, I carried two full-frame SLR cameras on my back, and except for a brief time on the MRT, I used my legs to measure the streets and alleys of Taipei. My clothes were drenched in sweat, and I went down to the MRT station to blow on the air conditioner. After being comfortable for a while, I rushed into the hot and humid downtown of Taipei again, especially when I walked in Ximending, and I also stopped by the Tamsui River, continuing to walk in the high temperature for nearly three hours. Repeating this kind of trip several times made my physical exertion a bit overdrawn, and I was embarrassed to enter the MRT station again. The T-shirt on my body was soaked in sweat, and it was dry and wet, and there were strips of white and crooked sweat alkali marks. The T-shirt was covered, steaming beads of sweat dripped down the neck along the tip of the hair.

After getting out of the MRT station, I immediately bought such a glass of iced orange and lemon

Fortunately, Shilin Night Market is my last stop today. After visiting here, I can go back to the hotel to take a shower with peace of mind. Take the MRT Danshui Line and get off at Jiantan Station, walk out of the exit and walk forward for tens of meters. Shilin Night Market is a night market surrounded by Yangming Theater. It is composed of several small alleys, and walking through it has a special feeling of a market. What I didn't expect was that Shilin Night Market is a comprehensive market. It is not the snack street model I imagined at all, so that I seriously doubted whether I went to the wrong place. I also asked the owner of the first shop at the alley to be sure. You can't go wrong with Shilin Night Market. The first thing I did when I realized that this was the famous Shilin Night Market in the Chinese world was a glass of iced orange and lemon. I was a little exhausted from sweating. I didn’t even use a straw for this drink. The drink was poured into the body with ice slag, and the hotness of the body was subdued immediately, and the upper part of the temple began to ache. The stomach couldn't stand the cold drink, and the pain from the stomach meridian protested to me.

All kinds of shops and street stalls in the alleys are next to each other. Food stalls, clothing stores, boutiques, shoe stores, record stores, sports goods, etc., are simply a comprehensive mall. Many businesses have set up WeChat Alipay at the door of the store. The signboard for payment welcomes tourists from the mainland to spend. Drinks in Taiwan are a bit like Japan. Many drinks in convenience stores are very delicious. But what I didn't expect was that the freshly squeezed drinks are still so delicious. The most famous ice shop here is Xin Fa Ting, the pioneer of Taiwan Snowflake Ice and Mian Mian Ice, which has a history of more than 40 years. The ice drink I used to eat in the mainland is called shaved ice. Ice cubes are shaved into ice foam, and then poured with various flavors of fruit puree, and then decorated with cherries, banana slices, lemon slices and the like. But the most famous coffee or matcha iced drink here is to let the ice cubes be coffee ice cubes or matcha ice cubes directly. It makes people's eyes light up before eating.

The food in the night market is so tempting

It is definitely not the purpose of coming to Shilin Night Market to eat iced drinks. Shilin Night Market is a paradise for all kinds of delicious snacks in Taiwan. The market includes comprehensive snacks from all over the country, from steak, teppanyaki to oyster omelette, Cantonese porridge, large intestine wrapped in small intestine, There are a variety of fried chicken chops, raw fried squid and so on. Every night, the crowds of people visiting the night market always squeeze the narrow passages, especially in front of the famous food stalls, the people queuing up can definitely block the narrow streets. I passed by a small stall and turned a small T-shaped intersection It's completely blocked. I forgot what this stall specifically sold, but I clearly remembered the signboard next to it, which aroused my curiosity: "Frogs lay eggs", which is like a kind of dessert, which is white in the center after being boiled and put into a bowl. A little bit, it looks like a frog egg and gets its name. If someone who is secretly afraid picks up a bowl of frogs to lay eggs, I don't know if they will be so scared that they will throw the bowl out. In fact, frog eggs are the same as noodles, mixed with lemon aiyu jelly, it tastes springy and smooth.

There is a famous food in Shilin Night Market that is very controversial. Tourists who have eaten it have mixed reviews. Those who like it describe it with joy, and those who don’t like it simply tell you not to try it. The name of this snack is: small intestine wrapped in large intestine. In fact, the glutinous rice sausage is fried until golden, and the middle cut is sandwiched with small sausages. It is said to be crispy and full. Anyway, I think it is somewhat greasy. It reminds me of the big sausages grilled in European and American countries. What is the difference in taste? Don’t look at what I’m talking about here, Shilin Night Market’s food is also overwhelming, but I don’t eat after noon, and I don’t eat at this time of night. If it wasn’t for running around in the high temperature all day, I would have sweated too much. I'm dehydrated, I won't even buy that glass of iced orange and lemon, no matter where I go, I always carry a bottle of mineral water with me, today is a serious exception. As for the delicacies in the entire Shilin Night Market, I can only promise to smell them one by one, but I can't say a word about what it smells like.

Taiwan's famous delicacy big intestine wrapped small intestine

Many friends also said to me, why don’t you go to Shilin Night Market if you don’t eat? look! Smell! Watching all kinds of fresh ingredients being prepared by various cooking techniques, smelling all kinds of delicacies scurrying around in the night market, watching every tourist feasting on delicacies from mountains and seas, smelling delicious food with various seasonings A strange smell in the smell. The people who came to face each other had the busiest mouths, not only eating all kinds of delicacies, but also discussing the taste of the delicacies and the next goal of the delicacies, and occasionally continued to pour fruit juice into their mouths in the middle. A fragrant ice drink or a beer bursting with rich foam. I have to say that the elite white-collar workers who have been exhausted in the highly competitive work environment for many years, occasionally come to Shilin Night Market to spend a night. This kind of carefree life is definitely a reward for themselves. Let the stress and fatigue dissipate in the bursting beer foam, let the body and spirit completely relax in Shilin Night Market. lose weight! Certainly not the subject of tonight.

It may also be that I am not very good at food, at least the delicacies in Shilin Night Market are relatively unfamiliar to me. For example, the famous Taiwanese food fried squid, is to stir fry squid, bamboo shoots and carrots together, thicken it into a soup, add vinegar and sugar to taste, look at the fresh and refreshing stir-fried vegetables and the sweet and sour soup on the plate, you can't Not admitting is a wonderful match. There is also the smell of deep-fried chicken chops that can be smelled far away. The origin of the most famous Haoda chicken chops in Taiwan is in this one in Shilin Night Market. The fried chicken chops are bigger than the face. The words "The Founding Store of Haoda Chicken Chop" are very eye-catching, as are the words "The chicken chops in this store are not cut". What you want is "big"! By the way, there are seafood! Taiwan Island is surrounded by the sea, seafood is absolutely indispensable, but Taiwanese cuisine is not narcissistic about the ingredients. American oysters, Boston lobsters, and deep-sea giant squid are all grandly placed in front of tourists coming and going. After the cooking, the fragrant taste is presented in front of every salivating tourist.

The timing of the shooting was so coincidental that the head of the lamp just blocked the head of the proprietress

By the way, how can I forget the most famous delicacy in Taiwan after talking for a long time? There are only three words for this delicacy. I think everyone can guess it here. It is "Oyster Omelette", but it must not be pronounced in Mandarin, otherwise let alone Taiwanese, even Beijing who can only speak Mandarin. People also have to be in a fog. These three words must be pronounced in Hokkien dialect: "Lotus Root Fried", if the pronunciation is "Kezi Fried", I guess all the vendors will be confused. Oyster omelets are actually oysters. Cantonese call oysters "oysters", while in southern Fujian Chaoshan and Taiwan they call them "oysters". There is a proverb in southern Fujian called "fat oysters and leeks", which means that in the second month of the lunar calendar, when the growth of leeks is the most vigorous, it is also the season when oysters are the fattest. Oyster omelette is a wonderful combination of two of the fattest ingredients in this season. Not only in terms of taste, but also in terms of efficacy, it is definitely a golden combination. I really am not sensationalizing here.

First of all, let's look at oysters. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, it can nourish kidney yin, and has a good auxiliary effect on tinnitus, night sweats, nocturnal emission and other symptoms. Let's look at leeks again, the common name is "Qiyangcao", which can strengthen kidney yang. This delicacy can be described as tonic for both yin and yang, and it is a rare tonic for the "innate foundation" of your body-kidneys. Oyster omelette is fried with oysters, leeks, sweet potato powder and water. Such a simple dish is so delicious that it has been passed down from generation to generation. In the eastern triangle of southern Fujian, oyster omelet is one of the must-have dishes for women to test their culinary skills. It is best to have it among the home-cooked dishes that the bride cooks for her parents-in-law for the first time after getting started. If you do well, your in-laws will appreciate you. This home-cooked dish is the first choice and must-have dish for every household. With such a "mass base", if you come to Taiwan and don't eat this snack, you will regret it for life! have to! I'm scolding myself here! I just watched it all night, and didn't eat a single oyster omelette.

Leaving Shilin Night Market

Well, it's getting late, and we're about to leave the night market and go back to the hotel. All the people left Shilin Night Market with the scent of delicious food, but I was the only one who left with the smell of sweat. This section of the road to the MRT is really bustling. There are more people coming out of the MRT station than entering at such a late hour. It seems that Shilin Night Market is a bit like Las Vegas, but it is a gourmet city that never sleeps. The name of Shilin Night Market attracts tourists from all over the world. In fact, there are several good night markets in Taipei, but it is a pity that they are covered by the light of Shilin Night Market. If you have enough time to travel in Taipei, there are several other night markets. It is also worth visiting. These night markets are Raohe Street Night Market and Ningxia Night Market. I hope you will not just wander around in the night markets like me. Appetite, hysterical in front of every gourmet stall "attached to the smelly", this is a visit to Shilin Night Market is not in vain.