Taiwanese Treats: Kaohsiung

Over the Easter holidays, David and I took an extended long weekend trip to southern Taiwan. First, we went to the city of Kaohsiung, which is located on the coast.

We spent one day on an island that is part of the city, called Cijin. Although it is known for its seafood, we didn't have any, as David doesn't like it. Instead, we stumbled upon a small, hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant, with pictures but no English menu.

I ordered rice paper rolls filled with shrimp and roasted pork. They were very good, if a bit heavy on the cilantro, and as usual the meat was very fatty. The best part, however, was that the staff were so excited that we, the only customers, were foreigners and wanted to take lots of photos with us! 

We also went to the Ciaotou district in Kaohsiung, where there is an old sugar refinery that has been turned into a museum/park. Nearby, there are also biking trails and an arts village with several restaurants and food stalls.

There were few places with English menus, but we found a Japanese-Taiwanese combo restaurant, which had both types of dishes on offer. Although I was tempted by the hot pot, which David ordered, I opted for 'sugar cane pork', one of the lunch sets recommended by the owner.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that not only did I get pork and rice, but also I got two types of vegetables, plus soup and a delicious apple salad with orange dressing. The pork itself was flavorful and tender, though I didn't eat any of the very fatty bits.

For breakfast one morning, we found a little shop selling pastries, which were really quite Western in style and absolutely fabulous. First, I had a puff pastry, which looked a bit like an apple turnover, with a small amount of sweet egg custard inside.

Because the first one was so good, I decided to have a second one. It was filled with scallions and came hot out of the oven. Mmm! The shop also had pastries with pork filling, and everything was less than $1 US each!