Taipei | 金泰海鮮蓋飯Sashimi Rice 饒河夜市RaoHe Street Night Market & 鼎王hotpot

Taipei ftw :) I swear its my last time there this year (yup I know it's 2 weeks til 2013 haha). Our Taiwanese friends first took us to this AMAZING sashimi rice place. He said that since its quite new and not featured in any tourist books yet so tables aren't very hard to get yet. 

Don't look and think how tiny these bowls are, they are so filling as you can taste so many different kinds til the last bite of rice. The one above is the Seafood over Rice 海鮮蓋飯, bottom is Superb Rice 無敵蓋飯. Scallops, pawns, crab roe, fish roe, sea urchin uni, salmon, squid omg

We finished lunch at around 4 and it was already getting dark out! Bummer we could only see when we went to the night market afterwards. Mostly of the time due to convenience Shilin Night Market is the place I stop by, but Raohe St. Night Market is so much better. It is basically one street down with food stalls in the middle as well as both sides. The street is narrow and off the the side you also see some clothing/accessory stores feeling very close to all subjects around you.

To kick off the last night there as usual we went to 鼎王 for hotpot. Their most well known is their numbness spicy pot. And this time around we also tried pickle pork soup base which was pretty good for people aren't fans of spicy food. Same goes for other hotpot places, we ate with many plates and bowls on the table lol.

Overall its a good trip. As time goes on you find out who cares about you and who don't. Despite doing random things, you gotta do them with people you love. Hope you will all have a wonderful xmas season -- oh! I also have a good news to spread. I will be moving to a new apartment next week which I can start making videos again :) I am super excited for it!

Spontaneous Taipei Trip Pt. 2 | 上引水產 & Beitou Hot Springs

This is the part 2 of the spontaneous Taipei trip (Part 1 HERE) and I have an urge to make a post because I just had another even more spontaneous one this week lol. A few places to highlight -

上引水產 台北市民族東路410巷2弄18號

Concept of a Japanese seafood market, 上引水產 was one of the main purposes for this trip. It was a seafood market where have different sections of grilled, raw, cooked seafood stalls and areas in different decors both outdoor and indoor. Quite a relaxing place to sit, eat and chill!

We just had lunch before going there (a shame!) so not much space in my tummy :( Otherwise I would totally get some shells from the grilled area. I still managed to swallow a dozen of shrimp sashimi with the company of some cooked seafood and meat. 

The same night we went to Shilin Market 士林夜市 to do the usual walking around and eating more. Grilled squid, fried chicken, sticky rice over sausage 大腸包小腸, mango shaved ice. I was going to explode at the end of the night. 

Spending the next day at a hot spring resort. Beitou area, surrounded by mountains and rivers, the area is beautiful and famous for offering hot springs of different colors and distinctive components due to the difference in altitude and location on the Datun volcanic belt. They have a pH value of 2.5 - 6.5 with a temperature varies from 37 to 40 celsius.

北投倆人旅店 台北市北投區幽雅路11號
Hotel Double One
The hotel itself only has about 20 rooms and we stayed there from Sunday to Monday. That means we get out designated driver that drives us anytime from downtown. The room is only about USD$180, has its own hot springs, steam room and sauna (and a king size bed of course!) I think its quite a steal especially there is nothing like this in Hong Kong.

After settling we went to grab something to eat in downtown real quick. Afterwards just stayed in for the night with napping and snacking, watching tv, hot springs, steam and sauna nonstop. Such a pig -- just like the hotel logo.

The weather throughout the entire trip was amazing as well. The next morning we just ate at the hotel and flew back to Hong Kong :)