Food in Taipei. One of the best things about Taiwan and especially Taipei is the food. Taiwan has some absolutely gorgeous food but Taiwanese food itself tends to be richer in taste than it’s Chinese counterpart but with Taiwan’s American influence there is also some really amazing American food there also.

Bento boxes have to be one of the coolest things ever. One of the things I love about Taiwan, and this is much the same in other Far Eastern countries, is you can go to one of the local market stalls, buy a great big lunch in a box which has everything in it and it costs no more than a sandwich at Tesco or Sainsburys in the UK. The drinks you can see are called Pearl Milk tea and they’re absolutely gorgeous. They’re basically a sweet but cold tea, perfect for Taiwan’s hot weather.

In both China and Taiwan hotpots are really popular. The nearest thing to hotpot in the UK I guess is fondue but they are completely different due to what they put in the hotpot. This restaurant was amazing value. We paid £10 each but we could drink as many soft drinks as we wanted but also we could grab as many ingredients as we wanted. All of the meats and fish are presented like they would be in a fishmonger or butcher but you just grab what you want and boil it within a couple minutes. You then dip it in sauce and eat.

Liv (second left) and her friends.

Beef and beef tendon soup. I really liked the beef but I don’t like the texture of the beef tendon. Blurred out in the background is a strawberry drink but DOF is limited because it was quite dark inside. Next time I go to Taipei (hopefully sometime in 2011) I’l going to take more pictures of cartons and packaging (some are really cute).

Liv and vegetables. I absolutely love liver, one of my favourite things to eat so I really enjoyed this.

Chinese meatball. I forget the name of this but it’s basically a Chinese meatball. Tasty and I like the way you can eat it off a stick.

Not long after I met Liv she had to go back to Taiwan for a period of time where she put on a little bit of weight. I asked her what she was eating and she just said toast. I was wondering how she could be getting fat from eating toast but Taiwanese people call bread “toast”. In baking competitions Taiwan regularly wins and there’s a good reason. When you go the bakery you pay maybe 30p-£1 but you get a piece of bread filled with cheese, sausages and everything in between.