Taipei Trip

My Taiwan trip during Chusok holiday... It was a week long holiday and a perfect chance to take a short trip away from the city. Rather than moping around at home, I decided to take a short trip...away from Korea and unto a new place I've never been to before. It was last minute trip under a tight budget but was definitely a trip well worth taking. Just to show you somethings that I saw and ate on this trip.

Danshui:

Taipei definitely had a lot of these scooters everywhere...and parking stalls for them!
A shrine that we visited...

Danshui also had lots of these little nifty shops

Taiwan's National Museum of History

After days of just shopping and eating, I needed to do something cultural..

Jiu Fan Old Street
Touristy for sure, but definitely a great place on top of a mountain with a beautiful view and old shops of food, antiques and knickknacks

Yummy grilled eringe mushrooms~ At the restaurant where On Air was filmed...no one was there since upstairs was under construction and the menu was overpriced appropriately (?!) for the tourists
Shilin Market

where I ate way too much!

Beef noodle soup (AGAIN!) in Shilin Market with red hot chili sauce

Some sort of a shabushabu dish in a beef tail soup base

close up with everything inside...

Beef noodle soup...once again!

Taiwan Beer...hmmm...was a disappointment...almost as bad as Korean beer

Dim Sum Time

Chinese in Samchungdong- Quolai

Quolai
Direction: Gwanghwamun Station, exit 2. Take the green bus #11 and get off by Samchungdong Center (samchungdong jumin center). It'll be on your left hand side, if you take the bus from Gwanghwamun.
Hours: lunch 11:30-3, dinner 5:30-10pm
Price: moderate, although I never had to pay since it was always work lunch :)
Kelly's rating: Yummy~ Highly recommend it. Nice casual atmosphere with good lighting.

Apgujeong Dong Chung Hong- 압구정 동천홍

동천홍 Dong Chung Hong- Chinese restaurant in Apgujeong

Direction: Take Exit 2 from Apgujeong Station, do a U turn and immediately turn right around the corner, and make another right after you see Hana Bank.
Tel : 02-548-8887
Hours : 11:30am~ 9:30pm

Kelly's Rating: Yummy and Highly recommended. Delicious food at a good price. Always busy with a big waiting room, which is a good sign for any restaurant.^^

This restaurant is famous for 사천탕면 (Sachun tang myun) which you will see below. Don't let the clear soup fool you because this one is spicy with a kick. But it is what this restaurant is famous for. Also, many Korean stars were spotted here so if you're lucky you might see your favorite star here.^^

탕수육 Sweet & Sour Pork: This one was the most expensive dish...But well worth it.

삼성짜장~ jajangmyun

I'm Back...with Gwanganli Beach in Busan

Man...this blogging thing is hard to maintain. I've done so much since my last post, I don't even know where to start. Well, at least this is a start??
For the summer of 2010, I've done few mini trips, to Busan, Gwangwondo, and Hapchon. I'll post some great eats I had in Busan near Gwang-an-li Beach. Gwanganli is a famous beach in Busan, smaller but glitzier version of Haeundae. With a long bridge running across the ocean, you see bright neon signs flashing everywhere with much younger and diverse crowd than any other place in Busan. Foodwise, raw fish (sashimi) was a little more expensive than Haeundae and Jagalchi, but the view from the restaurant overlooking the beach was definitely worth the money.
광어회= flatfish, halibut, not sure which one is right one but 광어(kwang-uh) is definitely the most popular raw fish amongst Koreans.

줄돔= boarfish. Was told this was the must-eat fish in Busan and it was indeed tasty.

Busan is also famous for Beef or Pork soups with rice, called kukbap. We had beef soup at the restaurant where the movie Haeundae was filmed.

Christmas in the Big Apple

I never imagined that I would ever get the chance to spend Christmas in New York but thanks to my good friend Bona, my dream came true. I spent about a week in the Big Apple and realized how naive I was to think that I could see everything in a week. You need to be there at least a month just to cover all the 'must-sees' and dos. Since my time there was merely 5 days to be exact (2 days were lost traveling to & from the airport), I barely had time to squeeze in any good dining opportunity. Also, surprisingly my appetite could not keep up with the physical strain of sight-seeing. I fell ill on Day 3. I keep forgetting that I am no longer a spring chicken, unable to withstand long hours of physical activity. After an ambitious day of ice skating at Central Park, walking to ESB on foot, and the rest of the night spent LOST, roaming the subway stations and streets of NYC, I immediatley got sick the very next day. I must've walked like 50+ blocks. Of course my body couldn't bear it! I couldn't even eat. A strong girl that I am, my stomach never malfunctions. But no, in NYC, it malfunctioned big time, where I had indigestion and upset stomach which kept me in bed all day. Thankfully, I got better in a day, but my appetite was not back in time for me to enjoy a gourmet dining experience that I imagined before the trip. However, I was able to squeeze in some good eats in the earlier and latter part of my travel. In the sequence of events, here it is, my food excursion story in New York City.

Dim Sum in Chinatown
Jingfong Restaurant in Chinatown

This was one of the largest Chinese restaurant that I've visited so far. We had to take an escalator up to the second floor and was greeted to a large ballroom size restaurant. Service was fairly good, considering it was at a peak lunch time. But the best part was the food and the price. Four of us went and the bill only came out to $25. That's unheard of! I usually pay about $30-35 for 2 people. So I left here as a very happy girl on a full tummy at a small cost. What more can a girl ask for?

Pretzel, Hotdog & Churros in Battery Park

You will find many carts selling this combo and I definitely recommend the hotdog! Pretzel and churros was not that impressive.

Gray's Papaya

Famous hotdog restaurant. Apparently there are multiple locations in NYC. Had the recession special, 2 hotdogs and a drink for $4.45. I wonder how much it was before the recession....hmmm... A lot of options for drinks and of course hotdog.

Junior's Bakery

When you come to NY, you gotta try New York cheesecake right? But did you know, in NY, they don't call it New York Cheesecake? Instead, they call it the 'original' cheesecake. Is this commonsense? Was I the only one in the dark about this? Anyway, NY or 'original' cheesecake was just melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I tried the blueberry, too but couldn't compare to the 'original.' Yum-yum!