Loa on the Go

We found we tend to wake up earlier than most of Taiwan – or so we thought. When we had our cooking class and we asked Ivy what we couldn’t miss for our last day, she asked if we had been to a morning market yet. Not a night market with fun snacks, but where locals go to get their groceries, with a market in every district. So while we thought nobody was awake early, we couldn’t have been more wrong.

There was everything from produce to poultry, and a few prepared foods, with venders working at an astonishing pace helping people and making change.

We continued on to a nearby street in an older neighborhood, and were rewarded with a walk through an indoor market as well as blocks and blocks of medicine and tea shops. Since Taiwan is a huge grower of oolong particularly, I bought some tea nearby, and we both got to smell all the different grades, or qualities of each variety.

The other thing that the cookbook author Ivy had told us to do before we left Taiwan was to eat savory soy milk. We had drank plenty of sweetened and unsweetened soy milk, but not its savory counterpart, a common breakfast.

Savory soy milk is curdled and has green onions and other savory notes. It’s typically eaten with fried donuts. We had xiao long bao as well with silky smooth wrappers. The savory soy milk was delicious!! I am curious to see if I can recreate it at home, as it was the perfect breakfast.

We visited a nearby shopping area and were surprised to find throngs of people, noting the change in different neighborhoods as we revisited them in different weather or different times of day. Returning home, we made use of the amenities at our hotel (this is vacation after all). These included hot and cold baths and wet and dry saunas, separated by sex, in addition to the pool.

We parted ways, me for a peaceful and pretty silent time dipping in the pools (although an older lady did tell me to take my swimsuit off as per custom). Jensen’s report was quite different, a busy men’s side that was quite boisterous. We met up on the roof and watched the sunset.

We washed up for our final dinner at a Michelin starred restaurant, Set, featuring local and seasonal Taiwanese ingredients. The owner and head chef was wonderful and served and explained all of our food. The meal was fantastic and sourced from specific farms around Taiwan, and not at all pretentious.

Each course focused on a specific ingredient. My favorite was a poached trout dish with dill, peas, and galangal oil. Jensen’s was the squash dish which came with a spicy tteokbokki made from pumpkin, a paste made from the seeds, and a sage oil. We had a pairing of delicious natural wines. Quite a different price range than the majority of our meals in Taiwan, which were mostly under ten dollars for both of us, but so incredibly worth it.

In a silly turn of events following such an incredible meal, we finally decided to try what had intimidated us the whole trip. Stinky tofu, a fermented tofu that gets fried or otherwise prepared and emits a pretty generous funk. To leave no stone unturned, we ordered some at a night market a few blocks down and each split one small chunk. Although the very strong smell was slightly muted, it was really not our thing. We stopped at a local brewery and a branch of Mikkeler, a brewery based in Denmark, and reflected on our trip.

The next morning it was eye opening to return to the airport for our departure, remembering how new everything had felt on our arrival. There is so much more of Taiwan we could see, but I don’t think either of us would change a thing from the trip. Taiwan was so good to us, and we’re excited to see everyone back in Seattle. Feeling abundantly grateful and refreshed. Until the next one! Xx