Day 13: 23 May 2023, Tuesday
For our last day in Taiwan, we took it free and easy. I woke up naturally at 7:30am even though I set my alarm clock at 8:00am. At 9:10am, AT and I left our hotel and walked to Ximending for breakfast.
A visit to Taipei will not be complete without eating a bowl of mee sua (麵線) from Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle, or Ah Zong Mian Xian (阿宗麵線). This humble vermicelli dish is one of Taiwan’s most famous street foods and Ah Zong is perhaps the most popular of all the stalls. When we arrived at 9:18am, there was no queue because it was still early. However, there were already a handful of other tourists sitting on the stools provided in front of the stall, slurping their noodles away.
I ordered a Large bowl of the mee sua, priced at NT$75 (S$3.30). I’m not a fan of coriander so I asked for mine to be served without the offending vegetable. You can help yourself to the three types of condiments available – chilli, garlic and vinegar. The mee sua at Ah Zong does not include oyster; it only has large (pig) intestines. The vermicelli was soft and silky and the gravy was tasty. However, to be perfectly honest, I prefer the oyster version of mee sua from Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks, which is a chain of franchise stores you can find in Singapore, Malaysia and a few other countries. When it comes to mee sua, it’s oyster > intestines for me!
We were still hungry so we continued our food hunt. I was craving for egg crepe roll, another popular street food snack I can never get enough of. We came across a Yong He (永和) restaurant but I wanted something less famous and more indie. And right at the corner opposite from Yong He was a small shop called Ximending Dou Jiang (西門町豆漿). Apparently, the shop has been operating since 1978 so it is pretty established too, but much simpler and no-frills.
It was a one-man-operation stall. There was a sign that said that during busy periods, his service may not be good, but the standard of the food will always be super. I liked his honesty. Luckily for me, there wasn’t a big queue so he was in a good mood. I ordered the egg crepe with bacon (豬扒蛋捲) and a cup of soya bean drink, which cost NT$55 (S$2.42) and NT$20 (S$0.88) respectively. Indeed, the food was delicious. Cheap and good!
After filling our bellies, we took the Metro to Songshan station to go to Chia Te Bakery (佳德糕餅). Pineapple pastry (鳳梨酥) is one of Taiwan’s most popular snacks for tourists to buy home for family and friends as gifts. Chia Te is probably the most famous bakery selling it. There are long queues every day and you can expect to wait for an hour or more just to get into the store.
Luckily, AT had the foresight to pre-order from the Chia Te website (click here) so we could skip the queue and just show up at the store on the day to collect it. We placed our pre-orders on 5 May, before we even departed Singapore. I ordered four boxes of the original flavoured pineapple pastry (6 pieces) at NT$198 (S$8.71) per box, while AT ordered four boxes of the same flavour, but with 20 pieces per box.
When we arrived at the Chia Te store at 10:28am, there were around 25 people waiting in line. We just happily strolled in via the side entrance, which was for collection of pre-orders. The staff member retrieved our order and helped packed our items into a big carton box, with extra paper bags for gifting. We saw many other boxes waiting to be collected. Evidently, it was common for people to buy many boxes of pineapple pastry and the staff will pack them nicely so you can just check in the entire box at the airport, fuss free.
After settling that official bit of business, we went back to our CityInn Hotel to do some final packing before checking out of our rooms at noon. As our flight was at 11:40pm, we still had half a day to roam so we left our luggage at the hotel reception for safekeeping. AT and I then went our separate ways to do our own shopping.
I walked around the Ximending area and visited the iconic Red House. This two-storey octagonal structure with its distinctive red brick façade was built in 1908. It was one of Taiwan’s first new style markets of the early Japanese colonial period. The market originally sold flowers, books, medicine, Japanese preserves and local Taiwanese produce. After World War II, it served as a storytelling hall. The Red House is now a historical site and the first floor serves as a venue for the arts, while the second floor houses a theatre.
For lunch, I went to Xing Fu Tang for some Xiao Long Bao (小籠包), or soup dumplings. I ordered a serving of six dumplings for NT$100 (S$4.40) but they turned out to be rather disappointing. You can certainly get much better dumplings at any Din Tai Fung restaurant. I was attracted by the display of colourful lanterns hanging at the storefront. But the fact that the store advertises itself in four languages (Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean) should have been a red flag that it is a tourist trap.
Following the unsatisfactory meal, I went to a small street stand for some XXL crispy chicken (大雞扒) and bubble milk tea (珍珠奶茶), which cost NT$100 (S$4.40) and NT$45 (S$1.98) respectively. As you can tell, I’m trying to eat as much of the quintessential Taiwan street foods on my last day as possible. The crispy chicken tasted good but it contains bones, unlike the version sold by Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks, which is completely boneless.
From Ximen, I then took the Metro to Shandao Temple (善導寺), two stops away. My objective was to visit Qi Yuan Records (啟元唱片), located at No. 8, Lane 5, Linsen N Road, Zhongzheng District. The shop specialises in secondhand CDs, DVDs and vinyl records. The shop was spacious and neat and it stocked a good collection of Chinese and English pop titles.
I was happy to add four more MJ and Janet albums to my collection. I was even more delighted when the friendly shop owner informed me that there was a 10% discount for first-time customers, and free lifetime membership (just like Mollie Used Books). I will make it a point to come back again if I ever get the chance to visit Taipei in the future. Definitely recommended.
From Shando Temple, I hopped on the Metro again and alighted at Taipei City Hall station. I walked around aimlessly until I made an impromptu decision to check out one last CD shop called RK Record (駱克唱片行), located at No. 21, Lane 85, Guangfu N Road, Songshan District. It was quite a distance away and it took me half an hour to get there.
The shop was quite messy, with all the shelves packed to the brim with used CDs, DVDs and vinyl records. There was so much stock that many of them lay in boxes strewn all over the shop. I found a few Taiwanese pressings of Janet titles but I already purchased them earlier so I didn’t buy anything here. RK Record is not the most comfortable place to shop but their prices are quite low so it’s worth a visit.
As I walked towards Nanjing Sanmin Metro station, I passed by Chia Te Bakery again. At 6:00pm, the queue was even longer than this morning. The craze is real! So glad AT pre-ordered and we got our pineapple pastries without a hitch.
I returned to Ximending and searched for a place to have Lu Rou Fan (滷肉飯), or Taiwanese braised pork rice bowl, another must-eat item on my list. Ximending is back to its usual bustle and energy at night, with the streets filled with throngs of casual shoppers and young people. I settled for an eatery called 365 台灣小吃, which had a mix of locals and tourists dining in. I ordered the Lu Rou Fan (NT$55/S$2.42) and oyster omelette (NT$70/S$3.08), and they were both pretty good.
For dessert, I went to Origin Tofu Pudding (本願豆花店) and bought a bowl of soya beancurd with green bean, sweet potato ball and peanut toppings (NT$65/S$2.86). I also grabbed a box of doughnuts from Mister Donut before returning to the hotel at 7:15pm to meet AT and collect our luggage.
At 7:55pm, we left CityInn Hotel and took the Metro to Taipei Main Station, where we transferred to the Taoyuan Metro Express Train (purple line) to Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1. The fare for the express train cost NT$150 (S$6.60) and the ride took 35 minutes, which is 15 minutes faster than the regular Commuter Train (blue line).
Upon arrival at the airport at 9:05pm, we checked in our luggage and obtained our boarding passes before having one last meal at McDonald’s. We then met up with TH and S and boarded our Scoot flight TR893, departing Taipei at 11:40pm. We touched down at Changi Airport Terminal 1 the following morning at 3:50am. Finally home sweet home after 13 days, but what an incredible adventure it had been!
