Stewed Pork Rice (鲁肉饭 – pronounced ‘Lu Rou Fan’) is a cheap local staple in Taiwan, which is served almost in every restaurant or food stall you see. The dish is really simple, basically just a small bowl of rice topped with a spoonful of stewed pork. When we visited Jioufen we had a bowl at a food stall next to the famous Ah Xin’s shop. It was so delicious I was hooked to it immediately!
Because it was so tasty and cheap, we had to hold ourselves from ordering it whenever we see one lol. After all, we wanted to try as many types of food as possible in Taiwan, and not to eat the same thing repeatedly.
But when we were at Ximending we couldn’t resist anymore, the food shop that we went (天天利美食坊 – Tian Tian Li) was famous for their Stewed Pork Rice and almost everyone eating there was enjoying a bowl. At only NT$20 (around RM2) a bowl, it was the perfect comfort food. The stewed pork was made up of roughly 50% meat and 50% fat that gave a very nice soft kinda melt in your mouth feeling, albeit the unhealthiness.
And did you know that a Taiwanese fugitive who was on a run to China for 15 years actually got caught because of 鲁肉饭? Apparently he missed this food so much he returned to Taiwan for it!
We also tried their Fried Oyster @ NT$50. Although not great, it was heaps better the one we had at Shihlin a few days earlier.
Tian Tian Li’s boss is a friendly uncle who recommended us to try their Stewed Pork Rice. That’s him posing for his food stall lol.
天天利美食坊台北市大安區漢中街32號 (No. 32, Hanzhong Street, Da-an District, Taipei City)
After that we proceeded to 谢谢鱿鱼羹 (pronounced ‘Xie Xie You Yu Geng’) which is located just a few doors next to Tian Tian Li. Xie Xie, meaning ‘thank you’ is an old and reputable shop serving mainly Thick Squid Soup that had been patronized by the people living nearby since young.
For NT$45 a bowl, it comes with four to five pieces of hand-pulverized squid meat that had a chewy yet very bouncy bite (or commonly known as the QQ factor by Taiwanese) The thick soup had a texture similar to sharks fin soup and was tasty with a hint of sweetness. Not bad at all!
谢谢鱿鱼羹台北市漢中街4號 (No. 4, Hanzhong Street, Taipei City) – walking distance from Ximen station exit 2.
i had the fried oyster from Tian Tian Li too! I feel that the fried oyster tasted so good! Perhaps it’s due to our hungry stomach and first day arriving at Taipei? :P
nice blog! nice food!
This is great recommendation. Coz will be going to Taiwan later this year. Need to be making a compilation of the food that needs to be tasted!
I’ve tried the fried oyster. It’s delicious indeed. Looking forward to try the stewed pork rice.
drooling!!!!! beh tahan
Wow.. willing to risk the jail for the stewed pork rice? Definitely must try!
I like those fat fat short short rice, good texture to chew on it :)
whao, love the 谢谢鱿鱼羹 :P
Wow, nice foods and inexpensive.
I think the type of rice also makes the difference. The shape is all fat and short. Sweet and yummy!
i am going to taiwan tomorrow and happen to pass by here! thanks very much for the recommendations! ^^