Gastro Monkey // 美食家

I am having serious Taiwan withdrawals, so I guess that means it's time for me to finally catch up on my posts that I should have been doing for the past year. Lately, I have been feeling a bit uninspired by just blogging about one location at a time. The travelogues have been more interesting to me because there's usually a story involved. I suppose I will figure it out eventually. For the few who have been following me, thanks for bearing with me! If you have watched any Zimmern or Bourdain specials, or even any YouTube videos dealing with Taipei, I'm sure you've heard of YongKang Street. It has some great stuff on this street/in this vicinity (See also Tianjin Onion Pancakes/ 天津蔥抓餅 , Din Tai Fung/鼎泰豐, Du Xiao Yue Danzi Noodle/度小月擔仔麵 (great if you don't have time to go to Tainan to get it from the original location), Kao Chi/高記, and a bun cart that is there until they sell out for the day (go early - I've always had luck when I go for breakfast... ju

Folks, the main reason Noodle in a Haystack caught my eye was their clam ramen that they had their first year of business (while I have come to love their other ramen offerings, I was still sad about the one that got away). I am happy to report back that I have finally tried it and it was fantastic. I am a huge clam fan and can put away a few pounds of clams in one sitting (it's all shell weight, anyway). Tried as I might, I could not get a reservation while they served that original clam ramen. When I heard that it was going to make a comeback, I cleared what I could of my July in anticipation of that weekend that I would head out to the Bay to get some. Thankfully my schedule worked out with the last Sunday of July! In case you missed it, I have posted about Clint and Yoko's ramen in detail here: Noodle in a Haystack Shio Ramen Then, there's this post also: Noodle in a Haystack Duck Shoyu and Foie Gras This post will focus on the July seating of their shio bu

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that Noodle in a Haystack is my favorite ramen restaurant/pop-up in the States. You can find my previous blog entry here . I broke down the reasons why it's worth making that elusive reservation, and what makes Clint and Yoko's ramen so great and unique. So, I'm not going to repeat myself. What I want to do this time around (and next time because I assure you it's not my last visit), is show some pretty pictures and introduce one of the other ramen seatings that they had. They have a few different ramen varieties in rotation which depend on what they feel is fresh. They had a shio clam ramen I wanted in on a few years ago, but they stopped making it because they didn't like the clams they were using. They finally brought it back (don't worry, if you aren't able to go, I will definitely report back!) for July 2019. For how long, I can't say though. So really, if you see something you like, BOOK IT. Th

About a year and a half ago, one of my friends got married in Victoria, B.C. Being so close to Seattle (yes, a few hours including a ferry ride is close especially considering I am now a solid twelve to thirteen hour drive away from Seattle), I have been to Victoria a few times. What can I say? People love flowers. Well, not me. I liked going to Victoria because we always went to Vancouver, and Vancouver meant food! No trip to Vancouver was complete without some Goldilocks (before they made it to Seattle or Sacramento - which incidentally has already closed), bola-bola, dim sum (seriously, puts the dim sum in Seattle to shame), and hot pot (the first time I had live shrimp in my hot pot was in 1994 at a hot pot place in Richmond I don't know the name of, but my Godmother was horrified that they were alive and flapping - she said they were too cute to eat). I am a fan of destination weddings though, and when he told me that it was going to be at the X-Mansion , of course I just h