Gastro Monkey // 美食家

Every time I get caught up, I manage to fall behind again. I went to Dumpling Kitchen early on this year. I don't even remember why I was in SF, and how we ended up here. Maybe it was CAAM? I honestly don't remember anymore. Luckily, I do remember the food. After parking a few blocks away (parking can be tricky on the weekends in this neighborhood), I had a feeling of deja vu. It had been a while since I went to Shanghai Dumpling King, but the walk there, the road, the trolley, and the facade of the restaurant were very similar (yes, I know, the signs are different colors). It had been over a year so I started to question if I had actually been here before. Both restaurants have Shanghainese style food, but when the food came out, Dumpling Kitchen really stood out to me for the pork belly, and the pan fried dumplings.  "Braised Pork Belly With Preserved Vegetable" - super tender, and definitely recommend trying if you're in the neighborhood! ...

There are two Chinese restaurants in the Sacramento area that I like, Jing Jing , and Yang's. Both serve Szechuanese food, but they both have different strengths. With Jing Jing, I like their spicy fish and lamb. At Yang's Noodles, I like (surprise!) their noodles and dumplings. Both are made in house (my favorite) and are well made.  At Yang's I tend to order more things as they have things that overlap with what is considered Taiwanese cuisine. While of course, nothing is ever as good as being in Taiwan; the food is still solid and is a good price. Each time I go, I change my order up a little. The general combination is the same though - two appetizers, one noodle dish, dumplings, and one onion pancake.  The appetizers I order are always served cold. If you aren't used to that type of appetizer, be sure to ask first so you aren't surprised and think they made a mistake. With the noodle dish, I bounce between beef noodle soup and the pork with veggies. Th...

[If you missed out on the first part, here is the link to Part I ] The second part of our trip started with a homemade breakfast at the hotel (which I would consider more of a B&B than a hotel). Sorry, no pictures are available as I was relaxing too much and enjoying myself. Not that I can't enjoy myself while lugging around a camera, but it's nice to also just be in the moment.  This section looks like there aren't as many food pictures, but don't forget to scroll down and see! There's food that you can get in the mountains that just taste so much better because of the locale. I do think though, that if you have time while visiting Taiwan that you make at the very least a day trip to visit the Alishan National Forest. If you're lucky, and the weather is nice, you get an amazing view. If you come during February-March, you should be able to see the cherry blossoms there. In the winter when we were there, they were very much bare. This tree has ...