Gastro Monkey // 美食家

Now, I present to you my favorite goat restaurant in Gangshan. If you are stopping by via train, this one is also going to be the most convenient one to eat at. It's a small restaurant, but it's cozy. They have a variety of the usual suspects, along with hot pot. My favorite thing here though, is the marrow. While marrow has in recent years become hipster food, they haven't quite gotten to goat marrow. The bone is smaller and there is less marrow. I don't know about others, but I feel like the smaller amount makes my arteries appreciate me a little for respecting their flow. It can get a bit muggy inside depending on how many people order hot pot. They have fans blowing, but it's still pretty hot for me. At the same time, I was also sitting in front of the hot pot so that did not help. Out of all of the places there, the goat and restaurant are probably going to be the cleanest, and probably the most convenient to stop by if you don't know your way around o...

舊市羊肉 is one of the other restaurants I eat goat at in Gangshan. Truthfully, a lot of these are pretty comparable. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this one and 源坐羊肉店. The main difference for me would just be location (albeit Gangshan is so small that it's all negligible), and the side dishes you can order (which again, are still mostly the same). Tomorrow I'll share the one that I like the best, even though you can't go wrong at any of these three places.  Simple bowl of goat meat and rice vermicelli. And a ton of ginger. This place can get pretty busy, so try and call ahead if you can. If not, be prepared for a little wait. Address: No. 111號, Hehua Road Kaohsiung City,  Taiwan 820 Gangshan District Facebook

I spent a lot of my childhood in 岡山, or Gangshan. Or on some signs, Kangshan. If you visit Taiwan, you'll notice that a lot of the cities are spelled differently depending on the road sign or store. Honestly, romanizing Chinese words just seems clunky. Either way, be aware that spellings can change so you are still heading to the correct city or town that you're intending. Gangshan is a tiny town on the very outskirts of Kaohsiung (also spelled Gaohsiung). When I grew up, I had to rely on someone to drive me to Kaohsiung if I wanted to go to a city with an actual mall. Just in the past few years though, the KMRT has expanded so that it reaches Gangshan. It's now officially connected to the city! Chances are good you are not staying in Gangshan. Chances are, no one you know where the hell it is or what it is. So, if you just happen to be in Kaohsiung and you want to try something different, pop on the KMRT and head over to Gangshan and try some of their famous goat nood...

I love when people I follow in Instagram post places I wouldn't have found on my own. Who says you have to sit around with Insta-envy? I use it as a way to find places to go! Stinky tofu? Good. Blood cakes? Good. Ramen? Good. All together? GOOD!   If you are in the Kaohsiung area and are feeling a hankering for stinky tofu and ramen, this is a good place to get it. The bowl isn't huge, but those blood cakes were pretty filling on top of all of the side tofu we ordered. Tofu is super dense so it really didn't take that much to get full. The stinky tofu here is pretty good and very stinky. If you can't handle the smell, you can sit outside where it's a balmy 85F with 90% humidity, or you can head upstairs and enjoy the strong a/c.  Are they really the king of stinky tofu? I don't know, but I do know that I liked what I had. My favorite of course, was the softer, fried tofu, and the ramen with stinky tofu, blood cakes, and enoki. Stinky tofu, ramen, ...

I also posted a shorter blurb about this in my Tainan Travelogue back in January. Since I figured not everyone would want to read the entire thing or even skim to find this entry, I am making a short separate entry just for Huangji. There is another eel noodle place that I prefer, but my cousin mentioned that their taste isn't the same anymore and that the quality went down (recently posted about it here ). She suggested I try Huangji instead since her friend had gone recently and said it was really good. I was pretty excited to try it. I don't always have time to make it to Tainan, so there is more time spent thinking about this eel versus me actually eating it. Yes, in case you weren't sure, I travel for food. While the eel was perfect with that crisp bite, and the sauce/soup just right, the noodles were a bit overcooked and too soft for my liking. It is also hard to find a place to sit here. It's at the corner of a busy market with other shops so figuring out w...

One of the must eat items in Tainan is eel with e-noodles. I believe you can get it all around the island, but it's famous in Tainan. Most importantly, it tastes better here. A fair amount of Taiwanese food has a goopy, sweet sauce that sometimes is referred to as "soup." It isn't pretty, but when it's done well, it tastes fantastic. At Jinfu, as soon as I smell the familiar sweet smell of the "soup" I am hungry. No matter how much I've eaten prior. It's that good.  The eels are de-boned, so feel free to take big bites! They have other options too, like cuttlefish. I have seen people eating completely different items, but the eels are their specialty. The last time I went was December of 2015 and the noodles, soup, and fish were all fantastic. It's not a pretty dish, but the flavor is so full of umami that you forget how it looks and just devour the entire bowl.  What's it like eating the eel? Eel is kind of a scary animal for many p...

To be honest, I haven't watched the movie. I gave it a try, but couldn't get into it. We just happened to be killing time and enjoying the A/C in Hanshin and decided to grab a coffee. It just happened that the coffee shop we went to was a movie theme. If you can't bear to leave the A/C, there are other cheaper options. If you can handle a short walk outside, the Charlie Brown Cafe is very close. Just remember that these two I'm mentioning are theme cafes and you can't go expecting the coffee or food to be amazing. Pricey, and not amazing. I will give them credit for having a very cute cafe though. They have their free wifi name and password on each table, and they have charging ports all around if you need to re-charge your electronics. Owner's Specialty (No.1) 150NT Mint Mojito Iced Coffee (No. 3) 120NT - didn't ask for it to be to-go, so not sure why they gave one drink order like the picture, and this second one in a plastic cup. Outsid...

Guava Rainbow Juice is right across the street from one of my favorite beef noodle places in Kaohsiung . I actually didn't have anything planned other than finishing my beef noodles and heading back to the hotel to pack up. But, seeing that their main fruit ingredient is guava, and how much I LOVE the guavas in Taiwan (they have the white center as opposed to the pink ones), I had to give it a try.  The menu has pictures, making it convenient to order if you don't speak any Chinese. They have a solid variety, and the fruit is all fresh and sweet. I'm not sure if it was on purpose or not though, but there were chunks of ice in mine. I appreciated it since it kept my drink cold longer and being as it was noon already, it was heating up and I was getting hot. If you are in the area and need a refreshing and healthy drink, give Guava Rainbow Juice a try! Dragonfruit and their signature - guava. All of my favorite fruits listed on a neat map! Address: 五福四路6...

I found my go-to breakfast spot in Kaohsiung! 興隆居 is actually a local favorite and is known for their soup buns. I am a huge fan of meat buns in the morning when I am in Taiwan, so I was definitely interested in trying some soup buns. It's located pretty close to the City Council KMRT station. It's also right next to another bigger breakfast place. I haven't given that place a try, but I have seen a good amount of people eating there, and wonder if it's just people who don't feel like waiting in line for  興隆.  There are two lines. One is for if you want the soup buns, and one for their general breakfast items. Sometimes both lines are incredibly long, and sometimes it's just one line that is long. I always go for the soup bun line. Don't worry, if you get the soup buns, you can still get the regular breakfast items. You just can't get the soup buns if you only wait in the regular breakfast line. If you can't read Chinese, the regular line is on ...

If you are a milk tea fan, this is a must go spot. It's one of the oldest tea milk tea shops in Southern Taiwan, and from the looks of it, do everything the same as they always have. This post is only about the original location. They have many other locations around the island, but this was the first. I'm told the other locations aren't that great and some people even told me not to try it. But, I like trying the originals, and I have loved milk tea since the summer of 1992 so no harm in throwing down 30NT for one, right? When I mentioned to the local milk tea shop owner that I was going to Kaohsiung, he said I have to try Huada also, so that was definitely good enough for me! Located close to the Yangchengpu KMRT station and in a smaller road, remember to watch out for those scooters! They have a good variety of drinks, but I ordered the original milk tea. They shake it with ice so it's cold, but probably not cold enough for American standards. This milk tea is d...

One of my greatest pleasures in life while in Taiwan is breakfast. Yes, I know you can get a lot of it in LA or San Jose or scattered around San Francisco/San Mateo, but it really can't compare to the way it's prepared and the way it tastes in Taiwan. So while my first stop generally is in Taipei, I am trying to reacquaint myself with a lot of the good places in the South. While it's my first time to 田記, I looked through a ton of blogs and reviews on Foursquare to pick it to try. In case you didn't know, the foods in the South tend to be on the sweeter side. Growing up, I didn't realize it because I didn't go to Taipei. After living in the North and re-visiting the South, I can see that there is a pretty big sweetness difference in the food. Case in point, the salty soy milk at 田記. It's actually very sweet for a salty soy milk. It's not bad at all, but I was not prepared. I ended up adding more vinegar and chili to mine and still found it enjoyable....

Not much makes me happier than an amazing bowl of beef noodle soup. There are two that I really love in Kaohsiung: 港園 and 牛老二. At 港園, their star is the clear broth beef noodle soup.  For those who are just learning about beef noodle soup, there are two kinds.  The first type has a darker broth which has soy sauce added and can be often referred to as 紅燒牛肉麵, or "hong sau." This kind can also be found listed as 四川牛肉麵, or "Szechuan niu rou mian." This is based on the Szechuanese people who fled to Taiwan after the war. Wanting that taste of home, they did what they could with local ingredients. So, while the main basis of beef noodle soup in Taiwan is the Szchuanese style from China, it has developed and become a star in its own right in Taiwan. The history of it all is a bit complicated, but worth digging an d researching. The best websites seem to be in Japanese, but if you are lucky enough to find a print book, those are even better! The other ...