Gastro Monkey // 美食家

I follow a fair amount of Japanese people on Instagram, and being a beer lover, when I saw posts of a beer with a frosted top, I had to try it for myself! I thought it was only available in Japan, so I had put it on my list of things to try when I eventually went. While researching locations in Japan, I saw that there was a location in Taichung! That settled, I hopped on the bus and made my way over. There is a bus stop just in front of ChungYo Department store, and from there, Kirin is just a few blocks away. It's a tall skinny building with a few floors. Before coming here, I'd only ever had their regular beer. Seeing that there was an option for a darker beer, I thought I would give it a try. While dark, it was rather flavorless, but the novelty of the frosted top was interesting. The best part of my snack was the squid.  Fun thing to note if you like taking pictures, they have a Kirin wall with hats and other photo booth items you can use. Address: ...

I like coming to Chun Shui Tang/春水堂  because of the pearl milk tea. I have been drinking pearl milk tea since I was in 6th grade, when my aunt brought back a bag of drinks after grocery shopping. I remember thinking how odd it looked, with little black balls at the bottom. My cousin was excited; she loved it. I was the last to grab one. One hesitant sip and choke later, I was hooked. I downed mine and instantly regretted it. My cup was empty and I wanted more. Sadly, I watched everyone else enjoy theirs slowly. From then on, during every visit to Taiwan, I would request this magical drink daily. On a good day, I would be allowed to sit on the back of the scooter and buy the drink also. Watching them mix everything and manually shaking it into frothy perfection was a joy (I also used to sit in front of the glass partition at Cinnabon and watch that magic happen while my mom went shopping at the mall).  Chun Shui Tang is hailed as the originators of pearl milk tea. In Chine...

A s Taiwanese as pineapple cakes. Can we make that a thing? Like as American as apple pie?  To go to Taiwan and not try the 鳳梨酥/ pineapple cakes would be a travesty. There are so many different companies that make their own version of this simple snack, but not many make it as good as it could be. There are also different kinds, such as pineapple cakes with wintermelon pieces blended in, pineapple cakes made with native pineapple, and pineapple cakes made with foreign pineapples. It seems to me that most people I know prefer the foreign pineapples because they're sweeter. I prefer  土鳳梨/native pineapple because they're more tart. It also provides a better contrast to the shortcake surrounding it (versus sweet on sweet, especially with the wintermelon fillers that some use). And for a really good pineapple cake experience, enjoy it with some quality tea. You can use tea from a tea bag, but the best tea is always from leaves. I usually use some high mountain Oolong or J...