food trip nina kuting and bibi: Taichung, Taiwan Food Trip

A major, major project brought bibi and me to Taichung, Taiwan in September 2011. And we are very happy to share that we came back home with positive results. We stayed there for quite sometime so we were able to explore the food scene (on a tight budget). To put things in perspective, Taiwan is China country. Taichung is around 3 hours from Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Taichung is not as cosmpolitan as Taipei but not very provincial. If I were to compare it to a Philippine city, it would be Davao. Having said that, we expected to eat authentic Chinese food with provincial flavor. Note that we ate most at the time at neighborhood food places and not any fancy restaurants (although we can't help but get our fast food fix once in a while). To our surprise, the taste of the food there is far from the typical Chinese food that we have in the Philippines. One word comes to mind - bland. And they really love serving vegetables! Chicken there is very expensive like the simple fried chicken leg quarter (no rice) - one piece costs NT$60 or around Php90. A simple fried tilapia costs NT$150, around Php225. Don't get me wrong but I know it is best not to convert and compare currencies when travelling abroad but since we are on a limited budget, I can't help it! So our Taichung food trip was really a challenging one. Just imagine our joy everytime we are able to eat something that satisfied our palate. Here are the pics of our must try dishes!