Ningxia night market

After our dinner at Din Tai Fung, we decided to take a walk.

Taipei is famous for night markets. Amanda informed us that there are lots of night markets every night. The most popular night markets in Taipei are Shilin & Raohe. It was my plan to go to both but life had other plans for me. We ended up at Ningxia night market.

This night market is mainly focused on food and we saw a fishing game going on too.

A lot of stalls selling different types of street food. From meat, seafood, stinky tofu..

Everything was mouth watering but we just had dinner so we only sampled a couple of dishes. We were very curious about the stinky tofu so we bought a small plate to share. I was not a fan of the smell or taste. I'd rather just have regular tofu.

Have you ever eaten stinky tofu? Tell me your thoughts. 

What I Ate: Din Tai Fung

Of course one of our first meals in Taipei was at Din Tai Fung. It's a very famous restaurant for xiaolongbao (steamed dumplings). We met Keiko's friend Amanda who took us here for dinner.

Amanda ordered the food for us because she knows what's good. I was just happy to eat and not be bothered figuring out what to eat.

I was starting to feel ill during this time so my mind was starting to get blurry but you know food so I had to eat. Thankfully, I still had an appetite here before I got the flu. I would have been really bummed if I didn't taste any dishes. 

The rice with pork on top. OMG, the rice was really good! You all know how much I love rice, haha!

This was really good too - fern! So refreshing after eating all the meat.

Forgot the name of this dish :(

Of course the xiaolongbao did not disappoint. I could eat this every day. The only thing I skipped was the xiaolongbao with crab (allergies!!).

You have to be very careful eating the dumplings because it's very hot that it can burn your tongue. I usually take a small bite before slurping the broth inside and then I eat the whole dumpling.

The glutinous rice dessert!

Loved watching them make the dumplings from the window. They make it so fast!! Teach me please.

Have you ever had steamed dumplings before?

Raiding Japanese supermarkets

Going to the supermarket is always fun to visit in different parts of the world. I find it exciting to walk around grocery stores in different countries/cities. I am always curious on what people eat. 

Keiko took us to a supermarket in Nagoya where I went crazy taking photos.

I love the pre-packaged meals and look how cheap it is!!! Ahhh, can I live in Japan so I can eat fresh fish every day without breaking my bank account!

I honestly could not believe the prices - less than $3 for each. Wow! That's at least double here in Toronto.

So cheap!!!

I found a lot of mini versions of items inside the supermarket which I think is a really brilliant idea. You don't see a huge can of coke or giant tubs of ice cream. No wonder Japanese people are quite slim. 

And selling alcohol inside the grocery store? That's awesome! Ontario is finally catching up to this..

A mini Canada dry. Had to take a picture of this!

This is a kid's drink but I bought myself a few of these because it was cute and also, it was very tasty with sliced oranges inside. And I needed vitamin C. So win-win.

What I Ate: Conveyor belt sushi

I couldn't leave Japan without visiting a conveyor belt restaurant again. It's just so much fun! My friend Keiko took us to Sushiro restaurant in Nagoya.

Of course we got tuna! Everything was delicious!

And tamago!

I just love watching the conveyor line of sushi passing us. This is how they get you to eat a lot!

We also ordered special items on the menu.

You will never go hungry in Japan ;)

Beautiful mackerel sushi. 

More tuna and salmon!

And of course we can't pass up dessert!

Really good chocolate cake.

Our plates were stacked and measured after our meal to calculate our bill. It was a really cheap bill for 3 people.

What I Ate: Soos Resturant

I keep forgetting to post photos and write blog posts about restaurants that I try in Toronto. I usually post it on instagram but this dinner was really good so I want to immortalize it here on my blog. And I really want to write more restaurant recommendations for tourists coming to Toronto. 

We celebrated my eldest sister's birthday here at Soos Restaurant (Malaysian fusion). It was a girl's weekend! We opted for an early reservation so that we can enjoy each other's company longer. And we knew the restaurant will be busy later on the night. 

We all ordered the "feed me" for $38 pp. We wanted to all taste their favourite dishes. 

Pulled kapitan tacos - house made tacos with nappa carrot slaw with tzatziki

Pork belly pancakes - nyonya sticky soy pork bellly on a crispy taro root pancake. I really loved the crispy taro root pancake! I could eat it all all day.