台湾吃喝玩乐 Taiwan Trip May 2012 Day 4: Danshui Old Street, Taipei Main Station and Ximending
Thursday, May 16, 2013
On Day 4, we grabbed a quick breakfast over at Ximending before heading over to Ximen station to take the train to Danshui station.
Along the way, we spotted the setting up of 周湯豪 NICKTHEREAL 's album signing and meet the fans session (签唱会).
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| 周湯豪台北簽唱會 |
Bought myself a donut from Mister Donut (Japan No.1甜甜圈專賣店) for breakfast. Make sure you get donuts from the 波堤系列, they are more chewy and special.
Mister Donut 台北西門町
108台北市萬華區漢中街110號(近捷運西門站6號出口)
Near Ximen station, exit 6
Opening hours: Mon-Sun, 10:00-23:00
Camwhored while waiting for the train to Danshui station.
淡水老街 Danshui Old Street / Tamsui Old Street
Zhongzheng Rd, Danshui District New Taipei City, Taiwan 251
Nearest station: Danshui station
Directions:
1. Head northwest toward 中正東路/台2乙線 29m
2. Continue straight onto 中正東路/台2乙線 140m
3. Turn left at 中山路
Danshui Old Street / Tamsui Old Street (淡水老街) is on the right
I have included two maps, one in English and the other in Chinese that shows the directions from Danshui station to Danshui Old Street.
Danshui Old Street is located along Gongmin Street and Zhongzheng Road.
When we reached Danshui Station, it was raining very heavily and we almost wanted to turn back because there is no way we can enjoy the scenery of Danshui Old Street when its raining. We waited for a while before it stopped raining that heavily and braved the cold dark weather with our umbrellas. The rain was also part of the reason why we didn't take any photos along the way from Danshui Station to Danshui Old Street .
But fret not because.. to make up for that, I have got the map that shows the directions from Danshui Station to Danshui Old Street in street view below.
I guess it was the rain that got us really cold because our feet were wet from the rain so we decided to seek shelter and fill our growling stomachs at the same time at 淡水老店 喜相逢 古早味小吃店.
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淡水老店 喜相逢 古早味小吃店
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喜相逢
No. 2號, Zhǎngxìng St, Danshui District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 251
5 min walk from Danshui station
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Thick Vermicelli Soup 古早味米粉汤 NT $30 和 Pork skin 猪肉皮 NT $30
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I wanted something soupy to combat the cold so I got myself a bowl of 古早味米粉汤 which is actually bee hoon soup. 古早味 means traditional taste retained. Compared to the thick vermicelli (beehoon) soup that we have in Singapore, the rice noodles in古早味米粉汤 is not as chewy or smooth, it has got a rough texture to it and the soup taste rather bland and is quite oily. For the sides, I got myself a plate of 猪肉皮 which translates to pork skin. This is good stuff for the knees and complexion because its collagen!
Shin ordered 客家鹹猪肉 which literally translates to Hakka-styled marinated pork.
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客家鹹猪肉 NT$ 70
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Its very similar to that of char siew except that its fried instead of barbecued.
After lunch, it was still drizzling slightly as you can see in the photos below.
洪媽酸梅湯 (福佑宮邊)
台北縣淡水鎮中正路182號
Apparently, sour plum drink (酸梅湯) is really common in Danshui Old Street, you see stalls selling them almost everywhere.
Just beside 洪媽酸梅湯, there's this German bakery called 紅旗德國農夫面包 Berliner Landbrot and their bread smells heavenly. I was super tempted to get the Bull's horn croissant but my girlfriends rolled their eyes at me. Chuan was like, "What? You're coming Taiwan to eat croissants? Oh please!" Decided to give it a miss since I was still full from lunch.
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淡水 紅旗德國農夫面包 Berliner Landbrot
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Our first stop in Danshui was -
醒醐大师 (中正店)
台灣新北市淡水區中正路123號
No. 123, Zhōngzhèng Rd, Danshui District
The must buy local specialty products from Danshui Old Street include:
1) 鐵蛋 (Iron Egg) and
2) 魚酥 (fish crackers)
The process of making 鐵蛋 (Iron Egg) is braising egg with soya sauce and tumeric spices before airing it with electric fan. The process is repeated daily for a week before the 鐵蛋 (Iron Egg) is ready for sale. There are quite a lot of different flavours for 鐵蛋 (Iron Egg), the more common ones include original, spicy, pepper, barbeque and garlic.
Apart from 鐵蛋 (Iron Egg), fish crackers, you can find other common local snacks such as nougat and mochi for sale.
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Part of our massive food haul
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While walking down the street, we spotted another branch of 洪媽酸梅湯.
洪媽酸梅湯 (渡船頭邊)
台北縣淡水鎮中正路11巷1號
I really like how the two rows of shops converge into one so I asked Andeline to turn back so that I can snap a picture of her.
And that's me below. I think we look very 'auntie' because we had so many bags in our hands.
Here we are, opposite Danshui Fisherman's Wharf. Although it stopped raining altogether, but the skies were still gray. I like how the photos turned out to look like the effect, color splash has been applied.
Here's the boarding point for the ferry to Danshui / Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf 淡水漁人碼頭.
While we were admiring the scenery, we met this group of 3 friends (one of the guy is from Hong Kong and the other is from India while the girl is from Taichung) whom asked us to help them with a group shot and we started talking. Turns out that they were studying in Taipei and they took the chance to travel around. The Hong Kong guy uses a DSLR and he had a hard time with our compact cameras while he helping us with a group shot. Got to thank him for finding the best angle though because he was moving left and right and shifting our cameras up and down to get the best angle.
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| With Shin, Andeline and Chuan at Danshui Harbour |
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| Me at Danshui Harbour |
阿媽的酸梅湯
新北市淡水區中正路135之1號, Taiwan
Near Danshui Harbour
Chuan bought a cup of 酸梅湯 (sour plum drink) NT $30, approx SGD 1.30 to try. I think that it tastes like normal sour plum drink/juice, its rather refreshing though.
The shops around Danshui Harbour gives off a nostalgia feel. Its super relaxing and you just feel like slowing down your pace and embrace the natural and old-school surroundings.
Check out the super big bowl of noodles on display (on the right) below.
As typical Singaporeans, we flock to places where there is a queue. When we saw that a queue near Danshui Harbour, we went to check it out and it turned out that people are queuing for the tower tall ice cream!
天霸王霸淇淋
Near Danshui Harbour
You get to choose either vanilla or chocolate or the best of both worlds - mixed!
Check out our tower tall ice cream!
Check out our tower tall ice cream!
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Me with my tower tall ice cream
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We took turns to take pictures of the ice cream until the ice cream started to melt and we were like, "Okay, time to eat the ice cream and stop taking photos!" Haha. The ice cream isn't fantastic but c'mon its just NT $20, approx SGD 0.85. I think its worth getting it even just to take photos, no?
There are a few shops that are pretty interesting along Danshui Harbour such as the shoe shop below, old school snacks shop and old school fun fair games store.
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| Check out the super big flip flops on display at this shoe shop at Danshui Harbour! |
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Old school snacks shop
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This old school snacks shop was also where we bought a lot of nonsense. They have got sweets in super nice chinese vintage packaging that most of us can't resist.
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Old school toy shop
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Old school fun fair games
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When we saw this, I was exclaiming, "OMG!" I mean, we don't really see these nowadays in Singapore do we? Gone were the days when our parents brought us to fun fairs over the weekend for bumper car rides, mini viking and old school games like the above which is rather hard to win. I remember that I used to pester my parents to exchange more tokens so that I can try my luck again because 3 or 5 wins allow you to trade up your prize to the super huge teddy bear or equivalent. Those were the days I tell you! As I'm saying this, I suddenly feel very old.
After that, we went in search of a good place to try the must-eat in Danshui Old Street -
1) 阿给 A-ge
2) 淡水鱼丸 Fishball soup
四十五年淡水老店淡水鱼丸
新北市淡水區中正路135-2號
This particular shop has got 45 years of history. I wonder if they change their signboard every year to add to the number of years in operation.
Shin bought Danshui fishball soup, more commonly known as 淡水魚丸, she said that she heard that these are really good.
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魚丸湯 NT $35, approx SGD 1.50 for 4pcs
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It is really cheap, say $1.50 for 4 fishballs. Who's the hungry fellow that ate up two even before I could snap a picture? I think they are very much like the Fuzhou fishball that we have in Singapore. In short, Danshui fishball contain minced pork. I think they are average though, not a big fan of it sadly.
And I got my 阿给 A-ge! I have been wanting to try this since forever, ever since I saw it on a food variety show and the host was saying that its a must-try if you are at Danshui (Tamsui)!
You might ask, what exactly is 阿给 A-ge? What's the fuss about?
Well, 阿给 A-ge is actually taupok (fried beancurd) stuffed with tanghoon (冬粉/glass noodles) soaked in braised sauce, sealed with fish paste, steamed and drizzled with sweet sauce before served.
Presenting to you.. my 阿给 A-ge!
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| 阿给 A-ge NT $35, approx SGD 1.50 |
I think you will like 阿给 A-ge if you are a big fan of yong tau fu. Just imagine, fish cake with glass noodles and sweet sauce that taste like satay sauce! Even though I was really full, I ate quite a bit because the glass noodles were too good to be passed! Its really smooth and fragrant. Shin only took a bite or two while Chuan and I love 阿给 A-ge very much. We didn't finish it though because its really a huge serving. We were told that 阿给 A-ge keeps you very full and is of a very generous serving because it is a fisherman's staple - they have it before going out or coming back from fishing to keep themselves full.
After filling our stomachs, we walked around Danshui Old Street and came across many traditional architecture.
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Busy street along Danshui Old Street
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| Ramen mascot or raincoat hanger? |
We spotted this super cute and girly boneless cheese pork cutlet.
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| Cheese Boneless Pork Cutlet |
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| Eudora, European-inspired/styled cafe |
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| Spotted Yoshinoya |
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| Danshui station |
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| Spotted McDonalds! |
While we were getting our tickets from the automated machine, there was a speaker that kept repeating, "便当，好吃的铁路便当，快来买哦!" which translates to (Bento, awesome railway bento, get yours now!)
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台铁路便当 Taiwan Railway Bento
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The most traditional railway bento would be the Pork Rib Bento, it is the cheapest among all - only NT $60 (SGD 2.50).
Passed by Breeze Center at Taipei Main Station and I was drawn to the pretty and girly window display of Lavshuca. Its inspired by a dressing table!
We went to check out 李儀餅店 that was introduced by one of our friend since it was along the way.We were told that their pineapple tarts and suncake (literally translated from 太阳饼 tai yang bing) are very good.
台北站*站前*地下街11-2B
國光客運.西站A棟(往桃園機場、基隆的巴士站)Z3入口,懷寧街Z6入口
Opening hours: 10am - 8:30pm
http://www.lecake.com.tw/
They have got butter suncake, curry pastry, yam pastry apart from just pineapple tarts and the original suncake.
We thought that we would get a few boxes of pastries for our friends and family on the spot so we need not travel back again but it turned out that they don't have any extras for sale that day. Hence, we had to place our order and let them know when we will be collecting it.
I have included maps below to show you guys how the directions to 李儀餅店 from 台北站.
Backa at Ximending, we came across 哇青蛙下蛋 (frog lay eggs) - which I remember trying on my last Taiwan trip in 2004.
✰ Taiwan Taipei Accomodation/Hotel: ECFA Hotel Wan Nian 愛客發時尚旅館萬年館 review
✰ 台湾吃喝玩乐 Taiwan Trip May 2012 Day 1: Taipei Ximending and Shi Da Ye Shi
✰ 台湾吃喝玩乐 Taiwan Trip May 2012 Day 2: Ximending, Taipei 101, agnes b cafe, Wufenpu and Raohe Night Market
✰ 台湾吃喝玩乐 Taiwan Trip May 2012 Day 3: Sogo, Hello Kitty Sweets Cafe and Miramar Entertainment Park
✰ 台湾吃喝玩乐 Taiwan Trip May 2012 Day 4: Danshui Old Street, Taipei Main Station and Ximending
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