Taiwan: Hualien Won Ton
One of my favorite things to eat in Taiwan is 魯肉飯 or lu rou fan (literally "marinated meat over rice"). I eat it so often that I've become rather picky about it. Snooty may be the better word. My favorite lu rou fan used to be at the Danshui MRT Station. That particular food stand made its lu rou fan with little bits of crunchy pickled vegetable and perfectly fatty pieces of pork. I don't know of any other places that use pickled vegetable, so I was devastated when I heard that the stand had closed down the last time I was in Taiwan.
This summer, it seems like the stand is back. I had my doubts about whether the lu rou fan would be the same, but I tried to be optimistic:
Take a good look at the fatty pork in this lu rou fan:
No crunchy vegetable, but oh well. It's been so long since my last lu rou fan that this one tasted like bliss. If bliss had a taste, this would be it. It doesn't look like a lot of meat, but the proportions are just right.
To balance out the meal, we ordered some blanched greens:
I'm usually not a fan of blanched veggies (no flavor), but these were fantastic. Probably because of the FATTY PORK loaded on it.
The English on the store's sign says "won ton", but the Chinese doesn't. The Chinese actually says pian shi. I somehow missed the English sign, so I ordered some because I didn't know what it was:
Mystery solved. Pian shi is basically...a wonton. Perhaps folded a bit differently, but the same in taste and texture.
So in conclusion, not the same lu rou fan of my childhood, but still good. I'll be on the lookout for the perfect lu rou fan though. I haven't given up yet!
This summer, it seems like the stand is back. I had my doubts about whether the lu rou fan would be the same, but I tried to be optimistic:
Take a good look at the fatty pork in this lu rou fan:
No crunchy vegetable, but oh well. It's been so long since my last lu rou fan that this one tasted like bliss. If bliss had a taste, this would be it. It doesn't look like a lot of meat, but the proportions are just right.
To balance out the meal, we ordered some blanched greens:
I'm usually not a fan of blanched veggies (no flavor), but these were fantastic. Probably because of the FATTY PORK loaded on it.
The English on the store's sign says "won ton", but the Chinese doesn't. The Chinese actually says pian shi. I somehow missed the English sign, so I ordered some because I didn't know what it was:
Mystery solved. Pian shi is basically...a wonton. Perhaps folded a bit differently, but the same in taste and texture.
So in conclusion, not the same lu rou fan of my childhood, but still good. I'll be on the lookout for the perfect lu rou fan though. I haven't given up yet!
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