On our way homebound, we got into Taipei fairly late. We found this dumpling spot, Li Yuan, just up the alley from our hotel.
They closed at 9:30 and it was a quarter to 9, but we managed to squeak in some dinner. The xiao long bao really hit the spot.
We also got some greens in a fermented tofu sauce, which was interesting, and some gyoza, which were fantastic.
Given the significant Chinese demographic of Kuala Lumpur, we decided that getting dim sum here was a pretty good bet, so one morning we had a meal at Restoran Bunn Choon.
The place stretched up over multiple floors of small dining areas and was packed, but we only had about a 15-minute wait to get a table.
We always take an opportunity to get some greenery, so we ordered some long beans - very well seasoned and delicious.
Some little shrimp dumplings with super-thin skins and an intensly shrimpy filling.
Sherry rarely passes up a chance to order chicken feet. These ones were great - nice and soft with a savory and slightly five-spice sauce.
Some pork ribs that were just ok, but the bits of some sort of sweet potato or winter squash that came with them were surprisingly tasty.
Bean curd stuffed with a pork mixture. Generous tasty filling, and the bean curd skin gave a nice texture.
Dumplings with the same sort of pork mixture, but with a chili oil sauce.
Overall, a very enjoyable meal. We availed ourselves of the "biscuit" counter on the main floor.
They wrapped things up in a pretty box (that's how you can tell that you overpaid for them...)
The egg tart was ok, but decidedly below average.
The lotus bun with salted egg wasn't a favorite. The lotus paste didn't have much flavor, and the egg yolk didn't add a lot.
The third was a coconut pastry which we really liked. Fluffy, with nice coconut flavor and shredded coconut texture.
One of the places we enjoyed walking around on our previous trip was the Dongmen market area, so we made sure to revisit it.
Back in Taiwan after 5 years, our first breakfast stop was to revisit Yong He Soy Milk King (you can find our previous visit here). It was completely unchanged from the last time we were here.
We enjoyed some cold, mildly-sweetened soy milk with Youtiao for dipping.
We also had soup dumplings, of course. Hard to beat at $90NT (or just under $3 USD).
They might not be as pretty, or have as perfectly fine skins as a place like Din Tai Fung, but they taste great.
We also enjoyed some radish cake and a pork bao.
A few days later, we found ourselves hungry at lunchtime, and stopped into Shihai Soy Milk.
Cold soy milk hit the spot to help cool off from the heat. And some more soup dumplings:
Most of these old-school soy milk places have very similar menus and a similar feel. Very no-nonsense, bustling vibe. We really like them.
We were back in Taipei for a few nights at the end of our trip before flying home, and Shilin Night Market was still on our list of places to try.
Shilin is the largest of the Taipei night markets - encompassing several square blocks full of wares being sold, games being played and (most importantly) food being eaten.
This stand had us at meat-on-a-stick. We happily chomped through three of the grilled pork sausages.
This lady caught our attention, and we tried a couple of her pastries - one scallion and one salty radish.
The scallion one was very good, but we really fell in love with the salty radish (daikon) version.
As if the street-level sprawl of Shilin wasn't enough, there is also a large, underground food court.
We waded our way through the hordes of people, checking out the various stalls.
The above place was selling "coffin toast" - a hollowed out toast sandwich filled with a variety of questionable fillings.
This Teppanyaki stall was doing a good business. We'd seen this style in Taipei before, near the Ningxia night market - the customers are served on minimalist rectangles of foil, which presumably keeps things hot while they eat.
Prices everywhere were very reasonable, and seemed quite consistent from stall to stall. A picture of spicy wontons at one stall finally convinced us to commit and sit down.
Above are the pre-mentioned wontons. Nothing amazing, but very tasty.
We also got an order of lu rou fan and some greens.
A very satisfying and inexpensive meal in a fun, vibrant setting.
Our hotel in Hanoi looked out over a busy intersection which made for pretty constant entertainment - who needs a TV when you have a window out on Hanoi.
The first morning we were there, we noticed that the shop across the way was packed with people slurping up bowls of some sort of soup. When we returned from a walk around noon and went over to check it out - crickets. Nobody was there. This is very much a typical thing in Vietnam - lots of foods are only available at certain times of day.
A few days later, we held back from eating too much at our hotel breakfast and headed over while they were still in full swing.
The soup turned out to have a light shrimp flavor, and was packed with stuff - a few whole shrimp, some small wontons, sliced pork, sliced liver, mushrooms, and a huge fried wonton. And, of course, noodles (thin, egg noodles - much like the type you get in Cantonese wonton soup).
The large wonton was also filled with minced pork.
Very tasty, and the broth just got better as the bits soaked in it while we ate.
Well worth strolling across the street for.
The original Xinyi branch of the now-expansive Din Tai Fung chain was only a few blocks from our hotel, so it seemed wrong not to stop in. The wait can be really long here, but it was off-peak hours and raining and we were seated in less than 10 minutes.
As you walk in, you can see the signature open-window dumpling preparation room in all of its surgical glory.
The space comprises multiple floors, and has a very clean, modern design.
Because this was a pre-dinner stop, we kept our ordering in check. We had a small (5-piece) order of the pork soup dumplings ("xiaolongbao").
Small and delicate, these dumplings don't offer much in the way of sustenance, but they are undeniably tasty and fun to eat.
We also had an order of the House Special Spicy Shrimp and Pork Wontons - a favorite of ours from a meal we had at their Arcadia branch.
Loaded with shrimp and pork and tossed in the delicious spicy sauce, these didn't disappoint.
The "Vegetable and Ground Pork Buns", however, were terrible.
The green mixture inside had no pork flavor. In fact, it didn't really have any flavor at all. Completely bland.
And they were unphotogenic to boot. Oh well, you can't win them all. Despite the buns, we really enjoyed our snack at Din Tai Fung.
