Taipei - Moon Moon Food

There was a branch of Moon Moon Food, a local chain known for traditional Taiwanese fare, just down the street from us, so we stopped in for dinner.

It had a modern, but comfortable feel and was busy, but efficient.

We tried their signature sesame-chili noodles, despite the fact that we aren't big fans of too much sesame. And it was just too much sesame paste for me - which was a shame, since the texture of the noodles was good.

The chicken and clam soup fared better for us. A nice, clean broth with tasty clams and bone-in chicken that was a bit bland but perked up with a little soy.

And, of course, we couldn't resist some lu rou fan. This version was less seasoned than others we've had, which made it taste a bit lighter - something that worked in the context of this meal.

Da Nang - Hotel Breakfasts

Our hotel in Da Nang did a very nice breakfast - with very servicable versions of local dishes. Above, Mì Quảng.

Bò Kho.

Gỏi Cuốn.

Phở Bò.

"Western Breakfast".

Another take on Mì Quảng.

Bún Bò Huế.

Saigon - Hủ tiếu and Bún Bò Huế at Út Huệ

Another evening in Saigon after dinner "Plan A" had fizzled, we again found ourselves hungry and looking for targets of opportunity.

We came across a nice looking little shop selling Hủ tiếu and Bún Bò Huế.

We got one bowl of each. Hủ tiếu was a new soup for us, and this version was terrific. Great broth, and lots of goodies - shrimp, quail eggs, pork slices, meat on the bone. A very "dặc biệt" bowl.

The Bún Bò Huế was also loaded and delicious. We left happy and satisfied.

Langkawi - Selera Lubuk Buaya

Toward the end of our stay in Langkawi, we finally started to find some more "local" places to eat. Selera Lubuk Buaya is a place I'd bookmarked from my google map research. We overheard a local lady giving some tourists a recommendation for a good seafood restaurant - which turned out to be this place.

It is a large, brightly lit place full of locals (and a few tourists) busily eating seafood. Langkawi seems to be a center for squid fishing, so we ordered some deep-fried. It was super good - crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. They gave us two dipping sauces. One was a standard sweet chili sauce. The other had a fresh tomato base with some fermented shrimp funk - really good.

We also got some kangkung belacan (water spinach with a fermented shrimp sauce), which was decent.

And some udang goreng halia (shrimp with fried ginger). The shrimp were very good, but the sauce didn't have much going on.

We came back another night and had some tom yam soup - very good, with a generous amount of shrimp and squid in it - and some kailan buwang putih (which we thought would be gai lan from the name, but turned out to be some sort of cabbagy vegetable.

The star of the show here for us, though, was the fried squid, which we got again. Even better this time.

Langkawi - Jomakan

Dinner is usually our hardest meal to sort out when we travel. This was definitely the case in Langkawi, so we were happy to stumble across Jomakan restaurant.

We actually found it because it shares a space with an Indian restaurant that operates earlier in the day that we had a pretty mediocre lunch at. We ate here for dinner twice. The first time we got a combination set that had a tom yum soup, a seafood stir fry, an "omelette", and some veg. The standout here was the soup - a different style than we're used to with a thicker broth. Very spicy and flavorful.

We came back another night and got a fried rice and some deep fried squid.

We also got a beef dish.

Can't remember what it was called, but it was good over rice.

All of the food here was good, and the staff was very friendly. There was one guy working the wok, which slowed things down when they got busy, but he steadily turned out tasty dish after tasty dish.

Langkawi - Cenang Food Truck Square

The island of Langkawi, and more specifically the Pantai Cenang area, is a tourist center. It is also in a bit of a slump, which has resulted in a lot of touristy restaurants that aren't very busy. It took a while for us to get our footing here food-wise.

Our first success was finding this small cluster of trucks busily serving up food to a mixture of locals and tourists.

One night we ordered some sticks of satay - some chicken skewers, a "chicken bone" skewer, and a chicken liver skewer.

Simple, and tasty.

We also patronized a woman who was making a variety of thai salads.

We got an order of som tam and it was really good. Perfect refreshing flavors with just the right amount of heat.

We returned another night and got a different dish from the same lady - a seafood salad.

Shrimp and squid in som tam style dressing. Very good.

George Town - Pasar Lebuh Cecil

One day we trekked in the heat of midday to Pasar Lebuh Cecil - a market and hawker center - to have lunch.

The place was very busy, which is always a good sign.

We got a bowl of Prawn Mee. It wasn't as spicy as it looks, with the only heat coming from a fairly mild sambal, but the stock was packed with prawn shell flavor.

The noodles were a mix of mee and bee hoon.

Popiah was a dish that had been on our list of things to try, so we took the opportunity to have some here.

We'll leave our opinions open as I think popiah varies a lot, but we weren't big fans of this. Overly sweet, and without much texture.

As we were getting up to leave, we heard a motorcycle rev up and this guy zipped by - angling his stall into his slot in the market.

George Town - Wan Tan Mee and Apom on Chulia Street

We'd really enjoyed our first visit to Chulia Street, so we came back another night.

This time we got a plate of wonton mee. Simple, savory, delicious.

Looking for something fresh, we ordered some spring rolls from a passing vendor. Not very good - you can't win them all.

We had better luck with the apom vendor.

Apom (more commonly known as "apam") are little, light pancakes made of a coconut-flavored batter.

Often they are filled, but these were just plain. Warm and lightly sweet. A bit crispy on the outside. A perfect little snack to end the meal.

Kuala Lumpur - Restoran Bunn Choon

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.