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.

Taipei - Revisits to Jin Feng and Golden Delight

It wouldn't be a visit to Taipei without some lu rou fan, so we paid a re-visit to Jin Feng Braised Pork Rice.

It was even busier than it had been five years previously, but the line moved quickly.

And the lu rou fan is still delicious and reasonably priced.

One evening after a walk through Linjiang night market that was fun but didn't result in dinner, we stopped in at a place we'd had pork rib soup before. It was still exactly the same. Nothing super special, but satisfying.

Hanoi - Phở Sướng

So, we clearly were going to revisit "magic food alley" (Ngõ Trung Yên). This time, we had our sights set on phở.

We'd seen Phở Sướng on previous visits, but hadn't eaten here. We had a great breakfast - one bowl of tái chín (rare beef and cooked beef), and one of tái gầu (rare beef with fatty brisket).

Both bowls were great, and the place was busy, but efficient. Perfect way to start the day.

An Bàng - Early Morning Market

An Bàng Beach is a pretty touristy area, and as such there aren't a lot of food options around that we find very interesting. One exception is the market which operates during early mornings (show up much after 10 and its all over).

We had breakfast at the market both mornings we were there. The first morning, we sat down at a little table and had some bún mắm - this version with grilled pork (thịt nướng).

It was really tasty. The lady also had a cauldron of broth and was serving up bowls of bún bò. It looked really good, so we came back the next morning to try some.

Unfortuantely, that lady wasn't there, but another lady was working at another nearby table with similar offerings. Very good.

While we were there, a batch of fresh little fish came in and everyone around us immediately stopped what they were doing and huddled around to try to get the best of the catch.

We also found a lady frying up bananas.

Yum!

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.

Goerge Town - Belacan Fried Chicken and Hai Koay Teow Soup

Doing my research on George Town, I'd read that Kimberly Street was *the* food street. While that may have once been the case, it now is fairly subdued - with more active street food areas in other parts of the city. Still, there was good food to be found there, and one evening we stopped in to try a few things.

First we got some fried chicken from the "Belacan Fried Chicken" stand. "Belacan" means "shrimp paste" - not sure if that was supposed to indicate a flavoring for the chicken? I didn't taste shrimp, but the seasoning was super good, and the chicken was moist and piping hot out of the fryer.

Right across the street, Hai Koay Teow Soup was doing brisk business.

We snagged one of the last free tables and put an order in. Looking around there were lots of others sitting waiting for food. They meticulously put out bowl after bowl and we were finally rewarded with ours.

Well worth the wait. Full of goodies. Rice noodles, fish balls, fish cakes, pork slices, liver slices, minced pork...

Great bowl of noodles.

George Town - Air Itam Food Court Laksa Bisu

One morning, we traveled the short distance from George Town proper to the suburb of Air Itam.

Our primary destination was the Kek Lok Si Buddhist temple.

But after doing some sightseeing, we stopped into the local hawker market for some lunch. The place was bustling and full of good looking food.

We hadn't yet had asam laksa, so we took the opportunity to try some here.

This laksa has fish base with a slight sourness from tamarind, fairly large round rice noodles, and is run through with thinly-sliced vegetables and herbs.

Refreshing on a hot (34C!) day - particularly with the addition of a big coconut to drink from.

The other food in the court looked very good as well. The stall next to us was putting out nice-looking roti canai, and a gentleman sitting next to us sang the praises of the koay teow ting (fish ball noodle soup).