Pineapple Tarts were the main must-buys in Taipei. Truth be told I had a laundry list of places to get the pineapple cakes or tarts (however they are known)...which ranged from Chia Te to Lee Chi or even SunnyHills but none of which were near us.
Headed straight for Jiu Zhen Nan, available at the airport at the highest recommendation of a dear friend who loves Taipei as much as I love Hongkong.
Royalty packaging - from the purple box to ingot like boxes.
At NT400 for 12 pieces, this was pricey. Yet worth every penny - rich butter fragrance engulfs the senses, the pastry by itself is divine. Pineapple jam so pulpy and decadent. If the expiry date were any longer, I would have lugged back boxes!
Travelling out of Taipei to the other countys proved to be quite a rewarding experience, though some would insist "see one see all", I beg to differ on that. Hualien for Taroko Gorge and Cingshuei Cliff while Taichung was for Sun Moon Lake though Cingjing Farm did not materialise due to unforeseen circumstances.
Hualien
Just opposite Hualien Station is an entire row of their local products - handmade mochi!
Ah Mei Mochi was quite a stand alone, found their mochi a tad hard. Seemingly pricier than the rest too.
曾记's!
http://www.tzen.com.tw/
They have both freshly made mochi and pre-packed ones. These freshly made ones have to be consumed within 24 hours.
The latest brown sugar jelly-like confectionery, denser than mochi and refreshing to taste!
Mango jelly which we fell in love with at Jiu Fen but did not buy.
Best eaten chilled but these had a certain plasticky smell about it.
Handmade nougats with a variety of flavours - macadamia, peanut and almond.
Moo printed wrappers!
I like how these nougats are not too sweet though only available soft. I very much prefer my nougats crunchy but these are way cheaper alternatives to the Aussie imports. They do harden rather quickly over time but I guess that is the downside of freshly made anything!
Red Date Sweets with Walnuts are my favourite. I usually get my sugar fix from Hongkong but these from Taiwan are a lot friendlier on the gums - not too sweet and easy to chew.
Their handmade fresh mochi had to be consumed within the day which was perfect for the trainride back to Taipei but also meaning we could not bring any back home!
All ready for the train ride!
Green Bean mochi.
Fresh chewy mochi skin with a generous ball of green bean paste.
Same floury mess.
Utterly delicious.
Thankfully they had prepacked mini mochis with a longer expiry date - just in time for CNY!
No samples were given for this so we were under the impression that they will be as good as the freshly made ones. It could be the flavours but the fruit flavours had cream and a slice of preserved fruit inside making it too sweet. Yam flavour also repeated the sweetness, all too sweet!
Colourful!
Yellow.
Mango with cream.
Yam! The fresh one far exceeds this in taste.
Strawberry.
Melon.
Somehow these did not fare as well as the freshly made ones, certainly miles away from the Japanese equivalents too.
Souvenirs are relatively cheaper here, each packet went for approx NTD 100. Perfect for gifting too!
Taichung
一福堂
http://www.iffood.com.tw/index.htm
Only available in Taichung, this particular outlet was isolated.
檸檬餅
Shaped like a lemon, this zesty lemon cake was uber fluffy with a lemon chocolate shell. Best eaten chilled.
太陽餅
Their sun biscuits are way different from those I have been gifted. Flaky pastry with a molten filling within! Not too sweet once again, we all loved it.
Emperor Cake
One of the stall's specialities, this milk custard cake is best eaten at room temperature. Pleasant tasting custard meets milky pastry.
The next most famous Taiwanese export after pineapple cakes!
Sunshine pastry for this was so very different from the rest attempted, the molten filling was uber delicious though the fine layers were a tad plain tasting.
Taiwan
Headed straight for Jiu Zhen Nan, available at the airport at the highest recommendation of a dear friend who loves Taipei as much as I love Hongkong.
Royalty packaging - from the purple box to ingot like boxes.
At NT400 for 12 pieces, this was pricey. Yet worth every penny - rich butter fragrance engulfs the senses, the pastry by itself is divine. Pineapple jam so pulpy and decadent. If the expiry date were any longer, I would have lugged back boxes!
Travelling out of Taipei to the other countys proved to be quite a rewarding experience, though some would insist "see one see all", I beg to differ on that. Hualien for Taroko Gorge and Cingshuei Cliff while Taichung was for Sun Moon Lake though Cingjing Farm did not materialise due to unforeseen circumstances.
Hualien
Just opposite Hualien Station is an entire row of their local products - handmade mochi!
Ah Mei Mochi was quite a stand alone, found their mochi a tad hard. Seemingly pricier than the rest too.
曾记's!
http://www.tzen.com.tw/
They have both freshly made mochi and pre-packed ones. These freshly made ones have to be consumed within 24 hours.
The latest brown sugar jelly-like confectionery, denser than mochi and refreshing to taste!
Mango jelly which we fell in love with at Jiu Fen but did not buy.
Best eaten chilled but these had a certain plasticky smell about it.
Handmade nougats with a variety of flavours - macadamia, peanut and almond.
Moo printed wrappers!
I like how these nougats are not too sweet though only available soft. I very much prefer my nougats crunchy but these are way cheaper alternatives to the Aussie imports. They do harden rather quickly over time but I guess that is the downside of freshly made anything!
Red Date Sweets with Walnuts are my favourite. I usually get my sugar fix from Hongkong but these from Taiwan are a lot friendlier on the gums - not too sweet and easy to chew.
Their handmade fresh mochi had to be consumed within the day which was perfect for the trainride back to Taipei but also meaning we could not bring any back home!
All ready for the train ride!
Green Bean mochi.
Fresh chewy mochi skin with a generous ball of green bean paste.
Same floury mess.
Utterly delicious.
Thankfully they had prepacked mini mochis with a longer expiry date - just in time for CNY!
No samples were given for this so we were under the impression that they will be as good as the freshly made ones. It could be the flavours but the fruit flavours had cream and a slice of preserved fruit inside making it too sweet. Yam flavour also repeated the sweetness, all too sweet!
Colourful!
Yellow.
Mango with cream.
Yam! The fresh one far exceeds this in taste.
Strawberry.
Melon.
Somehow these did not fare as well as the freshly made ones, certainly miles away from the Japanese equivalents too.
Souvenirs are relatively cheaper here, each packet went for approx NTD 100. Perfect for gifting too!
Taichung
一福堂
http://www.iffood.com.tw/index.htm
Only available in Taichung, this particular outlet was isolated.
檸檬餅
Shaped like a lemon, this zesty lemon cake was uber fluffy with a lemon chocolate shell. Best eaten chilled.
太陽餅
Their sun biscuits are way different from those I have been gifted. Flaky pastry with a molten filling within! Not too sweet once again, we all loved it.
Emperor Cake
One of the stall's specialities, this milk custard cake is best eaten at room temperature. Pleasant tasting custard meets milky pastry.
The next most famous Taiwanese export after pineapple cakes!
Sunshine pastry for this was so very different from the rest attempted, the molten filling was uber delicious though the fine layers were a tad plain tasting.
Taiwan
Pineapple cake! I <3. The moo printed wrappers is cuteness overload!
ReplyDeleteWhat is Emperor Cake?
Btw, I did a pineapple cakes showdown hahaha. Didn't like Kee Wah's. Chia Te's pastry crust was excellent! Very buttery and totally yummy, but pineapple filling's meh. DTF's was surprisingly awesome. Sunnyhills' still the best.
ReplyDeleteOverall (up till now):
Sunnyhills > Din Tai Fung > Chia Te > Kee Wah
Taiwan 3. Hong Kong 0. LOL
hahhaa yea uber cute moo prints!
ReplyDeleteNot too sure what emperor cake is but it's custard based..loved it! haa..
yup agree that tw's pineapple cakes are really good, either way still better than our pineapple tarts!
I'm quite sure we hired the same driver in Taichung as he brought us to the same souvenior shop too! Btw, their cranberry nougat is nice!
ReplyDelete@BH: ahh, i didnt get the cranberry nougats but the tw nougats are pretty good in general! cheaper than the aussie ones at least!
ReplyDelete