Unlike Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, Singaporean food has never really caught on in Taipei. Maybe that's because the cuisine is an amalgam of Malaysian, Chinese, southern Indian, Indonesian, and Western styles - all of which are available in a multitude of varieties here.
The Merlion, a restaurant on Heping East Road directly across the street from the Technology Building (科技大樓), won't by itself change this situation. Not that it's bad. It's a decent place for lunch if you're in the neighborhood and want something a bit different, polite and attentive service, and a quiet atmosphere. But I was expecting something more.
If I had ordered one of the several fish entrees on the menu (NT$180 to NT$280), I might have formed a different opinion. That's what I saw staff eating both times I ate at the Merlion. Instead, on my first visit I chose the laksa soup noodles in a coconut curry gravy with shrimp, egg and chicken (招牌星式叻炒麵). The Merlion's version adds dougan (豆乾), or dried bean curd, and pink-and-white artificial crab meat. At NT$150 for a big bowl, it could be a lunch for one moderately hungry person. The curried coconut broth was sweet and not too spicy, the shrimp fresh and the boiled egg, surprisingly, one of the tastiest items in the mix. On the downside, there were only two shrimp, the soup was mostly broth, and the dougan and artificial crab both detracted from the flavor.
PHOTO: NOAH BUCHAN, TAIPEI TIMES
My second meal was better. I went with a friend and we shared chicken rice (雞飯, NT$20), spring rolls (春捲, NT$80), double chicken (雙拼雞肉, NT$160) and something called the Malaysian feng guang (馬來風光, NT$100), which was actually just kongxincai (空心菜). The spring rolls were unremarkable; they had a thick pastry skin, like store-bought egg rolls. But everything else was good. I recommend the double chicken, a combination Hainanese chicken (海南雞肉) and Singapore-style smoked chicken (星式燒雞). The meat - dark meat for the Singaporean chicken and white for the Hainanese - was served in two rows over sliced cucumbers, smothered in a dark soy sauce, and served with a tangy chili-and-garlic sauce for dipping. The kongxincai was crispy and not overcooked. Sliced red chili transformed this pan-Asian staple into something a bit more flavorful.
If you were wondering, the merlion is a mythical half-fish, half-lion - "mer" is Latin for "sea" - and the emblem of Singapore. The beast represents the story of the legendary Malay prince Sang Nila Utama, who thought he saw a lion while hunting on the island of Temasek, where he founded ancient Singapura, the Lion City.
Last week the State Department made several small changes to its Web information on Taiwan. First, it removed a statement saying that the US “does not support Taiwan independence.” The current statement now reads: “We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait.” In 2022 the administration of Joe Biden also removed that verbiage, but after a month of pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), reinstated it. The American
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus convener Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) and some in the deep blue camp seem determined to ensure many of the recall campaigns against their lawmakers succeed. Widely known as the “King of Hualien,” Fu also appears to have become the king of the KMT. In theory, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) outranks him, but Han is supposed to be even-handed in negotiations between party caucuses — the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) says he is not — and Fu has been outright ignoring Han. Party Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) isn’t taking the lead on anything while Fu
Feb 24 to March 2 It’s said that the entire nation came to a standstill every time The Scholar Swordsman (雲州大儒俠) appeared on television. Children skipped school, farmers left the fields and workers went home to watch their hero Shih Yen-wen (史艷文) rid the world of evil in the 30-minute daily glove puppetry show. Even those who didn’t speak Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) were hooked. Running from March 2, 1970 until the government banned it in 1974, the show made Shih a household name and breathed new life into the faltering traditional puppetry industry. It wasn’t the first
US President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs on semiconductor chips has complicated Taiwan’s bid to remain a global powerhouse in the critical sector and stay onside with key backer Washington, analysts said. Since taking office last month, Trump has warned of sweeping tariffs against some of his country’s biggest trade partners to push companies to shift manufacturing to the US and reduce its huge trade deficit. The latest levies announced last week include a 25 percent, or higher, tax on imported chips, which are used in everything from smartphones to missiles. Taiwan produces more than half of the world’s chips and nearly all
RSS