In a quiet alley behind Taipei City Hospital, Heping branch (台北市立聯合醫院和平分院) lies an inconspicuous restaurant known to all food connoisseurs. Outside the traditional establishment, diners - drawn to its praise-worthy Yangzhou cuisine and bargain prices - stand in long lines every day.
The presence of gray-haired Chinese and government officials testifies to the authenticity of the food. For those who are still in doubt, a mouthful of the restaurant's famed cold appetizers - dried shredded chicken with brawn jelly and cabbage salad - will earn Chuan Yang Yu Fang a spot on the "return to" list. The former dish consists of ginger slices and Zhenjiang vinegar while the later is an appetizing plate with peanuts and cilantro seasoned with soy sauce, vinegar and spicy oil.
The joint's specialties look plain, but exceed expectations. The shredded dried tofu (NT$160) with shredded chicken, ham and spring onion in a soy bean and vinegar sauce and stewed noodles that come in different flavors, all surpass expectations.
PHOTO: HO YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Not ordering the juicy stewed lion's head meatballs - served in a bowl of cabbage-based soup - would be a big mistake. However, other popular seafood options include the fried codfish roll (NT$220) and pan fried eels (NT$370), a savory dish that goes well with spirits or beer.
The signature steamed dumplings and glutinous rice shaomai are also not to be missed. Ordering a dumpling assortment (NT$100) allows you to sample different varieties.
The red bean paste pancakes (NT$100) deserve a special mention as the creamy-tasting dessert scores high on many reviews.
If the extensive Chinese-only menu seems perplexing, ask the owner for suggestions. He always has his hands full, but is willing to help out.
Reservations are a must, and even ordering ahead is advisable as a number of signature dishes require two days of preparation. Last words of advise: remember to bring your own chopsticks to save the environment as the store only offers disposables.
The arrival of a Typhoon Gaemi last week coincided with the publication of a piece at Yale Climate Connection on the upcoming bill for coastal defenses in the US: US$400 billion by 2040. Last week’s column noted how Taiwan is desperately short of construction workers. I doubt “sea wall and dike construction workers” are on the radar of most readers, but they should be. Indeed, the extensive overbuilding of residential housing has crowded out construction workers needed elsewhere, one of the many ways the housing bubble is eating Taiwan. FLOODING For example, a September 2022 piece in Frontiers in Environmental Science, a
International students who cannot speak “basic English” are walking away from Australian universities with prestigious degrees, academics say, a situation one described as “mind-blowing.” More than a dozen academics and students said the universities’ financial reliance on foreign students over many years had hollowed out academic integrity and threatened the international credibility of the sector. Many said the rise of artificial intelligence was accelerating the crisis to the point where the only way to fail a course would be to hand nothing in, unless universities came up with a coherent institutional response. ’MIND BLOWING’ A tutor in an arts subject at a leading sandstone
Last Sunday’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) national congress was the most anticipated in years, and produced some drama and surprises. As expected, party chair President William Lai (賴清德), his New Tide (新潮流系統, usually abbreviated to 新系) faction and his allied “trust in Lai” (信賴) coalition of factions won majorities and control of the party, but New Tide did not do as well as expected due to an unexpected defection (two previous columns — “The powerful political force that vanished from the English press,” April 23, 2024 and “Introducing the powerful DPP factions,” April 27, 2024 — provide indepth introductions
July 29 to Aug. 4 A furious crowd of about 500 people gathered at the Executive Yuan, circling the building while hurling rocks at the windows and police. Yelling, “Lian Chan (連戰, then-premier), come out if you dare, you son of a turtle,” they smashed and overturned surrounding vehicles, and at one point, a taxi tried to ram the main entrance. The demonstrators then started hurling gasoline bombs, clashing with police and setting a Chinese Television Service (華視) van on fire. Underground radio station Voice of the Masses (群眾之聲), which led the protests, asserted that