Editor’s Note: Our roving food writer, Paul Young, reports from his spring break excursion to Bali. Watch for a new column every day this week.
After a fairly uneventful 13-hour flight, we landed in Taipei for a two-hour layover.
As soon as we got off the plane, we headed directly to the airport’s food court to see what we could scrounge up. The first food stall we came to looked promising, so we dove right in. This being an airport food court, they had planned for language barriers – so the food was on display. All we had to do was point and say “one” (with one finger pointing up, course).
Since it was 6 a.m. in Taipei, some fried eggs for breakfast seemed appropriate (even though China Airlines had already served us breakfast onboard – but that was hours ago). Next we pointed at some funny looking green vegetables (slightly bitter, but delicious and healthy tasting). My finger stopped at the sliced cow ears next (crunchy and spicy, probably too fatty and not so good for you). But the best was the hand-made dumplings (yes, we watched one cook make them with her own hands).
We’ll probably never know what kind of meat was in those dumplings (they do eat dog in Taiwan, we’re told), but it tasted wonderfully tender and moist, and especially yummy when dipped in a spicy dipping sauce. I guess, it’s cheating, but we can now say we ate in Taipei. Okay, time to get back on the plane.
Next stop Bali.
To be continued…