Four Days in Tainan and Taichung: Day 3

There is a familiar scenario that goes like this.

When someone from Taipei tells you, “Let’s get a meal sometime!” they may just be ending the conversation politely.

But when someone from Tainan says, “Let’s get a meal sometime!” it means they are about to take you to the best food near their home, serve you the best drinks, pack you full of snacks, and then add several late-night meals.

I thought my friend and her husband had originally been from Taipei, so surely they would not go that far. Somehow, they had already become completely Tainan-shaped.

Day 3 in Tainan may have been the most I had ever walked—and the most food I had ever eaten—in a single day.

At one point I suspected my friend had us walking so much purely so we could digest and continue stuffing ourselves.

I eventually learned that if someone from Tainan asks, “Are you full?” or “Are you still hungry?”

Think very carefully before answering, or you may leave Tainan so round that even you no longer recognize yourself.

I knew almost nothing about Tainan, so for Days 3 and 4 I planned to flop down, let the locals haul me everywhere, and simply enjoy eating and playing.

Riri Xiangshi

Because we were trying not to exhaust ourselves, we did not wake at dawn and immediately begin the eating marathon. We waited until a little after nine to get up.

Okay, that was still fairly early XDD.

Our first stop was the neighborhood breakfast place: Riri Xiangshi.

Riri Xiangshi on Facebook

According to my friend, this breakfast shop is extremely popular. If you arrive late, there may be no seats—or the food may already be sold out. They do not take reservations, and days off are announced on Instagram, so wake up early and confirm that they are open before you go!

The shop was close to where we were staying, so we could walk there. Very convenient, and a perfect example of a neighborhood favorite XDDDD.

From the outside, you could barely tell that it was a shop—or what kind of shop it might be. It would be very easy to walk right past.

My impression is that many places in Tainan do not use the huge signs and dramatic exterior decoration that shops in Taipei often do.

Riri Xiangshi has quite a few house rules, but honestly, what good small shop does not have a few rules and convictions? None of the requests were excessive; they were all basic dining etiquette.

The interior is not large, and there are not many seats. It clearly cannot host big groups, which is also one reason reservations would be difficult.

Even though the space is small, it feels warm. You can tell from the decor that the people running it have put a great deal of care into the place.

This is when I envy people with beautiful handwriting. They can scribble something casually and it instantly becomes tasteful decoration.

We arrived surprisingly early, so the shop was not crowded yet and happened to have a table for four.

Because it was a weekend, Riri Xiangshi offered set meals only, with no à la carte options. I had planned to save some stomach space for everything else on the itinerary, but a set meal it was.

Their Facebook page shows how seriously they run the shop, and when the set arrived, it looked exactly like the photos online.

Pretty, delicious, and so much food.

When it reached the table, my first reaction was: “Wait, wait, wait—why is there so much? Who are you trying to scare with this presentation?”

As a picky eater, brunch plates like this always make me nervous that there will be something I refuse to eat.

Surprisingly, apart from the tomato, even the foods I normally avoid went down beautifully. It was genuinely so delicious, sob sob sob sob.

Sorry, but no matter how well a tomato is prepared, I am still not eating it XD.

The bread was toasted just right, the omelet was very tender, and the meat was cooked through without becoming tough. It was an excellent brunch.

The price was friendly too. I could barely imagine what a portion like this would cost in Taipei Orz.

The breakfast black tea had exactly the right sweetness, completely defying my stereotype about Tainan: “I heard that if you wave a skewer through the air in Tainan, you can collect cotton candy!”

Oops. Why do I keep making dangerous comments about people from Tainan? (Kidding.)

National Museum of Taiwan Literature

After brunch, the heat had reached the end of human endurance, so my friend took us to the National Museum of Taiwan Literature for some air conditioning.

And perhaps to acquire a little literary aura while we were there. (Nonsense.)

The two exhibitions we saw were The Power of Literature and Writing to Heal.

Before I reincarnated as a humanities person, I was science through and through.

Literature and history used to make me sleepy on sight, and I would never casually pick up books about ideas or philosophy.

But, unexpectedly, I really liked this exhibition.

Its visual identity was remarkably consistent. Even though a government institution organized it, the design was excellent—which was a pleasant surprise, considering how often government agencies mangle designers’ work....

The entire exhibition was refined and beautiful.

The content was actually very dense, covering Taiwan’s history, the development of its literature, famous writers, and more. By ordinary exhibition standards, it was seriously hardcore.

Yet the presentation never made it feel as though I were constantly swallowing walls of text.

I had recently bought a laser cutter with a friend, so I also used the opportunity to look for product ideas we might be able to make with it.

Once you have access to the right tools and techniques, many things stop being mere ideas and become objects you might actually create.

I remember drawing a small blessing from the fortune machine.

Given that I had gone to Taichung and Tainan in a state of mind that was almost an escape from reality, I thought not drawing a great misfortune was already pretty good.

One line on the fortune said, “Her hands seemed to hold a bowl brimming with sunlight.”

At the time, I could not imagine how the difficulties in real life might possibly turn around. Recently, however, I received the best news.

So the poem fortune was rather accurate, huh? (Says me.)

The exhibition included many small interactive games that helped visitors absorb its ideas and knowledge through activity.

There were many other interactive elements too. You could enter words you liked and have them turned into a poem, or try expressing the same content in the voices of different writers.

I think this picture makes it fairly obvious why I needed to go to Taichung and Tainan XDDD.

The other exhibition was Writing to Heal. Through textual imagery, it explored illness and pain created by social conditions, presenting writing as part of a process that might help heal body and mind.

Especially with illnesses that cannot be completely cured or environments that cannot be changed, all you can do is learn and adapt. The exhibition suggested that writing can make that process of learning and adapting a little easier to endure.

Interacting with the exhibits somehow made my already-not-great mood a little better. I found that rather remarkable.

If something in your environment genuinely cannot be improved and you feel deeply frustrated, I personally thought this exhibition was worth seeing. It may offer a certain kind of comfort.

The National Museum of Taiwan Literature was originally only a small building. It was later expanded while preserving the original appearance, creating this unexpectedly interesting interior landscape.

It reminded me a little of the indoor architecture at Top City Taichung, but the museum carries much more of a distinctly Taiwanese atmosphere. I liked it very much.

Hayashi Department Store

A friend from Tainan once told me, “If someone from Tainan is willing to take you to the unbearably crowded Hayashi Department Store under the blazing weekend sun, they must consider you a very good friend.”

While visiting, I could feel the full weight of that sentence.

Hayashi Department Store was unbelievably crowded that day. It was almost impossible to browse each small shop properly.

I had visited before, but only at night, when I accompanied someone who wanted to take photos.

That day the sun was enormous—so fierce and bright that even my phone captured lens flare. I am not exaggerating at all.

We were not there to buy anything, though. We mainly wanted the air conditioning.

The souvenirs at Hayashi Department Store were genuinely expensive, which was another reason I could not bring myself to buy much. (I am poor.)

At least the air conditioning helped a little before we moved on to the next food stop.

Babaobin Yuanzi Hui

Now it was time to expose the neighborhood list belonging to Tainan locals.

After the museum and Hayashi Department Store, the heat was unbearable and brunch was still sitting heavily in our stomachs, so my Tainan friend decided we should begin with ice.

My friend’s husband went home after Hayashi Department Store, leaving the three of us to keep walking around.

By the end of the day, leaving early seemed like a brilliant decision XDDDDDDD. It was simply too hot!!

For NT$55, a bowl could include five toppings. There were only three of us, and we still had more food ahead, so we ordered just two bowls.

Their tangyuan were incredibly springy and delicious, and the dessert was not frighteningly sweet.

After this stop, I revised my stereotype about Tainan. Not everything is sweet! Also, waving a toothpick through the air does not produce cotton candy. (Of course it does not. What are you saying?)

My friend said that if you especially want the tangyuan, ordering two portions is about right; one portion may feel a little small. After trying it, I agreed, so consider this a note for readers XD.

This was also when I learned that my friend does not eat red beans or mung beans. I thought those were very ordinary toppings, so I did not expect to step on a land mine. I am so sorry, sob sob sob.

Bao’an Road Rice Cake

Not far from Babaobin Yuanzi Hui was a rice-cake shop that my friend insisted we had to try.

If you did not know the shop, its name would almost certainly produce the following conversation.

“What is the rice-cake shop called?”

“Bao’an Road.”

“I did not ask where it is. I asked for the name.”

“It is Bao’an Road!”

My friend said every shop might require a queue, but surprisingly, both at Babaobin and here, seats were available as soon as we arrived.

Getting lucky twice on a Saturday was genuinely wonderful.

I am not brave enough to eat fish skin, so I only drank the soup. The broth itself was wonderfully fresh and gently sweet, without any unpleasant fishy smell.

The rice cake was delicious with peanuts and pork floss.

I need to emphasize that I really dislike fatty meat, yet almost every dish at Bao’an Road Rice Cake included braised minced pork.

Still, it tasted pleasantly dry rather than greasy. I do not know whether the cooking was different from the versions I usually encounter, or whether being on vacation simply made me happier and less likely to feel sick while eating XDDDD.

The rice cake included a beige ball—the shop’s signature braised meatball. It was wonderfully springy. I initially thought it was some strange piece of tempura and did not want it (yes, I am rather picky), but someone told me to try it, and it was genuinely good!

The entire meal came to only a little over NT$100, which shocked me with how inexpensive it was.

While writing this post, I looked at a few other food diaries. Some mentioned that older Tainan residents occasionally believe today’s local food has been changed for tourists and no longer tastes the same.

I have no idea whether the flavor has changed, but if it tastes good, I am fine with it. The old flavor can be good in its way, and the present flavor can be good in its own way too~

A-Tang Beef Soup

You cannot come to Tainan without getting beef soup.

Years ago, when several friends visited, I remember them lining up at a shop where you had to arrive extremely early to get a bowl.

This time, unbelievably, we could still get beef soup in the late afternoon, almost toward evening.

This was not the shop in Anping. It was a beef-soup place on Hai’an Road.

It was still terribly hot even though evening was approaching, and A-Tang Beef Soup had air-conditioned seating. I was so moved 555555.

Besides beef soup, we also ordered beef-brisket soup, but it did not make it into the photo XD.

The moment the food arrived, I took a quick picture and became busy eating 555. It was honestly delicious.

The main difference was that the beef-brisket soup included daikon. The meat was just as good, and the radish had cooked until thoroughly flavored, absorbing exactly the right amount of broth without becoming something strange and fibrous to chew.

Besides beef soup, the shop sells many combinations of beef with other ingredients, such as stir-fried beef with water spinach or shredded ginger, so we ordered a plate of beef with water spinach too.

The water spinach was not cooked into mush. It retained its crunch, and the flavor worked beautifully with the beef.

Water spinach is definitely one of the vegetables that pairs best with beef.

Other Small Stops

There were several other small stops without photos that I would still recommend, including a Tainan-only drink shop called Pharmacist’s Private Black Tea.

Because actual pharmacists run it, you order at the registration counter before collecting your drink.

The whole experience is wonderfully amusing.

Being in Tainan, I probably should have tried Tea & Magic Hand or Tian You Xian. But I still love unsweetened tea, so I chose the old-tree barley tea from Pharmacist’s Private Black Tea.

Barley tea truly is refreshing. Unsweetened tea forever!

After walking so much, we followed my friend’s recommendation and got foot massages that evening. Overall, the day was completely wild and exhausting XD.

We nearly walked ourselves out of existence.

Good Taste Fried Chicken and Chaguo Tianshi for a Late-Night Snack

Because we spent the entire afternoon eating, we obviously could not manage a proper dinner. We drank something and went for foot massages instead.

But do you think people from Tainan would let you off that easily?

No. They would not. That is how we ended up with an abundant late-night feast.

We did not visit either shop ourselves. My friend’s husband brought everything back for us, and I was extremely grateful 555.

May the two of you stay loving, happy, and together forever!

The fried chicken from Good Taste was not greasy at all and tasted excellent. Maybe I was especially hungry after the foot massage XD, because I ate quite a lot, hehe.

The cakes from Chaguo Tianshi were genuinely astonishing.

The long transparent cake on the left did not look like anything I recognized, so I was not especially eager to touch it. Then I took one bite and discovered apple and yuzu flavors, almost like jam—not too sweet, not too sour, exactly right.

I originally chose the matcha one, but later discovered that the apple-and-yuzu cake—or was it actually a tart?—was unbelievably good.

Those two foods were more than delicious enough to close the night!

A Short Conclusion

We spent the whole day in Tainan, so naturally we spent the whole day eating as much delicious food as possible.

My friend’s itinerary involved enormous amounts of food and enormous amounts of walking. It never felt as though we were simply cramming ourselves full, because the walking and the heat consumed plenty of energy along the way XD.

To keep my friend’s private list from becoming so popular that she can never eat at these places again, I have not included any addresses XD. Interested readers can search for them yourselves.

The next day, we made a special trip to the Chaguo Tianshi storefront. In the Day 4 diary, I will show you how much thought and refinement went into the shop’s design and decor, in addition to those beautiful, delicious cakes.

That concludes our food-filled, delicious, and wonderfully fun day. See you in the Day 4 diary!