I suppose many would agree with me when I say that Taipei is not particularly unique for its scattered mishmash of rather drab cinderblock buildings and hordes of riders on motorscooters swarming the streets. But it's well worth the effort to dive right into the fray and start hunting around....there are so many quaint and colorful and outright magnificent surprises to find in all sorts of places. Not to mention that it can be great exercise traversing all those cracked, uneven sidewalks, curbs and stairs around town....! It's much too soon for this first-timer to become jaded () with Taipei. Inner temple of the Martyrs' Shrine

Guard at the Martyrs' Shrine     Another Taiwan Nat'l Treasure!

So I've got just one word for the food in Taiwan — fabulous! And just a short walk down the block from the Howard Plaza Hotel where we stayed was a particular establishment that served one of the best meals we ate in Taipei: it was the Cantonese cuisine at Wakin's Kitchen.

Though the owner unfortunately couldn't make it for dinner that evening as he and his family were away on vacation in the mainland, Emil's eatery started chalking up the positive points as soon as we arrived because not only were the staffers there huge Wakin fans   but also they could speak Japanese!

In fact, we found that most people we encountered around Taipei were more able or comfortable communicating in Japanese rather than English, so that's what we'd fall back on when our attempts at Chinese failed us — which was like 99.9% of the time!

Fortunately, the Wakin's Kitchen menu has English printed in it, but I still needed to ask in Japanese what "pea stems" might be, and in what sense "casserole" was meant, since there are several possible interpretations. However, there were also a couple of novel items on the menu for which I needed no clarification:

For starters, the waitress brought out slices of a traditional dark and sweet-spicy hardboiled egg called "pidang" to eat as we drank our tea. There are three types of these eggs that are prepared in different ways. All are quite a delicacy, and we bought several packs of them at the airport later to take back home. After that interesting appetizer, we tried four dishes that were particularly recommended: a mixed seafood clay pot casserole, a fried-rice dish, the intriguing pea stems, and one garlicky shrimp and bifun noodle dish they suggested that wasn't even printed on the menu.

All of the dishes, served piping hot and in very generous quantities, were obviously fresh and utterly tasty.The pea stems, something brand new to us, were particularly outstanding: a fresh, vivid green, tender, full of flavor with a hint of natural sweetness — and at just the right season of the year to eat them, according to the staff. It was the perfect meal to savor and take our time over — not to mention that both the delicious fried rice and those succulent pea stems were piled surprisingly high on the serving platters! After that fine feast, tapioca in coconut milk was brought out for dessert as a no-charge service.

Toothpick above, hand cloth below left

View of the 2nd-floor Wakin's Kitchen (center) from across the street; tracks of the Mucha Rail Line above

All in all, it was truly a memorable meal and I highly recommend Wakin's Kitchen as a must-try restaurant [see map] for any visitor to Taipei. "Gochisou-sama deshita, Wakin-san!"

     
2nd Floor, 1-283 Fuhsing South Road, Taipei, Taiwan

Their business cards don't have this typo anymore — Great!