Taipei Thanksgiving

Today was our Taipei Day to stay near the Airbnb so we don't wind up too far to make it to dinner on time. We started the day off right, with a walk to Taipei 101 for Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐 Dǐngtàifēng). We were early (doors open at 11), so we shopped for food souvenirs at Jason's Market next door.

At 11, we were able to get in the first batch of seated customers so we didn't wait at all! The food was delicious, but it didn't escape notice that the pork buns were almost 4x the price of the ones we had grabbed from a street vendor on the walk earlier that morning.

Our order: Cucumber salad (辣味黃瓜 là wèi huángguā), house special appetizer - seaweed and beancurd in a vinegar dressing, 3 steamer baskets of regular pork XLB (小龍包 xiǎo lóng bāo), one of truffle and pork XLB (松露小龍包 sōnglù xiǎo lóng bāo), steamed fish dumplings (鲜魚蒸餃 xiān yú zhēng jiǎo), shrimp and pork shao mai (蝦仁燒賣 xiārén shāo mài), shrimp and pork potstickers (煎餃-蝦肉 jiān jiǎo - xiā ròu), pork buns (鲜肉大包 xiān ròu dàbāo), veggie and pork buns (菜肉大包 cài ròu dàbāo), bitter melon soup with spareribs (苦瓜排骨汤 kǔguā páigǔ tāng), pea shoots (豆苗 dòu miáo) because we needed some green veg, shrimp and pork wonton noodle soup (蝦肉餛飩麵 xiā ròu húntún miàn), spicy shrimp and pork wontons (紅油抄手-蝦肉 hóng yóu chāoshǒu - xiā ròu), minced pork noodles (炸酱麵 zhájiàng miàn). NT$4,202 after 10% service charge.

After brunch, we went to the ticketing counter on the 5th floor to inquire about going to the top, but the weather was pretty unclear and it felt like it wouldn't be worth it. Even the info desk guy gave me a look when he said "it might be worth it to some people". We made a quick pass through the MRT station in the basement so Gia and I could get stamps for our collections. And we stopped at Citibank on our way back home to withdraw some cash.

Back home, we took a short break. Johnny went to an Indonesian store and got snacks. Then we were out the door again to Ice Monster!

Red light ... Green light

Milk tea with pearls

Classic mango

Strawberry with condensed milk on the side

Coffee with coffee jelly

Kiwi and lychee

We walked through the park in front of Sun Yat Sen Memorial but didn't opt to buy tickets to go inside. I actually don't know anyone who has gone in.

We wandered over to Songshan Creative Park (松山文創園區 Sōngshān wénchuàng yuánqū) and looked at the neat things they had for purchase. I used to love shopping at Songshan but at least 2 stores that used to be upstairs and a couple art exhibits are gone. Mike bought a board game, Taiwan Monsters Brawl, that is in Chinese and English.

We went home again to change for dinner and called Ubers to take us (NT$220 per car). A wonderful way to celebrate a holiday when you're far from home is to spoil yourself, so we spoiled ourselves with a Thanksgiving feast at Tairroir. They even let us pick our brands of still and sparkling water; we went with Speyside Glenlivet and Orezza, respectively. This was worth remembering so I'm going to post photos of every course. Please bear with me.

Johnny, Cat, Gia, Bella

James, Mom, me, Mike 

Canape

Barley velouté, périgord truffle, mustard green brioche

Tairroir-exclusive Wu Pao-chun bread

Hokkaido scallop, oscietre caviar, whipped cauliflower, pomelo jelly, dill

Heirloom tomato collection, stracciatella, basil, olive

Foie gras, dried lychee, kombucha, charcoal mantou (饅頭 mántóu)

65°C Silkie egg, taro "en purée et kueh", yilan "ya shang", sakura shrimp

Bonus course: Shredded radish in flaky pastry with kumquat broth ...

... very hot, french-pressed kumquat broth

Blubberlip snapper "au naturelle", Tainan #1 white asparagus, bordelaise

Presentation of the main course

Kinmem (金門 Jīnmén) kaoliang (sorghum) fed beef, bitter melon "risotto", fermented black beans

Bonus course: A fancy take on scallion oil noodles (葱油拌面 cōng yóu bàn miàn) with cheese ...

... served with very thin raw beef which was ...

... topped off with super hot broth to cook.

Cucumber and Hendrick's gin sorbet, lemon foam, rose water jelly

Happy Birthday to James!

Textures of Irwin mango and passion fruit with coconut crumble and ...

... liquid nitrogen prepared snow.

Finished product

Variation of Taiwan pineapple cake, camellia oil sable, rum and raisins cream

Mignardises

Dinner took almost 4 hours, so we went right to bed when we got home.

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with some of my very favorite people. I have so much to be thankful for and I hope I never forget that. Happy Thanksgiving!