Dinner on 12/10/2008

Originally I wanted to title this entry as “Traditional Taiwanese Dinner on 12/10/2008″, but the not-so-traditional Kombu Wanton Soup (海帶餛飩湯) on the left forced me to change my mind. To begin with, it was unusual to see a green wanton. It reminded me the spinach burrito wrapper,  but I wasn’t sure what contributed the green color. I figured that the color probably came from some vegetable, since the restaurant (八方雲集) emphasized “healthy food, healthy eating”. But just like the spinach burrito wrapper, it didn’t have much taste. The soup tasted pretty mild, with the Kombu added a pleasant note.

The one on the right was the traditional Taiwanese ground pork rice (魯肉飯). Even thought the dish name having “ground pork” in it, but in reality one could barely find any ground pork but chopped pork belly fat and the tasty five spice meat sauce. (The five spice egg was a bonus, not part of the dish.) It used to be a poor man’s way to gain a rare taste of meat; now this popular dish survived because of its tastiness and memory.

The whole thing was NT$75, about US$2.30. Not bad, huh?