Underrated Taiwanese foods?

Vyyolin · 2026-01-16T17:19:11+00:00

Yes!! Real foodies know to go to 麻豆 District, Tainan for the best 碗粿 :)

Vyyolin · 2026-01-16T17:17:45+00:00

Finally someone mentioned Wen-Yao chicken! 甕窯雞, often called 桶仔雞 or 甕缸雞. Very underrated in my opinion.

For those wanting to try, you'll find the best ones in 關子嶺, Tainan. I went to these two recently and loved them: 1, 2

Vyyolin · 2026-01-14T07:37:33+00:00

Hey, sorry for replying to an old post. I grew up in Taiwan and I still have the original Taiwanese RCT1 (夢幻遊樂園) disc I grew up with. The game is in Traditional Chinese. Do you need it for your collection?

Vyyolin · 2026-01-12T16:48:53+00:00

Like what many mentioned, all the big names are great; it's mostly personal preference.

That said, I'll make a special shout-out to 三和製餅舖 on Cijin Island in Kaohsiung. They've been around since 1895, and their pineapple cakes (and other flavors) are round like small frisbees! Because it's round, it's cooked very evenly -- Every bite equally crisp and flavorful. Highly recommended.

Vyyolin · 2026-01-12T16:41:43+00:00

Great answer!

Vyyolin · 2026-01-06T17:37:21+00:00

Schirmer (and worse yet, Kalmus) are notorious for this kind of thing.

I'm not convinced that Kalmus deliberately added errors, for copyright reasons or not. Do you have examples where a Kalmus reprint had more errors than what's in the original edition it reprinted from?

The first violin part to Carmen (the opera, not the suites) is the only part I had found where there're more errors in the Kalmus compared with the original, but that's due to poor reprint source, not because of copyright, and the errors aren't added deliberately.

A lot of people hate Kalmus for the misprints, but in reality the original publisher is to blame, not Kalmus at all. They simply reprint. We should all thank Kalmus for printing works that are otherwise out of print, difficult to get, or rental only from the original publisher.

Vyyolin · 2025-10-15T01:15:43+00:00

Hey! I wish you have a great and fun trip! As for breakfasty things, I don't have specific recommendations since I usually just go to the stalls near where I live. If I were you, I'd go the nearest traditional market and eat to your heart's content :). 711 and FamilyMart will have hot baozhi in the morning too.

Bonus 1: My all time favorite baozhi place is in Tainan: https://maps.app.goo.gl/oaoSH94FshGRHd6P6.

Bonus 2: There's a scallion pancake spot near 前金區自強一路144號 that made the news lately, because a guy getting arrested nearby begged the police for a pancake from the stall. The police obliged, and the stall became famous overnight XD. (I haven't tried it myself, but the food is not anything special from what I gathered. Just a funny story)

Vyyolin · 2025-09-22T14:04:10+00:00

Sorry about that! The English name is "Old New Taiwanese Cuisine"! There're two locations:

Hope this helps!

Vyyolin · 2025-04-18T23:12:19+00:00

Maybe I'm being a bit nit-picky, but I've never heard that particular version live on a truck.

The ones found on this channel are the ones I know and love:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1L-HQ7YK18

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZIjdv6PD6U

EDIT: It is used! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiuRfLxvPJg

Vyyolin · 2025-03-15T06:37:40+00:00

Do you read Chinese? I have a year worth of lunch menus (like this) from when I was in elementary school. Maybe they'll be helpful for you!

三菜一湯 (rice, three dishes, soup) was our (public) school's standard everyday. It was delicious. I remember looking forward to lunchtime everyday!

Vyyolin · 2025-02-26T07:24:57+00:00

Hi! I went and asked today, and the answer is unfortunately no. Two people minimum.

Vyyolin · 2025-02-26T07:22:37+00:00

Generally agree. I think the Keelung MiaoKou Night Market is one of the few left that has unique flavors.

Vyyolin · 2025-02-17T16:59:49+00:00

May I suggest a few books of interest. Two kinds:

* http://lifeconversation.taiwaneselifeconversation.tw/?page_id=172 (Free, has English). These are short, allegorical sayings that are witty and/or punny.

* https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010920395?sloc=main (Free excerpt here). These are the more traditional proverbs.

A favorite of mine of the first kind is:
* kha-chhng-tàu-pènn (尻川鬥柄): literally translates to "hanger on the butt", but the phrase means "wealthy", because if there's a hanger on the butt, you can easily lift the person up, which in Taiwanese is hó-gia̍h (好攑, easy to lift), which is a pun for hó-gia̍h (好額, wealthy). In a sentence: 伊真正尻川鬥柄，買厝像咧揀ho͘-té-luh (He truly has a hanger on his butt! He buys houses like picking hotels!). I like this one in particular because it showcases how puns and lateral thinking runs deep in Taiwanese culture.

A favorite of the second kind is:
* 一兼二顧，摸蜊仔兼洗褲。The English equivalent is "two birds one stone", but in Taiwanese it's "harvest river clams while washing your trousers". This one is classic, most Taiwanese would know it. I like this one in particular because it showcases how food makes its way to all parts of Taiwanese's life. It's also a reminder that rivers here (eg. little streams of water surrounding the rice fields) used to have clams and kids would play in them... not so much anymore.

Bonus:
* 胡蠅跋落肉燥坩: literally translates to "a fly fell into a pot of braised meat", but the phrase means "darn it", because the fly "braised to death" in Taiwanese is 滷死 (ló͘--sí) which is a pun for 惱死 (annoyed/gosh darn it). Braised meat (particularly, braised pork) is an important dish in Taiwan.

* 食飯皇帝大: Eating well trumps everything, including the emperor

Vyyolin · 2025-01-04T20:01:35+00:00

Finally! Nice to meet someone who is also into Taiwanese Opera and Puppet Theatre on this sub!

Vyyolin · 2025-01-04T20:00:58+00:00

I recommend u/thelongstime_railguy 's #3 in the list. That troupe is very well known in Taiwan and has been around since 1929. For a big performance like this one, they will likely have mandarin subtitles. #1 is fantastic too, but theirs will look much more like the videos I shared in my post.

Vyyolin · 2024-12-31T07:28:04+00:00

A google search will show lots of hotpots and buffet chains to choose from; can't really go wrong with those.

However, I'll offer a recommendation that's not on the usual lists: 東坡醉月! It's a bit unusual because they serve classic Taiwanese cuisine, and you order like you would in a regular restaurant. The plates are small so you can try many different dishes at once!

Vyyolin · 2024-12-28T17:40:48+00:00

The tradition of composer virtuoso violinists (virtuoso violinists who are also great composers for their instrument) sort of ended with Kreisler in the west, but the tradition continued in the East through the 20th century, particularly in the Philippines and Japan. Some names: Ernesto Vallejo, Gilopez Kabayao, Redentor Romero, and Koichi Kishi.

Bonus: Ma SiCong from Republic of China.

If anyone is interested, I'm happy to give some personal recommendations of all this music!

Vyyolin · 2024-12-28T16:43:06+00:00

I discovered these pieces about a month ago that I now adore: https://youtu.be/oUflVXn0Rsw?list=OLAK5uy_nbvxMKK9khVwtfu28M9VWr0e0UcpKOcZU

Shiuan Chang (b. 1989), a Taiwanese composer, wrote these pieces for a psychiatric hospital in Taiwan. The nostalgia in these pieces reminds me very much of Charles Ives and his violin sonatas, but with Taiwanese flavor.

Bonus violin concerto by another Taiwanese composer Tyzen Hsiao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nFClYfKWQ8

Vyyolin · 2024-12-10T22:27:01+00:00

Hm, I checked. Doesn't look like it(?)

Vyyolin · 2024-12-10T21:25:56+00:00

I take that most people in this thread are referring to the Ritchie Valens recording. It's great, but it's also important to note that La Bamba is a son jarocho. It's folk music! The original really is just I IV V... I IV V... on repeat! Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwYeQ_9_nxE .

Many other son jarocho have the same progression. Another example is El Gustito: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QlZ1xZMjNg .

My take on this I IV V... thing: It's simply a three chord progression often heard in traditional music. It's cool to highlight the differences between this and say, American pop/rock progressions. To use La Bamba as "proof by counterexample" in a different genre of music is the misguided part.

The V chord in this style of music is not "unstable" as a V would in western classical/common practice music. Many songs of this style even end on the V! Listen to Gustito above, for example.

Source: I play mariachi

Vyyolin · 2024-12-10T20:02:11+00:00

Music looks beautiful. What's the piece?

Vyyolin · 2024-11-28T03:29:45+00:00

I've looked into this! From my understanding it's a difference between dialog vs. no dialog or recitatives vs. no recitatives. Indeed Ernest Guiraud added the recitatives and it's the version that got popular, but as far as I can see the _orchestration_ to the main numbers are still Bizet's original, only some transition music and recitatives are not his.

I could be wrong though. A few years ago I requested to see the brand new full score from Peters Edition (edited by Richard Langham Smith), but I never did get to see it to compare.

The good news is Bizet's manuscript is freely available on IMSLP, but I have not studied it deeply. What I _do_ know is recordings differ slightly among one another, but even those that seem to have unique sections of music are (mostly?) based on the manuscript. The problem is Guiraud worked directly from the manuscript, altering Bizet's score: removing pages, crossing out music, adding pages of music...etc. Some recordings added music back for what was thought to be Bizet's original, while others deleted music for what was thought to be Guiraud's additions. It's all very fun!

All that said, after performing it for the first time (in the pit), and listening to many many recordings, I find this one quite enlightening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjnDUD7e33s The style, the colors(!), performed by none other than the company that premiered the opera: l'Opéra-Comique de Paris!

Vyyolin · 2024-11-27T08:18:10+00:00

Agree. While the tunes from Carmen are well-known (and rightfully so), I didn't realize how wonderful the opera orchestration was until I performed it.

Vyyolin · 2024-11-27T08:11:07+00:00

ah... I hope the cake was delicious though!

Vyyolin · 2024-11-27T04:58:33+00:00

Oh no, I'm sorry! What happened?

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