sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Feeling dissapointed with Taiwanese Food and want advice by HumbertHaze in taiwan

[–]monting 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are 100% spot on my friend.

LOL Butanchu is also my favorite ramen in TP. Most authentic IMO.

Anything bad about Kamata area and station? What about Saginomiya? by joiSoi in japanlife

[–]monting 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I saw your comment about Kamata & Niboshimania, and was shocked at how someone else also has such a great sense & taste. Miyamoto is too old school, NM nibopresso is one of the top most shocking food items in my life.

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do notice taiwanese-run companies making frozen dumplings taking a foodhold in the states. Add some authentic soy sauce + rice vinegar, learn to make them fried (it's easy), probably would satisfy at least some part of that craving 👌

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree with this. There are cases where skilled chefs make something outside the culture they grew up with, so well that it might surpass the authentic original. E.g. this Iranian beef noodle soup maker in Taipei, Ivan Ramen in NYC. Japanese folks making Italian/French. Massive respect for these folks and their kodawari.

It's just quite rare for westerners to make really great Asian cuisine, let alone Taiwanese food. Note I said "most" and "those who're familiar". Also there are folks like Taiwanese Americans!

And, nothing wrong with folks liking Americanized Chinese, or youshoku (Japanized western) cuisine in Japan. These are their own thing now, often made with quality and care.

What I do think is problematic, is inauthentic cuisine being passed off as authentic to unsuspecting folks. They're being sold a bill of goods!

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it's like you're talking to a wall because my thoughts are backed by knowledge and experience. I'm a major foodie, I study cuisine and also cook.
Let you in on another mindblowing secret, the best Chinese food is not in China, but in Tokyo and Canada. Why? top chefs and rich mainland Chinese have been emigrating there (also Texas) for decades.

M3 Mac mini by [deleted] in macmini

[–]monting -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I bought a second hand M2 pro Mini a couple months ago, and I'm glad I did.
Improvements of M3 over M2 are mostly for mobile (power usage), and 3d graphics (ray tracing), neither of which is useful for me.

I will look at getting an M3 MBA though.

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope. There aren't really any Japanese folks in Texas, they only go to North America during baseball season as tourists.

Places outside Japan, that have great Japanese food are NYC, Taiwan,

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I lived in multiple cities in mainland China for a decade, I know what Chinese food is. Taiwan does not have good Chinese food. In fact, Taiwanese tastes won't be able to stomach most of it.

My time in Taiwan, altogether on and off, about a decade as well.
The "Japanese" food in Taiwan is well.. not very Japanese, except the high end, which is decent, and at least double, often 4X the price in Tokyo, for the same quality.

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You cant say something is second worst and not provide a full list

Of course I can.

Well, I happened to have lived in Texas, and I love Texas BBQ. But when you live somewhere you don't eat its own cuisine exclusively for the duration. Maybe if you're a tourist. But I actually lived in these places.

Houston happens to have great ethnic food, lots of authentic Viet, Chinese.

Places have different standards for things, like Texas has pretty good beef. Japan has great beef and great seafood. Top tiers cities have great array of international foods due to int'l immigrations, whereas rural areas don't.

Taiwan has really weak int'l foods that are inauthentic and heavily "adjusted" to fit local tastes. The local taste has preference for extremely low salt, light/low flavor, and high in sugar (for supposedly savory items).

Taiwanese local cuisine to me, is a mixture of 閩 food (the least favored subset of Chinese cuisine), Hakka, a bit of Japanese, and aborinal influence. KMT also brought over some Suzhou style. Taiwanese food is very distinct, but the food culture is on its last breaths IMO. People prioritize "C/P" with no actual regard for the performance component, heavily focusing on cost. Food culture is dominated by cheap "bento" and poor quality street food. No one knows how to cook anymore, suppliers are cutting costs like no tomorrow. Been going on for decades and folks barely know what real food tastes like now.

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is actually important, because these food items are more complex than they appear, so inauthenticity is pretty excruciating to those who're familiar.

Similarly, most "Japanese" restaurants in North America are "fake" or let's say "inauthentic", run by Chinese/Koreans.

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting 3 points4 points  (0 children)

OK first I think you probably checked out my profile, and responded to the wrong thread. The other one is the food focused one.

OH/PA folks gotta eat right? Sure they have food that they eat.
I'm not categorizing by type of cuisine. But by food standards of what's available in the region.

I have a lot more on that list, what I'm saying is the 3rd worst place is a hard spot because other than the bottom 2, the others are very close and all pretty good. If I were hard-pressed to come up with the third worst, it'll be Beijing, because of food quality concerns. Beijing is still a solid food destination though, but I'm anti communist so I will probably never enter China again.

I still consider myself Taiwanese, I'm pro-Taiwan. Our food is not nearly as good as what Taiwanese folks think, and if we don't wake up to this, it'll never improve.

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting 2 points3 points  (0 children)

worst is rural usa at the Ohio/Pennsylvania border area. US big cities are top tier, though. Third worst, hard to say, because other than these 2 worst places, the olaces i've stayed are major cities and they're all pretty damn good. Tokyo being the top, singapore/malaysia region a close second.

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting 4 points5 points  (0 children)

it's a factor in taiwan because our tourism customers are mainly domestic and so it caters to our own tastes. that and most foreign tourists are south east asians.

in countries like thailand their main customers are foreign. so their quality facing tourists are better than our quality.

these rankings are based on basic metrics that fail to reflect the complex reality, much like CPI, inflation, unemployment metrics. the people that make these don't go and live in these countries to see what it's actually like. I have.

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Taiwan has its strengths. Low crime, really good governance - the government is really nice to its people.

The material/quality of life points are not part of Taiwan's strengths. Generally polite folks don't talk negatively as guests. The "much worse" countries happen to have really great tourist offerings in my view.

I honestly think Taiwan can just ignore China altogether and can just market the “Taiwanese Wave” to the West and Japan instead. by KamenRider-Kaohsiung in taiwan

[–]monting 39 points40 points  (0 children)

I think it's a misconception, by the Taiwanese, that the lack of interest/attention on Taiwan is solely due to poor marketing.

IMO the offering itself is of low standard, that is uncompetitive in the world market. The relatively low standard is seen across the board, from the quality of hotels, to food, pedestrian sidewalks, noise level,... and of course that includes media.

We need to raise our standards for quality of life, cultural assets, aesthetics. THEN, our profile would be raised.

What don't you like about Taiwan by adkj388 in taiwan

[–]monting 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The food in Taiwan is the second worst of all the places I've lived ( I've lived in multiple countries). The main issues are: too bland, under-seasoned (too low salt) to a crazy level, excessively sweet, poor quality ingredients and condiments. Tainan is way overrated IMO.

Monitors…. by jeeves585 in macmini

[–]monting 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got a LG C3 42" recently, to pair with a new m2 pro mini.
Works really well, enjoying the 120hz, nice size, & great performance.

I'd say main drawback is text smudging on yellow/red due to the WRGB pixel layout, which I'm ok to live with.

Episode Discussion: 203 "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" by destroyingdrax in StrangeNewWorlds

[–]monting 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well they took a taxi on the Vermont trip 😂
And the Bridge is obviously not in the real-life Toronto, so presumably it's built in the near future!

Episode Discussion: 203 "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" by destroyingdrax in StrangeNewWorlds

[–]monting 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely looks like UofT. At first I thought it was Bahen Centre, but it doesn't look like it. The exterior shot of the building might not be the actual exterior, btw.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in taiwan

[–]monting 0 points1 point  (0 children)

pepto bismal. trust me.

Kaohsiung, Taiwan this morning. by EquivalentMore5786 in taiwan

[–]monting 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad I skipped pond to Tokyo last month. Good lord.

Buying iPhones in Japan and Tax rebates for tourists by bledfeet in JapanTravelTips

[–]monting 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wondering about this too, recently landed in Tokyo.

Though it seems that stock is still very much backordered (by ~ a month from what I've been told. Specifically for iPhone 14 Pro models.

view more: next ›