My dad usually just grabs a quick meal with his colleagues so I felt extra special that he wanted to take a lunch break out of his busy schedule to eat with me. We went to a small street-side eatery near his office for some delicious guo tie (fried dumplings)! Even though it was a hot day (20 degrees Celsius! woohoo summer weatherrr 🙂 ), dumplings are always welcome in my belly.
One guy stood in the kitchen by the entrance, watching over neat rows of dumplings sizzling on the hot metal plate, as a couple of women sat in a corner diligently wrapping dumplings, their deft fingers expertly pinching the dough and spooning filling from a mountain of raw meat. Inside the eatery were three large round tables for communal dining, where the menu was painted in bold, red characters, on the white wall tiles. The humid air was filled with an overpowering smell of dumplings. Ohhh, so good! I didn’t mind if the smell stuck on my clothing.
Small pre-prepared cold dishes are often displayed at the front of Taiwanese restaurants – not listed on the menu, you can pick as many as you please and these appetizers will later be added to your receipt. We got a plate of cold shredded tofu salad and cucumber with chili salad. Shredded tofu salad is becoming one of my favorite dishes here! This light appetizer only uses a handful of simple ingredients to complement the tofu: carrots, red peppers and cucumber for color, and sesame oil, salt and maybe sugar for seasoning. So easy to make and the end result is super tasty! I can’t wait to make this when I’m back at school.
We ordered two plates of guo tie with pork and leek filling. Each serving has 10 dumplings so we were obviously feeling very ambitious. As the server set down our glistening, sizzling guo tie, all my prior inhibitions vanished and excitement bubbled within me…
..Mmmm I was in dumpling heaven…
Teatime Tidbits 