Wandering Fel

Showing posts with label Hualien Food. Show all posts

Taiwan Eats: Traditional snacks tasting affair at Hualien

The perk about joining a group tour is that they will bring you to a wholesale store selling snacks so that you can buy them at cheaper rate. But sometimes part of the deal means you have to visit a lot of stores (not just snacks) because the group tour and tour guide will earn certain commissions from your purchase. Oh well.

Cross Straits Corporation Hualien Taiwan

A lot of selection of seaweed and nuts. And look at those packaging. So nice!

Did I tell you that you can try all the snacks on display here? Tasting extravaganza.

Ended up buying this dried shrimp snacks (and a number of other things) which packed nicely with Taiwan island design.

The design behind the package. This will make a pretty souvenir don't you think? =)

Hualien Eats: Grilled BBQ Skewers at Zhiqiang Night Market

After eating the coffin bread, we are of course still HUNGRY. Hahaha. So we went to the next stall with the long queue and it's apparently selling grilled food on sticks. Any food.

The stall is called 第一家烤肉串 (Dì yī jiā kǎoròu chuàn).

How to order? Well, basically grab the plastic basket and...yes, I know, I was not kidding when I said the stall sells any food on sticks. Hahaha. A lot of varieties indeed!!! The price tag can be seen on top of the sticks.

Spotted a big squid. Hmm~~~

Big squid at Zhiqiang Night Market Hualien

They have veggies on sticks too. Like pepper and mushroom.

Grilled pepper and mushroom Zhiqiang Night Market Hualien

After you are done picking what you want to have, pass it to the seller and pay the money. He will give you a number to collect the food later on. By later on, I mean more than 1 hour. Oh my gawd.

Queue tag for grilled sticks at Zhiqiang Night Market

For so-so grilled food (which I don't think can get wrong, am I right?), I don't think I am willing to spend that long time to queue the next time I come to Hualien. Lucky we come in 4. If I was alone, I'll die of boredom in waiting for the food. =S

Hualien Eats: Coffin Bread at Zhiqiang Night Market

When the night fell, it's time for us to visit night market. There are two night markets in Hualien but we decided to go to the bigger one, Zhiqiang Night Market (自强夜市/ Zìqiáng yèshì). Since the night market is not really within walking distance from our hotel, Classic City Resort, we took a cab to the night market.

When you don't know what to eat in any night markets in Taiwan, simply follow the crowd. Hahaha. This may not always accurate though as based on my observation, the Taiwanese seems to be a fan of queueing. Hahaha.

First time trying out coffin bread. The queue is long so first criteria in picking food is ticked? =P

Coffin Bread Stall at Zhiqiang Night Market Hualien

The ladies are working very fast in whipping out the coffin bread but since so many people buying the bread, we still need to wait for a while. Hungry~~~

I tried the black pepper chicken and mushroom coffin bread. Taste yum! ^^

Black Pepper Chicken and Mushroom Coffin Bread Zhiqiang NIght Market

We thought the queue for coffin bread was long enough but turned out we were wrong...very WRONG. Wonder why? Stay tune for the next post. =P (As always, thanks for reading! ^^)

Taiwan Hotel Review: Classic City Resort, Hualien

This is actually a throwback post which old pictures I just found on my phone. Hahaha. Last time, I went to visit Hualien with my happy-three-friends. Since we were going to explore the city, we spent two nights at Classic City Resort (courtesy of my friend who managed to find a good deal from Tripadvisor here). We booked this hotel because it's within walking distance to the train station. So we wouldn't have to call a cab to go to train station for our ride back to Taipei.

Classic City Resort Hotel Hualien Taiwan

Since Hualien is apparently famous for its mochi (re: rice cake), we got two complimentary mochis in our bedroom. Nice! ^^

The room is pretty spacious and the bed is awesome (especially when compared to my hard bed in my apartment). Hahaha. Btw, there is cable TV and you know what, cable TV in Taiwan is pretty "open" on adult programme. So if you come with kids, be a bit careful when you channel-hunting, ok? XD

Classic City Resort Hotel Hualien Twin Room

Our booking came with a breakfast. So we proceeded to the restaurant to get a fix of breakfast before walking around Hualien city.

Classic City Resort Hualien Restaurant Taiwan

What I have for breakfast. Quite nice. Although I realised I did not take anything that looks green (or healthy for that matter). =P

Breakfast at Classic City Resort Hualien Taiwan

There is a souvenir/ food shop just the opposite of Classic City Resort. So you can buy some gifts from Hualien at this store. Although you can still buy them at the station too.

Overall, I am quite satisfied with my stay at Classic City Resort. The hotel front desk can speak good English and they are quite helpful and even gave us Hualien city map. You may want to consider this hotel when you are staying in Hualien.

A note though, it's not near to the night market. So you still have to take a cab to visit the night market.