We Taiwanese love our hot pots, even in scorching summer days. Is this illogical? Sure. But a recent visit to Chiau Tou suggests that such acts of irrationality are cheerfully conducted by patrons partaking of the chili hot pot the restaurant is known for.
A long-time hot pot establishment in the city’s East District (東區), Chiau Tou is easy to miss. Devoid of a storefront, it is situated on the second and third floors inside an inconspicuous apartment building. First-time diners will have to look for a sign that reads Chiau Tou. Walk into the entrance next to it, go up and you will find a restaurant that doesn’t look much different from an old flat: The interior is plain and simple, to say the least. The old-school austerity, however, is rather at odds with its top-of-the-range price, which can jump to around NT$900 per person.
Similarly, service has a no-nonsense efficiency. Orders are taken and delivered promptly, and the waiting staff always keeps a watchful eye on the hot pots to ensure that there is enough broth for the food.
Photo: Ho Yi, Taipei Times
Chiau Tou’s hotpot base comes in four flavors: spicy (麻辣), white (清湯), curry and milk. A pot of chili broth is NT$400, which includes an ample supply of duck blood jelly (鴨血), firm tofu and leek. Looking intimidatingly crimson at first, the bloody broth quickly becomes amicably smooth as the floating chili oil, where the powerful chili hit comes from, is consumed. And the duck blood jelly is one of the best I have tried. It is as luscious and tender as a good chunk of blood should be.
My dining partner and I ordered the popular pot choice that has half chili broth and half white broth (鴛鴦鍋). The white base contains generous amounts of coriander and half pidan (皮蛋), or preserved egg. Some food bloggers have complained about its light flavor, but to me, it is good enough for cooking my favorite hot-pot selection of vegetables such as cabbage (高麗菜, NT$100), black jelly fungus (黑木耳, NT$100), golden needle mushrooms (金針菇, NT$100) and sponge cucumber (絲瓜, NT$100).
There are a broad range of ingredients to add to your pot. Meat ranges from prime beef (霜降牛肉) for NT$560 a plate, sirloin (沙朗牛肉) at NT$380 a plate and Matsuzaka pork (松阪豬肉, NT$380). The beef is served chilled, not frozen, and well-marbled.
Photo: Ho Yi, Taipei Times
For daring eaters, offal are ideal for dunking in the chili broth. Choices include beef intestines (牛肚,NT$280), pork butt (大腸頭, NT$280) and beef sinew (牛筋, NT$280). Side dishes are also available, ranging from won ton (雲吞, NT$200) to handmade shrimp and cuttlefish balls (both NT$240).
But a trip to Chiau Tou isn’t complete without the dough sticks (老油條, NT$60), or deep-fried dough that has been allowed to dry. It is always a popular topic for discussion about the best time to remove the sticks, with some people preferring to allow the dough to maintain a certain level of crunch, while others liking it to soak through until soft. Either way, the dough sticks and chili broth are a pair made in heaven.
With its straightforward simplicity and good food, Chiau Tou is a nice spot to sample the city’s famous hotpot fare. But when it comes to overall dining experience, it lags behind establishments in a similar price range, such as Tripod King (鼎王麻辣鍋) and Taihodien Restaurant (太和殿).
Photo: Ho Yi, Taipei Times
Photo: Ho Yi, Taipei Times
Photo: Ho Yi, Taipei Times
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not