Located near the intersection of Xinyi Road (信義路) and Fuxing South Road (復興南路), Rong Rong Yuan (浙寧榮榮園) is one of Taipei’s most popular Zhejiang cuisine restaurants.
Rong Rong Yuan’s signature dish is braised spare ribs (烤排骨, NT$400), which is wrapped in tin foil and slow-cooked. The process ensures that the meat is succulent and so tender that it slips off the bone. Make sure to order plenty of guangbing (光餅) to stuff the pork into. The savory, flaky buns are covered with crunchy sesame seeds and soak up the rich, smoky-tasting gravy.
Ningbo cuisine’s emphasis on fresh seafood is reflected by Rong Rong Yuan’s expansive menu, which features an aquarium of creatures including crabs, scallops, eel, fish, and 15 shrimp dishes. Overwhelmed by the selection, I asked a waitress for a recommendation. She suggested tilefish (馬頭魚, or “horse-head fish” in Mandarin) with stir-fried tofu, which was not on the menu (price varies by season and weight). Like the braised spare ribs, the fish had a mellow and sweet flavor, but the dish was enhanced with a mound of chopped scallion and cloves of garlic that had been cooked until buttery in texture. The slices of tofu were firm but silky and worked very well with the delicate taste of the fish.
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
Our waitress also suggested the sauteed pea shoots and bamboo (清炒豆苗冬筍, NT$268) and stinky tofu (臭豆腐, NT$120). Rong Rong Yuan’s version of the odorous classic is fermented using a special technique for extra pungency and served with plenty of diced chili peppers. The vegetables were light, but surprisingly delicious for such a basic dish. The pea shoots were a good palate cleanser after our flavorful entrees.
Our complimentary dessert consisted of fried yuanxiao, or balls made of glutinous rice flour and stuffed with sweet black sesame paste, deep-fried and then coated with a light sprinkling of peanut powder.
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
Sept. 21 to Sept. 27 When the Shah of Iran became the Grand Hotel’s (圓山大飯店) first head-of-state guest in 1958, it was hardly the landmark it is known as today. A Chinese-style, two-story structure with just 36 rooms built on the former site of the Taipei Shinto Shrine, the hotel was still referred to as its original name, the Taiwan Hotel (台灣大飯店), in an official newsreel detailing Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s visit. The video lavished praise on the hotel, pointing out its “beautiful architecture and magnificent appearance” and noting that it had just been renovated. After being greeted personally by then-president
At National Cheng Kung University, researchers began with magnets from discarded electric-vehicle motors supplied by a local recycler. They dissolved a one-gram sample and tested how to separate dysprosium, a valuable rare-earth metal, from neodymium and praseodymium. A 2022 paper in Materials, by Chen Wei-sheng (陳偉聖), Jian Guo-cai (簡國財) and Lee Cheng-han (李政翰), demonstrated selective extraction. It also identified unfinished work, including multistage processing and regenerating the extraction liquid. The experiment established a technical foundation, without claiming an industrial business. The government wants to turn such expertise into a more secure source of industrial materials. Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫)
Apetition on the Web site of the National Development Council (NDC) arguing that non-citizens receiving National Health Insurance (NHI) should make up payments from their birth to their current age has reached 5,000 signatures last week, the threshold requiring a response. The comments under the petition are predictably odious, proving once again that the Venn diagram of racism and idiocy is a perfect circle. Also last week, the Ministry of the Interior proudly announced that the 400th “high-level professional” was approved for citizenship on Aug. 26. Four hundred carefully selected dual citizens! At that rate, sometime around the year 2600, Taiwan
Serving as interpreter during Culture Minister Li Yuan’s (李遠) visit to Britain offered an unusual view of cultural diplomacy — not as ceremony, but as a series of conversations capable of becoming lasting relationships. During four intensive days, from Sept. 6 to Sept. 9, the delegation moved between museums, arts centers, universities and literary organizations. The program ranged from urban planning and museum access to translation, illustration and contemporary dance. Yet one question connected these encounters: How can an initial meeting become a relationship that lasts? Li described himself as “greedy” about the possibilities. The word was characteristically humorous, but the ambition
RSS