Taipei City - 陽明山烤地瓜 YanMingShan Sweet Potato

Value for money: 10/10

Cleanliness: 6/10

Service: 10/10

Quality of food: 10/10

Overall: 8/10

I drove up here specifically for these, that is how good these sweet potatoes are! The vendor is situated quite close to the flower clock, which is currently under construction but is beautiful around spring time as the sun beats down with the mountains in the background.

It's fairly unassuming with very little allure to it. We 'discovered' it when walking around hungry one day, but this time we came back with only this in mind!

紫色 means purple, in Chinese. However, we didn't go for these because the colour is a little off-putting, I feel. 

The big reveal! Look at all these little beauties sat underneath the cloth keeping warm. The main reason for coming back to this place is that the sweet potato is cooked for such a long time that the flesh is so impossibly smooth that it begins to separate from the skin inside the potato. 

You pick the potato you want:

1. 紫色 zǐ sè Purple 

2. 紅色 hóng sè Red

3. 黃色 huáng sè Yellow

Then, the vendor will weigh it and give you the price. 2 sweet potatoes are almost always under $100 (for both, not individually) providing you don't plump for the biggest ones, of course.

We ordered the red ones! 
Which, we were told by the lady, are the sweetest.

The owner will cut the potato in half and put it in a paper bag for you and give you a spoon with which to eat it.

How good does this look? All of the natural sugars have remained inside (unlike when you boil, fry, steam or roast) which make them incredibly sweet. As said before the skin just peels away with effortless ease and the flesh inside is truly wonderful. 

The reason I am posting about this specific vendor is that I feel this is the best sweet potato I have ever tasted. It is totally different to those I have had in the city from vendors and also totally different from ones I have tried anywhere else.

Take a day on the weekend and get the bus/drive to YangMingShan and go for a walk around the area, it is a beautiful place to be, but one thing to make sure of is swinging by and getting one of these - you won't regret it.

On a side note:

This guy is also parked up nearby, offering what look like exactly the same sweet potatoes. However, when we tried them they were not even in the same ball park as the other ones. The flavour was OK, but it seems like they weren't cooked for as long as the other one as the flesh was slightly more solid and less sweet. Also, the flesh didn't peel away from the skin with as much ease. 

Get the top one!

Where the road ends, continue along the grey line (which is a path). First, you will go past the man with the other stall and also a lady selling a bunch of boiled foods such as carrot and corn. You should then just stumble across the lady at the stall on the left side. 

Eating in Taipei

Happy Eating! 
(and searching)