There aren't many things in KeeLung, but there is a lot of good food! Let's start with breakfast:
周家豆漿
A stop in KeeLung isn't complete without breakfast. Around a 10 minute walk from the Train Station is this breakfast place.
The speciality food here is the fried green onion cake 葱油餅.
It was so busy, that we got sent up to the 2nd floor.
I definitely wasn't expecting to see this many green onions drying out up there.
2nd Floor.
These Taiwanese ladies were also wrapping up the wontons for the wonton soup that's on the menu. It does seem weird to me that wonton soup is on the menu at a breakfast house. But, who am I to judge?
What we ordered:
1. 葱油餅 cōng yóu bǐng Green onion Pancake $17
2. 蛋餅 dàn bǐng Egg pancake $25
3. 冰豆漿 bīng dòu jiāng Cold soy milk $15
1. 葱油餅 cōng yóu bǐng
Green onion Pancake
$17
The signature dish at this breakfast store, and it was pretty good. I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be (considering we lined up around 20-30 mins), but it was still pretty good. Packed with green onions and soft on the inside yet crunchy on the outside. It certainly satisfied my breakfast desires.
2. 蛋餅 dàn bǐng
Egg pancake
$25
This was the better of the 2 breakfast orders. Essentially, it is the same as the 葱油餅 just with a fried egg on top.
3. 冰豆漿 bīng dòu jiāng
Cold soy milk
$15 (each)
We forgot to ask for a non sweetened soy milk, so it was quite heavily sugared. Nevertheless, it was still alright.
No. 309, XinEr Road, ZhongZheng District, KeeLung City
The 'restaurant' to the left is the fine rice noodles one, the one to the right is the BaWan.
Simple. Each bowl is $40.
How to order: 一碗 yī wǎn (one bowl).
The rice noodles are in a thick soup, with fish balls inside.
This is the menu for the BaWan 肉圓 ròu yuǎn place.
They create a jelly like substance, encase bamboo, pork and loveliness inside, then deep fry it. But, due to the nature of the jelly like substance, it doesn't become crispy. It remains jelly like.
肉圓 ròu yuǎn BaWan $35 麵線 miàn xiàn Rice Noodle Soup $40
The BaWan is served with a 'special' sauce and coriander (left) and the rice noodles are just served in a bowl - simple (right).
I would highly recommend the BaWan: the ingredients encased within are all delicious and bursting with flavour. Although, there is possible a little too much sauce.
I wouldn't recommend the rice noodle soup, as it was neither tasty enough nor did it have depth of flavor.
基隆市仁愛區仁義路317號
No. 317, RenYi Road, RenAi District, KeeLung City
Tel
02 2427 5373 (Both Restaurants share the phone number)
Opening Times
09:00 - 23:30 (BaWan restaurant)
10:00-24:00 (Rice Noodle restaurant)
Next up:
長腳麵店
Hidden in this little alley, is this surprisingly good noodle place (In fact, we wanted to go to the restaurant nextdoor, but it wasn't open. Nobody likes a failed journey, so we went here instead).
This is a good sight, right?
My favourite type of (unfortunately named) tofu - Oily Tofu 油豆腐
This kind of tofu is stewed for a long time in this delicious pot of goodness, sometimes it is served up with a thick soy sauce or sometimes just by itself. It is delicious, and usually less then $50 on a menu, too!
Not a particularly appetising view, are these pigs feet. Now, let's be honest, they look revolting. This can't be sugar-coated, they look disgusting.
BUT, I implore you to try them out and see what you think. The real flavour comes from the long stewing in spices by the restaurant in which they are served, allowing the (not in particular abundance) meat to be effortlessly delicate and the skin to be a silky deliciousness in your mouth. Really worth a try!
豬腳麵 zhū jiǎo miàn
Pig feet/pork knuckle with noodle soup
$75
You can already see the pork is meaty and thick, delicious in flavour and incredibly delicate. The skin is silky smooth and melts in your mouth with pops of flavour.
The noodles are perhaps a little overcooked, but it's a solid lunch!
三兄弟大腸圈
In the opposing alley off the same street, a different stall caught our eye...
The sign above outlines what the speciality dish is, here. It is a rice sausage stuffed into intestines - 原此巷口大腸圈 yuán cǐ xiàng kǒu dà cháng juān
I saw that they were steaming a whole host of offal in the steamer above. But, I thought underneath was a broth used to steam the meat above. Nope! She took off the top steamer and unearthed around 7-8 scoops like this, of intestines, heart, kidneys and various others!
Rice sausage encased in pig intestine
原此巷口大腸圈 yuán cǐ xiàng kǒu dà cháng juān
$40
The name doesn't do much to help sell this product, I grant you that. Basically, sausage is either encased in intestines, collagen, plastic or cellulose. Obviously, intestines are going to impart a slightly heavier flavour and will often add a different taste to the sausage wrapped inside.
The rice sausage had a great flavour and had been steamed with a range of different spices and ingredients imparting a heavier meat flavour, without containing meat within. It's filling, so make sure you're hungry. This is something you should definitely consider sharing!
So, KeeLung doesn't really have much that I am interested in. I mean, granted, it has good food and it has some decent seafood around the harbour. But, other than that, I don't find much else to get me wanting to go back for more.
With that being said, it shouldn't be overlooked for a day trip, as like the post above has outlined - there is some great food there! But, I wouldn't find it very interesting to spend a weekend there...
Happy Eating!
Labels: Breakfast, KeeLung, Noodles, Taiwanese
