There are so many my foreign friends asked me "What are the typical Taiwanese dishes?" "Is there any famous Taiwanese food?" or when my friends came over for dinner, they will ask me "This is what kind of cuisine that you made?" But most of time, I don't know how to answer... Because the answers in my head are "This is just fried vegetables." ,"This is braised meat" or "I just put the fish in the steam cooker.. so... I think you can call it Steam fish!? " Very often, I will feel disappointed by why can't I explain what is Taiwanese food or what are the food I made. Sometimes I will use Taiwanese famous Night Market food to represent Taiwanese food; however, most of the time they are not easy to cook..
Why I struggle so much? I guess is because a lot of people expect some special names for Taiwanese food, just like Chinese, Japanese or Korean food. (Gu-Lao-Rou, Tempuro, bibimbap, etc.) Therefore, I always feel weird if I answer the names of dishes with a very straight way such as Fried Vegetables, Fried Tomatos and eggs, Fried Green Paprika with Beef, etc.
But after I went to this restaurant in Taiwan, I am very happy that I found out that the dishes that I made by my memories and learned by my mom are Taiwanese food, and the names that how we call them are just the names for Taiwanese food! Even the names are just what you see in the plate! :)
The restaurant that give me all the inspires above is called "Wan-Lin Braised Pork Rice". I feel a bit ashamed because apparently this is a very famous restaurant of Taiwanese food, and I have never been there even I lived in Taipei for 21years! This time I will have a chance to go there is because we were in a photo studio for choosing our family pictures. After we were done of the picture checking, my mom and my brother in law said this famous restaurant is near by. They told me this restaurant is one of the restaurants that all the travel books in Japan recommend as the restaurant you need to go in Taiwan! Wow~
因為在國外居住了多年, 很多外國朋友問我台灣菜是怎樣子? 有沒有什麼特別有名的菜? 或是做菜給朋友吃的時候, 朋友會問我這是什麼料理?..我都答不出來,心想~這就是炒青菜啊~或這就是魯肉啊~或這就是蒸魚啊~我常常覺得這樣的回答很虛~所以很多時候我會用台灣的有名夜市小吃來代表台灣菜, 這也沒錯, 但夜市小吃不是那麼的好做滴~
可能是因為外國人都期待像中國菜或日本菜或韓國菜一樣有個什麼很不一樣的菜名, 我總覺得回答"炒高麗菜, 番茄炒蛋, 青椒牛肉, 等等" 這種非常平鋪直敘, 看什麼說什麼的菜名很怪~ 以前我都只能用台灣特別的小吃來回答他們什麼是台灣菜~ 現在, 我感謝這一餐讓我知道, 原來我常常自己隨意炒出來的菜, 就是--台灣菜!!
丸林滷肉飯~ 對我來說是一家很神奇的店. 因為我住台北21年, 卻從來沒聽過也沒去過這家店!!但那天去中山北路挑完全家福的照片,晚上想在附近吃, 二姐夫才提到這家台灣菜的店, 聽說是日本旅遊書上必吃景點之一哦!! 我還一直一為日本人來只吃鼎太豐咧~~ 哈哈..我真是太孤陋寡聞啦~~
