mmm-yoso!!!

Congress Cafe is Now Encuentro Cafe - Same Owners and Menu

On a recent drive thru Old Town while doing my Saturday errands, the same day I noticed that Cocinas del Monte had replaced Mariscos el Cata, I noticed that the signage for Congress Cafe had been changed. It had been a while since I last visited Congress Cafe, I used to drop by every so often and get the Arepa Pabellon and check out Heritage Park. But for some reason, I just tailed off at the end of 2022.

I was a bit worried that the place had changed ownership and returned the next morning.

  But upon parking my car and walking over, I was relieved to see the sign that said "same owners, same menu, same flavors." I guess it was time to reacquaint myself with the Arepa Pabellon.

I walked over and the nice young lady at the counter greeted me. I took a look at the menu and the sticker shock hit me. The Arepa Pabellon was now $17.95! Whoa.....like $4 more expensive than in April of 2022! The Combination Plate, called the "Latin Lover" was now $22!

Oh man....but here I was, so I decided to go ahead and order the Arepa Pabellon to go. I just gave them $21 and went for a short stroll.

Returning 10 minutes later, the owners who are so nice and friendly had my order. It had just come out of the kitchen.

Instead of Heritage Park, I headed over to Western Hills Park which is on the way home and ten minutes away. It was a nice sunny day and I got one of the tables and opened my Arepa.

    First thing I noticed was that the arepa was super soggy and actually started falling apart. I like my arepas on the crisper side...Congress Cafe was already teetering on the edge of too soft for my preference, so this kind of pushed it over the edge. There was perhaps a bit too much cheese on this, but the folks here had really gotten the proportions down the last couple of times I visited. There's the seasoned beef, with nice pungent flavors and was very tender if a bit greasy; the sweet and starchy plantains, the black beans, mild garlic, cumin, smokiness, though this was a bit on the salty side. The tangy, but not very spicy salsa verde helps cut the salt and richness.

Still, it was hard enjoying this as it fell apart.

 Still the mushy arepa was hard to manage and enjoy. No wonder the included a fork in the bag?

Well, needless to say this made me miss Mi Pana. I really like the folks working here and I understand the cost of doing business in Old Town is not cheap, but can you imagine spending possibly over $25 (with tip) for an arepa and a coffee if dining in?

As much as I like the folks at Congress Cafe Encuentro Cafe that'll make me think twice before returning.

Encuentro Cafe
3941 Mason St.
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 8am - 2pm
Sat - Sun 8am - 3pm

Road Trip - Lunch at Vinaigrette, San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church, and a Revisit to Kitsune ABQ (Albuquerque)

After spending the morning at Petroglyph National Monument, we headed back to our accommodations to freshen up. It was getting kinda warm so we wanted something on the lighter side. I had Vinaigrette on my list during our previous visit to Santa Fe and recalled that they had a ABQ location as well. Turns out that the restaurant was just a 15 minute walk from the hotel. Plus, we'd be walking thru Old Town and could take our time and explore a bit on the walk back.

The place was almost full when we arrived, but we got the last table outdoor table.

We were glad to get that table as the only outdoor seating still available was this.....I wonder if folks actually sit here?

As you can tell by the name, Vinaigrette specializes in various categories of salads; savory, sweet, "balanced", and so forth, along with some sandwiches and a few sides and soup.

I wanted something refreshing, so I ordered a concoction called the "Pepino", which featured cucumber and lime juice, along with club soda.

This was quite refreshing and not overly sweet.

We also ordered the Kale Fritters.

We enjoyed the crunchiness and earthy tones of the fritters, which went surprisingly well with the Sriracha Aioli. It was a tad on the salty side of things, but was not a bad dish overall.

The Missus got the "Omega".

This was mostly lettuce and really didn't have as much kale as the Missus would have liked. She thought the toasted pine nuts would be great in a salad, though it really clashed with the provided Blue Cheese Vinaigrette. The avocado was just one small piece. This salad needed more acidity added to really balance out all those greens.

I got the Spinach Mushroom which was a much better choice for our tastes.

The earthy, slightly sweet sauteed mushrooms, with savory bacon, and a slightly sweet-sour honey-balsamic vinaigrette was a nice combination. I wish there were a bit more onions for pungency and more boiled eggs to keep the Missus happy, but this was not bad.

The staff was very friendly, the crowd....well, as you can figure, very hipster-healthy-ish. Still, we didn't want anything too heavy and this did the trick....at least for me.

Vinaigrette
828 Central Ave. SW
Albuquerque, NM 87104

After lunch we took our time strolling back to the hotel. There seemed to be more businesses open on this day, but things were still really quiet.

We enjoyed wandering thru the various patios.

There was a definite charm to this place.....

While we had stopped to look at the Cottonwood Madonna the previous day, we had just walked past the San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church.

There has been a church on this site since Albuquerque was founded. The original church collapsed in 1792 and San Felipe de Neri Church was founded in 1793.

There's a museum and gift shop located in the Sister Blandina Convent onsite.

And of course the Cottonwood Madonna.

And if you want to read even more about the Cottonwood Madonna, you can read more here.

As interesting as San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church was, I found something even more interesting down this patio.

As we were looking at various shops, something caught my eye.

So I walked on in.

It was a beautiful little chapel.

This is the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

It has an interesting story and is even said to be haunted.

We enjoyed strolling around Old Town.

We got back to the hotel and relaxed until it was time to head out for dinner. I had made reservations at a nearby Wine Bar & Bistro, but when we walked over our reservations our reservations were MIA. The place was quite busy and we didn't want to wait so we decided to head on back to Kitsune.

And ordered our food and had a seat in the back patio this time.

I found out that the cocktail that was made for me the night before was called the "Autumn" and featured Blue Corn Whiskey.

Smoky, but not overly sweet.

Of course we got the Karaage.

Which was just a good as the previous night.

And we also got the Pork Belly Rice "Bowl".

The rice on this evening was much better than what we had the previous night; though I'm not sure about that mayo. The pork belly was a bit more chewy than I like, but the seaoning and sauce was pretty good; not overly sweet. The pickled onions handled the palate cleansing duties well.

Not bad for two nights in a row.

Kitsune ABQ
524 Romero St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104

We then walked on back to the hotel. On the way back, we stopped at a shop and got some liquid refreshment and a snack.

And sat on the porch and watched the action below.

We went to sleep early as we'd be headed out to Pecos National Historical Park , then it was off to Santa Fe in the morning!

Road Trip - Old Town and the Cottonwood Madonna, Dinner at Kitsune ABQ, and Petroglyph National Monument

After heading out from Prescott and stopping for lunch at the Turquoise Room, we made our way to our next stop; Albuquerque. Though our final destination for this road trip was Santa Fe and Taos, we wanted to take our time, do some hikes, and explore some National Monuments/Parks if possible. I thought stopping in Albuquerque might make for a nice break. I decided on staying at the Hotel Chaco as it was close to the I-40, Old Town, and Petroglyph National Monument. We really enjoyed the hotel, ample parking, a nice patio, comfortable rooms. We got to the hotel early and our room was ready! We unpacked and decided to walk on over to the Old Town.

This was a Wednesday in May and the Old Town, which was basically a block away was fairly quiet.

The Old Town seemed much larger than San Diego's version and dates back to 1706! It was fun walking around the area.

We noticed this church along the way.

This is San Felipe de Neri Church, which we'd visit in detail the next day. What really caught our attention was this.

After doing a bit of research this is what I found, this is known as the Cottonwood Madonna. It was supposedly carved by a parishioner of San Felipe de Neri in the 1970's. And according to the story, he died upon completion of this creation! You gotta love these stories!

The one place that did seem quite busy was the Old Town Plaza.

One of the reasons I chose our hotel was that the Sawmill Market, a well regarded food hall was right across the street.

Sadly, as we walked thru the stands, the Missus could not find anyplace She wanted to eat at.....

So it was back to square one.....

We decided to head on back to Old Town and we came across a bar called The Taproom.

What was interesting was that the bar was at 524 Romero Street, but there was also a 524 1/2 Romero Street. And the sign said "Kitsune", which caught our attention.

So we headed on in. 

Hmmm......I'm guessing that this is, or was the kitchen for the bar? The menu was an amalgamation of Asian fusion dishes...you know Kimchi Fried Rice, Karaage, Thai Fries.....you get the idea. Well, since we were here and there weren't many choices we were interested in, why not? So, we went ahead and placed our order and paid. Then headed on over to the bar and ordered some cocktails.

Then had a seat at one of the tables. We enjoyed our cocktails.

Funny thing was....well a great thing actually is that we gave the bartender our taste preferences and he just made cocktails for us! And they were quite good.

Soon our food arrived.

Starting with the "Loaded Fries".

The fries were quite good, crisp outside, creamy inside. The roasted pork was quite tender and nicely seasoned, the sweet-salty, slightly teriyaki-ish sauce went nicely with the pork. The only thing that felt out of place was the cheese as both the sour-palate cleansing pickled onions, a gastropub standard did well. 

The best item of the night was the Chicken Karaage.

Crisp deliciousness, the chicken thighs had been nicely marinated and was very moist. I enjoyed the addition of Togarashi and is gave things a bit of zip and the mayo did a nice job of cooling things down. The seasoning was perfect on this; a great balance between salty and a hint of sweetness, with a touch of pungency from garlic and ginger.

The Fried Rice was decent. 

The rice was a bit undercooked though evenly coated with a kimchi base. Of course the addition of Spam and that sunny side egg (which the Missus immediately poached) didn't hurt things in the least. The gochujang was a bit of overkill, but did add to the presentation.

This was pretty good bar food and we were pleasantly surprised, and after having a busy day, would end up here again the next day.

Kitsune ABQ
524 Romero St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104

We took a nice after dinner stroll in the really quiet Old Town.

There only a few businesses open.

Back at the room, we just sat, relaxed, and enjoyed the view from our patio.

We woke the next morning, grabbed some coffee, and then headed out to Petroglyph National Monument. We drove to the Visitor's Center which is actually several miles from any of the trails. We picked up a map and decided to do two of the trails; the Rinconada Canyon Trail, which is a easy loop trail, followed by Boca Negra Canyon.

Among the remnants of an eruption from over 150,000 years ago there are symbols carved onto basalt boulders along the trails.

The trails are quite easy' at least the one's we took.

 

And things start out quite stark and you'll wonder if you've found the correct trail.

But soon enough, you'll come across basalt boulders.

And soon you'll start getting a glimpse.....

As to the age of the carvings; I've seen things written that some go back to 3,000 years ago, though the signage and the NPS site says between 400 to 700 years ago. As for actual dating; I'm sure there are Archaeologists at work trying to determine accurate dating of the petroglyphs. 

And looking at some, like these give a good clue as to the period.

Because sheep are not native to North America and were brought with the Spaniards in the 1600's, so those must have been done after the arrival of the Spanish settlers.

We enjoyed our time here; though it was starting to get pretty warm (this was in May), so it was time to head back and grab some lunch!

Thanks for stopping by!

Strasbourg - Exploring, Lamian Restaurant, and L'Atelier 116

One of the great things about being in Europe during the last of November until the end of the year are the Christmas Markets. We had really enjoyed the Christmas Markets in Strasbourg when we visited several years earlier. And the Missus just couldn't keep still for the two weeks we were in Paris, so I decided to book two nights in Strasbourg. It's less than a two hour train ride from Gare de l'Est. Because this was a rather last minute decision, I wasn't able to book anything on Grande Île. Instead, we stayed at the Hotel Tandem, which was quite comfortable right next to the train station.

It's quite convenient and just a short walk (or you take the tram) to the Grande Île. That first evening, we just wandered the Christmas Markets, which brought back wonderful memories and ate at the market. I'll do an out-of-sequence post on that when we get closer to Christmas.

The next morning, we had a light breakfast and coffee at the hotel and decided to do a bit of exploring. During our previous visit, we hadn't spent much time in the area known as "Petit France", a neighborhood which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with lovely cobblestone streets and half timbered houses. You might be thinking "wait, but this is France, right?" Well, Alsace is right on the border of France and Germany and thus, has changed hands many times. The area named Petit France is not named after it's nationality, but as I mentioned in an earlier post:

"the name "Petit France" is not named for its architecture, but because of a 16th century hospital that treated "zum Franzosel" (the French disease), aka syphilis while still a free city in the Holy Roman Empire. Apparently, the citizens of Strasbourg believed the disease was the fault of the French. Basically, the idea was to isolate those with the disease in a structure in this district."

There was one structure we saw on our earlier trip that we didn't visit. On the River Ill stands the Barrage Vauban a dam and bridge.

That passageway on the bridge is the Passage Georges Frankhauser. There's a terrace and crossing above the passage with what looked like a nice view so we decided to cross into Petit France that way.

What I hadn't read was about the passage itself.

Lining the passageway were gates that almost looked like jail cells. And within the "cells" were various sculptures and castings.

And the view from the roof was quite nice.

From here we crossed the Ponts Couverts.

And we were in Petit France.....

Love the charming houses and streets......

And the canals.....

If we hadn't already done it on our previous visit, we would have taken the canal tour.

We wandered thru more Christmas Markets.

Before ending up at Place Gutenberg and familiar territory.....

We grabbed a light lunch at one of the Christmas Markets and headed on back to the room. We took the ever popular Grand'Rue back to the Canal du Faux-Rempart to get back to the hotel.

Along the way, we passed a Boulangerie I had on my "list". The Missus wanted to get something to have with Her afternoon tea, so we stopped in.

Man, the place was super busy, but the line moved quickly and the Missus got Her treats.

She enjoyed these and we decided to head on back for some croissant and coffee before catching our train the next morning.

L'Atelier 116
116 Grand'Rue
67000 Strasbourg, France

We relaxed then once the sun set, headed on out to check out the markets and lights.....

Soon enough, it was time for dinner. The Missus had already had Her fill of Alsatian Christmas Market cuisine and because our trip was made at the last minute, I wasn't able to make reservations at any of the places I as interested in.

So, we decided on......well, Chinese of course! There was a noodle soup shop I had on my "list" and while the Missus was highly suspicious of my choice She went along. The shop was also along Rue du Fossé-des-Tanneurs, on the way back from Place Kléber. The name; Lamian.

The place was pretty busy when we arrived, but there was no wait for a table. There was one of the chefs working the "lamian" action for all to see.

So yes, they made their own hand pulled noodles here. Of course, we had to order that.

We started with a nice cold beer and some Cacahuetes au Vinaigre Pimente (3,5€/$3.75US), basically boiled peanuts with vinegar and chilies.

As for our noodle soup, we got the Soupe de Nouilles au Boeuf Braise - Legerement Pimente (14,9€/$16.35US), basically Beef Noodle Soup, slightly spicy.

  No, this wasn't cheap, but the meat, while being a tad more chewy than I prefer was quite beefy, the broth had a nice beefiness, was decently rich, with good five-spice tones, not overly salty, with a mild spice to it.

The noodles, were slippery and stretchy and quite good as well.

The boiled egg was overcooked, the yolk hard and dry.

We got the Canard Laque (5,5€/$6 US) - literally translated to "Peking Duck". This was not quite Beijing Kaoya, but the skin was fairly crisp, the flesh on the dry side, but the flavoring wasn't too bad.

And for the equivalent of six bucks US, this was perfectly fine. The version of "duck sauce" was terrible though.

We also ordered some Jiaozi, the Raviolis au Bouef et Celeri (5,5€/$6 US).

 The dumplings were quite large; the wrappers too brittle and chewy. The filling for the jiaozi were very beefy, with nice celeri tones, seasoned quite well, but quite tough. We were surprised that the black vinegar-soy dipping sauce was not half bad. This was our least favorite dish of the meal.

Half the fun was watching all the customers; about one-fourth were Asian, the rest were not. We got a kick watching the woman on the table next to us eat Her noodle dish. She used a fork to twirl the noodles, like you'd do with Italian pasta. She was really enjoying her meal and seemed to relish her Tsingtao! She ordered a second one, but wasn't able to finish. And at the end, she went and made sure to take some photos of the noodle maker.

Adorable! We had fun watching French folks eating Asian food on this trip; whether it was Jiaozi, Ramen, A Sando, Sichuan, hot pot, or yes, Niu Rou Mian, they seemed up for it!

There was quite a line when we left.

After all, what better on a chilly winter evening but some noodle soup, right? Even in Strasbourg.

Lamian Restaurant
20 Rue du Fossé-des-Tanneurs
67000 Strasbourg, France

We headed back to the hotel and had a nice night of sleep. The next day, we awoke our train back to Paris wasn't scheduled to leave until 1044, so we headed back to L'Atelier 116 to get some espresso and a croissant Au Buerre.

The croissant was nothing to write home about; the exterior was decently flaky, but it needed more butter and was too doughy. 

As we were enjoying ourselves, an interesting thing happened, the Missus heard someone call Her name! Oh my, it was one of Her coworkers! She was visiting Strasbourg with her parents to check out the Christmas Markets. The woman's parents were so much fun; they had just come from....well, Paris of course! And loved France. We had such a great time talking to them that we had to force ourselves to leave in time to check out and catch our train. Such a fun coincidence; running into the Missus's coworker and her parents, at a random Boulangerie....in Strasbourg! 

Life is amazing, huh?

Thanks for stopping by!

The Veggie King Ramen from Ramen Nagi

Back to Ramen Nagi so soon? Well, it wasn't really intentional. I was headed elsewhere at UTC, but I found that the posted opening time of the business was not 11 as I had found on Westfield Site, but 1130. So, I decided to head on back to Nagi to check how busy things were and there was basically one party in line when I got there at 1110! This was a Monday mind you....

Well, perhaps this was fate? Now as I was handed the order sheet, I made an interesting decision. You see, I received not one, but two emails regarding my post on Ramen Nagi. One from Vinh and another from Franklin. Both of them endorsed the Veggie King Ramen. To quote Vinh's email:

"It's the best vegetarian ramen I've ever had and I think it's even better than the Original King (which was pretty great) and the Black King (I thought this was kind of mediocre)."

Plus, FOY Peter mentioned wanting to try the Veggie King as well in the comments of that post.

So, why not, right?

I filled out the order form.....now, I didn't go "full vegan" on this, as I added a tamago (of course)! And other than requesting my noodles "firm" I made no other customizations.

There were two tables filled and one person on the counter when I was seated, a far cry from my previous visits.

My rather large bowl arrived soon after, with two "hashbrowns" looking like wings for the bowl of noodle soup.

    Before my ramen "took to flight" I dug in. As with my previous visits, the tamago was perfect, still warm, with a runny yolk. The firm noodles were indeed that, good stretch, slipperiness, and chew.

As for the rest? Well, those potato cakes were really like hashbrowns. Kinda strange. They started getting soggy and falling apart quickly. Not my favorite thing; but if you do get this bowl, perhaps you could request this on the side? The spinach was fine, quite typical. The mushrooms were really hard and chewy.

As for the broth? Well, this was sort of like a shoyu ramen. There was a savory component that was hard to pin down. I know the broth is mushroom based, but the fungi-flavor wasn't pervasive. It had a good amount of oil, but wasn't overly rich in texture. And, like my first bowl at Nagi, it was very salty, way too salty.

While I don't think I'll order this again; if I did, I'd order it with less salt. I'm not overly familiar with vegetarian/vegan ramen so I have no real baseline in that comparison. That said, while I won't be changing my "ramen-ways", this was not bad.

And thanks to Vinh and Franklin for suggesting I try this. You both are "FOYs" for sure now! I do enjoy recommendations as it helps to broaden my horizons.....

Ramen Nagi UTC
4301 La Jolla Village Dr. Suite 2033
San Diego, CA 92122
Current Hours:
Daily 11am - 230pm, 5pm - 9pm

Minh Ky - Under New Ownership

This past weekend, after returning from our last trip, I was craving some "comfort food"....which at that time meant noodles...and in this case Beef Satay Egg Noodle "dry" ("Kho"). So, of course Minh Ky came to mind. Especially since I've been going here since way "back when". In fact, it was one of my last stops before the Covid shut down in 2020. What has recently changed is the ownership of Minh Ky. I was interested to see if things were different after the change of ownership. I did wait until we got back from our last trip and visited this past weekend.

Upon arrival there were some things that were totally the same....for instance; that parking lot is still terrible. The back parking lot is now totally run by Paris Bakery and there are warning signs posted not to park there. The sign for Minh Ky however, is quite shiny and new!

Though the interior looks the same.

I noticed that prices have gone up since my last visit in March of last year, though my guess is that prices have risen everywhere. The Mi Sate Thit Bo is now $11.95 and guess what? There's now a 50-cent upcharge for getting it "Kho" (dry).

Still old habits die hard, and I really wanted to see if my favorite dish from Minh Ky had changed with the ownership. The young lady working said they've kept the kitchen staff.

    There was one thing I quickly noticed when my bowl arrived; the portion size seems a bit larger than before. Also, the sauce was a lot "redder" in color and while it had a decent savory-nutty - pungency, was also saltier than I recalled. The beef was not quite as nicely velveted and was on the chewy side, though I've had that happen on previous visits.

The broth at Minh Ky had usually been on the weaker and blander side of the scale and perhaps it was me really focusing in on things; but take a look at how pale that soup is. It just speaks for itself.

 

There was a good amount of tomato and onion. The noodles, which were provided in abundance were really undercooked, hard, and brittle.

I'm not quite sure if it was me really focusing on things or what? But the couple on the table behind me was having a lively debate. The young man said that his egg noodle dish was not quite up to par and was very salty; the young woman said her won ton soup was just the same and the kitchen staff is the same. She punctuated the argument by telling the young man "I've been coming here my entire life, you never came here until we met 5 five years ago, so you obviously don't know what you're talking about!" Touche!

So, while I did detect some differences; I'll need to return in a couple of weeks....or months, this was obviously not quite to my liking, and see.

So, tell me; if you've been to Minh Ky since the ownership change, have you detected anything different with what you had?

Minh Ky Restaurant
4644 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115

Sunday Stuffs - Xinjiang BBQ (supposedly) Opening in Linda Vista in January, Monsta Ramen and Curry Coming to Convoy, and Cocinas del Monte Replaces Mariscos el Cata

I haven't done one of these in a while, so.......

Monsta Ramen and Curry Coming to Convoy:

I noticed the sign when I drove by Convoy Village Shopping Center, so I headed on in to take a look.

Hmmm.....something called Monsta Ramen and Curry. Well, perhaps ramen and Japanese curry haven't hit saturation point in San Diego yet?

Tried to do some searching on this, but didn't find anything, so perhaps some of you "FOYs" with better skills can fill us in?

4344 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Cocinas del Monte Replaces Mariscos el Cata:

While driving back yesterday after doing my Saturday routine, I noticed that the sign for Mariscos el Cata had been replaced.....

It's now Cocinas del Monte? I mentioned this to my good friend Candice, who replied "this corner must be cursed". I have to agree.

2543 Congress St.
San Diego, CA 92110

And finally....

Xinjiang BBQ (supposedly) Opening in Linda Vista in January:

You know how you get used to just seeing the same 'ol, same 'ol when driving? Well, I guess I had gotten used to seeing this:

The signage had been up for over four years and Yum Cha Cafe had vacated the space over two years earlier.

So I'm not sure how many times I drove past here before I noticed this.

Whoa so like seven years later, it looks like a business will open in this spot!

I'm thinking this is an offshoot of the Xinjiang BBQ in the SGV? So, it looks like one of those lamb skewer and beer places that have become quite popular in the SGV.

And when I did that "Google thing" I saw this:

January is just over a month away!

So we'll see....

6933 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Ok, so we'll see.

Chiayi - A Lou Shi Turkey Rice (阿樓師火雞肉飯), Wenhua Road Night Market (Again), and River Bird Coffee Roaster (江鳥咖啡- 嘉義吳鳳北路店)

After returning from Alishan we had some snacks at the 7-11. I was quite shocked to see draft beer "pulls" in the store....you can get draft beer at a 7-11!

We returned to the hotel, took a short nap, then headed out for an early dinner. The Missus was really in Her element in Taiwan. She would chat up folks and get recommendations. We were so taken by the Turkey Rice that we wanted to have that again. The young lady at the Tea Shop right at the corner recommended a Turkey Rice shop named "A Lou Shi". She told us it opens at 4pm, so we headed on out and wouldn't you know, we found the place!

And there was quite a line! Since this is Taiwan, the line was a good thing! It moves so quickly.

Check out who was waiting for some Turkey Rice right in front of us!

One quick look at the counter and you knew what they specialized in.

The place was in continuous movement of folks ordering, eating, then vacating.....

We really enjoyed the stir fried veggies in Taiwan, so of course we ordered all of it!

All the greens were prepped the same way, blanched, then sauced, then minced garlic were added.

The ong choi was crunchy, there was a light sauce which heightened the flavor. The garlic added a nice pungency.

The lettuce had what tasted like oyster sauce on it, along with the garlic.

The yam leaves had a texture like spinach, without the "gooeyess", but also had a nice mild sweetness along with the chlorophyllic flavor.

All were quickly blanched so the flavors weren't leached and there was some crispness to things.

And of course, we loved the bamboo shoots.

Crunchy, with a earthy-nuttiness and a hint of sweetness.

This place served Turkey Rice two ways. Sliced and a version more braised.

   The rice was perfect, but the sauce was greasier and milder in poultry flavor than what we'd had earlier and the turkey meat was more chewy/tough as well. 

Overall, we preferred A Hong Shi.

A Lou Shi (阿樓師火雞肉飯)
No. 102 Wufeng North Rd.
East District, Chiayi City, Taiwan

Still, check out the line as we left!

We had to walk thru Wenhua Road Night Market on the way back to the hotel.

And the Missus decided to stop at this charming looking stand for some Douhua - beancurd pudding.

Which She enjoyed.

And of course there was a "show" going on at the Central Plaza that evening as well.......

There's always something happening here I guess!

In an earlier post, I mentioned having problems getting train tickets because of the Qingming Festival (i.e. Tomb Sweeping week). Well, in order to get back to Taipei, I ended up hiring a driver, which in terms of US prices is quite inexpensive. In fact, after doing this car hire, I went ahead and did the same for other "excursions" during our trip. One good thing about having your own driver is that you have greater control of your schedule. So, I timed things so we'd be getting to our hotel in Taipei right at check-in time. This meant that we wouldn't leave Chiayi until after 12.

So, after grabbing a snack at the Hotel, we checked out and stored our bags and decided to take a walk around Chiayi.

There was a kind of rusticness to Chiayi, making it quite different from Taipei and Taichung. Businesses dotted the landscape all along Wenhua and Wufeng Road.

On Wufeng Road we came along this shop and decided to get our caffeine fix.

It turned out to be quite the hipster coffee shop.

The young lady working was so nice and sweet, while also being a bada$$ barista!

She made the Missus's pour over and I got my cold brew.

And she gave us some "treats" to have with our coffee.

River Bird Coffee Roaster (江鳥咖啡- 嘉義吳鳳北路店)
No. 132 Wufeng North Rd.
East District, Chiayi City, Taiwan

After our nice caffeine stop, we decided to stroll on back to the hotel. We stopped to do some shopping (and sampling) along the way.

Right at the center of the city is a fountain that dates back to the Qing Dynasty when Chiayi was the center of the sugar industry. The fountain stands where the city wall stood during the Qing Dyansty. But there's something else that catches your eye.

Yes, it's a baseball player; specifically a pitcher. This is known as the "Kano" statue. The statue is of the late Wu Ming-Chieh, star player of the Kano Baseball Team, the team from Chiayi was chosen to represent "Formosa" in the Japanese High School Baseball Championship in 1931 and against all odds made it to the final, losing in the championship game. Wu Ming-Chieh was the pitcher on that team. It is said that the success of the Kano Team encouraged Taiwanese to play the sport and now baseball is considered to be the national sport of Taiwan. An award winning movie was made about the team in 2014. And this is a wonderful article if you'd like to have more info! Everyone loves an underdog story!

We walked back to the hotel and in a few minutes our driver arrived and we were headed back to Taipei.

Thanks for stopping by!