Take a big bite

Let your tastebuds run riot at the Shilin night market. With some tasty treats and a few questionable eats to choose from, they're sure not to have a single dull moment

There was buzz aboutme I was experiencinga heady cocktailof anticipation andtrepidation. I felt like a culinaryCaptain Cook about togo forth and discover thehuge kitchen that is the ShilinNight Market.

Shilin was the last of aseries of gourmet discoveriesI made in Taipei. Some ofthese had been outstanding like the egg roll stall nearthe KJwang Hwa computerand components market. Eggrolls are pastries that aremade by dropping a dollop ofbatter on a flat plate that ispressed against another plateon top akin to an industrialpress for just a second ortwo. The intense heat bakesor fries the batter, when isthen rolled into a tube beforeit hardens. The end productis light and sweet, and availablein a variety of flavoursincluding ham and vanilla.

Then there is moiji, a sweetmeat that you simply have totaste. It has a chewy, marshmallow-like outer coveringwith a sweet, red bean pastewithin. The paste tastes likethe chana dal filling inside apuran poli. The dish is incrediblytasty as a whole.

In the countries of the Orient whereany creature on earth, the sky andunder the ocean is fair game on thedining table, an interpreter is anessential gastronomic GPS. Wordslost in translation can lead to nastyculinary surprises: you could relisha bowl of thick soup only to find atthe bottom of the bowl, somethingthat would warrant the pest controlservice back home.

Lost in translation
My co-traveller, for instance, gushedover a red-coloured, garlicky fishdish that he chewed on and relished until he saw a ghastly lookingcousin of the creature lazing in atank at the aquarium. "See, see"pointed the interpreter, "that iswhat you just ate."

I have never seen a person go sorapidly from bright and talkative togreen and where can I barf please.

So, I kept all channels of interpretationopen sight, smell andspeech to avoid any such mishap.Then I set forth to enjoy the culinarydelights that Taipei offers,from fine dining restaurants to aunique eating house called 'ModernToilet' where customers sit on WCsand food is served to them in miniatureWCs. There has to be a rationalebehind this idea, but I just didn'tunderstand it.

But the headiest of all Taipei gastronomicexperiences can undoubtedlybe found in the Shilin nightmarket. Let's be honest, you have tobe a meat eater to enjoy it. If you'rethe kind who will avoid MahimCauseway for the slight whiff of fishin the air, then you'd better take afew washing line clips along withyou to Shilin. Here, you can choosewhat you don't want to eat and evenavert your gaze from unappetisingfoods on display, but you simply cannotescape the omnipresent olfactoryaura. Some smells are pleasantenough to make you drool, whileothers are so sharp that they makeyour eyes water.

But this sensory overload shouldby no means dissuade anyone(except, maybe vegetarians) fromvisiting the Shilin night market. It isa fascinating place to visit. There isplenty of tasty and normal(namely chicken, beef and pork) food on offer too. If you're in Taipei,this is one taste you mustn't missout on.

Rishad is a travel writer who ishappiest behind the wheel of a carin a new country.

HT Image