[Music]
what's up and welcome to Taiwan my name
is Luke Martin with chopstick travel
comm and today is day one of our journey
of the east coast of Taiwan if you
didn't check out the previous episode
click the link down in the description
box we started out in Gao Xiang sampling
some of the best seafood the whole of
Taiwan has to offer on chi-chan Island
so I think this is the crab that we are
going to eat this is a really beautiful
looking crab on the outside and I'm just
gonna peel back this piece of shell and
reveal that that is your crab meat there
oh man oh
so today we are in Thai dung which is
our first stop of three of the east
coast of Taiwan we are stopping in Thai
dong hua Lian and Ilan tae dong is
famous for all kinds of things and today
we are going to show you three of those
the first being the natural scenery the
rice paddies the mountains and the
beaches Thai dung is absolutely
beautiful and of course we are going to
be sampling some seafood because we are
right on the coast here so we will be
stopping at one of the busiest seaports
on the East Coast and sampling some
fresh seafood third and finally we are
going to be showing you what Taitung is
really famous for being the breadbasket
of Taiwan producing some of the freshest
and best fruit and vegetables so right
now it is early in the morning we're
gonna jump on our scooter and head to
have some breakfast so let's go
and occupation
so we are at just a little local joint
here and I'd um for breakfast we spotted
a bunch of locals eating here and we
learned up a very typical Taiwanese
breakfast so here we've got the Tonio
Bing which is a green onion scallion
pancake and this one feels nice and
crispy on the outside and then we've
also got some geodes which our dumplings
I think these are probably filled with
pork and some scallions and then every
time we needs breakfast must be
accompanied by some dough Jeon which is
soy milk so we've got a cold soy milk so
let's dig into this let's start with
this scallion pancake I love how it's
cut into kind of like pizza slices and
I'm gonna dip it in this spicy sauce
here and that feels nice and crispy
let's try that
- super crispy it's really just the
green onion flavor a little bit oily as
well jeez that was a little bit soy milk
[Music]
not too sweet it has that kind of nutty
soy flavor next up is the Java I'm gonna
dip it in the sweet sauce this time and
see if these are filled with pork or not
I won't order it really but I was
actually quite juicy on the inside
there's a little bit of fat that
rendered in there kind of made a soup
and again so I know
this is just a classic Taiwanese
breakfast this chummy Oh Bing is really
like flaky and kind of got a little bit
of an elasticity to it you can see but
it is a really good nice fresh green
onion flavor this is the perfect way to
start our day before we head to the
coast we've got about an hour drive to
the Northeast to get to the coast and
that's where we will be eating some
seafood and showing some really
beautiful scenery of tide um so that was
a surprisingly delicious breakfast
seeing as though how simple it is and
the owners here are really really
friendly so you guys can check out the
description box for the information to
come to this place they also have an
English menu here so we are jumping on
the scooter and we are going to head
north to the coast about an hour drive
[Music]
so we are about 45 minutes into our
drive north of tae dong we are stopping
here at this Beach this is called Jin's
and Beach and this is absolutely
beautiful the drive up here was amazing
it's not too hot today quite windy
actually so our final destination for
this drive is to a place called Sun
Chien Thai which is a bridge a very
picturesque bridge and it should only be
another 15 minutes or so up north so we
will go there next to show you guys that
and then we will be going to Ching Gong
Township to have some lunch a seafood
lunch we have made it into the beautiful
sunshine Thai island as you can see
behind me which roughly translates to
three immortals and also behind me you
can see the very famous bridge it takes
us to the island and it's built to look
like waves so we're gonna go check it
out it looks really cool
so just a quick stop here to see the
bridge it is absolutely beautiful it's
quite windy and a little bit rainy out
so we are gonna head now we are starving
we're gonna go get some seafood lunch we
are at the restaurant now and just check
this out here we have an incredible
seafood meal four different dishes so
let me introduce what we've got so
starting off right here these are deep
fried white bait fish so this is
actually the entire fish it's like a
very thin kind of translucent fish and
you can see the little eyes there so
those look really good and then serve
with just some salt and pepper and then
over here we've got some swordfish
sashimi
three different cuts and this just looks
absolutely beautiful in Taiwan they like
to cut those thick slices of sashimi and
then over here we've got our fried rice
of course and then last but not least is
some more swordfish but this time this
is the fried up swordfish with tons of
basil so this is stir-fried with basil
and then that sauce just check that out
huge chunks of swordfish this looks
absolutely incredible so let's dig into
this let me grab a little bit of this
rice here I think this is stir-fried
with pork and then I can see
and it looks quite oily and I'm just
gonna put that in my bowl and then grab
some of this stir-fried swordfish which
just sounds incredible make sure I get
some basil and some of those green
onions put those on top and let's try
that
[Music]
that's swordfish you can just instantly
tell that it's nice and fresh falls
apart in your boat and I love that with
basil the sauce that it's kind of
swimming in is a little bit sweet and
then that stir-fried rice is nice and
smoky
let's try one of these deep-fried white
bait fish I'm gonna dip it in a little
bit of salt pepper here and let's try
that
[Music]
behold
it's really it doesn't have too much
labor by itself but the textures are
really unique it's not very fleshy it's
almost like creamy in a good way though
because it's not undercooked it's just
the type of fish and then crisp on the
other side from that deep fried layer
that's also really good last but not
least let's try this swordfish sashimi
but I need to pour a little bit of soy
sauce in here first you can see that
wasabi here too although that doesn't
look like the best wasabi I'm gonna grab
a piece from the middle here this is a
little bit more fatty looking and just a
little bit of soy sauce let's try that
oh wow that is super fatty it tastes
very similar to tuna but there is that
distinct difference whereas you don't
really get that tuna flavor it's a
little bit different because it's
swordfish but the texture is very very
oily and fatty just melts in your mouth
and then nice with a little bit of soy
sauce oh man this Miele is really good
we needed this after that a long drive
today typically when you're having a big
seafood meal like this you're usually
enjoying it with a lot of people and
this is the thing that is always on the
table here in Taiwan the apple cider
apple Sidra and let's pour myself some
of this honestly I love this stuff it's
a lot better than drinking coca-cola or
something like that
and it washes down that oily Taiwanese
food
oh yeah it's just like a little bit
fruity and carbonated this is she me the
swordfish sashimi is definitely my
favorite the texture of it is just
phenomenal it just melts in your mouth
just dip this in a little bit of soy
here and that's all it needs oh man
oh you know that is so crashed so fresh
in fact we are gonna go see where they
source their fish right after we leave
here so just two minutes from the Shin
punku restaurant is the shingen fish
market this is the fishing port here in
Ching Gong and they're actually just
unloading the fishing boats and then
soon I think they'll have a fish auction
so we're gonna hang around and check
that it looks really cool
to be picked on
public problems
turn our killer
seems as though we came just as they
were unloading what seems to be the
catch of the day and there's quite a
crowd and they just unloaded 860 kg
swordfish is absolutely huge it took six
people to lift it onto the scale and I'm
not sure how long it is but to me it
looks like it's at least 6 feet or maybe
look longer up to 8 feet and is huge and
Wow
this market is already blowing my mind
there's lots of here
[Music]
this market is absolutely insane there's
so many different types of fish here and
I actually just found what I think is
the biggest fish I thought I already saw
the biggest one but this swordfish is
even bigger 215 kgs it is absolutely
massive they're unloading tons of tuna
there is lots of mahi-mahi I think
that's the most common fish here I saw
some sharks some sunfish things I
couldn't even name and this is just a
fossil in market I am really happy we
decided to come here and especially
because they are just unloading the
docks or the boats right now every
single one of those blue tubs behind me
is stuffed full of mahi-mahi it is
absolutely crazy I don't know how many
tons of fish there are here but there's
definitely a lot the auction has started
watch
I think I never talked about a study
on the bus
so you can see that these tubs are
absolutely stuffed to the brim with
these yellow-green mahi-mahi they're
absolutely beautiful and this is one of
hundreds of these blue tops take these
fish in here like a grab one
[Music]
that is breezy so the fish auction is
done they are moving all the fish you
can see with these big machines out of
the market that was a lot of fun even
just for a passerby like me that was
exhilarating to watch the fish auction
they move really really fast so here in
Cheng on this is quite a rural area of
Taiwan however it is the biggest city
between hua Lian and tie down on the
East Coast but there's only about 17,000
people that live here and about half of
those people are aboriginals from the
Ami's tribe so the fishermen here are
one of the only remaining traditional
fisherman's left in Taiwan so they're
going out on these boats with only about
three or four people not in huge
industrial size boats and they used to
use the traditional way of harpooning
the sailfish or the swordfish but
nowadays they do use some non
sustainable methods like gill nets but
it was a lot of fun to come here and see
this I definitely recommend that you
come if you ever get the chance and I'll
leave all the information for this place
down in the description box I had a hard
time finding accurate information online
but I would say that the fish market or
the fish auction center starts around
2:00 p.m. and we came around 1:30 they
were just finishing offloading all the
fish and then the auction started right
after that so that's what time you
should come but that's just for today I
don't know every day if that's the fish
auction time so I'll leave all the
information down in the description box
we're gonna get back on the scooter and
head back to tie-down so I literally
just pulled over on the side of the road
on our way back to tie-down because I
spotted a farm that is growing something
that is extremely famous in this region
and that is known as a custard apple or
sometimes people call it sugar apple or
even buddha's head fruit so you can see
right here behind me this is it and
these ones aren't fully grown yet
they've got I don't know maybe another
month before they're harvested we are
going to go back into Tai dong and find
some that are fresh and ripe and pick
some up at the market try them out and
see what they taste like
[Music]
back in Taichung and we found a spot
that selling some of the buddha head
fruit so we're gonna pick one up take it
back to our place and try it all right
we got our Buddha fruit here it is right
here but unfortunately she said this
one's not quite ripe enough she said we
should wait until tomorrow morning
so I guess we're gonna have to check
back with you tomorrow morning to try
our Buddha fruit good morning from our
guesthouse here in Tai dung it is
breakfast time we have coffee and we
have our custard apple
so yesterday she told us we should wait
until this morning to try this out and I
was a little bit skeptic that it would
really ripen up that much but I don't
know if you can tell but it is very very
soft this morning much more soft than it
was yesterday so let me peel one of
these guys open it and check that out
there you can see that custardy flesh
underneath take a couple of these off
and then I'll go in with a spoon oh man
check that it that looks really ripe
okay I'm gonna go in with a spoon and
grab some of that flesh hole and this is
gonna be a good breakfast so let's try
it at it
[Music]
mm-hmm oh wow
that is extremely sweet super super soft
ooh I think I've only ever had a custard
apple maybe once before in my life and
this one is definitely better than what
I remembered the last one tasting like
that is so just naturally sugary Wow hmm
it does have a little bit of like a
sourness to almost like almost kind of
like a cross between a banana and a
little bit of a citrus fruit too and you
can just scoop that flesh out with a
spoon no problem
check that out you got to watch out for
those seeds but man there is quite a bit
of fruit in there mmm let's check that a
little bit of coffee
[Music]
perfect breakfast here in Thai dum
finish off with our sugar apple
breakfast that was surprisingly really
really good we didn't know that we liked
sugar apples so much Sabrina described
it as like a sugary applesauce it was
really delicious and that's gonna be it
for today from tide um so make sure if
you're not already to subscribe and hit
the bell icon so you're notified because
we have a really couple exciting videos
coming out very soon we are heading up
the east coast to quali ENSO next
episode will be from there where we will
be sampling some incredible Aboriginal
cuisine so make sure also to follow us
on Instagram so you get the most
up-to-date information on what we're
doing at chopstick travel so thanks for
watching guys see you next time bye bye