No trip to Taiwan is complete without dim sum. We were lucky enough to be
invited to some of the best dim sum I've had at Fullon Hotel at Fisherman's
Wharf. To get there, take the subway from the Taipei train station to Dansui /
Tamsui. When you arrive in Dansui / Tamsui, walk down the shoreline until you
see signs for boat. It'll be obvious with the photos of boats. You'll ride the
boat over to where the Fullon Hotel is located and enjoy a beautiful view of the
river on the way.
These dim sum dishes may not look very different from dim sum that you've
seen at other restaurants. However, they are not like any dim sum I've had.
You'll notice that the Taiwanese are very deliberate and skilled at
handiwork - just take a look at the post on cakes. It is obvious from flavor
that they give the same love and care to the dim sum at the Fullon Hotel Tea
House.
The noodle wrapper on these was so delicate, yet structured. It was perfect
from the eyes (or mouth) of this dim sum fancier.
Are these not the most beautiful steamed leek dumplings you have ever seen?
The wrapper had the perfect amount of springiness and chew. The inside was
fragrant with leeks.
This was a type of taro cake with savory bits of pork and fried shallots
inside. It is topped with a light soy sauce and green onions.
Classic BBQ pork buns of my dreams!
The outside was warm and fluffy like a soft pillow of hugging the sweet pork
inside.
The next dish are the most perfect
eggrolls. I usually strongly dislike poorly made eggrolls, especially those
cheap ones that look like a small burrito with a soggy doughy wrapper that
puckers with unappetizing bubbles of oil when fried. These are the exact
opposite of those wanna be eggrolls. These have a thin crispy outer shell with
flavorful savory stuffing.
I'm not sure what these things are
called in English, besides delightful. Yes, you should order some.
During our meal, we saw who appeared
to be the Dali Lama. I searched the interwebs for when he would be visiting
Taiwan, and I did find a few articles about the Dali Lama and Taiwan. I'm not
sure if we really did meet THE Dali Lama or his look alike as he didn't speak
English, Mandarin, or Taiwanese to me. In fact, he didn't say much at all, but
he did have an entourage of followers with him.
And next is a deep fried basket of
noodles topped with a delicious smothering of seafood. The textures of deep
fried noodles and uber fresh seafood was simply delicious.
And here comes the desserts - deep
fried pockets with red bean paste inside. The outside is crunchy with a chewy
layer of mochi-like covering. Inside is a sweet red adzuki bean paste.
And lastly, but probably one of the
best things I have ever eaten, was a milk custard bun. The outside was the same
fluffy covering that we had with the pork bbq buns, and the inside was a
piping-hot-gift-of-the-pastry-gods sweet custard that was rich yet mildly sweet.
This is one amazing pastry. Scoot over France, we got corner on pastries.