Chunk Chicken and Bubble Tea

Last night we had our first taste of authentic Taiwanese food and drink at a little restaurant that happens to be in the same general area of town where we had an adoption parenting class to attend, so we decided to make an evening of it. Although Rob and I have enjoyed all of the Asian food we’ve experienced (Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, and of course Chinese), I have to admit I was a little nervous about Taiwanese cuisine after some of the pictures I had seen of it on the internet -– one of which looked like a whole octopus sitting on a dinner plate. But our meals were so delicious that by about the third bite, we were already planning our next trip and deciding which entrées we would try next. We both had a dish called “Taiwanese chunk chicken,” which consisted of chicken (dark meat), slices of fresh ginger, fresh basil leaves, big garlic cloves, and a few hot red peppers, in a medium-spicy sauce.

I had also recently learned about “bubble tea" and couldn’t wait to try it. Bubble tea (pictured below) is apparently enormously popular in Taiwan and is supposedly sold “on every corner,” perhaps comparable to Starbucks here. It’s a mixture of black or green tea, milk, and flavored syrup, over ice, with large tapioca balls (the “bubbles”) that lay at the bottom of the glass, where they absorb the flavor of the drink and become gummy. It’s served with a large diameter straw so that the tapioca balls can come up, so you can chew on them as you drink the liquid. (It's one of those things that probably doesn't sound very appetizing in words, but when you try it, it's really good.) This website, where the picture is from, has a good description and history of bubble tea: http://whatscookingamerica.net/BubbleTea.htm, as does this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_tea.


Last night, I tried bubble tea made with black tea and almond syrup. It was excellent, and may become my new food obsession. Unfortunately, this restaurant is a 45-minute drive from our home (and is the only Taiwanese restaurant in the region), but -– how convenient -- my adoptive moms' monthly support group meets a few blocks away, and our next meeting is this Friday. I am already fantasizing about the spicy-beef-and-cabbage dish that I want to try next -– so what if Rob makes me sleep on the couch :-)

If you have a chance to try Taiwanese food or bubble tea, we highly recommend it!