Taiwan - the perfect meal for summer.

It's days like today that I reminsce about the time I spent in Taipei.

I remember the first week I arrived alone in Taipei was during mid-September. The tropical island was still in summer mode, the air heavy with moisture. I sat in my dorm room, the thirteenth and highest floor of the girl's building, next to the open window. Within a few minutes, I felt myself sweating - from just seating there checking my email. No joke. Days like these, there was only one option for food: cold noodles 台式涼麵!

Like any homey Asian eatery, it comes with hawker seats, small tables and cans of chopsticks.

My favourite order: shredded chicken cold noodles with peanut and sesame dressing and slices of cucumbers. Fragrant and delicious! The dressing coats every strand of the cold noodles while the fresh cucumber slices lightens the meal with its soft crunch. I seriously can't get enough of that dressing.

The chicken-less version. Look at that delicious nutty sesame dressing...

The take-out version. When you want to eat the same delicious meal (complete with that little bag of goodness), but in front of your computer in your dorm room. That's 21st century people for you.

They also serve hot noodles but it's nothing impressive. Watered down soups with noodles, sprinkled with sesame.

Oh how I miss these cold noodles. Perhaps I shall attempt to make my own this summer, since sadly I can't find this dish in Toronto.


我家涼麵
Intersection of SiYuan St. 思源街 and TingZhou Road 汀州路三段, near Gongguan station
- across from the police station next to Shuiyuan dorm of National Taiwan University


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