Beef Noodles and Shaved Ice, etc.

Today, we went to the most famous beef noodle restaurant in Taipei and the birthplace of shaved ice. They are both located at the bustling Yong Kang Road district where there are lots of young people and hordes and hordes of Japanese tourists.

Yong Kang Beef Noodle Restaurant. I love this place. It's sunny, bright, idyllic, just a lovely neighborhood noodle shop.

I got the (red cooked, literal Chinese translation) roasted beef noodle soup, and T got the clear broth beef noodle soup. The beef was cooked to perfection, so tender.

After the beef noodle soup, we made a pilgrimage to the birthplace of shaved ice, a very popular Taiwanese dessert. Tada, here it is!

We got the shaved ice with three toppings. I liked it alot! The ones I've had in the States used condensed milk as the flavoring agent, here they used caramelized sugar, which gave the shaved ice a very pleasant but subtle caramelly taste.

After the shaved ice, we did lots of shopping at a wholesale clothing market. I got three shirts, one little sweater vest, a capey jacket... very productive!

We capped off the day with a hot pot dinner with T and her dad. Mucho thanks to T and her family for hosting me in Taipei. I am having a great time!

Humongous hot pot, northern Chinese style. The owner of the place is from northern China. We assumed she married a local man and moved here.

I also saw the cutest doggy at this place! He is sooo adorable. MUAH!