Xinglong House

興隆居

No. 186, Liuhe 2nd Rd, Qianjin Dist
高雄市前金區六合二路186號
(07)261-6787

Monday-Sunday
4:00am-10:00am

English friendly: no
vegetarian friendly: yes
average cost: 25-50NTD

Taiwanese breakfast doesn't get better than this.

All you have to do is get yourself up before 10:00am in the morning, and stand in that huge line there.

You'll also have to go through the process of ordering, which can be a little stressful if there are a lot of people (there will be) and you don't speak Chinese. Luckily most of the stuff is laid out on the counter and you can just point at what looks good--everything's really cheap, so the risk is minimal.

And everything's really good, too! They've got your traditional spread of breakfast foods: egg pancakes, potstickers, sweet buns, breakfast sandwiches, radish cake, etc., plus a nice wide selection of drinks.

However, this place is MOST famous for its unique breakfast soup dumplings, pictured above. They are more like soup buns than soup dumplings, which brings them nicely over into the breakfast category. 

They even provide a helpful illustrated guide on how to eat them (take a bite and spoon "hot" sauce--it's really not that hot, don't worry--into them), which I followed to the letter with very positive results.

And here, the money shot! The filling was deliciously meaty and cabbagey. What's more, on the first bite the soup juices BURST out and all over my hands, just like a proper soup dumpling.

In a fit of inspiration I ordered the "salty soymilk", which came out in a big bowl and looked like this. (The normal soymilk also came in a bowl, oddly enough.) It had an oddly sour taste, and whatever else they put in it also caused a disconcerting curdling effect on the surface. That being said, I kind of liked it! I mean, I hated it at first, but it grew on me very quickly. Still, I would only recommend this for the more adventurous sorts.

We also got this 燒餅 (fried pancake), which came with an omelette AND a 油條 (our friend the Taiwanese churro) inside--another inventive creation you will only find here. IT. WAS. DELICIOUS. The outer pancakeish wrapping (the actual 燒餅) was the best incarnation of 燒餅 I have EVER had. The outside was crispy, and the inside was steamy soft and super flaky, with layer upon layer upon layer of goodness like a Pillsbury biscuit. The egg was good, and the 油條 was a nice crispy touch. Again, delicious.

In conclusion, definitely come here! I don't even like Taiwanese breakfast--I think I've had it in Kaohsiung a total of two or three times--and I loved this. The perfect mix of local flavor and tasty ingenuity.

OVERALL RATING: 5/5

Master Flavor Ginger Duck

霸味薑母鴨

No. 172, Zhongxin Rd, Zuoying Dist
高雄市左營區忠信路172號
(07)557-7796

Monday-Sunday
4:00pm-2:00am

English friendly: no
vegetarian friendly: no
average cost: 300-400NTD

Winter is coming, or has already come, or will never come, or something, so it's a good time to get yourself some ginger duck hot pot.

This particular flavor of hot pot restaurant is ONLY available in the quote-unquote winter; in the summer they close up shop and do something else. Though you might see a lot of 薑母鴨 places around if you start looking for it, THIS particular place is the best. Or so I am told.

No matter how many people you have, you'll end up paying 280NTD for the ginger duck soup base, which comes with some ginger and some duck already in it, then however much extra for whatever else you want to put in.

I originally thought the 鴨佛 (duck Buddha) option second from the left was another, possibly vegetarian, soup option, but it turns out to mean duck testicles. Ummm. Some other things you can put in your hot pot include duck intenstines, duck heart, duck tendon, duck liver, duck blood, three varieties of mushroom, and two varieties of tofu.

We each got a plate of 麵線 as an appetizer, and boy am I glad I did! This kind of 麵線 you can ONLY get at this restaurant, or so my dinner partner informed me. To be fair, I have never had tasty 麵線 before now. They were soft and fine like extra-fine angel hair pasta, and didn't have that cheap powdery feeling that most 麵線 seem to have (though perhaps this was because they weren't in soup). The sauce was super garlicky and flavorful. Delicious.

Our soup base came to us with the tofu skin, needle mushrooms, and duck blood we'd ordered already stewing and steaming away.

The soup itself is an exquisite broth of meaty duck flavor and intensely warming ginger. It is the perfect thing for a cold quote-unquote winter evening, and I was slurping it up all night. Under the aegis of unlimited soup refills.

...Here is the congealed duck blood, since you can't see it in the first picture. I am not a great connoisseur of duck blood, so I cannot say if this incarnation was especially good or what, but there was nothing overtly objectionable about it. Even the best duck blood (or so I am told) has a weird, "congealed blood" mouthfeel, and this was no exception. The texture is sort of indescribable, though this blog calls it "unsettling yet provocative, both alien and comforting." I guess I'll go with that. Not bad!

Anyway. The key to your ginger duck dining experience is this special sauce right here. The waitress said it was made with 豆腐乳, which Wikipedia informs us can also be called "fermented bean curd, sufu, tofu cheese, or preserved tofu." Tofu cheese. It made everything delicious, especially the tofu skin from above because it soaked it up like a sponge.

Our more time sensitive ingredients came separately, so that we might cook them hot pot style, according to our own schedule. This here is the duck heart (top), liver (middle), tendon (bottom) special platter, which at three-for-the-price-of-two saves you a tidy 50NTD.

The tendon was really interesting, and quite tasty, and I was also a big fan of the heart. They both tasted basically like extra tough muscle, and the soup+sauce gave them a really nice flavor. The liver tasted pretty much like liver, which is fine. I don't think anyone really likes liver; at least none of my Taiwanese friends do. Every time I ask they give me a lecture about how Taiwan used to be really poor, so eating every part of the animal is a cultural thing as much as (or perhaps more than...) a culinary thing.

We also got cabbage. I don't know WHY I took a picture of the cabbage, or why I'm now posting it for all to see, or especially why I am going to end this restaurant review with it, but there you go.

I really, really enjoyed this meal, and I didn't even have beer. (They do have Taiwan beer available, if you're in the mood.) You may have noticed that as a general rule I sort of hate hot pot, and am not a huge fan of meat or other animal bodily parts either--all that being said, I thought this was great! Master Flavor Ginger Duck offers a special, delicious dining experience. I definitely recommend you try it while you still can. And bring some friends! The more people you have, the cheaper it is!

OVERALL RATING: 5/5

East Meet West Kitchen

原鄉新味小館

No. 27, Lane 28, Xinguang Rd, Lingya Dist
高雄市苓雅區新光路28巷27號
(07)334-7637

Tuesday-Sunday
11:30am-1:30pm
5:30pm-8:30pm

English friendly: yes
vegetarian friendly: so very not
average cost: 300-400NTD

Oh my gosh you guys, are you in for a treat!

Alone in a dark and twisty alleyway (conveniently located right outside the Sanduo KMRT stop) stands what must be one of the best kept secrets of Kaohsiung: East Meet West Kitchen, a small foreigner-owned restaurant operating in Austrian and German cuisine. What even is Austrian cuisine?!?

...I guess it's basically German cuisine. Their menu is seriously hideous, and a little difficult to decipher, but that can add some interest to your pre-dinner wait. Good thing, too: when we went around 6:00pm on a Wednesday, there was just us and one random group of German people but it still took a pretty long time to get our food. Probably because the owner (one assumedly Austrian dude named Alex) makes all the food himself.

All the main courses are MEAT with some other stuff, and the sides are mostly variations of sausage.

They also have a nice selection of beers and wines, and some good teas, all of them quite exotic in this part of the world. The mint tea I ordered came with real crushed mint leaves in it. How cute! That in the back there is actually iced (read: lukewarm) ceylon tea in a beer glass. You can get it with sugar or without; I'd probably recommend with.

I got the "meat cake" student meal, which comes with drink + small dessert for the low low price of 200NTD. When it first appeared at our table I was like oh no this will not be nearly enough for me! But things turned out okay. You'll see why in a second.

There's a lot to go over here; let's just say all of it was pretty good. The vegetables were well-cooked (still trying to figure out what sort of radish thing that was up there next to the mashed potatoes), the lotus root was a nice touch, the pickles were pickly and the saurkraut was saurkrauty. The meat cake was basically a hamburger made of meatloaf; paired with the mashed potatoes, it was really satisfying. Definitely a nice break from the ordinary.

That pig blood cake-looking thing in the upper right was actually a dense German bread-like thing with a faint flavor of prunes to it... The huge slab of butter on top was pretty much tasteless, but maybe that's a cultural thing. It was interesting, to say the least, and underneath was a bowl of equally interesting vinegary coleslaw stuff.

One member of our party ordered the peppermint lamb, and what a great decision it was! I stole a rib and enjoyed it HEARTILY. I haven't had ribs in a looong time, and could tell these had been lovingly prepared.

The other member of our party got the soup of the day and a cheese sausage appetizer, which came with saurkraut and a soft pretzel! We were all thinking that together this would be enough food, based on the prices, but it was Not Quite. Take note.

You can't see it here but the soup had a generous serving of vegetables and meat hiding at the bottom, and was pretty tasty.

A good way into our meal, the waitress surprised us with potato wedges! They came with either ketchup, mustard, or more tasteless butter (on potato wedges???), so we got them all. The mustard was good sharp mustard, none of that plasticky yellow Kraft business.

Then, later still, the owner stopped by our table and was like, "Do you want pretzels?" And I was like, FUCK YES I WANT PRETZELS. They were just your standard supermarket pretzels but I suppose they're pretty exotic here.

And then the waitress came back, with this! What we have here is basically gas station shoelace jerky cut up into little slices, and I loved it. The hint of BBQ sweetness made it a good lead in to...

...dessert! My student meal came with a little scoop of ice cream in an adorable dish. I only wish it could have been bigger! I think it was rum vanilla flavor, or something equally alcoholic, and could just as well have been made by hand. It was dreamily smooth, sweet, and had a happy touch of alcoholic aftertaste... ABSOLUTELY delicious, 100%.

For an extra 180NTD my peppermint lamb friend got a set meal with a bowl of soup, choice of drink, and (way better) dessert: either handmade cake or "pancake ice cream." That latter option is Germanglish for the above, a honey almond crêpe with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, powdered sugar, and more incredible ice cream on the side. I stole a bite of crêpe and JUST LOVED IT.

AND THEN, AFTER ALL THAT, the owner came by with complimentary gingerbread cookies. I almost cried. I don't know if it was because he could tell I was going to write a food blog, or liked the fact that I am white, or is actually Saint Nicolas is disguise, or what, but I don't care. It was the best present I've gotten in a long time: the taste of Christmas.

If you're at all homesick for your Western homeland, I especially recommend this restaurant during the holiday season. But you should go anytime! I'm sure you'll be glad you did.

OVERALL REVIEW: 5/5

Grandma Pasta House

達文郡義大利麵食店

No. 31, Minquan St, Xinxing Dist
高雄市新興區民權街31號
(07)226-9636

Monday-Sunday
11:30am-1:30pm
5:30pm-8:30pm

English friendly: yes
vegetarian friendly: yes
average cost: 200-300NTD

I'm a little reluctant to review this restaurant, because it means admitting that I was wrong... Good Italian food does exist in Kaohsiung. It does. It really, really does.

You'll have to work to get it though. Grandma Pasta House is open for very short periods of time each day, and you'll probably need a reservation to secure seats. We went at 7:00pm on a Monday without a reservation, and lucked out, but you're still advised to plan ahead.

It's quite a cozy little place. The inside is all decorated with actual art from actual Western countries, and that night's music playlist was in very good taste. Even though there were lots of other people eating that night, the ambience enveloped me like a happy Western cloud.

Rumor has it the owner of this restaurant is a Taiwanese person who spent time in Italy. I believe it, based on the menu alone. It's not one of those Taiwanese Italian monstrosities with a thousand nearly identical choices of topping and sauce for you to mix-and-match with the pasta of your choice. All the dishes have been carefully thought out, and are prepared from scratch. They even have specials that change with the day/season.

I only took a picture of part of the menu, but rest assured the rest of it is just as alluring. It's not too big, either--but you'll still have trouble deciding.

For an extra 80NTD you get bread/salad and a soup. (And for an extra 120NTD they'll throw in one of their appetizers as well!) The bread comes topped with "shrimp paste" and looks a little suspect but was actually really, really good. It was actual Western bread: crispy, airy, yeasty, and no slightly sweet aftertaste. 

The soup of the day was neither corn soup NOR pumpkin soup!!! An actual different kind of soup! Indeed it was cauliflower soup, and it was delicious. Creamy and satisfying, but not too rich.

The pitcher's worth of free drink, which you can see in the upper right corner there, was also delicious! I think it was some sort of iced tea with honey or something. Either way it was completely addictive and I had like four cups. If you do the same, you can get a second pitcher for the low low price of 10NTD!

Here we have fettuccini in tomato sauce, with sirloin steak and vegetables. Take a look at that sauce and you can tell it was prepared fresh, not poured out of a can. I thought the noodles in themselves were not super spectacular, but they had at least been cooked well. Meanwhile the sauce was amazing, and the beef possibly even more amazing.

After an arduous decision making process, I decided on the spaghetti in pesto sauce with shrimp and hot peppers. You can see the peppers in front there, but I couldn't taste them. Not one bit! I'm sort of used to that by now though.

It took me so long to decide in part because the waitress kept telling me that my selections "didn't have any sauce" and Was I Okay With That. I persisted in the end, and got this. I guess Taiwanese people don't consider the above to be sauce. Well whatever it was, it was GREAT. It absolutely made the dish: cheesy, salty, pesto-y... perfect. The noodles were ever so slightly undercooked, and the shrimp were not the most awesome shrimp I've ever had (though they came deshelled which was nice), but whatever I don't even care. This meal made me. So happy.

An extra 80NTD also gets you an after-dinner drink, so I chose lemon and pomelo tea. In retrospect it was a pretty odd choice on my part, since I don't usually like either of those fruits... But it was great! The pomelo came in sweet marmalade form at the bottom of the cup, balancing out the sour from the lemon. I finished it all, even though I'd already had like seven cups of free iced tea.

In conclusion, I am overjoyed to admit that this restaurant SHATTERED my expectations. I can't wait to take everyone I know here, and show them how real Italian food is supposed to taste.

OVERALL RATING: 5/5

Thai Delicious Thailand Burma Restaurant

泰好吃泰緬小館

No. 283, Zhonghua 4th Rd, Qianjin Dist
高雄市苓雅區林泉街92號
(07)715-1175

Monday-Sunday(?)
10:00am-9:00pm

English friendly: yes
vegetarian friendly: doable
average cost: 150-250NTD

Here we have another restaurant with a cute punny name: "Thai" in Chinese can is pronounced the same way as "too", as in, "This restaurant is too good for me to not give it all my stars." If anyone knows of other pun-named restaurants in Kaohsiung, please let me know; I would like to collect the complete set.

The first time we went here for lunch on a Saturday, it was mysteriously closed! Our luck was better on the second try (Monday). You should know that this joint is insanely popular, especially for dinner; I was told that sometimes people line up all the way down the street. Apparently their business is so good that their lunch options are all sold out by 1:30pm, because that's when they started closing up shop... It's an unpredicable place. If you want to eat here, you're going to have to work for it. Make sure to have a back-up plan just in case. 

Their menu has not only entertaining English translations ("Sea Food in Cabbate Root") but also PICTURES, making ordering a breeze. But how on earth will you chooooooose?

I learned an incredibly important thing from my lunch experience here, and that is that Thai 河粉 ("river powder" or rice noodles) are the thick, wide, super greasy 河粉 that I looove so much. Vietnamese 河粉 tend to be thinner and rounder and correspondingly less wonderful. Noodle connoisseurs take note. These noodles were delicious. 

Shrimp cakes! Served with about a teaspoon of clear sweet sauce not visible in the picture. Crispy and flaky on the outside, richly shrimpy on the inside! A hit.

And here we have fried squid in a spicy sour sauce. It was actually spicy (actually spicy), spicy like a warm hug. And the squid! Now I'm no squid expert, but this may have been some of the best squid I've ever had. It was so... hefty. And chewy! And paired with the vegetables and sauce, absolutely delicious.

Last but not least, we ordered this somewhat ominous looking coconut milk chicken and squid dish. It may have the misfortune of resembling curdled milk, but it tasted magical. The sauce was smooth and rich, and had an interesting flavor: not too salty, nor too sweet, but not bland either. (Curious parties are encouraged to order it yourself and find out more.) Best of all, all mixed up in it was more super awesome squid! This one of the first times I've really felt the gustatory benefits of living by a major fishing port.

Each plate costs around 100NTD, but the servings are a bit small so you'll want to order more than normal to balance things out. We ordered four dishes total, and I really can't find anything to complain about with any of them. The owner is an actual Thai and/or Burmese person (also very nice), so their food might even be Authentic Tasting too. 

In conclusion... 

It was... 

Thai Delicious!!!

OVERALL RATING: 5/5

Lahore Exotic Cuisine

拉合爾異國美食

No. 86, Linquan St, Lingya Dist
高雄市苓雅區林泉街86號
(07)726-6803

Tuesday-Sunday 
11:00am-2:00pm
4:30pm-9:00pm

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lahore.tw

English friendly: yes
vegetarian friendly: yes
average cost: 100-150NTD

I think I have a crush on this restaurant, everyone. Each time I think back about it I get happy butterflies in my stomach. I am just so, so glad that it exists.

Lahore "Exotic Cuisine" is what happens when a Mexican food stall and an Indian restaurant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan decide to combine forces to create something wonderful. It feels like there are so many stories behind this place, part of the reason it tickles me so. It's owners are (at least) two exotically ambiguously ethnic men and probably their Taiwanese wives. The guy at the front greeted us in fluent Chinese, which will be sure to amuse and delight all Taiwanese members of your dinner party. I was also amused and delighted.

Once again their menu is gigantic, so come prepared to conquer your crippling indecision or you'll never get to eat. On the left you have a selection of curries (paired with either rice or naan), on the right a selection of burritos, and in the center an intriguing and sometimes frightening selection of exotic drinks. 

You can order your curry/burrito on its own or as part of a set meal, in which case it comes with Indian milk tea and this slightly sweet fruit and yogurt dish. The milk tea was not overly sweet or thick, like most Taiwanese bubble milk tea, so it actually seemed a little watered down to me... Heh. But it was still good, and the yogurt made for a pleasant little dessert.

I chose the "Turkish yogurt drink (salty)", even though I was scared of it. It served its purpose quite well, in that it was INTERESTING, and even good, at least for the first few sips. It sort of tasted like salty, watered-down, sour butter, if that makes any sense. You should try it if you haven't had anything of the sort before, because you probably won't find it anywhere else. Just make sure to bring a few friends along to share the experience i.e. help you finish it.

The brilliance behind this restaurant, why it just works, is that the naan for the curry and the tortillas for the burritos are actually the same thing: a magical, soft+chewy bread substance prepared fresh by the owner outside in front of the restaurant. I would say it leans more towards a homemade Mexican flour tortilla than less-dense Indian naan, but it's just perfect paired with curry as well.

We ordered the spicy (actually not that spicy) chicken curry pictured above. Definitely not your standard Taiwanese curry. I'm not exactly sure what makes it so different--maybe it's not as sweet, or more heavily-spiced--but it tastes authentic, and oh-so-very good. 

I ended up choosing the beef and double cheese burrito, instead of the intriguing "fruit, potato, and cheese" burrito my heart really wanted. My good decision making skills may have won out this time, but I'll be back! My curiosity must needs be satisfied.

Though there were no beans inside (?), this burrito was still very satisfying. The double cheese did not stand out as much as I thought it would, and closer inspection revealed it to be that fake orange American cheese sold in prepackaged slices in Carrefour, but whatever I don't care!!! The tortilla was sooooo good, and the mixture of rice, cheese, vegetables, and beef just right. Plus its oily juices ran all over the place with every bite. Aah.

This restaurant is just what Kaohsiung needs: a taste of the exotic to break up the endless cycle of noodles, hot pot, rice, noodles, hot pot... And ONLY Kaohsiung could have it. It may not be as authentic as actual restaurants in India or Mexico, or maybe even as delicious, but that's not the point--it is its own creation, completely unique and utterly charming. 

For such a special experience, I am very happy to give away Kaohsiung Gastronaut Handbook's very first INFINITE RECOMMENDATION.

OVERALL RATING: 5/5