Taiwanese Frozen Meals in a Pinch

Braised beef, and chicken and corn noodles

I'm still on the hunt for delicious Taiwanese braised beef noodle that can easily be heated up from frozen.

The standard I'm measuring it against is The Regent Taipei's version that I used to eat in Hong Kong.

The frozen packages from the box

In Vancouver I recently tried the version from A.Bento, a Taiwanese eatery on Broadway, which also offers some frozen dishes to make at home, including braised beef noodle.

Each box comes with two packs, one with the braised beef in the sauce with some bok choy, and the other is the dried noodles.

You take the beef out of the packaging and it's a giant solid mass that melts and heats up relatively quickly in a pot, while in another boil some water and then put the noodles in.

The two come together in under 15 minutes, and tastes straight forward. The beef is very tender, but perhaps the spicy braised beef noodle version would be tastier.

I also tried the frozen chicken with corn and noodles, with the same preparation. However, here the serving is one whole chicken drumstick which takes longer to heat up, but nevertheless is pretty tasty and substantial, garnished with corn kernels. 

The noodles in both are wide and a little thick, and has a kind of homemade texture to them. The soups of both are savoury and comforting.

Bookseller Lam Wing-kee Dead at 70

Lam was the owner of Causeway Bay Books 

Lam Wing-kee, the Hong Kong bookseller who was in the news for being abducted and detained on the Chinese mainland in 2015, has died at the age of 70 following a years-long battle with cancer in Taipei.

Before then it was an open secret that books critical of Chinese leaders were sold in Hong Kong, and those curious to learn more would head to Causeway Bay Books, as these kinds of publications were banned on the mainland.

His press conference in 2016 attracted attention

However, on October 24, 2015, he and four others related to the bookstore had disappeared, and it wasn't until February 4, 2016 that the provincial authorities in Guangdong confirmed Lam was in their custody, along with two others.

Eight months after he was detained, Lam was allowed to return to Hong Kong to fetch more information on the customers of the bookstore, but instead of returning to the mainland as instructed by the authorities, he held an unprecedented press conference with legislator Albert Ho Chun-yan.

Lam claimed he was abducted by mainland officials at the Hong Kong-China border in Shenzhen in October 2015, and that he was blindfolded and handcuffed, and transported to Ningbo. He recounted being held in solitary confinement, interrogated and accused of illegally sending banned books to the mainland, that his confession on mainland TV was scripted, and the Hong Kong government didn't help him at all.

That press conference really made Hongkongers worried about their safety -- they were used to rule of law, knowing their rights, having access to a lawyer and an unbiased judge. But what happened to Lam could happen to anyone. And then what? What legal protections did they have if the Hong Kong government didn't assist them?

It seemed their greatest fears about China were actually happening.

Lam moved to Taiwan in 2019

In April 2019 Lam was in the news again for relocating to Taiwan, following the proposal of the extradition bill in Hong Kong. Opposition to that bill later morphed into the biggest protest marches for months in the city's history that were later quelled by the end of the year.

Lam started his life again in Taipei, crowdfunding to open his bookstore, Causeway Bay Books in 2020. When he opened it, Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen sent flowers and a congratulatory note. She later came in person.

Two years later, Lam revealed he had stage one lung cancer, and was receiving chemotherapy treatment. But by last July, he told the media that his cancer had already progressed to stage four, with some cancer cells close to his heart.

He slowly wound up his business and it was suspended last month.

Many will remember his courageousness in revealing what happened to him as a warning to others.

In a BBC interview last year, Lam said: "Everyone has their own values. You can't go against your values, nor can you betray others.

"If you believe something is right, you should continue to stick to it. It's not like you're harming anyone. If everyone could do that, this would of course be a better place."

Cravings for Beef Noodle Soup

The packaging and the reality

The last few years I lived in Hong Kong, my office was above a gourmet supermarket called CitySuper, which stocked food like fresh oysters, truffles and foie gras, but also miso paste, tomato sauce and rice. 

One treat I used to get was a box of the Regent Taipei's signature beef noodle soup from the frozen section of the store.

Inside was a vacuumed pack of frozen stock with slices of braised beef, and another of noodles.

The directions were to heat up the broth still in the packaging in boiling water, while cooking the noodles in another pot.

The best home version of beef noodles

Once they were ready then to combine them together and the result was so delicious that it was like a hug in a bowl. The broth was clear and yet so flavourful, the noodles soaked up the taste, and the beef slices were very tender.

A few weeks ago at T&T Supermarket I saw the store's own brand of stewed beef noodle soup and in the freezer section for $9.99 and I finally tried it today.

I briefly heated up the frozen broth in its packaging in warm water before emptying the pot and putting the block of stock back in it to melt over the stove. Once it was simmering, I put the packet of noodles in for a few minutes before pouring them all into a bowl.

First, the picture in the packaging is a bit misleading, as there are four small pieces of beef, but in reality there are only three! So the ratio of beef to noodles is quite low. 

Second, the broth is quite salty and tastes flat, not having much flavour. The saving grace are the chunks of tender beef and the chewy noodles.

Sadly this pack did not satisfy my beef noodle cravings -- will have to head to Din Tai Fung for that!

Taiwanese Duck and Ginger Hot Pot

A warming duck and ginger hotpot for a stopover in Taipei

On my way to Vancouver I stopped over in Taipei for a few hours and met a friend there for dinner.

Unfortunately my flight was delayed by almost an hour, but I managed to make up for the time by rushing out of the plane at Taoyuan International Airport. I grabbed a cart to put my two hand carry luggage, which helped me breeze down the long corridor.

Vermicelli on the left, emperor vegetables, right

Then picking up my bags again we walked through a temperature check and to ensure we did not contaminate Taiwan, we walked on an elevated platform that was covered in artificial turf that had some sanitiser for the soles of our shoes.

After this walkway we arrived at passport control -- which hardly had any queues! I was amazed I was out of there in minutes. So was my friend who picked me up at the Arrivals area.

He insisted on taking me to eat a Taiwanese dish -- duck and ginger hotpot. It was pouring rain but a good excuse to warm up with this food, particularly with ginger!

We went to a Bawei location near the airport and it was pretty much an open-air restaurant, though it was completely covered, just the area facing the street was completely open, with yellow lanterns hanging outside advertising the name of the place.

There were many low tables with a hole in the middle and stools surrounding it, so it was almost like crouching, but not uncomfortable.

Tick off your orders here

We were given a sheet with ingredients on it to tick off, while a man first brought some charcoal that was heated up and placed them in the hole in the table, followed by a big clay pot filled with the duck soup, mostly duck bones, and big chunks of ginger. Some mushrooms were already added.

While we waited for raw ingredients to arrive, we had a plate of vermicelli, thin rice noodles tossed with sesame oil, a signature dish of this place. 

Unfortunately this particular place didn't have any duck blood! But we had other items like emperor vegetables, tofu, duck intestines, and fish dumpling wrappers. 

The meat from chopped up duck was quite tough and hard to extract from the bone, but the soup was delicious and surprisingly the ginger cooking in the pot for so long did not make the broth particularly spicy. It did hit the spot for me, being a rainy night and after traveling for three weeks the gingery soup helped me re-energise for my upcoming long-haul flight home.

Flying on Eva Air

Super comfortable seats on Eva Air

I have arrived in Bangkok after losing a day traveling, but the journey was quite smooth thanks to Eva Air.

The Taiwanese airline has a late night flight flying from Vancouver (one of the last flights on the evening at 1.15am) to Taipei.

There are many benefits to flying Eva Air -- my first time -- starting with the seats. They are very comfortable with lots of support, unlike other airlines where it feels like sinking into a worn-down seat that feels like your bottom will fall through at any minute.

On the 777, the configuration of the seats is two on both sides, and four in the middle. Premium economy is a nice cabin to be in, small enough to have a quiet space, and two dedicated washrooms that are cleaned regularly.

Taoyuan International Airport

Another benefit of Eva Air is the food. When you check-in online, you can choose the menu you want to eat, and will be served before everyone else! I didn't even order a special menu! The food is very good. For dinner I had braised chicken with chestnuts and rice, then a few hours later was handed a triangular shaped package that was a chicken curry puff, and then breakfast was congee with fish flakes and scrambled egg. 

The staff are polite, and very helpful particularly to the older passengers who need assistance with putting their carry-on luggage away.

In terms of entertainment, there's a selection of movies which contain a mix of Western and Asian ones; the Western selection may not be as current, and there's no trailer to entice you to watch it (or not).

After 13 hours we landed in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, and after going through a security check, it was very easy to find the transfer gate. The same area has a food court with some culinary choices, and lots and lots of souvenirs, from edible ones like pineapple cakes and tea to cigarettes and whisky.

I boarded the second flight to Bangkok (that later went on to Amsterdam), and the premium economy section was less than half full. For breakfast I had fried rice with a side of vegetables like mushrooms and edamame, and sweet potato that was delicious.

Landing in Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, we made a trek to passport control where there were a lot of people who needed to be processed. Luckily there were many officers working and they went through the passengers relatively quickly.

My suitcase took a while to arrive (as I had checked in early in Vancouver), but at least it was in one piece!

Foxconn's Terry Gou Makes Taiwanese Presidential Bid

Gou has announced he wants to run in Taiwan elections

The upcoming Taiwan presidential elections next year are going to be very interesting now that Foxconn founder Terry Gou has thrown his hat into the ring.

For months he has kept political pundits guessing, but now that he has made the announcement, the jockeying for power can begin in earnest, though some experts think the businessman does not have much of a chance.

That's because he is running as an independent and will need signatures of 1.5 per cent of Taiwan's voting population, or 290,000.

As for his platform, Gou aims to unify the opposition to defeat the governing Democratic Progressive Party led by Tsai Ing-wen, who has led Taiwan for two terms and cannot seek another.

He made his wealth from Foxconn factories

He criticised the DPP for its policies of bringing "Taiwan into the risk of war" with China, as it threatens to take back the territory it has claimed is its own.

"I will definitely not allow Taiwan to become the next Ukraine," Gou said.

He also said Taiwan needs new strategies for economic development and for issues at home.

"Domestically, the national policy direction is filled with all sorts of mistakes. There's no way to solve the difficulties of Taiwanese industry and people's livelihoods."

Politically he is more aligned with the Kuomingtang, who ruled China in the first half of the 20th century, then lost to the Chinese Communists in 1949 and fled to Taiwan ever since, and vowing to take back the mainland one day.

However the Kuomintang is worried Gou is splitting the vote of its own party, even though he claims to be uniting the opposition party. 

Gou has made his wealth from Foxconn, the main supplier to Apple that has many factories in China that produce iPhones.

One wonders what Beijing thinks of this entrepreneur friendly to China, running to become president of Taiwan...

Lai of DPP is leading in the polls

But for now Gou's immediate task is to find the 290,000 signatures he needs to qualify as an independent. 

According to Wang Yeh-lih, a professor of politics at National Taiwan University says Gou has never garnered more than 20 percent of support that put him in the running with three other candidates: former Taipei city mayor Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People's Party, and current Vice President Lai Ching-te of the DPP, and new Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih for the KMT.

Lai is the frontrunner, with Ko and Hou trailing.

Nevertheless, one can't dismiss Gou just yet -- with Taiwanese politics, anything can happen from now until voting day on January 13, 2024.