Taiwan: Wang Steak & Saying Goodbyes (Day 9)

February 19, 2012

We grabbed breakfast at the college campus cafeteria near the apartment and ate on the go while strolling through campus. We shared an order of dumplings and each got a cup of soy bean milk. Andrew's dad didn't want us to eat too much as he had plans to take us to a popular Taiwanese steakhouse, Wang Steak. It was an upscale steakhouse and reservations were a bit harder to get. The menu is pretty much set with about 3 options to choose from for each course. Unfortunately I found a hair well wrapped within my appetizer and quickly sent it back to the kitchen. They apologized as they pride themselves in good quality control. What a slip up. I can understand if there was just a piece of (long) hair chilling on top of the food, but this strand was braided into one of items below. They gave me a new one of course and it was fine.

Octopus Appetizer (mine)

Shrimp appetizer (Andrew and Dad had the same thing)

Plum wine and another really sweet wine - really love the Taiwanese palate for wine. Super sweet, like dessert wine!

Soup (mine)

Soup in bread bowl with crust (Andrew and Dad had the same thing)

Soup

They served this really strong plum juice as a palate cleanser as well as to enhance your appetite for the meat to come

Andrew's American steak

My New Zealand steak

New Zealand steak

The type of meat (American or New Zealand) is just where the meat is from. So the deal with Taiwanese steak is that it is cooked well done. In the states, we like our quality steaks medium rare. So there's a huge difference here. Andrew and I were both concerned about how tough and dry the meat was going to be since it's well done. Boy, were we wrong. The meat was so tender and juicy, it was unbelievable. I liked Andrew's steak better because it was super tender and juicy. The New Zealand steak was more chewy, as mentioned by the waiter. I wanted to try it anyway and it was still very good.

Some interesting sides: fresh sliced garlic, plum, broccoli, and not sure what the yellow thing was. Didn't really eat our steaks with this but I'm sure you are supposed to enhance flavors and to clean your palate

Fruit - wax apple!! I'm obsessed.

Early birthday celebration for Andrew's 25th

Happy Birthday baby!

Making a wish

Free cake! Was quite good!

Andrew's dessert - Chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream

Chocolate gift dessert with crazy stuffing inside. Was so stuffed by now, I barely touched it. And I don't really have a sweet tooth.

We wanted to pay our last visit to grandma as it was our 2nd to last day in Taiwan, to say our goodbyes. We stayed and chatted for a while and took some last family photos. It was tough to say goodbye, especially for Andrew because he never gets to see his grandma. 

Andrew, Grandma, Me

Group shot

After we bid our farewells, we went to pick up some souvenirs to bring home. We went to a few bakeries to pick up Taiwan's famous pineapple cakes as well as tea and some random treats from the local market. I wish I had planned better and purchased more and well thought out souvenirs for everyone ahead of time. It was a bit awkward for me to buy anything since Andrew's dad was paying for everything so I kept it simple.