Hiking in Taipei

This post focuses on one of the maja day trips I did with my bro during our 4 day stay in Taipei. We decided to do a morning hike up&around Elephant Mountain + spend a quiet afternoon wandering Maokong Mountain. Let me just put it out there, if you ever find yourself in the magical-ness of Taiwan, you absolutely must go on a hike of some sort & I suggest this one (naturally). It is a bit of a stair-master of a challenge (no Big Buddha hike though) BUT well worth the sweat. You get an absolutely breath taking (whether you like it or not) view of the city, Taipei 101 & as far as the eyes can see. We decided to venture a little more & with a little luck+help from a nice local couple, we found ourselves atop one of the mountains with the most beautiful view of Taipei. After getting lost, finding ourselves on the wrong side of the mountain & hitch hiking back to a metro station, we then set off for Maokong Mountain. They have an abundance of tea plantations, shops & restaurants with gorgeous views that are an irresistible escape from the chaos of the city. The must-try is the tieguanyin tea (what makes this place famous) & the views of course. Anyways, enough blabby blab & more ogling over the pictures.

so many stairs (again)

first view of taipei

there's also a little gym up in the mountains...I can't make this stuff up

2nd view of Taipei - a weee bit tired

3rd view

& then we got lost...woops

Maokong 

famous tea that is DELISH

nommy nommy hot pot

tea plantations high up in the mountains

Jiufen = Joy+Fun

Jiufen, Taiwan. Well to say this a little bit of a tourist trap is an understatement. Don't get me wrong, this town located on the side of a mountain does have some breathtaking views & interesting hikes all around. But be prepared to battle it out with a few bus-loads of Chinese tourists while you're there. It's made famous for a few reasons; gold was found here, therefore mad goldrush back in the day, & it was the location for the 1989 film "A City of Sadness". Also, it has copious amounts of food+knick knacks if your heart desires. All in all, interesting place that is easily accessed by bus (about 30-45 minutes away from Taipei) but beware of pushy+crowdy tourists. If you don't have much time in Taiwan, it can be skipped but do as you may. And now for the photographic memories...

nom noms

fried tofu sticks?

could even begin to guess what this is...

more noms

the most interesting things

SQUIDS

some great tea

around Jiufen

annnd the view (a wee bit cloudy)

Food in Macau

Let me put this out there - Macau has an EXTREME variety of fine dining... like EVERYWHERE. How did we choose for our 2 nights there? Like all my foodie adventures, I started with a nice little google search, blog search and general scavenger search for the top places. What did I find? First stop, we wined&dined at Il Teatro in the Wynn Macau which boasts to be the best italian found in Macau. My brother and I enjoyed the Chef's Signature Menu (chef Anthony Alaimo to be exact) which was a 7 course meal with various wine pairings. While some dishes were very tasty & literally left my mouth watering/wanting for more, some of the dishes didn't mesh well together with the wine pairings or had too many strong tastes thrown all in one dish. Am I being nit picky? Well yes. I may have an infatuation with hole in the walls and grimmy steet hawkers, but if I'm going to dish out the big bucks I expect some incredible food. I found some of the portion sizes too big (remember its a 7 course meal AKA a lot of food) & some of the wines were a bit too sweet to be paired with some heavy dishes. What was incredible though, was the musical fountain show (make sure to get window seats to view this lights/music/water extravaganza). Overall I liked this place (service was top notch of course) but wished the dishes could have been more "delicate" if that makes any kind of sense (no other words come to mind).
The second night we indulged in a little Japanese at Inagiku in the Star World Hotel. Let's just say, this was all about FRESHNESS. Some of the best sushi I've had, a fresh bean curd dish of some sort (suggested by our fabulous waiter) & some strong sake. We didn't have a big meal (just simple sharing plates for both of us) but the service was incredulous and the food was delish.

a little olive oil w balsamic vinegar & some tomato deliciousness to start

amuse bouche

fresh buffalo mozeralla w some ham & honey melon "consomme" - in other words, simply heavenly

wagyu beef strip loin carpaccio w asparagus & potato croquette

black angel hair pasta + prawns & squid = NOMMMMMS

so this was obviously my favorite... I didn't wait to take a pic. oops

it wasss grilled atlantic halibut w lobster & baby fennel

amuse bouche #2

water/light/music show

craycray

another great one - rigatonie yumminess

a little too big of a portion size - lamb loins

tiramisu cannoli w praline affogato - yep, this happened

some tea to end it all off (w a chocolate deliciousness for funsies)

inagiku 

bean curd - surprisingly DELICIOUS

beautiful glasses for SAKE