No booking needed: Tainan (1)

We arrived in Tainan at precisely the indicated time. Like Taipei the local HSR station feels like an airport. It is also as far away from the city centre as a real airport and we unfortunately made a noob mistake by catching a cab to our hotel in town. Why? Apparently we could have caught the local train for a fraction of the cost of a taxi. One lives and learns.

After checking into our hotel we went to look at a local tourist spot, the Chihkan Tower. On the way there we stopped off at a little restaurant (originally opened as a way for single mothers for themselves) to sample some Tainan fare.

Coffin bread or guan cai ban. A deep fried hollowed out thick slice of bread filled with creamy seafood, named for its resemblance to a coffin (including a lid).

Shi mu yu (fried mik fish fillet with a pepper salt dip).

Dan zai mian. A local simple noodle dish made with minced pork, named after the way the noodles were carried by street vendors, via wooden containers suspended on a pole or dan zai.

Ding bian cuo. A soup based noodle dish. The noodles are made by spreading a runny flour paste across the rim of hot wok containing a seafood soup made with, among other things, oysters. One the paste is cooked, it is simply scraped off into the soup.

Wan gui. A steamed rice flour cake topped with prawns, and fried prawn rolls with a wasabi dipping sauce.