A taste of the mountains

My second group of visitors were in town from their new home in Shanghai, and they were desperately craving some local food.  They were already booked for a few Japanese meals, so I took it upon myself to get them some Taiwanese fare.  Since many local restaurants are closed on Mondays - and it also happened to be Father's Day in Taiwan - I eventually decided to make the long trek back to my own neighborhood for Mama Tu's Puli Restaurant (塗姆埔里小吃).  My previous visit left a good impression on me, and I was looking forward to something a little different.

We began with a goodie from last time - crispy-bone pig trotters (酥骨豬腳).  One of us doesn't eat trotters - but wasn't shy about picking up the peanuts - which just meant there was more for me!  I crushed one of the bones with my teeth, but decided I didn't like the sensation I get from swallowing it after all...  Very yummy collagen.

Stir-fried areca flowers with crab legs (半天花蟳腳肉) - not the most environmentally-friendly dish, as the areca plant (檳榔) - whose fruit is commonly known as betel nut thanks to the betel leaves they are wrapped in - is one of the contributors to the soil being loosened and washed away from Taiwan's mountainous regions.  However, it's a dish that is typically Taiwanese, especially from areas such as Puli (埔里) in Nantou County (南投縣).  I'll remember not to order this again...

Asparagus flower stir-fried with shredded pork (蘆筍花炒肉絲) - I'm sure that these are really the flowers of asparagus officinalis... but they were kind of interesting and resembled the tips of asparagus.  Apparently these are in season.

Stir-fried rice vermicelli (埔里炒米粉) - still one of my favorite vermicellis in town.  So tasty with all that deep-fried shallots, mushrooms, coriander and a glistening coating of oil.

Pan-fried radish cake (煎蘿蔔糕) - ho hum.

Poached milkfish with pickled melon (蔭瓜虱目魚肚) - milkfish (虱目魚) is a Taiwanese staple, but my visitors don't seem to be very familiar with it...  This was not bad.

I enjoyed the meal as it featured a lot of ingredients not usually found elsewhere, and look forward to returning as it's just a stroll from my parents' place.