[Taiwan] Lu Sih An 麓司岸餐坊 手創料理 @ Sun Moon Lake

Visited in May and the weather was generally hot in Taiwan. First time visit to Sun Moon Lake and was eager to try some of the local eats here. Lu Sih An was recommended by our local driver so we decided to give it a try. This restaurant serves Ita Thao food.

restaurant facade

interior

From the framed medals on the wall, the place/Chef seemed to be an award winning one! The TV in the restaurant had food programmes featuring its restaurant on loop.

menu

There's set meal as per normal in a Chinese restaurant, or one could do ala-carte. We picked a couple of items based on guide and shop's recommendation as well as our own preference. Or rather, our own inquisitiveness to try the new foods!

The prices are for mid-range dining and the interior feels like my hometown restaurant. It is airconditioned and seating were comfortable. We were there before 630pm and there were about two other tables occupied.

The lady staff/boss was pretty humorous. There is a dish that our guide requested for them to prepare earlier. It is the shop specialty of deep fried sharpbelly fish. Thanks to Wiki, now we know that sharpbelly fish is a type of wild carp.

Specialty - Crispy Fried Sharpbelly Fish 酥炸奇力鱼 @NT180

It is salted and deep fried along with seaweed. Quite addictive, but one needs to watch out for some sharp protruding bones. Tasty and goes well with beer. But we did not do beer that evening because too full from pre-dinner snacks.

To warm our tummy, we had soup. Oh my. The soup pot was huge! We had bowls after bowls of the warm soup. Down-to-earth flavours but too bad the clams were not as sweet as I had expected.

Miso Soup with Clams and Mixed Mushrooms @NT480

Did I tell you how much I love the vegetables in Taiwan? Well, I do! Especially those variants that we can't find in Singapore/Malaysia. Adding a touch of exoticness into our food intake. We ordered Guo-Mao which is a type of wild fern. Not sure why the vegetable is named like a cat but it has a tongue numbing effect when eaten raw. Maybe it was because of this that we got the saying of "the cat got your tongue?" Hmm, points to ponder. The stir-fried vegetable was soo good!

過猫 Guo-Mao Vegetable Fern @NT120

Because we were at Sun Moon Lake, we gotta order a lake fish to try! Steamed version. About SGD21 for one steamed fish. It is abit like tilapia though not muddy.

Steamed Sun Moon Lake Fish @NT450

Oops, forgot to mention we did order an appetiser. Since it was bamboo shoot season, we ordered a baked bamboo shoots with cheese. Its Chinese name is Baked Beauty Legs? So funny.

焗烤美人腿 Baked Water Bamboo with Cheese @NT250

We also ordered wild boar meat on hotplate but that's the one dish that was least likable (for me). It was sprinkled with some herbs that not only masked out the taste of the meat, it tasted something like those bitter powder medicine that you had to pour onto your tongue.

Dinner for 6-pax

Our driver, Sam was so nice to order dessert for us. Goreng Pisang. Joking, but indeed it was a banana fritter type of dessert. Looks lovely and tasted crispy and sweet. Banana taste was minimal. Kids would love this!

signature dish of fried banana 麓司岸の焦焦者 ·@NT250

麓司岸餐坊 手創料理

Address: 號, No. 108文化街, Yuchi Township, Nantou County, Taiwan 555
Website: http://www.lusihan.com.tw/
Contact: +886 4 9285 0451
Business Hours:
Daily: 11AM - 230PM, 530-830PM
Close on Sundays

[Taiwan] Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 Sights and Eats Part 1

First maiden visit to Sun Moon Lake and it was a great decision to get the hotel with lakeview.  The area of our stay was at Ita Thao (伊達邵). Stayed for one night at Hu Yue Lakeview B&B and the per night cost was about $172 per room. The size of the room was huge and pretty comfortable.

view from room

living room

bed

bathroom

The room came with complimentary boat ride (2 tickets) as well as breakfast for the next morning. As our time at Sun Moon Lake was rather limited, we decided on the last boat ride (no-disembarkation round trip) from Ita Tao pier to Shuishe and back.

boat tickets

We went down to Ita Thao pier (伊達邵碼頭) soon after check-in, in order to catch the boat. But since the ticket did not indicate the boat company nor number, we were unsure of which boat was ours. Am guessing that it is any boat as long as the captain is around. Just ask around. The captain asked if we would like to get any of those famed grandma's tea eggs and he could order it ahead of time so that we could get some of those without having to leave the boat. Didn't take up his offer as we were too stuffed and wanted to save stomach space for dinner.

boats awaiting

captain's view

reaching the end of half the trip (this was the place for grandma's tea leaves egg)

The boat puttered along the lake gently and the captain would introduce some nuggets of information in Mandarin. He would also point out some of the spots along the way but most of the time, I couldn't catch where he was indicating to.

The boat stops for about 5 minutes while the rest of the passengers who would like to roam the other side, were free to disembark. For us who would like to return to Ita Thao pier, need to take the same boat back as this was the last ride for the day.

captain having his smoke break

sun is setting, time to head back

lighthouse with 3 lights

The round trip boat ride was done within 45 minutes. We were in time for some snacks before dinner!

to measure the lake water level

panoramic view of Ita Thao Pier

have you heard about the legend of the white deer?

We scouted around the area near our B&B to see what we could find. Most eateries were not open and the area has few visitors during our time of visit.

alley near our hotel

snack time!

We spotted a shop selling xiao long bao (小笼包) and decided to give it a try. Friends ordered a lu rou fan (卤肉贩) and chilled bamboo shoots too. It was the season for bamboo shoots during the May period.

boiled and chilled bamboo shoots

It was novel, eating the boiled chilled bamboo shoots. The shopkeeper showed us how to peel off the outer layers and just eat the inner shoots with mayonaise. Who would've thought simple chilled bamboo shoots matched so well with mayo? Yums!

braised pork rice 卤肉贩

pork dumplings 小笼包

sour spicy soup with dumplings 酸辣汤

The xiao long bao was nice and served piping hot. The sour spicy soup wasn't really spicy but it has the right tanginess. The shopkeeper advised us to add a tiny bit of the chili oil on the table to lift up the flavours. We did and it was like super hot! Just one tiny bit will have your tongue burning but it was a good burn. Goes off after a short while.

Was really amazed by how we could do dinner after this snack. There were 5 of us and we ordered enough for at least 3 pax full meal. That meant, our stomach was supposed to be half-full.

Dinner venue was at Lu Si An 鹿司岸餐坊 which one had to make reservation first. We didn't pre-reserve but we did drop by to inform the restaurant staff. She suggested we come early for dinner as the other slots are all reserved.

[Media Preview] Super Japan Fest @ Millenia Walk

Super Japan Fest happening on 7 July to 8 July at Millenia Walk. Come join in the fun with the family, as entrance is free!

Highlights include the kids' favourite Pikachu Parade where one gets to see not one, not two but six cute Pikachu live and, what is more fun than Pikachu Parade? Pikachu Meet & Greet, of course! So hug'able these yellow bouncing pika-pikachuuus! Ever watch magic show live before? Japanese Comedic Magician Akira Kimura will keep you entertained, as too with Tambourine Master Gonzo. You'll also get to see fluid Ninja Parkour performance by Superfly Monkey Dragons on both days.

events line-up

Look out for the booths around Level 1 and Level 2 where there are interesting activities to try. For example, the Human Claw Machine. The what? Yes, say that again. You know the claw machine game that's trending in Taiwan? This is the supersized me version. A human gets into the suspended harness and his/her friend will control the joystick to send the person to the spot where prizes are before the person is dropped towards the prize to catch it.

Human Claw Machine

At Level 2, there are Carnival and Arcade games to try. We tried the Carnival games and it was fun! Won a seal soft-toy (I wanted the unicorn though!) and Pokka bottled green-tea too.

let's win a unicorn

Here's a video of the soooo cute dancing Pikachus:

meet & greet

Pikachu

Parkour performance by Superfly Monkey Dragons:

from here to there

mid-air action

phew, safe!

And, there's $10 Food Deals at participating restaurants. The restaurants are YAYOI, Rakuzen, Teppei Syokudo, Tachihara Coffee Pullman Bakery, The Dark Gallery, Kurama Robatayaki & Yoi Sake Bar, Gyu Jin Shabu Shabu & Sukiyaki, Tomi Sushi, Saboten and Tengawa Hokkaido White Curry.

Here are those that we tried for the $10 Food Deals:

The Dark Gallery

Strawberry Matcha Shortcake + Hot Coffee @$10 nett

Saboten

Chicken Tonkatsu Set @$10++

Kurama Robatayaki & Yoi Sake Bar

Salmon Teriyaki Don, served with daily vegetables @$10++

Thank you Yi Tong and Millenia Walk for the invite. It was fun!

Cottontail Creamery @ 326 Serangoon Ave 3

Was there on a weekend with Ivan, Alvin, Tiara, Shermaine and Kris. Had some snacks prior to visiting but we still ordered up a storm. Coffee? Of course. The place was busy by the time we dropped by at about 1pm.

view from our table

Love the flowers on the table. It felt warm and homely. Besides coffee and tea, we ordered the smashed avocado, crackling Spanish pork, ham & cheese crepe and waffles with two scoops of ice-cream for dessert.

Make payment at the counter and await for the buzzer to vibrate when the food is ready.

wait

Meanwhile, we sipped coffee, relax and chit-chat. Flat white tasted fine without sugar. The shortbread cookie was lovely too.

flat white @$5

After a short wait, our food arrived. The spanish pork was impressive with the super crispy crackling. It did make a 'kruk-kruk' sound when sliced. Served with creamy mash potato (but it was a tad dry), savoy cabbage & bacon and blackcurrant jam. Super loved the jam! The pork itself was tender at the parts where it had a layer of fats. Yums.

Crackling Spanish Pork @$16.50

Next up, was the ham & cheese savoury crepe. The presentation of this savoury crepe was rather dull and first thought was, "Wow, raw egg!" The crepe was rather Asianish and feels like homemade. Comforting.

savoury crepe with ham & cheese with organic sunny-side up @$8.80

For the healthy, the smashed avocado would be to your liking. In fact, I liked it too! Housemade toasted organic bread, rocket salad, sprouts, organic buttersquash hummus, and preserved lemon. The colour combination made it all so much more appealing! I pinched a chunk off the bread, spread a little blackcurrant jam (from crackling pork), piled high with hummus and avo before topping it with rocket/sprouts. Lovely!

Smashed Avocado @$14.50

For dessert, we had the waffles with two scoops of ice-cream. Actually, the mini-celebration was brought forward way way earlier, as the staff served the dessert first before any of the mains. Ooops!

Happy Birthday Ivan!

Nevertheless, we enjoyed our stay at Cottontail Creamery, with their friendly staff. One could try as many ice-cream flavours including its award winning vanilla before deciding on eventual scoop. There are unique flavours such as IPA beer. The chocolate was good.

waffles with olive oil and chocolate ice-cream @$12.30