Review: Gaoxiong Doujiang Restaurant in Kaohsiung
Day 2.
We also got a portion of the Taiwanese danbing. It's basically an egg + cabbage dish stuffed inside a thin crispy pancake. They cut it up to a bite-size portion so it's really easy to grab using your chopstick, even if you have a mediocre chopstick skill like me. Hehe. This was suck a nice, light dish, we even contemplated to order an extra one but thankfully our self-control won.
Welp! We slept in, of course. We had planned to start our journey early in the morning so that we can spend as much time outside as possible since we don't have a lot of time in Kaohsiung. That plan went out the window pretty quickly. LOL. I have to say though, the melatonin works quiet well.
Side note: we have heard of melatonin since ages ago. As you can see on the BC Gov't website, it's a hormone that helps regulate your sleep cycle. I used to do 1-week travel to Jakarta to see my family because I have limited vacation days from work. As you can imagine, it's tough on your body since the journey from Vancouver to Jakarta takes 21hrs incl. transit, and the time difference is a killer (14 hours difference). So taking melatonin to help you sleep (and therefore get rid of jet lag sooner) seems like the perfect solution! Right?? Nope. Unfortunately for me, when I tried taking melatonin a few years ago, it didn't react well with my body. I ended up with a feeling of anxiety that wouldn't go away, fast heart beat, and -most annoyingly- I ended up with small hives all over my neck and chest. And ever since then, I never bothered trying melatonin again.
Now that you've heard my history of melatonin use, I decided to try it out again since this trip is also going to be a very short trip. And *drum roll* it worked like a charm this time around!! Knocked us right out and we woke up feeling refreshed and no more jet lag. Score!
We headed out to a very popular breakfast restaurant in the neighbourhood. Like I mentioned in the previous post, I strategically picked this location for our Airbnb because it's close to all the food that we want to try! They're literally all within walking distance.
Gaoxiong Doujiang Breakfast Restaurant is super highly rated in multiple platforms. They serve traditional Taiwanese breakfast at a very reasonable price, and it was only a 10 minute walk from our Airbnb. We got there around 9am on a week day and the place is reasonably packed. There were a couple of people on the line in front of me but we were able to find a table.
The restaurant was quiet easy to spot, they had large signs in the front. Plus you cannot miss the freshly made doughnuts being fried on the massive wok outside. LOL. I swear that's how they lure you in. Who wouldn't fall for these fried doughnuts?
There aren't a lot of English translation in Kaohsiung, unlike in Taipei. We speak zero Mandarin (I know, what a shame, since we're both of Chinese descent). So how did you guys order your food, you ask? Well..... we saved pictures from Google review of the food that we want, and we showed it to the nice ladies at the counter, accompanied with our fingers to show 1 or 2 orders. It worked really well! They then punched in the amount that we have to pay on their calculator so we can see how much we owe them. And we said our xie xie nie after paying, and everyone is happy :)
When our order was ready to grab from the counter, the nice ladies just waved at us with a big smile and great enthusiasm. LOL. They are so kind and friendly.
We ordered the doujiang, which is a savoury thick soy milk soup with pieces of fried doughnuts and Chinese scallions. I'm not a big fan of soy milk because of its beany taste. The only way I would drink soymilk is it's mixed with another flavour, such as when I buy a soy green tea latte (unsweetened) from Starbucks, because I personally think the soy milk compliments the green tea flavour quiet well. But other than that, I wouldn't drink soy milk on its own.
This doujiang though, is another level of experience. The soy milk soup is thick (almost foamy with curdles when we first got our order, but the curdles dissipated), but it's unlike a store-bought soy milk that comes in tetrapaks. This soy milk soup is rich and savoury! I could taste a hint of the beany note on the soybean but not as much, but it's overpowered by the rich and creaminess of the soup. And of course, the fried dough adds a nice texture and also adds a hint of "fried" flavour. Hehehe. You really can't go wrong with deep fried stuff.
To accompany the daojiang, we ordered a couple of the meat steamed buns which are freshly made at the back of the shop. The buns are soft and chewy and the filling is flavourful. Oh, they also provide some kind of a thick and sweet sauce & chili oil on the table, so you can add these sauces to your meal as you like.
Last but not least, we got an iced tea (not pictured) which balanced out the meal quiet well and provided us with a nice cool refreshment in a hot day.
Overall, our meal cost us less than $5 CAD! What a great deal for a fulfilling breakfast! We were very happy with what we ordered and glad that we got to try a traditional Taiwanese breakfast.
We were lucky that we got a place to sit, which I think was because we came during off hours. The restaurant was clean and comfortable; the tables are all outside (I like to all it "open concept". LOL) and you can share a table with other guests. Most importantly, everyone in that restaurant was so nice and friendly! We would come back again if we ever make our way into Kaohsiung in the future :)
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