Siqianshui 四嵌水 (sì qiàn shuǐ)
On one of our earlier adventures in the Wulai area a few days ago, Tammy noticed a new vegetarian restaurant in upper Guishan, one of the larger communities between Garden City and Wulai. The restaurant had a traditional look and feel about it, with neat red brickwork, old wooden window panels at the entrance, and artistically arranged potted plants and flowers. In fact it reminded me of a place that we used to frequent for years run by a Hakka husband and wife near Honghegu just a stone's throw from the Julong hot spring resort. So, after our walk below Datongshan toward the Feitsui Reservoir (where we saw lots of birds and a troupe of Taiwanese macaques), we decided to try the restaurant on our way home. As Tammy approached the place, she remarked again how familiar it felt. When she got to the door, there was the wife of the couple who had run the restaurant near Honghegu. She was so happy to see us. We were really happy to see her. The last we had "seen" of the couple was the aftermath of a terrible fire at their last restaurant a few ears ago. She explained that she had just opened this new place alone. We did not ask her where her husband was or what had happened. Her previous restaurant had not been a vegetarian one, but a great restaurant that accommodated vegetarians. The cuisine was very local, a combination of Hakka, Taiwanese and indigenous flavors, always beautifully presented. Tonight, we did not order from any menu - she hasn't made one yet. She decided that we would eat two dishes and a hotpot. A fresh Shitake mushroom dish, a vibrant Taiwanese style aubergine dish, and - I would never have ordered this but ate it with gusto tonight - a "Ma-La" hotpot of stinky tofu. As we left, we entered her info into our Garmin GPS to help more people find her place. 真味素食堂 新烏路三段147號. Call first if you plan to go there soon. She's still settling in. 2666-6730.
Keywords:
bird,
flower,
hike,
mammal,
map,
plantPeople:
Philip,
TammyLocations:
Guishan, 龜山,
Home, 家,
Xiaoyi, 孝義Date: 2015:02:23