Three Times Will Do It – Da Hu Chun in Shanghai, China

Worth the three attempts!

Shengjianbao

As the rain came down, Winnie and I quickly rushed through with our umbrellas, trying to find the restaurant marked on our map. As we hurriedly splashed through the puddles, we passed a familiar wooden sign. Not today, we thought, we're going to try something new. But as soon as we opened the door of the new place, a fly flew out. Then another. There was a swarm of bugs in the restaurant, crawling on the floor, the ceiling, everywhere. And that's when I turned to Winnie and said," hey, maybe we should go to Da Hu Chun."

A+, what about Tofu+??? - Tofu Plus in Cupertino, CA

Hey, June!

Side dishes!!!

With the final grade in the books, in comes dead week: the week for Saint Francis seniors who don't have any finals to relax until they have to report for graduation practice on Friday. And being the foodie I am, I decided to go find places to eat with friends! June is a good friend of mine from  a few classes at school, and (I'm writing this after graduation so I know now) was the salutatorian for our Class of 2017! Needless to say, she's a pretty smart cookie who also happens to know a lot about the best Korean food in the area. Needless to say, I found a time that worked for both of us in order to get a sample of the best Korean spots that I've never been to or heard of.

The Breakfast Club - Lai Lai Yong He Soy Milk in Shanghai, China

Winnie and some youtiao!

Today, I’d like to take you back to Shanghai (the land of Cha’s and Da Hu Chun) to talk about a different spot and an interesting difference between Taiwanese and Shanghainese breakfast styles. A popular chain across China and Taiwan for breakfast is Yong He Soy Milk (永和豆漿), which serves traditional breakfast at a very reasonable price. I actually learned about this chain on my trip to Shanghai, but as soon as I got back to Taiwan, I started to see it around more.

The Breakfast Club Part 1 – Fu Hang Soy Milk in Taipei, Taiwan

Line up!

OUT THE DOOR

So Taiwanese people really love their lines – you line up to get into the subway, line up at the beginning of school, and pretty much line up to go anywhere. But one thing Taiwanese especially love to line up for is trendy and hyped-up restaurants. This past year, I think there’s been a Krispy Kreme, In-N-Out, and even Alexander’s Steakhouse pop-up in Taipei and that really gets the Taiwanese populace going. The lines were out the door, but it doesn’t take a new restaurant to get the blood flowing around here. In fact, one of the most consistently long queues day by day is for the best Chinese breakfast in Taipei – Fu Hang Dou Jiang. So what is a Chinese breakfast? Well, allow me to explain.

The Los Altos Food Adventure - Part 2

Dish or Dash?

Sk8tr Gurl

So after we got out of our comfy leather chairs in the bookstore, we decided to head out and grab some dinner – but it was only like 3pm. So like any responsible person, I decided to teach Athena how to ride a skateboard. We headed over to a local elementary school and I steadily guided Athena through a few easy steps on how to skateboard, as I know it. I'm a left foot forward guy, and I like to put my non-pumping foot at the front of the board. For me, the key to skateboarding is to always lean forward, something I learned from wrestling (where Coach would slap my face in different directions, telling me "your body goes where your head goes!"). So to start off our afternoon I watched as Athena clumsily skated laps around the blacktop of my local elementary school.

So Maybe I Got Spammed – Cha's in Shanghai, China

Not worth it...

Lovable bun, with lovable butter!!!

So maybe I kinda deserve this, but no one deserves to get ripped off, so I'm going to go off on this place. Cha's is not good. I know, I'm in China I was bound to get ripped off some time right? Well yeah maybe I did but that doesn't really make any of this better. Anyway Winnie and I are tired out of our wits, and we see on a website that Cha's is a recommended place! Hey! That's great! I get really antsy about going to a place that isn't recommended online when I travel, so I do a lot of research beforehand to know where I go. Today was the first day that I was forsaken by the food website recommendation gods – Cha's is a no go if you're ever in the area.