Never Failed to Encounter the Traditional Dishes

Located in a peaceful community in north district of Taichung, Roa-shiu is just the right place to chat with friends and enjoy leisure time in the evening. The name of the restaurant, called Roa-shiu cha xuan, literally means the place for people to enjoy tea and the tranquil feeling as the quiet water flow you may get. The name do explain the spontaneous atmosphere there: several people are chatting joyfully, some are busily digging in the food to have a rush lunch-time meal, and some are just sitting alone near the window and watching the bustle scene on the street.

The restaurant is famous for its traditional Taiwanese tea dessert(resembles the afternoon tea dessert in western culture). One of my favorite is fried tofu. The tofu is not actually what we eat in the night market but a deep-fried cooking instead. Outside skin of the tofu is brittle and crispy; soon you will feel the tenderness of tofu slide through the tongue. The pickled vegetables taste sweet and sour so I will recommend to eat with tofu together.

Milk tea with wheatgerm is recommended if you prefer to have drink during the chatting. You can feel the texture of wheatgerm  and smooth milk tea wandering inside your mouth. I order this every time I come here; I suppose that I like the wheatgerm better than the milk tea.

The restaurant also offers meal such as noodles, rice, hotpot and soup; yet they are in small portion. The reason for that is because the restaurant prefers customers to have various options instead of only ordering one. (Taiwanese people has the exact habit of ordering main dishes, soup and side dishes in every meal.) Compared to the food in night market, the dishes here cooked with less oil and healthier; and most importantly, they all taste like the real Taiwanese homemade dishes which is warm and family-like. 

The restaurant opens from 10am to 12am. For people who tend to have midnight snack, Roa-shiu will be the perfect place to fill your belly.

















No. 15-41, Section 1, Shānxī Rd, Bei District, Taichung City, Taiwan 404

Steam-fried Baozi

Most of the foreigners puzzle when they first encounter "shui-jian-bao", since they have only heard of baozi. These two type of food actually share several similar making before they become the real dishes. The ingredients are almost the same: flour, sugar, yeast, and different fillings that you favor the mo. Yet the difference depends on how to cook them. Baozi is known as cooked in the bamboo steamer while the shui jian bao, literally means steam-fried baozi, is cooked in the pan with oil first and then water.

The old couple have more than 20-years experience in cooking shui-jian-bao and they are truly good at this (the shui-jian-bao experts I assume). The puffy buns with slight golden-crust edge, and large amount of fresh vegetable fillings inside. My recommendation is to eat this when is hot since you could taste both crispy(surface) and soft(inner skin) at every bite!

The food stand opens at the evening and closes when the food is sold out. They also sell Chinese traditional pancake with sweet red beans filling yet the shui-jian-bao is the best seller. Go and get a hot shui-jian-bao if you are a traditional food lover!