Taipei Snapped!

The SIA Brat – In 九份 (Jiu Fen), Taipei

Before I went to Hong Kong with the Pitchin Bitches, I had the impression that Hong Kong’s food was superb. I was told I could walk into any dim sum place in Hong Kong and the food would be good. That is so not true! Not all food places are made equal.

When the Pitchin Bitches decided to go to Taipei next, Shuping, who’s practically a local there, told us that we’d love the street food there. And she was not wrong. I fell in love with Taiwanese food.

One of my favourite snack in Taipei was tea eggs. I thought the ones at the 7-elevens around Taipei were good. I thought wrong. The tea eggs or 茶葉蛋 (cha ye dan) at 九份 (Jiu Fen) are SO much better! You could really taste the spices used to cook the eggs!

Tea eggs are first hard-boiled in water then the shell is cracked but not removed from the egg so that excess water can be drained from the hard-boiled egg. The cracks are also why the tea eggs has a marbling effect. The hard-boiled egg is then left to simmer in the spiced tea mixture at medium heat. The spiced tea liquid is made by boiling black tea leaves, soy sauce, and five-spice powder, which contains ground cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds, cloves and Szechuan peppercorns.

Sounds easy doesn’t it?

Perhaps one day I should try making tea eggs at home! These spices aren’t that hard to find in Singapore after all.

What do you think?
Have you tried eating a tea egg before? Did you like it? Have you tried making this at home before? Do share your recipe with us!