World Soy Milk King (世界豆漿大王)

World Dou Jiang (Soy Milk) King or so it says, directly translated. Yuki and I were in Yonghe（永和）during the afternoon looking for a good place to eat. But since we couldn't find anything that looked good, we decided to go to the ever famous 世界豆漿大王 (shi jie dou jiang da wang). They're famous for their soy milk if that wasn't obvious. Story has it that soy milk is not native to Taiwan, but it started in China. But during the wars between China, Japan and Taiwan, many immigrants immigrated into what is now Taipei's "New Taipei city" district. They brought along with them soy milk. And thats why most of the higher quality soy milk and famous soy milk restaurants were established in Yonghe. Particularly this establishment. Yuki has been meaning to go here, so we took advantage of this opportunity to try it out. We ordered two cups of cold soy milk, Xiaolong Bao, pot stickers and Xian Bing (餡餅). The soy milk tasted familiar, but I couldn't place where or when. Oh well. It was excellent! It has a different smokey and deep soy taste that other places doesn't have. Other places, like ones near me in Tianmu, are more sweet and artificial. The pot stickers were ok. The Xian Bing was good, but nothing to praise about. The Xiaolong Bao, surprisingly tasty! It's just about as good as Din Tai Fung! I was very surprised by this, I didn't except to find good xiaolong bao at a breakfast/dou jiang place. No lines and it's much cheaper than Din Tai Fung! MMMmmmmm soo good! I really need to have a return visit and see what other surprises they have stored up their sleeves. Afterwards, we took a long and confusing trip just to visit a eco-green Starbucks in Neihu. As confusing as the trip was, we got to explore and discover new things while walking. We discovered a Porsche mechanics shop. You know, in case I get a car in Taiwan, it has to be my favorite, Porsche. haha. And more on the dreaming, we discovered a kitchen ware store. A fairly large one with a lot of unique, imported and beautiful kitchen related plates, tools, pots and bbq grills. It was like a Taiwanese version of Williams-Sonoma. Both places were on Section 6, Minquan East road. Finally arriving at the eco-green coffee house, we got two cups of coffee and found a seat in a corner. I brought my laptop and worked on my resume. Although it was a pretty arduous to get to that Starbucks, it was nice to see Neihu. It was my first time, so I got to feel the vibe of this district. It's really more like Taizhong. Wide streets, modern buildings and much less automotive and foot traffic. It would be a nice place to live, if you had a car (Porsche ;)) and a garage. Distance to the MRT is far and the bus system is never simple. So personal transportation is a must there. Evidenced by the numerous dealerships we say from the window of the bus as we headed back home.

LEED Eco-green Starbucks (Neihu)
Southeast corner of Section 6, Minquan East Rd. and Section 6, Minquan East Rd. Lane 180
Neihu area, New Taipei district, Taiwan

世界豆漿大王 (World Soy Milk King)
台北縣永和市永和路二段284號
No. 284, Section 2, Yonghe Rd.
Yonghe district, New Taipei city, Taiwan