Village Cafe 村落餐廳

As we always go to Nanlioa Harbor for seafood. We always pass by to this restaurant from appearance outside the restaurant it doesn't seem to be inviting and offer a good food. Some saying said 'Don't judge the book by its cover.' We stopped to this restaurant last Mother's day since all the restaurants in  this area are full. Me and my husband are very hungry and its over 2 p.m and haven't eat anything. I guess we missed the lunch time. We were greeted with a women holding a baby I assumed is the owner of the restaurant. We were seated at second floor, after we place our order. We were doubt that maybe the food is not that delicious than we expect. When the food was served were so surprised by how good everything was! It was of the best Spanish restaurant in Hsinchu. And the next weekend, we went back to this restaurant together with my 2 kids.

As for the decor: Village Cafe is a two-story restaurant with simple wooden table and chairs with artistic decoration on the wall of candy bird. You will be surprised where you can find art? There was even a short wine list you can buy in a shop for a whole bottle or a glass of wine to match your dish.

Lemon granita  I am not a big 'cold icy drink' fan, but these were very good, and will be a great addition for a hot summer very refreshing.

Tortilla had reasonable texture was a comforting blend of egg and potato pieces.

And I love the chorizo with chickpeas has deep with a sweetness smoky taste of paprika and coriander.

The calamari it takes me back home, it has the same taste and flavor of squid adobo simply cooked in vinegar, garlic, onion and black pepper. It very fresh and tender without chewiness.

The garlic shrimp the most fresh shrimp tapas we ever had.

The beef stew serve with mashed potato, superbly tender and juicy in some simple mustard and red wine sauce.

They serve a nice and freshly bake warm bread to dip the sauce with other tapas dishes.

As for the main course; Personally we intended and opted to go for Paella called Paella Valenciana. I called this paella de marisco. I was told from someone in Spain paella Valencia is cooked in chicken with green vegetable like green beans and that is for sure. I always cooked pealla at home for my family. And this seafood paella was delicious very impressive chef who ever cook this paella dish.

Squid paella cooked in squid-ink. This rice was cooked entirely in squid-ink, and the saltiness comes from the ink itself a very natural flavour, but I still felt it was a bit over salty for me. However, its really good! 

Clams in pasta its really good to taste the clam sauce infused so deeply in the pasta.

And for the dessert, they only serve cake roll nothing to be Spanish, I am not a fan of just cake and cream. However it was moist and strong in flavor of raspberry. Overall: Discovered that Village Cafe is an epicure's delight featuring everything from tapas to paella pans. I would recommend to try this restaurant if you are visiting Nanlioa.

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Village Cafe 村落餐廳
新竹市南寮街199號
No.199, Nanliao St. Hsinchu City
Tel No: 03-5366672
Website: http://www.villagecafe.com.tw/

Jane Xiang HK Style Restaurant 珍香港式飲茶

We have known Jane Xiang for more than 15 years now and they have been nothing but consistently and turned out to be good quality affordable Hon Kong Chinese food. It's been a while since we've eaten here though so we made plans to have dinner after Miaoli. The restaurant is full when we arrived even its almost past 8 p.m. when we got there. But we were lucky that one family just left a table so we were seated and taken care of right away. The menu features a variety of Chinese food and dim sum, there are so many different dishes to choose from. The interior is pretty much the same as it was nothing fancy but it's very nice, decent and traditional. Once we were done ordering after 15-20 minutes the food was served shortly.

The baked bbq pork pastry has always been one of the dim sum that I will order first. The crispy exterior had browned and glazed while the interior was simple sweet savory pork filling and did not disappoint.

The steamed prawn dumplings is another dim sum which I would not fail to order. They’re delicate, the succulent prawns contained by the thinly light moist skin and a burst of flavor on the inside.

Another dish that my husband he couldn’t refrain from ordering because he knows I'm a big fan of pork intestine was a deep fried pork intestine served with pineapple chunks and mustard sauce. The skin was crisp  that gives way to a more chewy experience after the first bite with nary a hint of salty and fragrant spice . However...I realized that the intestines were a little too oily and tasteless.

Having more to satisfied our pallate, we moves onto stir fry prawns with egg and scallion. This was so far the best egg and prawn we have had. The flavor was amazing! The egg it wasn't overcooked, the prawns was really fresh and perfect portion size as well!

Assorted meat grill platter a combination of roasted chicken, duck and pork with its fatty crispy skin it goes well with the pickle cabbage or bao chai they provide along with the sauce. The duck and chicken was exquisitely juicy were bursting with flavours.

Another favorite of us at this place is the rice hot pot in savory soy sauce top with cantonese sausages and vegetables was superb.

Our server she asked me to take a picture while mixing the rice. This dish is very tasty especially after mixing it with soy sauce. The best part of eating this dish is the rice on the bottom got very crispy when you have to scrape off the burnt rice that stuck unto the pot to get some mouthfuls of rice had that nice smokey flavour.

Next up, the seafood pan fried noodle it had ingredients such as squid, shrimp, roast pork meat, sea white cucumber I gues a bit of vegetables like bok choy. The noodle is quickly deep fried and placed at the bottom of the plate to be covered and everything was swimming in a thick and starchy soy sauce. The food is delicious, the restaurant is full throughout the opening time. So make a reservation before coming in this restuarant.

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Jane Xiang HK Style Restaurant 珍香港式飲茶
No 59, Nanda Road, Hsinchu City
新竹市南大路59號
Tel No: 03525 7266 

Sea And Delicious Food 地中海景觀餐廳

A few minutes drive from our house in Hsinchu City. Nanliao is a Hsinchu fishing harbor although lacking good beaches, there's a handful of restaurants for you to pick and dine. All of restaurants here appeared similar to me, in term of price and ambience, just pick anyone pleasing you and the food with similar values and various cooking methods. Most of the restaurants beside the dock on the second floor at fish market were very agressive in attracting customers to dine-in at their place, I dont like that kind of approach. So we choose Sea And Delicious Food a restaurant which facing the waterfront and we were seated beside the window much more relaxing.

 

The place had quite a good crowd when we arrived. they had a comprehensive menu. As soon as we walked in past the many tanks filled with  fresh seafood. We are trying to choose fresh local catch  to find out  various fish and seafood.

After placing our order and first dishes, which arrived is the king prawns NT$250 each prawn. I love the way it cooked which was steamed. Underneath the prawns was a surprise of glass noodles absorbs all the yummy flavours drizzled down by the top layer of fresh water prawn.

Soon after, the grilled jack fish arrived in all its glory it was beautifully cooked, with a nicely seasoned crunch.

There’s just something about eating with your fingers that seems so enjoyable. These deep fried seafood roll it is served with ketchup sauce. The crust was very crisp and surprisingly light. This could easily be a great starter.

The stir fry oyster noodles which does not look very appetizing to me. However it was delicious with mild saltish flavour, my kids liked it! And almost nothing left on the plate.

A plate of asplenium lightly stir fried to taste the natural flavour of the fresh green plant and one of my favorite Hakka dish.

Surprisingly they also offer a stir fry pig intestines with ginger and vinegar and always my favorite dish and one of the best I ever tasted than the previous Hakka restaurants I visited in the past. It was delicious and I keep taking more and more of to supplement my rice. Overall: Comparing the price to the seafood restaurants in Yilan a little bit expensive. But I think it was pretty reasonable for such plentiful seafood meal. It seems like all the dishes that we have ordered above is excellent in taste and you will need to finish it. We definitely one of our list for seafood cravings in Hsinchu.

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Sea And Delicious Food 地中海景觀餐廳
No. 241 Nanliao Street Hsinchu City
新竹市北區南寮街241號
Tel No: 03-5368688
Website:
http://www.035368688.com.tw/

Rick's Classic American Hamburger

I have not been in any american burger restaurant for almost more than year. But when I am craving something for burger. We went to Mos Burger to get a little bit healthier and freshly made burger. I hate to even have to write this, I didn't want to give an awful reviews especially to such a fast food but this restaurant was worth a visit and the service was good too.

Located onto busy and bustling road know as Guangfu Road. Rick's Classic American Hamburger was a pleasant surprise. The decor was Americana in style very simple, bright, clean and has a retro atmosphere. It offers burgers, hot dogs, steak, fries, shakes name a few and they also have a few side dishes.

Our waitress quickly came up speak english very well so the language barrier will not be a problem for foreign customers then took our orders. We got a vegetables salad  which is an item off their special meal menu including drinks and fries with ice cream for classic american grill.

My chilli cheese burger with fries was arrived. It was just so meaty and rich with strong, intense flavors coming from the fresh chopped onion and caramelized chili sauce. The patties were obviously homemade and it was a bit oily. That's ok since once in while having a bit greasy meal on my palate, I still enjoyed it and absolutely delish.

Up next is the double cheese burger for my princess and comes with a melted cheese, pickles, onions, tomatoes, lettuce. 

Bbq short ribs a chargrilled marinated short ribs is tender, juicy and jam packed with flavour and served with coleslaw, a side of fries.

The marinated rib eye steak is definitely more tender and tasty as well. We were served a chocolate and vanilla ice to end of the meal. Before we leave the restaurant, the lady owner stopping for a chat and had a moment. Feeling curious if we are a visitors in Taiwan. We quickly response, we live just a few blocks away from here. The owner is an American married to a Taiwanese women so both locals and foreigners are welcome here. For those who wants a very authentic American food this is a great place for burger cravings. Their burgers were delicious is one of the best in Hsinchu so far. Yes, it's a bit greasy and your heart may stop once or while, but you walk out of there with a smile on your face. I'm definitely be back again to try the rocket chili dog.

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Rick's Classic American Burger
No.736 Sec 2 Guangfu Road, Hsinchu
新竹市光復路二段736號
Tel No: 035714519
Website:
http://izzyizer.wix.com/ricks-cah
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Shanghai Dumpling

This Chinese restaurant is located at the 7th floor Big City Mall in Hsinchu City another Shanghai dining favorite. While it's nothing too extravagant the decor and interior is very modern with subtle hints of Asian culture exudes warmth and intimacy which makes for a heart-warming affair at the restaurant. We have come to Shanghai Dumpling a few times and the food is always good and delicious. It is a very popular place but it doesn’t take long for the queue to build up.

This is one of my husband favorite chicken dishes to have on everytime we come here. Which is drunken chicken, soaked in wine, up until the moment you remove the chicken from its bath and set it on the plate to eat. This chicken is cold and juicy.

The whole tomato lobster salad was really interesting and delicious. I did like the presentation of the tomatoes loaded with lobster and the sauce is light and creamy.

Next we try the Taiwanese beef noodle. The noodles were pleasantly firm to the touch, the soup was mild in flavor and the meat was tender with some firm bok choy topped off the dish which was the perfect addition.

This was one of my favorite dishes here, is the handmade noodles 'stir fry seafood noodles' It was so simple, but really interesting and tasty. 

Another one of my favorite dishes here, is the pan fried dumplings a crispy, chewy dumpling skin with a pork were piping hot and so filling! The combination of cabbage meat somewhow it taste like fish ball and the sweet-sour sauce provided relief.

Were in a classic kind of mood, so we also order these steamed pork dumplings. They were made from scratch after you order them, and steamed to the perfection. But I think we'd still prefer the steamed dumplings specially the steamed chicken dumplings from Din Tai Fung.

And we were just getting warmed up. My husband ordered a whole steamed seabass with pickle fragrant manjack tree or bird lime tree with shredded scallion and soy sauce. These little berries look like a tiny green olives tasted like mildly sweet olives. I’m not a fan of whole steamed fish I always prefer steamed cod or fish fillet without head and tail. Nevertheless it was healthy, non-greasy, delicious fish.

 Next up is the deep fried lamb chop in garlic and scallion flavored it was also the only one where we didn’t finish the entire plate.

Deep-fried taro-stuffed toast roll with sesame, these are a must have after the heavy meal.

Last but not least  is the custard steamed buns. The golden lava filling is a molten, buttery, yolky sweetness, fluffy and utterly delicious. When served piping hot, these are amazing. Overall, the service is always promptly the food was pretty good..decent. Great place to grab dumplings and noodles in a big shopping mall in Hsinchu.

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Shanghai Dumpling
(Big City) 7F No.229 Zhongyang Road, East District Hsinchu City
新竹市中央路229號7樓
Website:
http://www.huyuan168.com.tw/
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Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant

I had read too much blogged about Watami and got such good reviews. It's not like most Watami restaurants which has quite a found anywhere else at the other global branches around Asia. But this Watami branch restaurant in Chupei City Hsinchu was a bit disappointment about the quality of their food. I'm going to be honest and you may not like it for patronize Watami goer. First of all, the atmosphere is a picture of modernity, extremely intimate. I found it quite nice actually. The menu had Chinese, Japanese and English translations and the food is exceptional, especially considering how big the menu is. We went here for lunch and there's no queue and not much customers and saw an empty tables! We were seated quickly and given our menus and our orders are taken.

First to arrive at our table was an chawanmushi it has a smooth texture but it wasn't good if we compare it to Sixteenth Avenue Japanese Restaurant in Kuangfu Road.

Tonpeiyaki is an egg roll loaded with pork, cheese, cabbage and eggs it is drizzled with a sweet mayo-mustard sauces a heaping pile of spring onion are added on top of it. I find it quite similar to my favorite okonomiyaki. However it was a solid food.

We ordered some sushi fo my kids and they really like sushi and sashimi or raw fish more than us. So we sampled some of thier sushi platter that they can share was a deluxe assorted irodori sushi was a salmon, scallop and shrimp on a sushi roll with wasabi. Lightly glazed with a sweet soy sauce dressed with a mayonnaise.

Next up is the deluxe assorted irodori sushi was salmon, eel and tuna which is similar to deluxe assorted irodori sushi. The presentation is good but if we compare it to the other sushi shops a little bit let down. Their sushi is fresh but it wasn't that really fresh!

We never miss ordering their Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki pork and seafood. It was okay and nothing so special. I've had other okonomiyaki meals before in different styles. But this okonomiyaki it was bland,  tastes like just a batter and noodles with hint of thick soy sauce.

The roasted horse dried mackerel probably wasn't the best quality it was stench and smelled like it died in the ocean. We didn't eat anyway.

This breaded and fried pork cutlet or tonkatsu is most definitely my son favorite Japanese food.

For desserts, we shared a generous portion of fruit in honey toast box covering sliced of banana, strawberry, mango, ice cream, whipped cream then drizzled with chocolate sauce and caster sugar it was quickly disappointed.

The watami azuki red bean soup with rice cake was a bit bland. Overall; the service was better than the food, fortunately we only ordered a few dishes. Though, considering the tonpeiyaki was delicious but there are so many other good restaurants nearby, stay safe, skip this one.

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Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant-居食屋「和民
No.137, Guangming 1st Rd., Zhubei City, Hsinchu County 302
竹縣竹北市光明一路137號
Tel No: 036570208
Website:
http://www.watami.com.tw/