Taiwan 2009: A day of hot springs and great cuisine at Spring City Resort

There's no better reason to fall in love with Taiwan than for the food.  It seduces you on every corner of every street, in street stalls and tiny restaurants, in the chaotic night market streets. If there were ever a country that treated finding great food as sport, this would be it.  Add to the fact that most things are insanely inexpensive and it makes for a foodie paradise.  In the two weeks I spent roaming through a great deal of the country, one of the most memorable days I had was at a the Spring City Resort hot springs.  They wouldn't let me take pictures of the actual hot spring facilities but I did manage to get a good set on the wonderful meal that took place beforehand.  In this resort, the deal was that you essentially got to use the hot springs for free (if you didn't want to rent a room) if you spent NT $500 on food (~$15USD).  If you didn't eat, you'd have to pay NT $800 for entry to the hot springs, which made no sense at all.  We of course chose to have an enormous meal with 11 people and ended up nearly falling asleep in the hot springs afterwards, but it was worth every bite.

I honestly didn't have very high expectations for the meal but I was really blown away by the quality of the ingredients and sheer deliciousness of all the food that came out.  Here's a sampling:

* $1 USD = ~33 NT

The Hot Springs:

Images courtesy of TripWolf

The Food:

Stir-fried clams with asian basil (NT $280): One of my favorite dishes - I ate so many clams while in Taiwan and I've rediscovered just how much flavor they add to any dish and how much I adore them

Deep-fried shrimp "doughnuts"

 

 Deep-fried shrimps with golden garlic (NT 480)

 

Sauteed milk and egg whites with roe: I have no idea what exactly was in this dish but it wasn't a favorite of mine.  The texture was very mushy with egg white bits and some sort of fish was mixed throughout.

 

Drunken Chicken (NT 280): beautifully prepared; gelatiny, chewy skin (in a good way!), rich wine taste

 

Bamboo and shitake casserole

 

Sauteed string beans with shrimp sauce (NT $240):

Unidentified, delicious mushrooms - do any of you guys know what kind of mushroom this is?

 

Roast chicken with shrimp chips

Sesame pork chops

More Info:

Spring City Resort

Address: No.18 You Ya Rd
Beitou Taipei
Taiwan R.O.C