I briefly mentioned the Philippine community last time I was out and about “reviewing” Latin American cuisine, i.e. they are centered roughly in one place. Today a bit more detail on that and my “too bizarre it can only be true” connection to The Philippines as well as food somewhere along the lines. I guarantee that what I write in this case is 100% true, which might not necessarily be the case with some of what I write here.
Like many a country around the world, we have our fair share of Filipino migrant workers, who usually work as caregivers for the elderly, they are generally treated pretty well, though you occasionally hear horror stories about terrible bosses, bad working conditions (as with all migrant workers, sadly) etc., for all I know it may be more frequent than reported, but my understanding is that on balance it is not a particularly bad gig in Taiwan, as opposed to the horror stories which are reported out of the Middle East, but the hours are brutal. They are on call pretty much 23hours a day, with only Sundays as a day off, where, if they are religious they will go to church in the area I visited today, maybe send money back to people at home and see people who speak mother tongue for the first time in a week. If they are lucky, they may meet other such workers in the park on another day when they are wheeling an old Taiwanese grandpa around in his chair. They usually speak English perfectly well though phrased differently and are often degree educated, but this work pays more than back home so… whatever their case, they do get homesick for food.
Their cuisine from my scant observations from my former roommate (more on this in a minute), is one of obvious poverty. They clearly make do with whatever they have, but do so with a lot of pride. Talking with a maid about adobo and she will give a beaming yet forlorn smile about the island she is from.
Anyway, why I came to Cres-Art today was due to the recommendation of my former roommate and all round good egg Mr. Johnny Five Names, because he does in fact have five legal names in Taiwan. He is Phil/Chinese and they escaped The Philippines in the days when it was a good place to be and Taiwan was terrible. There is some backstory there as well, but that is not my story to tell, you’d have to ask him. For the first few months his dad had regretted the move, and were actually about to go back when the regime changed and it all fell apart. The family speak about five languages Chinese, Taiwanese, English (mother was an English teacher), Tagalog and Cebuano often in the same conversation, so it is a good bet that only they know what they what they are talking about if you try to follow, they and a few other families who followed from Cebu (the originals all know each other).
Now, I arrived here in 2004 and was looking for a place to live and my oldest Taiwanese friend Miss Hsiao, was helping me find a place to live. She found this one ad for 8000 a month in the downtown area, a little pricey in those days, but no bills. “It says he speaks English” she said, so off we went.
His place (which he owned) was pretty darned nice and I thought to myself “Yep, I can live here” so I moved in a few days later. So far so normal. Over the coming months people were coming in and out of our house, at odd times, he would disappear odd weekends and it was clear Johnny had no job. I started thinking “hmmm, nice house, no job, people in and out- this guy must be a crack dealer or something” but I let it slide.
One day we were walking in Ximen with his brothers and people were pointing at us a lot. People do still point at me, even in 2020, as I walk the streets because, taller than average white man, shaved head and I do stand out. That day seemed more than usual so I said:
“Man I’m getting pointed at a lot today”
“No, they aren’t pointing at you, they are pointing at US”
“Why? What makes you so special?”
A big sigh … and then the bombshell.
“Well, we weren’t going to say anything, but we used to be really famous here”
“What the..?”
And then they took me to Rose Records, and showed me all their bestselling pop albums. Yep, I was living with a faded pop star. And it all began to click. He had advertised his place somewhere where Taiwanese people wouldn’t find it and I was perfect, because I clearly had no idea. He just wanted someone living in his house because he had got lonely since his ex had moved out. It turns out I had met several major stars in Taiwan who were round my house and I had no clue who they were, I just remember them either being nice or they couldn’t speak English.
I stayed there another 1.5 years and I remember sitting down with him at around 2am when I was courting the future Mrs. Bao and said “Do you think we should tell her? It looks like she is going to be a long term gf”
“Yeah, sure. We can trust her.”
We told her, and went through the same disbelief rigmarole I went through, until he took off his glasses and she went “OMG! * something in a very high pitch in Chinese that I can’t remember*”
Fun, if often confusing times.
Back to the food. I felt I’d not been eating enough fish recently so I thought I should, come hell or high water eat a fish dish today. I didn’t want to do the macho bravado of hey “check me out ladeez, I’m such a badass I’VE eaten balut”. I was actually hungry and not some idiot frat boy. The food here is cheap, reflecting the clientele so I was able to afford a few more things than usual, but my trip got cut short due to real life circumstances I won’t go into here. I was only able to have pasiw na bangus a fish dish, in a sort of spicy broth, sweet potatoes and garlic. I had the set which was added rice and non-descript veg. I really liked it, just honest family style cooking and only 135NT for the set, the cheapest I’ve had during this project, though that was expected.
The vibe of the pace was probably more interesting than the food. Hearing ladies natter away in Tagalog is an interesting diversion from hearing Chinese all day. The décor was a bit mismatched and the seating was cheap, but it just felt right for where I was. The people working there were very friendly, chatty and interested in me choosing that dish above others, where I’m from etc. I get those questions a lot from Taiwanese people, but I dunno hearing the same rote questions from another group of people seemed more interesting to me.
I’m definitely going to go back, it isn’t really fair to go off just one dish and just me dining there. I had wanted to try maja mais aka maja blanca which is a kind of coconut pudding however time didn’t allow. Plus, it is stupidly cheap, and very enjoyable.
Pasiw na bangus set 135NT
Address: No. 25, Lane 28, Shuangcheng Street, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, 10491
MRT: Minquan W. Road Station exit 9 and then about a five minute walk.
52 Cuisines? 