Down Home Countryside Flavor with “Shanshui” Nutrition The Natural and the Heroic– From Taiwan’s Indigenous Villages (TAIPEI QUARTERLY 2017 WINTER Vol.10)

Post date：2017-12-18

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Down Home Countryside Flavor with “Shanshui” Nutrition

The Natural and the Heroic– From Taiwan’s Indigenous Villages

Article｜Zhong Wenping

Photos｜Yang Zhiren

TAIPEI WINTER 2017 Vol.10 Down Home Countryside Flavor with “Shanshui” Nutrition The Natural and the Heroic– From Taiwan’s Indigenous Villages

▲The interior at Hasila Food indigenous restaurant is simple, clean, and comfy; native singers often perform weekend evenings. (Photo: Yang Zhiren)

A world apart from the common “new immigrant” (新移民) food, the cuisine of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples has had a resurgence in its cities lately. Proprietors go out of their way to ship ingredients and additives from their home villages. Savi, owner of Hasila Food indigenous restaurant, says: “Mountain vegetables, mountain boar, wild magao (馬告; a spice from the may chang tree)... these are all things that cannot be replaced by lowland ingredients. To present true tribal flavor, no trouble is too great when it comes to ingredient selection.”

Reproducing Tribal Village “Good (Eating) Times”

Located in the grid of small connecting streets between Zhongshan North Road (中山北路) and Linsen North Road (林森北路), an area renowned for good food and drink, and for the lively noisiness of izakaya, Hasila Food began 8 years ago. Opening the menu there, one is immediately seduced by the natural bounty offered up by Taiwan’s fecund forests and streams. It’s like being part of a “mountain natural-food show.” Betel nut flowers are first blanched and then chilled to make a simple salad topped with a white cream sauce. The cream compliments the crispiness and sweetness of the flower to create a dish that is truly pastoral in taste and texture - pleasant in appearance and taste. The mixed wild boar skin, served cold with just a soupçon of homemade sauce and garlic, is thicker and chewier than that served at most heibai qie (黑白切; assorted-cut foods) eateries. Of limited availability but extremely popular in tribal villages is the grilled tilapia. This fish, abundant in our mountain streams, is wonderfully succulent and fresh, free of any “fishy” scent or taste. The recipe calls for the abdomen to be cleaned and then stuffed with cloves of garlic and fresh basil, before being salted and grilled.

Other strongly recommended offerings include the peppery-spicy chicken, the grilled sweetfish, and iron-plate wild boar. Each serving is generous and filling, and if you have a hankering for a lively and cheerful atmosphere, come on a weekend or holiday, when indigenous singers and groups provide background music for your dining pleasure. Sit back, listen and enjoy the close-to-nature flavors while you sip your favorite beverage. You might find yourself moving in rhythm to the blissful sounds accompanying your meal! There is a type of heroic pride that’s intrinsic to local indigenous cuisine. Indulge yourself in a unique evening that’s guaranteed to put you in a thoroughly carefree mood–not a bad idea, is it?

Hasila Food哈喜拉

No. 19, Ln. 77, Sec. 2, Zhongshan N. Rd., Zhongshan Dist. (中山區中山北路2段77巷19號)

(02)2563-4992

17:00~02:00

TAIPEI WINTER 2017 Vol.10 Down Home Countryside Flavor with “Shanshui” Nutrition The Natural and the Heroic– From Taiwan’s Indigenous Villages