8/31/10 Ō á Chian: So good, I ate it twice…by mistake!

Yesterday, while walking through the market I saw a stand where they were preparing an oyster dish, and a little further along, another stand where they were deep frying oysters.  Tonight would be oyster night.

With a little bit of searching, I eventually arrived at the right place.  Using hand signals I indicated that I would have one of what they were cooking, an easy task, since they only seemed to make two things.  Only later would I learn about ō á chian, an oyster omelet that is popular throughout Southern Asia.  It consists of the meat of 6 or 7 oysters fried on a griddle, to which beaten egg and potato starch is added along with green onions and lettuce.  The whole thing is topped off with a sauce of unknown origin.

It was pretty tasty.  I would have liked more oysters in it, but then again, who wouldn’t?  I thanked the woman and left to find the second oyster dish of the night.  I was in luck, the woman cooking had a friend nearby who spoke some English.  I asked if the oysters were deep fried to which she replied “yes”. I ordered them along with a bowl of beef noodles, which Space claimed bordered of Taiwan’s national dish.

To my surprise, the woman started preparing another ō á chian, and not knowing how to explain to her what I actually wanted I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to eat another one.  Lost in translation again I guess.  I could not taste the difference between it and the one that I had consumed not 10 minutes before.  No doubt there are fierce arguments in Hualien over which place makes the better version, just like at home.  As for the beef noodles, for a national dish they were nothing special.  I’ll have to give them a try somewhere else.

Shock!  ō á chian #2 being prepared

Underwhelming beef noodles

Sweaty and very full I walked to Space’s office.  It had taken almost 6 hours, but the streets had finally beaten me.