Taipei 101, Ju Ru Restaurant (Day 2 Taipei Holiday Trip)

Taipei 101 here we come!! The weather is getting really cold today, it's better to stay indoor shopping. Fortunately, Shirley had done all the homework before we go Taipei and Angeline will just have to plan which place to go first.

Taipei 101 is one of the tourist attraction. It is a must-go place if you happen to be in Taipei. You will find mostly branded shop such as Dior, Gucci, Miu Miu, Rolex, and Cortina inside the shopping mall.

Many people told us that the food at Taipei 101 is expensive. After doing a survey, we found that the prices are quite reasonable. We spotted two restaurant that we would like to try, Ju-Ru Restaurant and Sze Chuan Restaurant.

Shirley asked one of the staff at Ju-Ru whether their food will be better than Din Tai Fung and the staff just smile (as if that it was kind of a humiliation to their restaurant if we compare it to Din Tai Fung). Being such confident with their food, we decided to believed him.

The restaurant is quite crowded during lunch hour. Mostly were locals who work at that area.

Our appetizer was the Bamboo Shoots. It is a cold dish. Tasted very good and refreshing. The Bamboo Shoots was crispy and fragrantly good.

We saw some of the patrons enjoying a delicacy that looks very special. We asked the waitress and we were told that it was another famous cold dish, fish. The fish was deep fried and cooked with sweet sauce. It was sweet but tasted really delicious. Inside the fish, we can find lots of fish roes. After the first bite, we couldn't resisted ourselves for a second bite.

 Steamed Rice with Stir-fried Vegetables, NT$190

Hot-pick dish. It was good but we just have few bites of it as we need to save some space for other dishes.

 Braised Beancurd with Bamboo Pith and Crab Roe Casserole, NT$320

This dish was really nice. It was deliciously good. The beancurd was smooth and the crab roe casserole was fragrantly good and tasted just right (an equilibrium between sweetness and saltiness). The crab meat was really fresh and sweet. Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!

 Stewed Pork Belly in Shao Hsing Wine, NT$440

Stewed Pork Belly comes with some sesame buns. Another signature dish of the restaurant. It doesn't tasted greasy and the pork's fat seems to be just melt in your mouth with no effort needed to bite. The gravy was sweet and savoury. The flavour wasn't  very strong and it wouldn't overwhelmed your taste buds and make you feel "jelak".

I preferred to eat the stewed pork with the sesame bun. The bun absorbed the gravy and it tasted more flavourful.

 Sauteed Beancurd Skin with Preserved Vegetables, NT$220

Beancurd Skin with Suit Choy was very refreshing. The Beancurd Skin was strong in soy bean taste. This dish tasted really special and it was good.

 Preserved Chinese Cabbage with Spicy and Sour Sauce, NT$200

We wanted to order a vegetables dish and was recommended to order the Preserved Chinese Cabbage with Spicy adn Sour Sauce. It was too sourish that we can hardly eat it.

 Steamed Pork Dumpling, NT$190 (8 pieces)

Xiao Lung Bao is a must order when you dine in a Shanghainese restaurant. The Xiao Lung Bao here definitely better than Din Tai Fung. Thin skin with juicy pork fillings. Bite through the Bao, the soup will start dripping out.

The Xiao Lung Bao was freshly made on the spot.

We ordered two baskets and polished up all the Xiao Lung Bao.

Total bill cost about NT$2200. It was reasonable as we ordered really quite a lot of dishes.

 After lunch, we went to the bookstore and get some local food magazine. Then, we discussed our plan again.

The interior of Taipei 101 is really nice. While we walked around, we didn't forget to snapped some photos.

The mall is actually quite big.

Sony Station is located at upstairs.

London Tea House

This is on the must visit/eat guide book, tea-time desserts English Style

Yeah, shopping time!

Shopping for Luxury watch, not worth to buy here, Malaysia can get cheaper price

Shirley bought 200g of Chocolate for sharing

Already ate half of it when we took photo

We found some Shanghainese dishes being sell at the supermarket inside of Taipei 101. They have vacuumed pack service for tourist who wish to bring the delicacy back to their own country.

Paul and Shirley bought the fish that we had at Ju-Ru to bring back to KK. We thought that it would be as good as the dish at Ju-Ru but disappointingly, it wasn't.

Walking through the bridge to NewYork NewYork Shopping Mall! Very cold......

Today's Meditation:

One has to abandon altogether the search for security, and reach out to the risk of living with both arms. One has to embrace the world like a lover. One has to accept pain as a condition of existence.

One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. One needs a will stubborn in conflict, but apt always to total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying.

Morris L. West

Morris tells us something very important for our lives: that we have to stop trying to avoid pain and unpleasantness if we're going to get the most out of life. Freud claimed that the avoidance of pain was one of our greatest motivational forces (along with seeking pleasure), and that we spend much of our time doing our best to avoid the "negative" things that life can bring our way.

If we follow this path, though, we can say good-bye to learning. We can count on not growing any longer, not changing, not becoming better people than we were yesterday. Our best and deepest learning takes place as a result of the difficult moments and periods that we make our way through. Our next relationship will be stronger because of what we've learned from the failure of this one. My next attempt to start a business will be more successful because of the mistakes I've made this time. I took a great risk and it came up short, but I least I didn't just sit around doing nothing, waiting for life to bring success to me.

"Total acceptance of every consequence." Boy, does that sound difficult. I know that he doesn't mean acceptance to include the concept of approval, but just an acknowledgement that this consequence has happened, and that it can't be changed. If we can act this way, then nothing in life can broadside us unexpectedly and take away our will to live and learn and continue, we'll know that doubt and darkness are just as much a part of our lives as anything else, and our lives will reflect that knowledge in the way that we respond to the risks and the setbacks with acceptance and a willingness to continue reaching out to embrace life.

If your life is ever going to get better, you'll have to take risks.

There is simply no way you can grow without taking chances.

David Viscot