[HUALIEN 花莲] Day 6: Zi Qiang Night Market 第六天：自强夜市

There are 2 night markets in Hualien, namely Zi Qiang night market and the Rainbow night market (newly gazetted market on July 2015, which is a combination of 3 markets).

花莲有两个著名夜市，一个是自强夜市；另一个是今年七月刚正式开幕的东大门夜市，结合了三个夜市（福町夜市，各省一条街以及原住民一条街。福町夜市就是以前南滨夜市的摊商，因历史较久所以较有名气，因此逛福町的人会比较多。

Unlike the tourist night markets in Taipei we have come across, Zi Qiang night market is smaller in size comparatively but it has abundance of unique food to offer. It consists of a few alleys interconnecting with each other, just like the arrangement of gears in car manual gear. Put in this way, it is not easy get lost at Zi Qiang night market.

我们觉得自强夜市有别于我们逛过的台北夜市。自强是有比较小，可是却有几个特别的食物不容错过，而且是以几条小巷来排列档口，所以不会迷失在夜市里。

One of our must do list in Hualien is to try the renowned deep fried scallion egg pancake (yellow car or blue car) at Fuxing street in the center of Hualien city. However due to our kiasu-ness, worrying we might be too full tomorrow morning, raining, long queue or any other nice reasons to be used as covert for our kiasu-ness, we decided to try them at Zi Qiang night market.

炸蛋葱油饼在花莲市复兴街是倒地人强力推荐的。可是我们怕明天早上可能吃得太饱，或者下雨，排长龙，而没吃到炸蛋，所以就快快在自强夜市吃了。

There were a few tables provided at the stall so we opted for dine-in. For the deep fried scallion pancake, there is an option to add-on an egg or not for a difference of 10 NTD. Hoping to get the feeling of hot bursting egg, of course we went for the egg version! 

这档炸蛋葱油饼提供几张桌子让顾客现吃。葱油饼可以选择要加蛋或者不，只是差十元新台币而已。档名都叫炸蛋了，当然得尝尝呀！

However, the pancake just tasted average. Although it was appetizing due to the decent level of saltiness, the anticipated hot bursting egg feeling was not present.

可惜，葱油饼还好，有点咸，并没有我们想象的爆浆口感。

Then we came to this glamorous grilled meat stall. It was located at at prominent area in Zi Qiang night market. We called it glamorous because you need to take a number and wait for your turn to pick up the grilled meat sticks, and it could easily take 20-30 minutes before your turn.

就在自强夜市的风水位，第一家烤肉串提供了有好多肉串选择，牛肉则采用纽西兰的。我们选了就拿号码等，要有心理准备得等个二十到三十分钟。

We ordered a few sticks just for the sake of sampling. The meat was heavily seasoned, and the sauce provided was nice and elusive in taste. No wonder there was a long queue of people waiting for it.

我们点了几串来品尝。肉被腌得很重口味，淋上的酱汁也很美味和独特，难怪人人都排队要买。

We then come across this shop which seemingly attractive by selling Dang Gui mutton. We were standing in front of stall, indecisive over which item to order but were swiftly persuaded by the server who came and asked us to take a seat first.

当归羊肉的档口名字太逗了，想说尝尝看。我们站在店前犹豫该点哪样，店员很快的说服我们坐下和问我们要点什么。

It was an embarrassing moment then. We wanted to order stew mutton rice, which was pronounced as "Yang Rui Hui Fan" in Chinese. However we did not how to read "烩" so we just told the waiter we wanted "Yang Rou Fan". Then the waiter confirmed with us "is it Yang Rou Hui Fan?". Oh my god, it was such an awkward moment and we feel our command of Chinese language really needed a strong improvement.

在点餐时，发生了件有趣的事。我们的华语水准有限，不会念羊肉烩饭的“烩”字。我们就很偷工减料的告诉店员我们要个“羊肉饭”，店员就再肯定是要“羊肉烩饭”吗？真的丢脸死了！

Back tot he food, the stew mutton rice (80 NTD) was served with tender mutton and the sauce was spicy and complemented the mutton well. The burning hot sensation was like waves, striking the papillae on our tongue several times and prolonged the hot and burning feeling. 

羊肉烩饭（80新台币）是白饭伴着嫩嫩的羊肉，配着浓浓的酱汁。好吃但那辣味可不是开玩笑的，我们可是忍着舌头麻痹来把它吃完，很刺激！

This is a very localized stall in Zi Qiang Night Market - Jiang Family Coffin Board. We were puzzled initially why it is called coffin board as most Chinese tend to dislike this negative wordings. 

蒋家棺材板是另一个创意倒地美食，我们很好奇这是什么食物，为何用那么不吉利的名字呢。

We asked the owner then she revealed the food was alike coffin board, as our ingredients of our picked will be put in the centre of the sandwich toast, similar to how a corpse is laid in the coffin. 

我们就问了老板才知道那面包弄得像棺材板，而我们选的材料会被塞在面包心，就好像尸体关在棺材里。

We ordered chicken mango coffin board (55 NTD) and the taste is heavenly good, credited to the mangoes. The mangoes were pleasantly sweet and soft, as if like no much chewing is required. Meanwhile, the sandwich bread has been toasted so it was crisp, making the sandwich bread and mangoes a perfect combination. 

我们点了芒果鸡丁棺材板（55新台币），实在太好吃了。芒果香又甜，软到不用咬似的。面包呢则烤到脆脆的，和芒果变成完美组合。

We opted to dine-in and free flow milk tea was offered.

我们选择内用，因为有免费奶茶喝。

The stall incredible fruit juice is a popular choice at Zi Qiang night market however it was closed for the day, and we went for the stall opposite which is selling fruit juice as well.

妙不可言果汁店是自强夜市的另一个出名的档口，可惜那晚没营业，我们只好到对面摊买。

The stall seemed to be very popular and garnered a long queue waiting for it. There was even a displaying recognition plate that this stall is top 100 nationwide popular stall.

吉立现打果汁看来也很受欢迎，大排长龙耶，还有奖牌写着他们是全国百大名店之一。

We ordered pineapple and mango juice (45 NTD) and it tasted mediocre. 

我们选择了黄梨芒果汁（45新台币），味道普通。

There are many stalls in Zi Qiang night market which seem interesting. However due to the limit of our stomach, we had to stop. We will definitely miss this place as now it will only remain in our memory, and hopefully the new Zi Qiang night market within Rainbow night market still retain its originality!

自强夜市还有很多很诱人的店，但我们肚子的空间有限，我们只好放弃了。我们会想念这个地方，希望自强夜市搬到东大门夜市后，依然保持原来的品质。

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