Places to eat at in Hsinchu: Karimantan Toko Indo Restaurant (咖哩曼丹簡餐)

I recently stumbled upon a little place called Karimantan that serves Indonesian food. We tried some fried rice and the red curry, and both were delicious and flavorful. The red curry is one of the most popular dishes at the restaurant. The food was slightly spicy but still at a tolerable level for someone like me who never eats spicy food.

The place can be a bit hard to find since it is inside a traditional market (Tung-Men market), but the signs are pretty colorful and recognizable. It is on a corner of the main alley of the market (where lots of mopeds zip through). The space is small and informal and is more suited for parties of 3 or less. I'd advise takeout for larger parties and eating in front of the Hsinchu city government building if the weather is nice. The place is quite clean, and the owner is really friendly and helpful. The prices are very reasonable (<100 NTD per dish), and all the menus have English translations. My guess is that the owner probably can speak English too. Their facebook page has lots of pictures if you want a preview of their food.

Here's a google map for Tung-Men market:

Snack food: Curry Cake from Lenjen Bakery (連珍糕餅店) in Keelung

I used to hate traditional Chinese cakes when I was a child because we never got them from good bakeries. Nowadays, most bakeries make them a lot less sweet then they used to be. Also, we know the good bakeries now, and I am beginning to love eating traditional cakes for breakfast or as a snack. They are bite sized and conveniently packaged for eating on-the-go, but beware of the calories. The crumbs can also get pretty messy. The cake I ate recently was curry flavored and was a sweet and savory type of cake. There are also other flavors such as red bean that are purely sweet.

The bakery we went to is called Lenjen Bakery (連珍糕餅店), and it is a well-known traditional bakery in downtown Keelung. Don't expect to find bread there since it's a traditional bakery. They also sell a taro pudding (the name roughly translates as "snow dew") and a savory vegetarian mushroom cake that I really like. If your Chinese reading ability is good, you can go to their website and order online for delivery to your house. They do get quite busy around Chinese New Year's and won't accept online orders during that time.

Here is a google map of Lenjen Bakery: