PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
Posted on 07/13/2007 8:24:05 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Restaurants: Ho-la (和樂食堂) By Jules Quartly
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Jul 13, 2007, Page 15
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| Ratatouille, anyone? PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES |
For the average Westerner, stepping outside the comfort zone when dining in Taipei is easy to do, whether its slurping stinky tofu at the night market, or nibbling on chicken claws at KTV. However, the adventurous will head to a nondescript village called Hsiching (西井), in Chiayi County (嘉義縣), and a restaurant called Ho-la that's been open over 56 years.
"It was common in the old days to eat rodents in the countryside," according to owner Lin Ming-chih (林銘志). Other sources of meat weren't available and rat was a palatable source of protein. Locals used to bring their own when his father started the restaurant, Lin said. His son now works in the kitchen.
Ho-la, which has room on two floors for over 130 diners, is famous in Japan and China. Business is so good there are six other copycat restaurants nearby. Large photographs on the wall show off the signature dishes, which include different kinds of grubs, crickets, chicken gonads, scorpions, bees, freshwater turtles, worms and sparrows. Sushi, deer and frog are also available but seem tame by comparison.
Going as a group is best since you can try more. Our rat was cooked in the "three cups" style and passed the "eight-year-old test," which meant the young girl in our party ate it with relish. It was sweet, had rabbit colored flesh and everyone agreed it was tender. Over 6,000 black ants were sacrificed for the omelet and this came with sesame seeds and dried shrimp to counter the acidic taste. We also had a flavorsome betel nut and chicken soup and the owner served up an excellent marinated pigskin with bitter gourd, on the house.
Lin travels the globe in search of novel edible delights and recipes to cook them. He has to import many of the delicacies on the menu. Apparently, local ants are not as tasty as China's black ants. Even the worms are a special variety. No endangered species are served up, Lin said.
"For me, these foods are not strange. In fact it's strange that people think they are strange. After all, food is what you can eat and what is good for you. Most people are boring when it comes to food."
Address: 578 Hsiching Village, Lutsao Township, Chiayi County (嘉義縣鹿草鄉西井村578號)
Telephone: (05) 375-0660/(05) 375-0756
Open: From 11am to 9pm
Average meal: Main meal around NT$1,800 for a group of six
Details: Visit www.ho-la.com.tw
Ping!
Once it is prepped like “Orange Chicken” I wonder if anyone could even tell(or care) that it is rat.
Thanks for all the recent pings.
Great for anyone watching their weight.
;-)
Rats that are not eating garbage are probably a lot like squirrel. I would have not problem eating either. I will be traveling to China again in a few months. I will see if I can find it. I’ll bring back a first hand report if I can locate it.
Yeah...the fun never stops here.
When I was a youngster I used to hunt squirrels (with a .22 pistol).
Mom cooked them up with potatoes and too many carrots.
What is a squirrel but a rat with a good public relations contract and a furry tail?
If it is bad to eat rat was I wrong to eat tree-rat?
Free Range Rats....Now there’s a liberal dream...
My trip will be to Shanghai. Last year I spent a month in China. This year will be about 3 weeks, possibly 4. I absolutely loved the authentic style Chinese food. When I came home I lost 11 lbs. Nothing here tasted right. It was too bland. I also developed a new level of what hot and spicy means.
For what it is worth, I don't believe that this claim that this restaurant in also famous in Japan is true.
It seems that she knows about it. Its been around, as the article says, a long time so its built up a big clientel. Its in a "suburb" which really only means thats its not inside the 'city signs.' Doesn't really mean 'Out in the country' or something like that.
She also says its a pretty famous place and that a lot of tourists go there as part of their tour package. That includes Japanese as well as Taiwanese and others who take the famous "Taiwanese Tour Package Deals."
Maybe sometime when we go up there to visit the in-laws we'll give it a try. Our son will eat anything that stops moving on his plate long enough for him to catch it!
IF and when we go there I’ll post my review on this thread...lol
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Longshan Temple