Zhubei Far East Department Store

The last couple of weeks have been a lot of uninteresting days, settling in and finding local stuff and trying to find the best mosquito sprays and basic bathroom cleaning products, and house sale logistics. I won't detail all that, because you're not really hear to read about the boring stuff!

However I went to the local mall a few times, Zhubei Far East Department store. Slightly over a mile walk, which is good for my exercise and Pokemon Go egg hatching (Yes, that's still a thing; Teacup likes catching Pokemon so we've revived the old accounts). In addition to some spectacular food courts, it's got the usual stuff like clothes and kids toys and trinkets. It's also got a setup for slime-making classes, which you know Teacup enjoyed.

Bunnicula looking fancy in Teacup's hairclips

Slime class

Zhubei Far East Department store has a ton restaurants. It also has a really pretty layout in the restaurant-dedicated sections. Like many of the Taiwan malls I've been to, the sit-down restaurants are on their own floor, while there's a food court with mall-style meals on another floor that also has regular shops, and in the basement level more of both fast-casual and fancier restaurants in addition to non-food stores and food stalls. 

I tried a place called Chun Shui Tang in the casual food court on the 6th floor, and had a delicious meal. I now know what sweet potato leaves are supposed to taste like, when prepared in local stylings. 

Sweet potato leaves, prepared in traditional style.
I have no hope of replicating this myself any time soon,
but it was very delicious. Also comes in vegetarian versions (not pictured).

Handcut noodles in a milky, peanut-tasting sauce, listed under

'traditional foods' section of the menu

Plus a pomelo jasmine oolong milk tea that sounded interesting

The food courts, fancy and casual, include a round-house-style section that on the outside of the mall look like a traditional round house, and on the inside look like a bunch of well-decorated restaurants.

In this casual food court section is a model of a traditional Hakka-style house. I am not a cultural expert, and there's not actually very much explanation in this section about the various things shown, so I can't really tell you much about them. Is there special meaning to the items shown? Historical context? Renowned stories? No idea! It just is a no-shop area with a Hakka-style house and some antiques, up on the 6th floor in the middle of Zhubei city, no explanation. But hey, it's cool.

Why is there a historical exhibit at the local mall? No idea, but why not?

It has an assortment of antique-style objects. Wagon, sedan (wedding sedan maybe?)

Antique Hakka-style bassinet, crib, rocking horse

Not antique night market machines on the left, antique bike on the right

The lanterns are repeated throughout the mall, in different shapes. This is at an escalator.

Upstairs with the fancier restaurants, it's decorated like a traditional Hakka street. Hakka is the name of one of the native Taiwanese peoples, as opposed to mainlander Chinese who moved to Taiwan. 

Behind the arched entry ways are various restaurants of many degrees of fancy, unrelated to the façade, all looking delicious

Among the traditional Hakka themed decorations are night-market-style games.

We tried the dim sum restaurant on the fancy-food floor, going for a set menu style meal, and it was quite good.

Stewed cabbage, dumplings, shumai, egg-custard steamed buns

mango pudding for dessert

Sweet egg custard dumplings. Not considered the main dessert for some reason.
They're delicious.

Ginger chicken rice. I could legitimately eat this stuff all day.

Chicken congee

Turnip cakes

Most of the mall is normal modern shops, not a historical exhibit. The main floors range from luxury-good stores to high-end department stores to Uniqlo-level casual styles, athletic stores and foreign imports, and your standard assortment of mall stuff. Nothing's super cheap (look for a day or night market for the real deals) but you can get everyday-priced items and not go broke.

The basement has its own small grocery store, various rotation stalls selling things from baked goods to teas to character-themed school supplies, plus more food, plus a bookstore and various shops--it's the affordable section for general purpose shopping. 

Hanlin Tea House in the basement claims to be the originator of bubble tea (not this specific shop; it's a chain)

Nice pu-erh at a tea stall in the basement, sold as part of a sampler set or large bricks

We also tried the conveyor-belt sushi shop in the basement, but I didn't get pictures. Oops. Anyway, I'm looking forward to trying more of the food in the various sections, but post-move budgeting means it'll be a bit spread out.

Unrelated, Clover is settling in well, and has decided she accepts this smaller territory as her own. She does not thank us for the work we put in getting her here.

Bonus: cat tries to become art