In Taiwan, Tainan, the city where I live, is famous for "Shao Chir". These are small snacks, that I guess would be called "tapas" in the US. While in KaoHsuing, I got a map of Tainan showing the location of 50 such "Shao Chir" locations in Tainan. This weekend I set of to find the famous "Guan Tsai Ban" in Tainan. The name in Chinese might be translated as "Coffin Bread". Anything to do with death is a little taboo in Taiwan so the name stands out.
I had tried to find this dish before but the address was wrong and I thought that this time with an address and a map I would surely find it. Well the address and map was wrong but by asking people on the street we eventually found it. It took 4 inquiries with each helpful citizen getting us closer until we eventually got there.
Inside it was the typical Taiwanese resturant, but it had lots of pictures so you could just point to what dishes you wanted.
The famous Guan Tsai Ban turns out to be a boat made from a section of a loaf of bread with a filling of stew. I have see something simmilar as a loaf of bread filled with clam chowder in Seattle and San Francisco. But in Taiwan, bread is usually softer more like Wonder Bread, the coffin of bread is fried to make it leak proof. You eat the coffin as you eat the filling. We had two versions, one with the originally filling of seafood chowder and another with a curry sauce.
We also ordered a soup and shrimp dish that turned out better than the Guan Tsai Ban. We just pointed to random things on the menu and hit the jackpot this time.
I still can't figure why the address in the newspaper was about 2 blocks away from the actual resturant. Anyway they have a website:
http://www.guan-tsai-ban.com.tw
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