Niannian Restaurant 年年小館

Yilan isn't famous for its fine restaurants. Local people are mostly very traditional and rarely eat out, so the restaurant culture isn't very well developed. Most restaurants I've been to here aren't anything special. However, Niannian is an exception. I've eaten at the Jiaoxi branch a number of times, and the food is consistently good. What's more, they specialize in traditional Yilan dishes, so this is the place to come for a taste of the local cuisine.

There are three branches of the restaurant. The main branch is on the north side of Yilan City. I've never been there, but a friend tells me that the food there is better than at the branch locations. The Jiaoxi branch is conveniently located on the main road that cuts through town not far north of the train station area. There is also a branch in Luodong.

The menu is very extensive and is basically an encyclopedia of Yilan food. One page is even devoted to Yilan snack foods like you would find in a night market. Many of the dishes here are distinctive regional foods, such as shrimp cooked in hot stones, spicy lemon chicken, chicken soup with medicinal herbs, pork ribs with kumquats, and anything with scallions. Ask your waitress for recommendations of unique local foods.

The addresses are -

Main restaurant:
Huanshi East Road, Section 2, no. 777, Yilan City 宜蘭市環市東路二段777號
http://039373016.eyilan.tw/

Jiaoxi branch:
115 Jiaoxi Road, Section 5, Jiaoxi 宜蘭縣礁溪鄉礁溪路五段115號
http://039875252.eyilan.tw/

Luodong branch:
126 Yangming Road, Luodong 宜蘭縣羅東鎮陽明路126號
http://039567858.eyilan.tw/

Luna Plaza Mall 新月廣場

No one is going to come to Yilan to shop. However, while you're visiting here you might need to buy something. If so, this is the place to go. Luna Plaza is by far the biggest shopping mall in Yilan county, and it has pretty much everything a traveler needs.

On the first floor is a pharmacy that carries basic over-the-counter medicines and personal care products.

A Carrefour hypermart is in the basement. You can find necessities, groceries, personal care products, luggage, alcohol, and some products for outdoor activities.

On the second floor is a great store called Urban Oasis, which carries a huge selection of supplies for cycling, trekking, and water sports.

Eslite Bookstore is on the third floor. Aside from a small section of English books and some English magazines, there is also a section of Chinese books about Yilan. They also have a good selection of books in Chinese about travel in differnet parts of Taiwan.

There are a lot of places to eat in the mall. The food court in the basement has cheap eats. Upstairs on the top floor are some decent restaurants serving different kinds of international cuisine. If you're tired of eating Taiwanese food every meal, here you can find Japanese, Korean, Thai, Italian, and other options. You can get coffee on the first floor at Starbucks and Mr. Donut.

The mall is easy to find - it's located in the most central point in Yilan City where all of the major streets converge. There is a website in Chinese:

http://www.lunaplaza.com.tw/

Yilan Night Market 宜蘭夜市

One problem with Yilan is that there aren't a lot of good restaurants. Most of the places that cater to tourists are mediocre, and the local people usually eat at home. If you happen to be in Yilan city at night, this is a good bet for a decent meal.

It isn't very impressive compared to the big night markets in Taipei or Kaohsiung, not to mention the huge Luodong night market one town over. If you want the deluxe night market experience, definitely go down to Luodong. But if you've decided to stay in Yilan city for the evening and want a smaller low key night market, there are a couple of local specialties here worth trying.

Most of the food and atmosphere are like any other Taiwanese night market - stinky tofu, dubious sanitation, happy crowds, chicken posteriors on a stick, people selling cheap ugly clothing, duck necks, the fat guy sweating into a huge wok as he stirs the food, seaweed flavored shawarma .... Yes, even if you've never been here, you already know
exactly what it's like.

Most of the food here is the same as what you would get at any night market in Taipei. But there are two things you should definitely try while you're here. Both stands are right next to the entrance to the night market. On the left side path, the first vendor on the right sells scallion pancakes 蔥油餅. The stand has Hello Kitty on the sign. These scallion pancakes are world famous (or at least famous throughout Yilan). They're indeed quite tasty, and different from the scallion pancakes in Taipei (thicker and fried in more oil). Once I came here with a friend visiting from Taipei who ate three of them - he thought they were absolutely wonderful. (Nevertheless, I think that one is sufficient.)
On a weekend there will be 20 or 30 people patiently
standing in line, but the line goes fast.

The other thing you should try is on the right hand side of the entrance to the night market. A stand here sells a retro beverage called yaoyaobing 搖搖冰. I'm told that this used to be extremely common all over Taiwan, but it's now almost extinct in the cities. I've never seen it in Taipei. Here in Yilan, this old fashioned drink is alive and well. It's common to see people selling yaoyaobing by the side of the road in remote areas. This drink is basically just a mixture of slushy ice and fruit juice or some other flavor. If it's a hot night, I recommend the green bean. According to Chinese medicine, this has a cooling effect on the body, and I swear it really works. Yaoyaobing makes the perfect end to an oily night market meal, and gives you a chance to see what Taiwanese drank back when the island was still a dictatorship.

If you want to recouperate from the crowds and grease, you can walk down the street to the park across from the train station. This is a quiet refuge, and there is usually a cool breeze in the evening. The structure on top of the park, which represents a forest, has become the symbol of Yilan.

The night market is right in the middle of Yilan City and easy to find. If you exit from the train station, turn right. The night market is underneath the overpass just one block away.

Yuanshan River bike path 圓山河自行車道

Although not very long, this is an excellent urban cycling path. This path takes about an hour round trip if you don't stop. The surface is smooth and almost completely flat for most of the way, so it's a very easy ride. If you don't have a bike, the path is also a pleasant place for a walk in good weather.

The bike path starts at the parking lot where the Road Number 9 (the main road between Jiaoxi and Yilan City) crosses the river into Yilan City. Head west (upstream). This park path is reserved for bicycles and pedestrians. At first you pass through well landscaped urban park along the flood plain. On a nice day this would be a great place for a picnic. Eventually the path goes up onto the flood embankment, so you're down looking at river on one side and the city on the other.

The path follows the river out toward the western suburbs of the city. Eventually the landscape becomes agricultural, and you're looking down at the river and farms with different local crops - guavas, taros, bamboo shoots, and bananas. Finally the bike path just comes to a sudden dead end, and you turn around and head back.

Not too far from the dead end, there are some stone steps going up a hill. On the other side of the hill is Yuanshan Park. There isn't anything special about the park itself (athough they have public restrooms if you need them). However, above the park is an interesting historical curiosity.

Climb the stairs to the hill that looms above the park. At the top are the remains of an old Shinto shrine built during the Japanese colonial era. After the Japanese left, the KMT rebuilt the shrine in Minnan style to look like a Taiwanese ancestral temple and used it as a martyr's shrine to fallen Chinese soldiers. Recently the shrine has been beautifully restored to the post-war condition. During the restoration, fragrant hinoki wood was used for the interior, so the little shrine room has an intoxicating natural odor like cedar incense. The two modern additions to the sides of the shrine are a mini-museum with which introduce the area and also explain the history of Shinto shrines in Taiwan.

Behind the shrine is a path to an excavated prehistoric site. Altough the site has been preserved, it is not open to the public.