The Nicholas that is the Nicholas

Two years ago, I misread that there was no entrance fee to the St. Nicholas Church at Lesser Town Square. In fact, the section that I read in the travel guide was for the St. Nicholas at the Old Town Square. I had not enough time to visit this St. Nicholas Church with free entrance two years ago, but I finally made it to the inside of the church this year on my third trip to Prague.

This St. Nicholas Church was completed in 1735 by the same architect who constructed the St. Nicholas Church at Lesser Town Square. Therefore, there are many similarities between these two St. Nicholas churches.

The design of the church is baroque style from the inside to the outside. Some people even call the church a wedding cake of the Old Town Square because it is just so pleasing to the eyes.

During World War II, the Czech army units stationed at the church helped in the restoration of the church alongside the artists of that era. The visually splendid stucco decorations above the ground that we see today are the hard work of these people during those days.

Nowadays, this church functions as a church in the day and a concert hall by the evening. We actually wanted to listen to the concert session starting at 5 p.m. but the time set by our tour guide to meet up did not permit us to do so.

I guess that to experience a concert session here, it has to be on my fourth trip to Prague. I also don't know why I ended up in Prague thrice, but Prague just has this charm to make me there again and again.

Before I finish up this post, I googled for St. Nicholas Church again and found out that these two St. Nicholas churches that I have been to are not the only churches with the same name. There is another St. Nicholas Church in Vršovice!

There is No Taiwanese Beef Noodles in Taiwan

Most of the food with the geographical label on them are non-existent in the region of their origin. For instances, there is no Hainanese Chicken Rice in Hainan; there is no Hawaiian Pizza in Hawaii; and the list goes on. Taiwanese Beef Noodles is also non-existent in Taiwan, but it is just simply beef noodles.

Yong-kang Beef Noodle (永康牛肉麵) is one of the best beef noodles place in Taipei and that was reaffirmed when I asked one of the taxi drivers there about the good beef noodles places for the local people. Sometimes the information that you get from travel guides are just some touristic information but the local people know better, This place has appeared on travel guides and reasserted by the local people, so it gotta be good.

This place is always full with diners during peak dining hours. So, a few minutes of wait is almost mandatory before you are seated. However, you can start choosing the items you want from the big menu board on the outside of the shop.

The setup is of a typical eatery in Taiwan or Japan where there are small tables for with stool seats. If you come in a big group, you will have to be separated into several tables.

We wanted to try most of the top-selling items on the menu, so we ordered three different type of noodles to share. The most popular item has got to be the spicy beef noodle soup with soya bean sauce. The spiciness of the soup is acceptable for a Malaysian who likes spicy food, but may be too spicy for those who have not tasted spicy food before. The beef chunks were soft and tender of which I could separate the meat by the fibres. The tendon pieces were gelatineous and chewy, and the noodles were cooked to al dente state. I would say, the best spicy soup noodles I have tasted!

If you do not fancy spicy food, there is another option of clear soup noodles. The soup tasted naturally sweet from the bone simmered for a very long time. I would go for this version of beef noodles for the time when I would like my food with lighter taste.

We also tried the dry noodles in minced pork sauce and I would say that it is a Chinese spaghetti bolognese. The minced pork was stir-fried in soya sauce until fragrant and topped on the dry noodles. When the noodles were smeared with the sauce after mixing the combination, the noodles acquired the flavour from the sauce and filled my mouth with its taste.

This place is highly recommended for the authentic taste of Taiwan. It should be on the top of the list when you want to sample Taiwanese food.