Location: Taichung, Qiao Family Courtyard, Jingzhuan Cuisine
Travel Notes: My brother was lucky enough to get into NTU's Graduate Institute of Electronics, so one noon, our whole family and grandma came to this Qiao Family Courtyard to celebrate. When I first heard the name, which is the same as that famous historical drama, I instinctively thought it must serve big, banquet-style dishes. But after going in, I didn't see any round tables—mostly square tables for four. Like many simple meal restaurants, you mark your order on a sheet and pay at the counter. Looking at the menu, I realized it was completely different from what I imagined. Besides some side dishes, there are no shared platters; almost everything is individual meals, more like a combination of a noodle shop and a simple meal restaurant. There are soup noodles, dry noodles, rice dishes, small hot pots—probably over forty items in total, all at mid-to-low prices targeting that market. We ordered Qiao Family Tomato Beef Noodle Soup, Authentic Hebei Zhajiang Noodles, Northeastern Pickled Cabbage Hot Pot, Qiao Family Hometown Hot Pot, Korean Kimchi Pork Intestine Tofu Stew, Honey-glazed Grilled Eel Rice, plus two plates of …