A22 老街溪站 · Laojie River / Zhongli SOGO food | 溜溜酸菜魚專賣店 桃園中壢SOGO店 (Liuliu Sauerkraut Fish Zhongli SOGO): using my husband's birthday to get the pickled-mustard fish I wanted
Today is my husband's birthday.
In theory, the birthday boy should rule and eat whatever he wants. But anyone married long enough knows marriage is no fairy tale; it is a long strategy game.
So outwardly I said, “It's your birthday—dinner is on me.”
Inside, I thought, “Perfect. I finally have an excuse to eat the pickled-mustard fish I want.”
As for my husband, he is practically the textbook romantic villain:
Before marriage, whatever I wanted to eat, he agreed;After marriage, whatever I want to eat, his brain produces only two words:“Eat dirt.”He cannot even be bothered with punctuation.
Before marriage, he packed fastest whenever I suggested a holiday. After marriage, every trip suggestion gets “the park downstairs.”
A word to unmarried women: trust a ghost before a man's promises—especially a man already registered as married.
Still, a birthday is a birthday, so I had to treat him. I chose the restaurant, ordered the food, and ate it; he sat opposite and absorbed the birthday atmosphere.
This time we visited 溜溜酸菜魚專賣店 桃園中壢SOGO店 (Liuliu Sauerkraut Fish Zhongli SOGO) on floor 8 of Zhongli SOGO, specializing in pickled-mustard fish pots.
Location and transit
The shop is on floor 8 of Taoyuan's Zhongli SOGO and is quite convenient to reach.
From A22 老街溪站 · Laojie River on the Airport MRT, it is about a 12～15-minute walk. After eating, browse Zhongli SOGO or pretend to walk off the meal while actually scouting the next dessert.
It works for dates, friends, and families—and people like me who use a husband's birthday to book the restaurant they want.
Marriage is not about who loves whom more, but who finds the better excuse for a feast.
Setting and atmosphere
The Zhongli shop has a lively, colorful entrance and an eye-catching photo wall that immediately says it understands younger diners.
Inside is cute and bustling, with checkered walls and Liuliu ingredient characters. It feels as if the ingredients held a meeting to plan today's conquest of my stomach.
Seats are not cramped, though department-store rush hours get busy. Avoid peak meals for a leisurely visit, or eat fish under the resentful gaze of the queue behind you.
The mood remains relaxed and social. We ate while I listened to my husband grumble.
He complained I ordered too much; I pretended not to hear. Selective deafness is marriage's essential skill.
Menu and ordering
Liuliu specializes in pickled-mustard fish pots, including signature sour, mala-boiled, and tomato versions. Fish-shy diners can choose beef or pork belly in pickled-mustard broth instead.
Orders go through an APP, with add-ons cooked in the pot. We chose a 2-person tomato fish pot plus tofu skin, Liu Liu Shrimp Paste, beef belly, lotus root, and Spicy Beef Duo.
When the overflowing pot arrived, my husband stared silently for three seconds.
I knew that look. It was not emotion; it was bill calculation.
But I was paying for his birthday, so he had no right to audit my shrimp paste with his eyes.
Complimentary sides and hot tea
After ordering, the shop serves three pickled side dishes with free refills.
We had cucumber, Korean kimchi, and chilled wood ear. All three were refreshing: crisp cucumber, smooth wood ear, and properly tangy-spicy kimchi. We refilled the kimchi twice.
K-dramas call kimchi ‘sinchi,’ which suddenly makes it sound cultured.
Call it kimchi and it accompanies rice; call it sinchi and you are dating on a Seoul street. My seatmate was my husband, not Gong Yoo, but one cannot demand too much—he calls himself Pingzhen's Takeshi Kaneshiro.
Complimentary hot tea helps with spice, richness, and thirst. A few sips amid this tangy, lightly hot fish pot genuinely restore fighting strength.
Especially when you ordered too much and refuse to admit losing control, hot tea is excellent cover.
Sip and pretend to rest; bite and resume the battle.
Tomato Pickled-Mustard Fish
When the fish arrived, my first thought was: this pot is enormous.
Our 2-person tomato pot, with beef belly, tofu skin, shrimp paste, and lotus root, looked lavish. The broth was smoothly tart—not harshly sour—with warm tomato character made more appetizing by pickled mustard.
The fish was tender without obvious fishiness, a major plus even for fish-shy diners. It absorbed the tomato and pickled-mustard broth; acidity drew out its savor and kept later bites from becoming heavy.
My husband was still acting calm, saying, “We probably cannot finish this, right?”
His chopsticks were more honest, taking slice after slice.
Never trust a man's mouth; trust his chopsticks.
Beef belly
Cooking beef belly in the fish broth truly works.
Its fat is balanced by the tangy tomato-pickle broth, avoiding heaviness while adding meaty aroma. It is nicely tender and essential for meat lovers.
If fish were not nominally today's star, I might have kept taking beef belly. The fish beside it was nearly wondering whether it had been neglected.
My husband loved it too, but pride kept him silent as he quietly took more.
A familiar type: saying no while the hands keep saying yes.
Tofu skin
Tofu skin is an add-on well worth ordering.
Once saturated, it is soft and beany, carrying the broth's tang, aroma, and mild heat. Bite it and juice spreads through the mouth—deeply satisfying.
This ingredient is dangerous: innocent-looking, secretly devastating to rice supplies.
The tofu skin resembles married me: placid outside, soaked with feelings within.
It absorbs broth; I absorb my husband's grumbling.
Liu Liu Shrimp Paste
Liu Liu Shrimp Paste has an excellent, likely specially seasoned texture: smooth, tender, and springy.
It tastes clearly of shrimp rather than starch alone. Cooked in the broth, it picks up aroma while preserving its own shrimp flavor.
Shrimp-paste fans should add it; one ball between fish and meat changes the texture pleasantly.
After tasting it, my husband finally made his first expression of the day that resembled a birthday boy.
He studied the bill like an accountant, then became human at the shrimp paste.
Lotus-root slices
Crisp lotus-root slices are a refreshing supporting player in the rich, tart pot.
I also ordered them because lotus root is said to ease irritation and thirst, suitable for hot tempers or dry mouths. Perfect for my husband, whose temper resembles a boiling pot ready to overflow.
So I ordered two portions, hoping he might calm down instead of raging as though life had added extra chili.
He finished them and kept grumbling anyway.
Apparently lotus root can cool heat, not rewrite destiny.
White rice
Eating pickled-mustard fish without rice seems disrespectful to the pot.
Liuliu's rice is well cooked with distinct grains, ideal for the savory, tangy broth.
Pile tofu skin, beef, and fish on rice with broth and bites continue quietly. I thought one bowl was enough, then learned one bowl is merely basic respect.
From my husband's look, he knew this meal celebrated my stomach rather than his birthday.
He did not say it aloud, earning points. Sometimes lasting marriage is less about love than knowing when to stay quiet.
Spicy Beef Duo
Spicy Beef Duo suits diners who can handle heat.
Sichuan-pepper aroma arrives first, then numbing fragrance and gradually rising heat. Tripe is chewy and tangy-spicy; large shank pieces are tender and still taste of beef.
Shredded onion underneath absorbs sauce and grows more appetizing, but the heat is substantial. Mild-spice diners may feel it convening a disciplinary meeting on their tongues.
It works as an appetizer or with rice, but not for pretending to tolerate heat. Life is bitter enough; do not make your tongue suffer for pride.
At first, my husband tried it and said, “This is fine.”
Three seconds later, he started drinking tea.
Men's two most common lies:
The first is, “I'll wash the dishes in a minute.”
The second is, “This isn't spicy.”
Closing: save it for pickled-mustard fish at Zhongli SOGO
The overall impression was quite good. Tomato fish was smoothly tart, the fish tender and clean-tasting, and extra beef, tofu skin, and shrimp paste all helped. Refillable sides and hot tea completed the experience.
Consider it for Zhongli SOGO food, A22 老街溪站 · Laojie River dining, or a Taoyuan Zhongli gathering—especially for fans of pickled-mustard fish, bold flavors, and abundant hot pots.
In my husband's defense, although I jokingly call him a villain, I have only paid for his birthday meal this year; he handled everything else.
So outwardly I treated him, but really I used my once-a-year allowance to obtain the fish pot I wanted.
Marriage sometimes needs no argument over whose birthday it is or what to eat.
What matters is who chose the restaurant, who ordered shrimp paste, and who quietly settled the bill.
He was today's birthday boy; I was the happy one.
That is the truest balance of married life.
