Taiwan Part II: Taipei "Fast" Food

These are some places (either sit-down, or to go) where the food comes out pretty quickly. Most places you order at the counter and then find your own seats.

Breakfast Rice Roll (Fan Tuan) & Cold Soy Milk. Yum! I love Taiwanese breakfasts!

Breakfast Hamburger (with a fried egg). It might seem weird to have hamburger for breakfast but this is pretty common in Taiwan. And it's delicious!

Breakfast Sandwich (with hamburger meat) NT45~ This place is around the corner from my grandma's place. Cheap, friendly and they make the food when you order it. Or you can buy their pre-packed sandwiches made earlier in the day. YUMMY!!

Da Chang Mi Fun (Pork Intestine Rice Noodles) 11+ dishes plus 3 soup noodles and 1 stir-fried vermicelli ~US$25 for 4 people. This is another place we MUST visit whenever we go back. It's the best in town according to my uncle and it's the only one we go to. Good quality and cheap and totally fills you up!! We went twice on this trip! hehe.

Taipei 101 Food Court:
Hibachi - Includes Vegetables, Bean Sprouts, Rice and Soup

- Chicken NT260~ Get the chicken. It's always the best. hehe.

- Cod Fish NT270~
- Garlic Beef NT210~

Hibachi in the food courts are the best! Affordable and yummy. It's not like Benihana's here where it's a big hoopla or anything and it's about half to a third of the price!

Danshui:
Dark Palace Taiwanese Gourmet. This place is pretty famous in Danshui according to my uncle. Pork Chop rice is very Taiwanese and it's one of my all time favorite dishes.

- Pork Chop Rice (small) NT90~ A giant bowl for US$3?!? Can't beat that. It was good but not what I expected. I like the fried pork chops that most other places do so was a little disappointed. But this was still very tasty.

- Chicken Chop Rice (small) NT100~

- Chicken Chop Noodle (small) NT100~

- Ultimate Seafood Ball Soup (large) NT70~

- Pork Ear NT40~
- Special Tofu Skin NT15~

Killer prices for pretty big portions. That's a good deal!

Fool's Noodles
- Giant Pork Chop Rice NT70~

I told my mom I really wanted some Taiwanese fried pork chop rice so we found this place across from my grandma's hospital. The pork chops were still not as crispy as I would've liked but the flavor is exactly what I wanted. For less than US$3, it was a massive bowl and also came with soup!

Potstickers. This place is known for their dumplings and potstickers. Great for a quick lunch. Each piece is NT5~ (so like US$0.17 a piece?!?) Niiiice!

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

LA!! Huge Tree Pastry

Saturday morning we headed towards Monterey Park to drop off one of my friends at his relatives' house. I had come across a Taiwanese breakfast place online and their menu looked really good.

Huge Tree Pastry
423 N. Atlantic Blvd. Ste 106
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(626) 458-8689
Price: $

I'm always up for some good Taiwanese food, we definitely don't have enough of that in Dallas. I was pretty psyched to go check this place out. They serve some pretty traditional breakfast dishes that I grew up with in Taiwan.

It's a pretty small place. They had some premade items displayed in cases and on tables. There was a line when we walked in. A lot of people ordering to go, and the dining area was full. We had a lot of time to look over the menu so we were ready to order when we got to the register.

Sweet Soy Bean Milk (cold; small) $1.30~ Tasty! Not too sweet. It was great with all the savory dishes.

Green Onion Pancake with Egg $3.95~

My friends have never had green onion pancake with egg before. Man, have they been missing out! It was delicious. Especially with some chili sauce on it!

Baked Wheat Cake with Beef and Pickled Mustard $3.25~ I grew up eating this stuff! My friends also really enjoyed it.

Salted Rice Ball with Pickled Mustard and Egg (with black rice) $3.50~

This is one of my favorite items. I've never had it with black rice before. It was a nice change. I loved the texture of the black rice. The egg and the pickled vegetables in there just made it even better. It's a taste of home. I miss it so! I just wished it was bigger! haha.

Pan Fried Dumpling (8 pieces) $5.75~

I'm not really a fan of pot stickers but my friend requested it. This wasn't that great. There wasn't enough of a crisp crust on it. The dough was too thick. Meh.

Red Bean Bun $1~

I got this at the end to go. They heated up for me too. It was a big disappointment. :( Wayyy too much dough, not enough filling. The dough was hard and chewy and the red bean flavor wasn't really right either. Booo..

Sticky Rice with Mushroom and Pork $4.99~

We also got this to go. The rice consistency isn't quite what it's supposed to be but it was decent. It needed to be warmed up though. We ate it at room temp since we were on the road and I think that wasn't the best way...

So some good and some not so great. It was still a great trip down memory lane. There was one waitress that was super friendly. And for the most part, the people there were nice. My friends enjoyed it a lot too. I would go back again if I was ever in the area. I just know what to order and what to avoid now. :P

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~