[quote]My peeve is that it’s gotten almost impossible to get good Chinese food. The quality has dropped dramatically in the past 20 years as the old “waishengren” retire or die off.
[/quote]Blueface’s statement above from the Best American Food in Taipei thread got me thinking, What’s the best Chinese food in town? As he pointed out, by Chinese food I don’t mean the hybrid or mishmash that you find in most “Chinese” restaurants nowadays, but the authentic mainland cuisine introduced to Taiwan by the waishengren after '49.
Is the Dah Ling (I think that’s the name) still in business on Jenai Rd. opposite the entrance to the SYS Hall? Trad. northern Chinese food. Used to be kind of fun at lunchtime when the historical soap actors from the nearby TV studios would come in wearing costume & makeup. I’m no expert in that style of food, but I liked it very much and the place had a good reputation among the old waishengren and KMT old fossils.
I hope this isn’t off topic, but a friend once told me that many of the Sichuan restaurants in Taipei are actually run by “kejia ren.” I could be off on that one, but I have heard “kejia hua” coming out of the kitchen of a few Sichuan-style restaurants.
I have also heard that many of the dou jiang (shao bing, you tiao–Shandong? more northern Chinese cuisine, right? Definitely not Taiwanese originally) places are run by Hakkas.
I like the food in many of these places, but I’m also interested in finding places like the ones being discussed on this thread.
Sorry, I don’t have any to add right now. I will work on trying to find some places to add to the list.
Yes, that restaurant has excellent Chinese food. I used to go there years ago when I first came to Taiwan. Glad to hear it is still in business. I will stop in again for a bite to eat the next time I am in the area.
I am not sure if this place qualifies as a waishengren owned post 1949 authentic Chinese food restaurant, but there a place called Gao Ji on Yong Kang St. just south of Hsin Yi Rd, that is quite famous and I like their food a lot.
Hmmm…on second thought, maybe they are not really Chinese. Maybe you want to specifiy which type of food you are talking about Shanghai, Beijing, etc…
What about Wu Chao Shou just off of Zhongxiao on the little alley next to the ATT Mc Donalds? I think their Sichuan food is great! Particularly the Yuxiang xiezi and the little hongyou chaoshou ? (cannot remember what is is called exactly - but yummy little dumplings in chilli oil!).
[quote=“Hobart”]I am not sure if this place qualifies as a waishengren owned post 1949 authentic Chinese food restaurant, . . . . Hmmm…on second thought, maybe they are not really Chinese. Maybe you want to specifiy which type of food you are talking about Shanghai, Beijing, etc…[/quote] Shanghai, Beijing, SiChuan, Hunan, Guangdong, Yunan, what have you. Anything from the mainland is fair game here, as long as it’s authentic, i.e., prepared the way it’s done at the place that it claims to be from. For example, gan bian si ji dou, a standard SiChuanese dish should be served “gan” (dry) as the name suggests, not soggy or soaked in grease. There are just too many nondescript “Chinese” restaurants these days that try to be a catchall, serving Cantonese dimsum alongside Taiwanese noodles, producing nothing but mediocre dishes with lots of MSG. About the waishengren part, I’m not saying the cook has to be of a certain mainland ethnic group to be qualified. In most cases, the chef is probably Taiwanese, but as long as he is cooking up authentic dishes, I’m happy.
Have you guys heard others say that the Chinese food in Taiwan is better than that in the Mainland? From my experience I would have to agree although I have only been to China about 15 times in 7 years.
Heard they lost a lot of good chefs in 1949 to Taiwan and Hong Kong and other places, as well as others losing their trade when they had to work on communes in the countryside during the Cultural revolution.
Maybe some of the good food now in China is from chefs or restaurant owners from Taiwan and Hong Kong. I know that sounds harsh, but it has been my experience. If you think it is bad in Taiwan, it is worse in China and from what I have heard Taiwan has the best Chinese food anywhere, granted this is what Taiwan people say, go figure!
[quote=“Hobart”]Have you guys heard others say that the Chinese food in Taiwan is better than that in the Mainland? From my experience I would have to agree although I have only been to China about 15 times in 7 years.
Heard they lost a lot of good chefs in 1949 to Taiwan and Hong Kong and other places, as well as others losing their trade when they had to work on communes in the countryside during the Cultural revolution.
Maybe some of the good food now in China is from chefs or restaurant owners from Taiwan and Hong Kong. I know that sounds harsh, but it has been my experience. If you think it is bad in Taiwan, it is worse in China and from what I have heard Taiwan has the best Chinese food anywhere, granted this is what Taiwan people say, go figure![/quote]
You are exactly right. The best Chinese food is actually right here on this island. All the best chefs came over in 1949 by the thousands, and they passed down their craft onto their children, etc. While authentic Chinese food thrived in Taiwan as living standards improved, whatever was left of Chinese cuisine on the mainland was even further damaged by the cultural revolution, poor living conditions, etc. The mainlanders simply did not have the luxury of enjoying high quality gourmet food. Some local delicacies survived such as peking duck and shanghai buns, but you can pretty much get the same things in taiwan, and sometimes they even taste better. From my own personal experience, the dished in China are rather bland (but really cheap hehe), but that’s just my own personal opinion.
Must mention a Yunnan place I have been to a couple of times. It’s called Yun Yuan and it’s in the second-last alley (265) before Heping heading south on Ah He, just after the Far Eastern car park. The address confusingly is Dun Hua South Section 2, Alley 265, No.8. Phone 8733-3477 or 2732-6890.
Good honest-to-God Yunnan fare. The guy is from Yunnan but fled to Burma during the CR, and then came to Taiwan. He gets his hua jiao from Yunnan and I had a taste of the raw stuff which he keeps in big metal containers and it’s so much better than the Taiwanese stuff (which IMHO from supermarkets here is actually fine, but in restaurants it’s just pathetic!)
He does a nice steamed fish which is succulent and fresh, with ginger and spring onion, and it’s not overpowered with sauces just really tasty. His Yunnan dishes are exactly what they should be, and even though the whole thing is sort of jia chang cai, or “home” cooking, it’s exactly what I like, and not expensive. Around NT$200-300 for a dish, I think the fish was NT$400 but it’s a big whole fish and very fresh.
I think the restaurant has been reviewed in the TT? I couldn’t find any reference to it here.
A bunch of us forumosans went down to Sanmin Road, #108 -2 last weekend for some Sichuan food at a restaurant called: Jing ping chuan chai seafood restaurant. It’s pretty good. Yummy hot spicy chicken. It’s the first one on the chicken section.
02-2769-4200
Near Minsheng East Road, also near the Songshan Airport.
Now that this thread’s been resuscitated and that Sichuan cuisine is mentioned, let me point you to the best Sichuan restaurant in Taipei: the top floor of the Ambassador Hotelon Zhongshan N. Rd. The Ambassador is one of the few hotels that still have an in-house restaurant that specializes in spicy dishes from the inland province. The manager tells me they send chefs to Sichuan every year to learn new dishes and update the menu. Be sure to order the gan bian si ji dou (dry string beans) with the cong you bing (Chinese crepe). The two complement each other perfectly and it’s out of this world! Not the cheapest place though. Dinner for two can easily go over $1500.
So I’ll have to try Ambassador Hotel then. My current choice for best Sichuan food in Taipei is Kiki’s across from Breeze on Fuxing. That’s the only out of maybe 20 different Sichuan places I’ve tried here over the years that serves food the way it tastes in Chengdu. And they have all the right stuff on the menu. The only thing I haven’t tried there is the Mapo Doufu because I have a very definite idea of how it should be cooked, whereas most places here don’t even know to put Sichuan pepper in it to get the ma flavor.
Incubus: XiaoWei Restaurant. I went to try it. Good, but you should try my recommendation, especially the first Chicken dish on the menu. It’s hot and spicy and the best damn Chicken ever, better than your gong bao ji ding (but that was pretty good too).
Glad you liked it. You can’t really go wrong with Xiaowei. It’s tasty, cheap, and easy to get to. Heck you can practically drop in in the middle of your MRT transfer at Taipei Main.
Sanmin Rd. is a little out of the way for me, but I’ll keep your place in mind the next time I venture that far east.
