I’m looking for a place that’s open for breakfast that serves Congee or any of its brethren (Congee, Porridge, Gruel, Xifan 稀飯, Jook, Zhou 粥 , Mue 糜) 。 Ideally, a place that lets you self-serve all the different toppings like pidan 皮蛋， rousong 肉鬆， huasheng 花生, etc.
I remember staying in a nice hotel in Tainan once that offered some great congee with a smorgasbord of toppings as part of its breakfast buffet, but that was quite pricey. I’m hoping to find a cheap place that I go to several times a week since I’d like to vary my current mix of eating breakfast sandwiches or various shaobing 燒餅/ youtiao 油條 / danbing 蛋餅 combinations.
[quote=“toogus”]I’m looking for a place that’s open for breakfast that serves Congee or any of its brethren (Congee, Porridge, Gruel, Xifan 稀飯, Jook, Zhou 粥 , Mue 糜) 。 Ideally, a place that lets you self-serve all the different toppings like pidan 皮蛋， rousong 肉鬆， huasheng 花生, etc.
I remember staying in a nice hotel in Tainan once that offered some great congee with a smorgasbord of toppings as part of its breakfast buffet, but that was quite pricey. I’m hoping to find a cheap place that I go to several times a week since I’d like to vary my current mix of eating breakfast sandwiches or various shaobing 燒餅/ youtiao 油條 / danbing 蛋餅 combinations.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions![/quote]
I can’t believe you can’t find one.
Maybe look for a cart or truck.
These places abound. In Taipei, there’s a well known string of them on Fuxing S. Rd. Sec. 2, between No. 102 (Yonghe Qingzhou Doujiang Dawang) and No. 142 (Xiaolizi Qingzhou Dacai). They serve Zhou all day long. They’re about halfway between the Daan MRT and Technology Building MRT, on the west side of the street.
But the best thing to do is walk around your neighborhood early in the morning and look in the alleys. There are lots of breakfast shops.
I have been looking for good congee in Taipei for years with no luck. The shops on Fuxing just don’t cut it. Too watery with no condiments. The closest I can find to what the OP describes is at hotel breakfast buffets.
I’ve determined that the good thick flavorfull congee I am used to (Singapore, Malaysia,etc. style), just isn’t available in Taipei. I find it in Hong Kong when over there.
Yeah… if you don’t like watery rice gruel, stay away from 稀飯 (xi1 fan4). It’s flavorless, watery and often accompanied by precious few if any condiments.
Keep an eye out for 廣東粥 (guang3 dong1 zhou1). But they may sometimes water it down to suit local tastes. But a couple of those places at Fuxing do indeed serve thicker zhou with a wide range of condiments, at least they did when I last visited almost 4 years ago.
These places abound. In Taipei, there’s a well known string of them on Fuxing S. Rd. Sec. 2, between No. 102 (Yonghe Qingzhou Doujiang Dawang) and No. 142 (Xiaolizi Qingzhou Dacai). They serve Zhou all day long. They’re about halfway between the Da’an MRT and Technology Building MRT, on the west side of the street.
But the best thing to do is walk around your neighborhood early in the morning and look in the alleys. There are lots of breakfast shops.[/quote]
My wife took me there once and I found it bizarre. Frankly, I’ll eat congee if I’m recovering from the flu and can’t stomach anything else, or maybe if I’m flying to the US and the only alternative is rubber eggs and hotdogs, but other than that I can’t understand how one could get excited about it, much less open a restaurant – or a whole street of restaurants – devoted to soggy rice.
My sentiments exactly even though I eat and enjoy almost all Taiwanese food, congee is something I never took to. I think it is a childhood favourite and it is healthy!
Perhaps the title of this thead should be changed to emphasize the narrower focus, since Si Fan is pretty ubiquitous, but isn’t really wht’s being sought by the OP.
FWIW I spent 15 days in the SDA hospital and every breakfast was lightly salted si fan with a piece of dry toast. Period.
I’ve not since been able to look a bowl of it in the face since.
However, watching the dudes whip it up at the nightime stands is pretty cool.
Thanks for the suggestion! I tried out the No Name place in this area and overall it wasn’t too bad and satisfied my craving. The congee was a little more watery than what I was used to and I’d prefer not to have the large chunks of yellow sweet potato in it, but it served it’s purpose. I was able to get a good selection of condiments, so that made up for the watery quality of the congee.
I actually didn’t know that there was a difference between 稀飯 xi1 fan4 and 粥 zhou1. I thought that those were just interchangeable terms to mean the same rice-based porridge dish (or, maybe there is different regional usage), but that the consistency depended on the whoever makes it.
I’m actually surprised by all the anti-congee sentiment on the board. I don’t think that it’s much different from grits, oatmeal, cream of wheat, etc. Sure, it’s bland on its own, but that’s why you put condiments on top or mix stuff in to add more flavor. I’ve definitely had bland grits with not enough salt/cheese or oatmeal with not enough brown sugar.
[quote=“toogus”]
I’m actually surprised by all the anti-congee sentiment on the board. I don’t think that it’s much different from grits, oatmeal, cream of wheat, etc. Sure, it’s bland on its own, but that’s why you put condiments on top or mix stuff in to add more flavor. I’ve definitely had bland grits with not enough salt/cheese or oatmeal with not enough brown sugar.[/quote]
Can’t speak for grits, never having had them, but I think there’s a bit of mouthfeel/taste distress going on here, since for a lot of folk, like me, that kind of temperature/texture is always associated with sweet, rather than salty/savoury/umamic flavouring.
Brown sugar, maple syrup, corn syrup, molasses, hell, strawberry jam, all good.
But the same consistency and heat with garlicky, salty jobbies, no way, pal.
Whilst I celebrate my proud Caledonian heritage in nearly all things, the idea of salting oatmeal (sorry, Snads), quite frankly, makes me gag.
I’m not ANTI-xifan; just not PRO-xifan (unless I’m feeling nauseous and can’t stomach anything else). It’s not offensive like bitter-melon. It’s just bland, which is why I found it odd there’s a whole street of restaurants devoted to it and odd that someone would crave it enough to start a thread on where to find the Good Stuff. It’s like devoting a street, or a thread, to boiled cabbage. Sure, it can have a place at the table, too, but it’s hardly worth commenting upon, is it?
But I recognize that’s just me. Takes all types to make a community.
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]I’m not ANTI-xifan; just not PRO-xifan (unless I’m feeling nauseous and can’t stomach anything else). It’s not offensive like bitter-melon. It’s just bland, which is why I found it odd there’s a whole street of restaurants devoted to it and odd that someone would crave it enough to start a thread on where to find the Good Stuff. It’s like devoting a street, or a thread, to boiled cabbage. Sure, it can have a place at the table, too, but it’s hardly worth commenting upon, is it?
But I recognize that’s just me. Takes all types to make a community. [/quote]
What about 4 or 5 hot pot restaurants every block, charging you money for boiled kitchen garbage?
AND you have to cook it yourself!!
