Never go to Hawker Chan’s then. They ladle thick brown engine oil over everything… locals seem to love it.
Hmmm… I’ve tried Hawker Chan in Bangkok. Totally random, was wandering around the food court in Terminal 21 and ran into it, remember hearing about it so gave it a try.
I don’t recall a ton of sauce but it was maybe 1-2 years ago. For BBQ meats though, esp Char Siu, it’s all about the texture of the exterior. Needs to be nicely charred… which Hawker Chan did reasonably well
Also could be possible that they modify the recipe/process to suit local tastes? Tim Ho Wan in Xinyi was pretty disappointing and not nearly as good as in HK.
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Oddly, happened to pass by Hawker Chan today in Citylink near Songshan MTR. Not bad really and seems consistent with what I remember from Bangkok.
Not sure what thick brown engine oil you were referring to? They ladles soy sauce on the rice… but they didn’t drown the rice. It did come across as slightly thick though, but probably because it was the typical local short grain stuff which absorb a ton of liquid
You know what they say about how to properly dip your sushi/nigiri… you dip the fish side, not the rice side into the soy sauce because the rice absorbs too much.
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Tbh I only went to Hawker Chan’s in Taipei, out of desperation, in Bangkok plenty more interesting stuff down in the soi, and as for Singapore, well let me just say that Hawker Chan’s was not representative of Singaporean food in any way. Any random Hawker market you could pick would be better.
I think you are being very generous in attributing the word soy sauce to the thick salty gunk they insist on pouring over every menu item at Hawker Chan’s 
.
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Here’s pictures of Hawker Chan’s. Is Hong Kong style brown.
It doesn’t look any better than numerous local chop shops I go to, some run by Hong Kongers and many not.
I don’t get it.
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LOL, I take it you don’t like salty foods?
HK-style BBQ in Taiwan for the most part sucks.
Hawker Chan does not deliver manna from heaven, but at least their soy sauce chicken (best paired with lo mein, NOT their mediocre rice) is competent, which is not a word I’d use to describe almost all HK food in Taiwan. : D
Guy
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I do indeed, it’s fake soy sauce gloop that I have a problem with.
That and I am partial to the Thai method of seasoning, where you do it yourself at the table. Taiwan might be a democracy, but as far as small restaurants go, it is a sauce dictatorship.
I don’t find much good Hong Kong style food in Taiwan nor anything similar to Hawker Chan. It’s all Taiwanese’d.
I’m happy Hawker Chan showed up.
Even the Hong Kong style dim sum in Taiwan is Taiwanese. The taste and selection is mediocre. Some places don’t even bring chili or mustard to your table unless you ask for it. Some places don’t have mustard and some places don’t have the right chili, they only give you chopped up Chili’s.
Yeah I went to Brother Hotel, maybe at a rough guess, a quarter of the variety of a Hong Kong yum cha, maybe even less. They’ve tried to imitate rather than buy in a good chef and team I suppose…
The idiotic infusion of garlic into some classic HK dim sum is a tell tale sign you’re dealing with people who have no idea how to prepare such delicacies.
Oh well, I guess I wouldn’t expect HK folks to properly prepare Taiwanese dishes either. : P
Guy
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That’s it. I’m going to Hawker Chan for lunch.
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Maybe you were kind of right about ladling. At least at the Songshan branch. I usually love Hawker Chen but
There was like a bowl of soup under my noodles when finished and my throat felt like I had eaten a teaspoon of salt. There were other things wrong with the food there including smaller portions of meat than before.
I don’t think Hawker Chan will last. They have a lot of bad reviews.
I bet that a Taiwanese brought the franchise to Taiwan and then tried to cut cost and quality and service every way possible.
So I Google map searched Hong Kong-style roast meat 港式燒臘 and looks like a lot to start checking. Hopefully some of them will have Hong Kong style noodles and other food.
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As I mentioned already tonnes of HK people migrated to Taiwan and opened these chop shops. Of course HK style doesn’t mean they are all Hkers .
Anyway you can even find HK migrant owned restaurants in the smaller cities and towns.
Anyone try the place in 101, at the base of the escalator off to the side of the food court? I thought it was pretty good. Kam’s Roast
There’s an old school one on Dehe Road in Yongho I always wanted to go back to.
If only some of them knew how to roast duck and pork…
Ok too harsh, I did find a decent one up near Technology building MRT(?) one time, I can’t for the life of me find it on the web. There is a high street near the MRT station with an Oven coffee, a traditional dessert place and a Cantonese bbq, I will post details when I find it.
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88 in Xinyi is my favorite 茶餐廳 in Taipei. Pretty authentic
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