Mamabear offers a fairly extensive selection of Taiwanese dishes and because my exposure to this kind of cuisine has been pretty limited, I can't comment much on the authenticity (it seems pretty legit though). It's a small restaurant with modest decor and yes, a very strong stinky tofu smell that will hit you immediately. So brace yourselves!
I've talked about visiting this restaurant for awhile now so I was pretty excited to finally give it a try. The restaurant wasn't too busy when we popped in on a Saturday afternoon around 2pm with only a few tables occupied. We ordered:
Pork Hamburger - One of the better items. Pork belly was tender and soft. Together with the peanuts, pickled cucumbers and the sweet bun, you have a solid bao. 4/5
Honeycomb Tripe & Beef Tendon w/ Thin Noodle - I really liked the honeycomb tripe which was a bit chewy but good. The noodles didn't seem very fresh but passable. And they were pretty damn thick for thin noodles....not sure how thick the actual thick noodles are like then. The biggest quibble I had was the broth which tasted like a ton of mixed herbs. It seemed out of place and didn't complement the rest of the dish very well in my opinion. 2.5/5
Popcorn Chicken Rice Combo - This comes with 3 side dishes (tomatoes and tofu, glass noodles and broccoli), soup, fruits (oranges) and a Wintermelon tea served bento box style. Portions are very decent as a substantial amount of popcorn chicken was given. The popcorn chicken had a light batter and was very fluffy but way too bland. It definitely needs some salt. However, I did enjoy my Wintermelon drink which tasted pure and refreshing at first but eventually got too sweet. 3/5
It didn't quite live up to my expectations and I didn't think $32 after tax was worth it. Overall, just OK. Perhaps it's a personal preference and maybe Taiwanese food just isn't my thing but nothing really wow'd me or made me want to come back and try again.