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| - This is a nice restaurant in terms of Taiwanese standard. I have come to this restaurant three times. In the first two times (in early March), I found their supposedly best seller, soup dumplings, very disappointing.
The third time I came I decided to give soup dumplings another chance. Surprisingly, this time was totally different! I saw the owner and told him that the soup dumplings got a big improvement. He told me that many customers have complained to him that the soup dumplings were disappointing. Therefore, he decided to hire the master of the previous young chef who was in charge of making soup dumplings. And it turned out to be a right decision.
For me, the basic required features of soup dumplings are two: 1) the dumplings must have a good amount of soup inside; 2) the soup has to be very, very hot. There are of course other important criteria for judging the tastiness of soup dumplings. Believe or not, the soup dumplings that I ate in the first two times never passed the low par of the basic criteria. They totally looked like a joke. But now they seem getting better.
The reviews saying that their food is too bland is partly true but also a bit unfair. When people ask me what is the difference between Chinese food and Taiwanese food, one thing that I usually say is that Taiwanese food tastes not too heavy because of the influence from Japan. Most Taiwanese do not add soybean sauce in a bowl of steamed rice like some Americans would do. Most Taiwanese do no add too much hot sauce in the noodle soup like some Chinese would do. So, if you ONLY accept heavy taste food, this is not a place that will please you. But again, I think that their food is pretty authentic Taiwanese food.
My top five favorite dishes are: 1) soup dumplings; 2) rolled onion pancakes w. sliced beef, 3) pan fried green onion pancake; 4) (thin) noodles with minced pork sauce; and 5) braised pork belly over rice.
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