I don’t know Taiwanese cuisine very well. I’ve heard about the famous beef noodle soup, that seems to be gaining in popularity these days, and the other dishes seem familiar, but I’m still a bit foggy: so it was good to be out with some experts and get a good selection of representative dishes, at this casual eatery in Chatswood.
Some of the dishes weren’t so different than the Cantonese food I grew up with. I guess it’s a bit spicier and some of the flavours and textures are different. We don’t have the yummy fried chicken. I’d be having wonton with my noodles and beef.
I quite like this cold dish of pressed beancurd; I’m more used to it in a stewed or braised form, Mom would serve it with pork belly. And the eggplant dish is more savoury and spicy outside of Canton, I believe. It’s always a favourite dish when I’ve stumbled across it at Chinese restaurants specialising in dumplings and food from what I think of as Northern China or Mainland China, but actually is probably most parts outside of Canton.
At the same time, eating being an experience linked to memory, emotion and nostalgia, the dishes are unfamiliar enough that they don’t give me that spark, which makes me realise that many of my favourite Cantonese dishes, which I probably rave about too much to friends, probably taste quite plain to others, instead of this powerful experience of childhood and home that I get when I eat them.
Who’s a fan of Taiwanese food? And what’s your favourite Taiwanese restaurant in Sydney? Leave your comments below!
