Shawn-Fond-Yuan Hakka Restaurant (方園客家菜館)
124-6 Hsin-sheng S. Rd., Sec. 1, Taipei (臺北市新生南路一段124-6號), tel: 2322-4123.
Open: 11:30am to 2:00pm; 5:30pm to 9:00pm. Average meal: NT$200, no English menu, credit cards accepted.
Shawn-Fond-Yuan has a colorful front door decorated with a pair of door knockers in the shape of a lion's head and a long, rounded bamboo bench. Passing the threshhold, you enter the Hakka world of Lo Yu-chun (羅鈺淳). Lo, who runs the restaurant with her family, is relatively new to Taipei, having opened about half a year ago. She also runs a Hakka restaurant in Miaoli. Providing about 70 dishes, Lo says she follows the Hakka tradition of preparing "simple food," by which she means dishes with little seasoning and fresh ingredients to retain as much of the original flavor as possible. The restaurant's vegetables and chickens are all purchased from relatives in Miaoli.
Lo describes the restaurant's food as home-style cooking. Like most Hakka restaurants, this one has the famous dish called pig's intestines with ginger (薑絲大腸). The intestines resemble and taste like squid, and are garnished with slices of tomatoes. Lo's dishes are typically non-greasy and the meat, in particular the chicken, is exceptionally tender. Try the slightly sweet and rice wine-flavored old vegetables with chicken soup in a pot (老菜脯土雞鍋). The dish is made with white carrots that have been preserved for more than five years. Lo says this rare ingredient helps make the dish especially nutritional and helps relieve coughing and diabetes symptoms. A new, highly recommended item is the beautifully presented wine marinated pork slices (酒釀五花肉). The dish is actually made with sticky rice and sugar with the addition of some Chinese herbal medicines. The whole is then fermented for half a month. Lo says the dish is good for those with trachea problems and for women who have recently given birth. With its rustic decor and food, the restaurant is also a good place to get a feel for Taiwan's folk culture.
Taiwan Beer (阿才的店)
17, Ln41, Jen-ai Rd., Sec. 2, Taipei (臺北市仁愛路二段41巷17號), tel: 0936451161.
Open: 5:30pm to 3:ooam. Average meal: NT$200 per person, no English menu, credit cards accepted.
Though this restaurant is called Taiwan Beer, a more appropriate translation of the name would be something along the lines of Bob's Store. And that sets the tone for this establishment and its familial style reminiscent of life about 40 years ago. Decorations include old-fashioned cooking utensils, a stove in the yard, posters and photos from the 1950s. Old tunes are also piped through the shop's sound system.
Owner A-hua says patrons come to steep themselves in the nostalgic atmosphere and to shed their workday pressures. "Being here takes you back to when you were a child, sitting in the shade of a tree."
The food is intentionally simple, such as the pig oil sauce rice and salty roasted pork slices. Other unique and tasty dishes include the fried baby yellow croakers and the spicy beef, squid and drunken chicken (醃燻軟雞) served cold. There is also a wide range of local and imported alcoholic drinks to wash down the fried and grilled salty bees (鹽酥乳蜂). Food is 25 percent off on Sunday.
Shin-yeh Taiwanese Restaurant (欣葉餐廳)
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store 8F, No. 12, Nan-king W Rd., Taipei (台北市南京西路12號新光三越百貨八樓); tel: 2523-6757. Open: 11:30am to 9:00pm. Average meal: NT$300 per person, English menu, credit cards accepted.
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