Few people in Taipei are not familiar with Lane 45 of the nightmarket street of Liaoning. For years, the several tea houses and restaurants there have been a major attraction for downtown office workers looking for some place to relax for a couple hours. The gallery and metal-craft workshop next to them, as well as the art spaces inside some tea houses, add another aspect to lunch hour and tea time on this lane.
Joining the lively scene two years ago, Joe's Coffee is the busiest of all the businesses on this small lane. A home-cooking restaurant (its Chinese name means Mama Chou's home-made dishes), its English name is rather misleading. You would certainly find coffee here, but only after you have savored the nice dishes Joy Chou (
Owner/chef Chou learned most of her cooking from her mother, Mama Chou, whose passing away several years ago prompted her to set up the restaurant. For that she quit her lucrative singing career. "My mother always wanted me to leave show business and get a regular job with a stable income. I followed her wishes with this restaurant, although it's the hardest money I've earned in my life," said Chou.
Looking back at her glamorous life in show business, Chou misses only one thing -- the applause. Maybe you won't hear hands clapping in Chou's restaurant, but full houses of customers every day and the queue outside are also signs of appreciation for Chou's "performance."
The nice food is value-priced. A set meal (NT$230 to NT$260) consists of one main rice dish with four kinds of vegetables, one drink and dessert. Except for the main dish, all are refillable.
The cooking style is of what is usually called the "mainlander" family, combining Sichuan, Shanghai, Hunan and other cuisines.
Pork in red sauce (NT$240) is the restaurant's signature dish. The half-lean pork is stewed for up to nine hours to create a melt-in-your-mouth softness while the fatty part is just enough to add a smoothness to the meat. Using Taiwanese red rice in the stew makes the pork a delightful vermilion.
Chou's latest invention, yam and shrimp (NT$260) is a pleasant-looking mix of the two ingredients with green and red peppers. Big and bouncy shrimps and crispy yams are impressive and make the whole mix very interesting. Onions and ginger add extra pungency to the yam.
Beef with dried tofu and red peppers (NT$240) may be a simple dish but the quality beef makes it so outstanding. There are various kinds of peppers to suit every customer's taste buds. For satisfactory spiciness, just tell Chou what you feel like and make yourself at home.
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