Nothing brings a neighborhood together like good, inexpensive food. Heyuan (和園), a Sichuan eatery near the Executive Yuan on Zhongxiao East Road (忠孝東路), attracts a lunchtime crowd made up of government employees, taxi drivers, business types, students and retirees.
It’s probably the old red sign reading “economically priced Sichuan dishes” (川味經濟小吃) that lures in first-time patrons. They certainly don’t come for the atmosphere: Heyuan is an aging hole-in-the-wall, dimly lit with fluorescent lights.
But the tasty, family-style grub keeps the room full during mealtimes. Stir-fry dishes, averaging NT$100, make up most of the menu, with the constant clacking of spatulas and woks to prove it.
Photo: David Chen, Taipei Times
Diners choose from a long list of dishes full of Sichuan standards like kung pao chicken (宮保雞丁, NT$120) or spicy stir-fried eggplant (魚香茄子, NT$90).
Heyuan’s mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐, NT$60) is a good example of the restaurant’s home-cooked goodness: the gravy-like sauce, full of chilis, scallions, ginger and garlic, has a zesty, spicy kick, but won’t leave you crying into your rice bowl.
Egg dishes seem to be a popular choice, judging from a peek at our neighboring tables. Choices include the traditional Taiwanese oyster omelet (蚵仔烘蛋, NT$80) and omelet with pickled radish (菜脯蛋, NT$60).
We stuck with the Sichuan theme and had the spicy yuxiang hongdan (魚香烘蛋, NT$90), literally “fish flavor omelet,” which actually has no fish it, but rather minced pork. (The name refers to a spicy sauce commonly used in Sichuan cooking to garnish fish.) This dish was good, but the flavor was too similar to the mapo tofu. Order one or the other.
Balance the spicy dishes with qingjiao niurou, or stir-fried beef with green peppers (青椒牛肉, NT$110). The beef is tender and garnished with scallions and ginger in a sweet glaze sauce.
Despite the greasy spoon vibe, Heyuan is clean and well kept. The Formica tables and plastic chairs look like they get a regular scrubbing and the floors don’t have that mysterious stickiness sometimes found at lunch shops. The waitstaff is very friendly and pleasant, and the shop offers complimentary spring water and chrysanthemum tea.
Heyuan is more enjoyable with a companion or two, but if dining alone, plate meals or a biandang (便當) can be had for NT$80, and there is a long list of fried rice and stewed dishes with rice from NT$65 to NT$90. The gaolicai chaofan (高麗菜炒飯, NT$65), or fried rice with egg and cabbage, is good value for a quick and satisfying meal. Or choose a single dish from the list of stir-fry selections and have it with a bowl of rice (NT$10), which comes in a generous portion. The ganbian sijidou, stir-fried green beans (乾扁四季豆, NT$100), is a bit greasy, but a decent take on a Sichuan classic.
Another reason why Heyuan probably does a brisk business is that there are few restaurants in the neighborhood serving family-style cuisine. The place felt like a godsend after a recent visit to Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914). If you’re not in the mood for this stretch of Zhongxiao East Road’s sparse selection of 7-Elevens, fast-food chains and overpriced restaurants, it’s a good place to keep in mind.
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s