If you plan to brave the crowds on Dihua Street (迪化街) in search of traditional treats for the Lunar New Year, the restaurant Frog (水蛙園, literally frog garden) is a good place to replenish your energy levels after a few hours of shopping.
Yes, frog is on the menu, but the restaurant’s moniker happens to derive from the founder’s nickname, and an adventurous palette is not necessary to enjoy the large selection of home-style dishes on offer.
The family-run business — a tiny, modestly decorated shop with four tables and an outdoor kitchen — has been a fixture of the Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area for 60 years. Second-generation owner Huang Ping-sen (黃炳森) serves what he calls “authentic” Fuzhou cuisine.
Photo: David Chen, Taipei TImes
Diners who pick the classic sweet and sour pork (糖醋排骨) won’t regret the choice. The pork is lean and satisfyingly crisp from the deep-fried breading. A nicely balanced sauce keeps this dish from being cloying, as it often can be. Like all of the restaurant’s selections, it’s available in three portions (NT$200, NT$300 and NT$400).
Huang often recommends the dish to first-time customers, but for those who prefer seafood, there’s always the sweet and sour fish (糖醋魚片) at the same prices, as well as the sweet and sour sea crab (糖醋海蟹, NT$240, NT$360 and NT$480).
Seafood features prominently on Frog’s menu, which includes stir-fried shrimp with cashew nuts (腰果蝦仁, NT$240, NT$360, NT$480), eel (生炒膳魚, NT$200, NT$300, NT$400) and crab legs (蟹腳, NT$250, NT$360 and NT$480).
You can still have a good meal without being a fan of seafood. Staples like beef with Chinese broccoli (芥蘭牛肉, NT$200, NT$300, and NT$400) went over well at our table, as did the hot and sour soup (酸辣湯, NT$70, NT$140, NT$210).
The simpler fare at Frog stands out. For example, the baby cabbage stir-fry (生炒高麗菜苗, NT$120, NT$180 and NT$240) is cooked in a delicious sauce that’s not too oily, but extremely rich.
The oyster and tofu soup (蚵仔豆腐羹, NT$80, NT$160 and NT$240) doesn’t sound very appetizing, but Frog’s owner recommends it. And the dish turned out to be one of my favorites for its balance of flavors and textures. Graced with subtle sweet and sour notes, the slightly starchy soup is more like a stew containing broken-up chunks of soft tofu and vegetable greens.
For those keen on diving into Fuzhou specialties, Frog offers dishes made with red yeast rice (紅糟 or 紅麴), an ingredient made into a powder or paste that adds a bright red hue and subtle flavor to the food and is considered to have medicinal properties. Choices include red yeast squid (紅糟花枝, NT$200, NT$300 and NT$400), red yeast spare ribs (紅糟排骨, NT$200, NT$300 and NT$400) and hot pot with red yeast chicken (紅糟雞鍋, NT$380).
The restaurant, located near the intersection of Guisui Street (歸綏街) and Yanping North Road (延平北路), is easy to miss. Located in a nondescript building, Frog looks more like a noodle stand with its outdoor kitchen and a couple of tables on the sidewalk. The restaurant also offers quick meals of noodle soups and fried noodles or rice, ranging from NT$60 to NT$90. For a full meal, our party of four ordered five dishes and paid around NT$200 each.
Frog’s interior looks a little rundown, but it’s tidy and cozy, and the restaurant seemed to be the perfect setting to celebrate the coming Lunar New Year on a recent lunch visit. At a neighboring table, a dozen or so office workers were indulging in what looked like a sizable feast as they chatted jovially and poured each other rice wine.
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