They’re missing a trick here, I thought, when the staff brought out the Minced Century Egg with Tender Tofu (馬告松花皮蛋豆腐, NT$360). Then I said it out loud.
Unlike the original bill of fare, Chiou Hwa Restaurant’s English-language menu — which otherwise can’t be faulted — fails to mention the dish’s most intriguing ingredient: mountain peppercorn, known to Mandarin speakers as magao (馬告) and to Taiwan’s Atayal indigenous people as maqaw.
Maqaw has been talked up in the New York Times, no less. For foreign foodies, seeing this word could well make them forgo restraint and order one more item. But revising the English menu probably isn’t a priority for management. The clientele, I was told, is overwhelmingly Taiwanese, and in the short time the Taichung branch of Chiou Hwa has been open, Minced Century Egg with Tender Tofu has emerged as the single most popular dish. Understandably so — we both thought the egg-maqaw mix hit the sweet spot between understatement and flavor inundation, while the thin slices of tofu barely diminished our appetites, ensuring we’d fully enjoy the more substantial dishes that soon arrived.
Photo courtesy of Chiou Hwa Restaurant
Chiou Hwa has been serving Cantonese cuisine at its Taipei location since 1987, but it wasn’t until last year that its owners, Gloria Hotel Group (華泰大飯店集團), opened this second branch. The menu at both is identical, leading with classics including Gloria Signature Peking Duck (華泰招牌片皮鴨) and Glorious Hang-Roasted Chicken (乳香金牌吊燒雞, NT$780/1,280). I can’t speak for the flagship restaurant, but the decor in Taichung is classy yet unobtrusive.
Before the duck was wheeled out, we worked our way through half a dozen dishes, almost all of which I’d joyfully eat again. Each slice of the Deep-fried Stuffed You-tiao (百花釀油條, NT$590) was a dense delight of shrimp, sesame and water chestnut. The Woodfired Honey Roasted Char Siu (柴燒蜜汁叉燒皇, NT$580; “in limited supply,” the menu warns) had us praising its near-ideal fat-to-lean ratio, but taking opposite sides when it came to the merits of Cantonese glazed pork versus Taiwanese braised pork belly.
The sliced ginger atop the Braised Chitterlings with Traditional Marinade (滷水肥大腸, NT$420) functions perfectly as a palate-cleanser, removing any lingering greasiness so you can properly relish what comes next. The Dried Scallop and Egg White Fried Rice (瑤柱水晶蝦炒飯, NT$460) contains another crop associated with indigenous cuisine, djulis (紅藜, “red quinoa”).
Photo courtesy of Chiou Hwa Restaurant
The menu lists several vegetable options, and I enjoyed the enigmatically-labeled Stewed Pigweed in Broth with Fresh Bean Curd and Salangida (腐竹小魚炆莧菜, NT$450). This vegetable is better known as amaranth; in the West, people eat the quinoa-like seeds rather than the leaves and stems. Readers of Chinese will guess that salangida are little fish. Yet the Steamed Egg and Luffa with Garlic Paste (蒜蓉蒸澎湖角瓜, NT$420) — before I say this, I want to emphasize that overall I had a superb dining experience — felt like a dish without a purpose.
Carving up a roasted duck and serving it “two ways” or “three ways” isn’t unusual in Taiwan, but Chiou Hwa (where it’s priced NT$3,280/3,580) offers a twist. As you’d expect, the Signature Peking Duck Wraps (麥餅片皮鴨) all contain succulent meat with crispy skin. Some of them, however, come with a generous dash of popping candy.
I’m pretty conservative where counter-intuitive taste combinations are concerned, yet this one works. It’s a novelty well worth experiencing, for sure, but it isn’t the “way” that’ll bring me back to this restaurant. That would be the Duck Lettuce Wrap with Brunoise Water Chestnut (荸薺鴨鬆美生菜), in which the meat is diced and stir-fried. The crunch of the lettuce and the umami layers of the filling were richly comforting. I could eat it every day for a week.
Photo courtesy of Chiou Hwa Restaurant
Speaking of tofu, the Matsutake Mushroom Chrysanthemum Tofu Soup (松茸美白菊花盅, NT$320) is a sight to behold. To create this dish, the chef slices the tofu without detaching any, then adds liquid to make it “bloom” like a flower. But if you’re getting full, I’d advise you to skip this dish and save space for the exquisite Handmade Duck Yolk Pudding (手工鴨蛋黃布丁, NT$350; portion large enough for three people) — and run the risk that subsequent desserts are likely to disappoint.
Photo courtesy of Chiou Hwa Restaurant
Photo courtesy of Chiou Hwa Restaurant
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