Yummy Taiwan: Authentic Taiwan Street Food

I am a big fan of Taiwan street food. It has always been one of my goals to visit Taiwan and experience their cuisine. When I found out that there was a new restaurant serving authentic Taiwan street food, I quickly headed over to Fahrenheit 88, Bukit Bintang’s latest iconic shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur.

Yummy Taiwan was only three weeks old but I love the décor as soon as I stepped in. Brightly lit with simple but contrasting colors of white and red, the restaurant embodied a modern and trendy ambience. Beautiful picture menu were placed outside to attract the passersby and it certainly caught my eye for sure!  J

Taiwan is famous for its street food and small eats, hence I was really pleased to see that this restaurant serves quite a few popular street food and set meals. Feeling ravenous, we ordered quite a lot of food to share among the few of us.

Starting off, we had to order Taiwan’s trendy beverages to quench our thirst!

Bubble Milk Tea with Pearls

Taiwan’s trademark beverage was a smooth and milky concoction of fragrant black tea, milk and chewy tapioca pearls. Yummy Taiwan’s version was heavenly for the few of us who had it! Velvety and creamy, I adore the combination with the chewy pearls… J

Hot Apple Black Tea

Taiwan being famous for fruit infused teas, we had to ordered one. He said it was soothing and lovely with a hint of apple while the balance of the tea and sweetness was just right!

 

Mango Ice Blended

There are lots of ice blended drinks around but not everyone makes a great one. I had this Mango Ice Blended topped with bits of nata coco. The colors really light up my eyes! Icy and smooth, the concoction was refreshing and delicious with the nata coco bits.

Orange Ice Blended

Lovely and similar to the mango one, my friend enjoyed this a lot as well.



Honeydew Bubble Milk Tea

Another fruity infused milk tea with tapioca pearls, I thought the color was a bit too bright! Taste was average as I would have love a stronger honeydew taste for this one.

One thing we all agreed happily was that Yummy Taiwan has the option of having Taiwan street food as snacks or set meals. This enables us to sample more food in small portions but with greater variety.

Taiwan Burger

There is a famous bun in Taiwan called ‘Kong Bak Pau’ or a version of Taiwan Burger which showcase a slow braised pork belly slice wedged between soft Chinese flurry bun or ‘pau’. The version here was my favorite dish of the night! A savory and melt-in-the-mouth pork belly slice, nicely sandwiched between a lovely fluffy bun soaked with the pork juices, was topped with a slightly sweet pickled vegetable and peanut powder. Oh my goodness, this is ultra DIVINE and the balance of the taste was seriously PERFECT!!! (… at least for me! Wink wink!)

The chef really had perfected the balance of salty and sweet and I love the taste and texture of this snack. The peanut powder added a fragrant dimension to this dish. I could have a few of these as a main! I am going to have to go back for this alone… J

Braised Chicken Wings

Another popular cooking style in Taiwan, the locals there braised almost anything! Yummy Taiwan features Braised Chicken Wings in their house recipe spices. This makes a lovely snack for chicken wing lovers as the flavors were mellow and savory.

Organic Sweet Potato Fries

I never thought I would say this but this Organic Sweet Potato Fries are orgasmic! (…Hehehe) Lightly battered, the sweet potatoes are super addictive with its creamy and fluffy texture and natural sweetness from the spuds. There is also some kind of plum powder topping on it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, one is just not enough!

Hot Crispy Chicken

Notoriously infamous fried chicken Taiwan style has been popping up all over KL from fast food chain to ‘Pasar Malam’. A huge piece of nicely flatten chicken breast coated with sweet potato powder, deep fried to crispy and golden and doused with a spice blend of pepper, chili and other spices. The version here had flying colors points from everyone. Thick and crunchy, the chicken was moist and so flavorful. Another must-order dish, sigh with happiness…

Steamed Pork Dumplings

Chinese people just love their dumplings! No matter if it’s steamed, boiled or fried, or filled with various mixtures of meat and vegetables, dumplings show up a lot in Chinese cuisine. The Taiwan version here is quite lovely with a mixture of pork and ‘Kau Choy’.

I love the fact that they served this with pickled veggies, fresh ginger and chili sauce. The sides really bring a new dimension to the dumplings. The dumplings were moist and yummy.

Fried Pork Dumplings

We also have the fried version of the pork dumplings. I had a hard time deciding which style I like better because the fried ones were also lovely. My friend commented how moist this fried one was as he felt the juices squirting out when biting into the dumpling.

Fried Squid Rings

Deep fried squids prepared the same style as their infamous crispy chicken; the golden squid rings were crunchy and flavorful. My only gripe is that the squid were a bit chewy.

The Taiwanese are very passionate about their noodles and rice dishes with braised pork or beef. There are just so many endless variations and flavor combinations that just never fail to amaze me.

Oyster Mee Sua Set Meal

Another popular Taiwan streetfood also known as ‘Or Ah Mee Suah’, this is a fried vermicelli or ‘Mee Suah’ noodle in a thick broth with fresh oysters and braised intestines. We ordered the set meal which comes with two sides, a braised beancurd skin and a boiled taro and sweet potato dumplings.

The version here is slippery smooth and glides easily down the throat. The flavors are earthy and warm and the noodles are so thin, you can just use a spoon to eat this. Served with fresh oysters and braised intestines, I thought this was really comforting and hearty. Love the chili sauce that went with this noodle!

Beef Noodle

Taiwan is also famous for Beef Noodle Soup. The version is a dark broth spiced up with spices and topped with chili oil. Yummy Taiwan’s version was a dark chili broth with homemade noodles and soft braised beef slices. Bean sprouts, ‘Pak Choy’ and pickled vegetables were served as toppings. I thought the flavors were quite nice with a hint of sourness to the broth.

Mushroom Meat with Spinach Noodle Soup

Another version of noodles, this one had homemade spinach noodles, topped with meat balls and mushroom slices in an eggy thick potage. I like the meat balls as they were quite bouncy but I thought the noodles were a bit soft. But again, I like my noodles al dente so it’s just my preference. The potage could use a little more flavor so I had some chili sauce added to this.

Minced Meat Sauce Dry Noodle

Small chunks of braised pork cubes sauce topped the homemade noodles with bean sprouts, shredded cucumbers and carrots to brighten up the dish. Refreshing and light, the noodles were easy to eat!

Sanma Rice Set Meal

I didn’t realize Taiwan has quite a supply of Sanma or Pacific Saury fishes till I check this out recently. Yummy Taiwan serves a grilled Sanma served with white rice doused with braised pork gravy and pickled vegetables. The pickled vegetable was sour, lending sourness to the savory fish and rice. This was average for me. 

Lo Bak Rice

Another well known dish in Taiwan cuisine, ‘Lo Bak’ Rice is white rice topped with a Taiwan specialty of braised pork mince or cubes with sweet pickled vegetables and spices. This was delicious as the meat sauce was nicely balanced between sweet and savory. I adored this rice dish a lot as its simple yet complex in my taste buds.  

Stewed Pork Rice

Another version of the braised or ‘Lo’ pork, this had slices of pork belly slowly braised in the house recipe spices and topped with some pickled sour vegetables. After trying this, I concluded that I love this even more than the Lo Bak rice… hehehe. I feel that this is something I could eat on daily basis as its simple and comfort food at its best!

Taroball Dessert

Taroball is a Taiwan dumpling that really took off with us Malaysians over here. It is basically a dumpling made from a dough of yam and sweet potato that has a soft and chewy texture. There is not much taste but it lends a nice texture to desserts. Yummy Taiwan may only have one dessert but this one is really yummy-li-cious! Served with chilled grass jelly and shaved ice, the sweetness was perfect and the combination was a hit. We really outdo ourselves this time but we just couldn’t resist dessert… ;)

I love this restaurant as the food served here is authentic and comforting. Portions are great and really so affordable. The owners really did a great job in fine tuning the recipes and taste. I wish this was nearer to where I live as I would love to be able to eat this more often… J

... still drooling over the Taiwan Burger and Crispy Chicken… have to brave the traffic to get my fix soon!!!

Yummy Taiwan

Fahrenheit 88

2^nd Floor, Lot 2-27(1),

179 Jalan Bukit Bintang,

55100 WP Kuala Lumpur

Restaurant Tel/ Fax: 603 2141 4725

Email: yummytaiwan2u@live.com.my