OYSTER OMELETTE
at Xin Yi Eslite Foodcourt
No. 11, SongGao Road
website: eslitebooks.com
hours: 10 am-2 am Bookstore (2F/3F/4F) ;
10 am-10 pm /Shopping Mall (B2/ B1/ 1F/ 5F/ 6F)
$$
Kid friendliness: roomy foodcourt for strollers
Visit reviewed: 4/10/2008
If you've been in Taipei long enough, you will eventually try the oyster omelette or "oar jien."
And maybe even like it enough to crave it!
A semi-chewy scrambled egg dish with small oysters, chopped chinese cabbage and a sweet reddish/brown sauce on top completes it. The addition of starch in the egg makes it chewy and slightly gummy, but it should compliment the egg rather than overwhelm it. Most food courts (and night markets!) wouldn't be complete without a oyster omelette store with a side of vermicelli, fried noodles or fried rice. Sets include omelette, side and meatball soup for only NT$100.
It might sound weird to eat have oysters in an omelette if you've never tried it, but it's not really a breakfast food like American style omelettes which usually have cheese. The size and sauce makes it more like a snack.
At this location, it's a bit starchy around the edges with an okay amount of oysters, the noodles may have been sitting around for a bit since it's the afternoon and the soup is good, though I like the brown meatballs better than the blander white ones. If you don't like this set, they also offer fried pork chop on rice, fried tofu, vegetables and "lo bah beng" (Taiwanese) or "lu rou fan" (Mandarin) which is stewed fatty pork and soy sauce over rice.
The best part about this food court is that you can get some do-hwa or (dessert soy tofu) afterwards or leisurely browse the English or Chinese books on the multi-level store which is open til 2 AM!
It's fun watching vendors make the oyster omelettes at the night market, though with any seafood you have to hope you're getting something fresh. It should NOT taste or smell fishy at all, so if it does, don't eat it.
4 comments:
Looks yummy. I love oyster omelette.
oh yum! but seriously... getting bad "oa jien" at the night market = death!! at least i felt like i wanted to die. especially on hot summer nights... probably wasn't a good idea to get oysters that had been sitting around for hours.
becklee: hi! thanks for visiting.
cooking: thanks!
hellobeebs: i hear you about the hot summer nights. that's why sometimes it is a bit safer to get it a food court.
Kind of like okonomiyaki, yah?? Sounds and looks good!
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