chinese: i recommend THE GUEST HOUSE

THE GUEST HOUSE
Sheraton Taipei Hotel
17th FL
No. 12, Chung Hsiao East Road, Sec. 1
(02) 2321-5511

$$

date visited: 8/06/2006


A family friend invited us out to dinner last night at THE GUEST HOUSE where one of their specialties is Steamed Pork Dumplings or Xiao Long Bao. As their website states, they feature Szechwan and Yang Zhou cuisine in its "chic modern" atmosphere that is modern and classical at the same time. Located on the 17th floor of the Sheraton Taipei hotel, THE GUEST HOUSE features an open kitchen with a glass window that you can watch them make your meal. While the 18th floor features a number of private rooms if you want to have your own space for larger groups, the atmosphere of the 17th floor is actually a lot more inspired and fun.


The xiao long bao were good. The skin held in the pork and broth until you stuffed the dumpling into your mouth. Since I had just eaten at Din Tai Fung for lunch, I could hold a slight comparison and I think I still like Din Tai Fung's dumplings better.


The vegetable dumplings were also really good, with minced vegetable, tofu and mushrooms inside. They are slightly drier than the pork dumplings, but still disappeared very quickly.


A few of their unique dishes include Braised Green Beans wrapped in Pancake and Braised Noodle with Yellow Fish Broth. I suppose sort of a vegetarian variation on Moo Shu Pork, the braised green beans were very soft and flavorful, while the pancake was delicious! I found the green beans to be a tad salty, but I could probably eat a stack of the soft, yet slightly crispy thin pancake. I found the braised noodle to be so-so, while the broth was mysteriously good with a seafood stock flavor without being fishy. We also had a beef braised in soup that was very very tender and flavorful without being mushy or dried out.


There were also other assorted small plates of eats on the lazy susan that I didn't get the names of. There was one dish of bamboo (I think!)(pictured above) and another of boiled pork with a spicy sauce that I quite liked.

After dinner, we walked around the hotel, I spotted quite a number of other restaurants that I want to try, including Pizza Pub and Sukhothai. The Sheraton Taipei is quite a nice hotel with all the rooms overlooking the center atrium, and glass elevators to see buffet located on the lobby floor. I heard that it went under major renovations the last few years, and is a lot nicer than Sheratons I've stayed at in the states!

Speaking of Xiao Long Bao, for lunch we dropped by DIN TAI FUNG and I have never seen it so packed! I suppose it's because I've also gone there off-peak hours on weeknights. It was Sunday lunchtime, and every single table was occupied as well as a line of at least 30 people outside waiting in intermitting downpouring rain. While I like their pork dumplings, I think I like their dessert red bean dumplings even more!

my lunch in a packed house at Ding Tai Fung

So if you don't want to wait in the rain for an hour for a table at Din Tai Fung, you can give The Guest House a try.

chinese: i strongly recommend LITTLE SHANGHAI

LITTLE SHANGHAI
68 Ming Sheng E Road, Sec 4
(02) 2718-5783

lunch: 10AM-2:30PM
dinner: 4PM-9PM

$

visit reviewed: 11/20/2006

Long before I had even heard of Din Tai Fung, I would always crave the dumplings and beef noodle soup I had here at Little Shanghai, near my grandmother's house. I think my grandmother was sort of amused at how passionate my cousins, my sister and I would insist (separately) that eat at least one meal at this very local, unflashy and cheap (nothing is more than NT$150) spot. Actually, once I heard about Din Tai Fung, I refused for the longest time to eat at the more trendy, popular chain, insisting on eating at the hidden gem. Now that I've been to both more often- I would say that their xiao long bao are very comparable, but Little Shanghai definitely beats DTF in the beef noodle soup department.

From the outside, you can see a team of people busy wrapping, cooking and serving the food. At lunch, it often gets very crowded, but off peak hours, it's not too hard to get a seat inside.


the menu on the wall- only in Chinese

The menu is pretty simple, although it's only in Chinese on the wall and on the order sheet- xiao long bao (with pork), vegetable and meat dumplings, zhong zhi (rice dumpling- sweet or salty), sesame buns, fried bread, beef noodle soup (with beef or tendons or half and half), and small sides. If you are living in Taiwan, I think one of the first characters you learn to recognize is "niao ro mien" or beef noodle soup!

We grabbed a bunch of side starter dishes (NT$30 each) from the front while we waited for our food to come, and quickly devoured them.

small dishes from L-R clockwise: cold tofu and thousand year old egg, bamboo, cucumbers, tofu slivers with celery and carrots, gluten

The steamed basket of xiao long bao (NT$100) quickly comes, with the hot, juicy, bite sized pockets of deliciousness. I am getting hungry again looking at these pictures. Sometimes the flavor of ginger is too strong, but today it is just right.

xiao long bao


self serve vinegar and soy sauce

The beef noodle soup (NT$100-150 or US$3-5) is still what I think one of the best in Taipei. The hearty broth is so flavorful and a bit spicy while not being too salty or oily- you could drink the whole bowl. Also, the noodles are handmade and thick, providing a satisfactory bite to spoonful, or you could slurp it down. They also have a choice of tendon along with the beef, and often run out of the tendon if you go later in the evening. You can order a serving of everything that looks good to you and eat it family style to get a sample of everything and order more if it's not enough.

beef noodle with beef and tendon

Their vegetable dumplings (NT$100) used to vegetarian, but now they include a bit of ground meat inside. Today, the dumpling skin is a bit thicker than the ones on the xiao long bao and taste a little gummier. Unfortunately, their vegetable dumplings are not as consistently good as their other dishes.

vegetable dumplings

So the vegetarian options here are limited to the fried bread or the sesame buns, in addition to the side dishes. When I was a kid, I used to devour these fried bread. They are have a slightly sweet crispy crust and steaming hot soft bread rolled up inside. MMMMMMMMM. I don't usually see this served elsewhere.

fried bread

I would definitely pick the bread over the sesame buns ($40 for 2). The sesame is a bit too sandy and sweet for me. I'd also rather have the red bean dumpling dessert at Ding Tai Fung, which uses the xiao long bao skins to wrap either taro or red bean and steam them.

steamed sesame buns


black sesame filling inside

Everyone has their favorite "local" and authentic place to eat- this one is mine. Nearby the old downtown district of Taipei, a few blocks away from Tony Roma's and Ruth Chris', this is an awesome alternative for those who are looking for a new xiao long bao or beef noodle soup spot. Every friend I've taken there has always left with a full and content stomach and asked to go back again another day. If you do go, be prepared to memorize the characters of the dishes you like in Chinese or recite it to the waitress. It'll be worth it!

chinese/mall food: i strongly recommend XIAO NAN MEN at BREEZE

XIAO NAN MEN DIAN XIN SHI JIE
(or Little South Gate Dim Sum World)
at Breeze Center
No. 39, FuXing S. Rd, Sec 1

$

Kid friendliness: high chairs available.

Visit reviewed: 9/6/2009 and 3/22/2009



When you first come back to (or visit) Taipei, you think, wow, most of this mall food is awesome! It's way better than any Asian mall food back home. And for the most part, that's true- it is better than the mall food back in the states. But once you eat at enough mall joints, you discover that a Taipei hole-in-the-wall is usually better and more filling than the average food court ramen/tonkatsu/korean bim bim bap.



But when I ate at the corner of Breeze Center's food court at Xiao Nan Men, it was like eating at a hole in the wall, but in a nice air conditioned food court.



A long list of the usual suspects on a Chinese-only check off menu, you can't go wrong with the beef noodle soup, the hot sour soup, the steamed dumplings, the beef roll, stir fried vegetables, or my favorite, the crispy, pull apart pancake or zhua bing. But I think here it's called lao4 bing. I really wanted to order another one after everyone took their piece. Zhua bing was one of my favorite things to order when we'd go as kids to Happy Family, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant in LA. It's something you can find from certain street vendors, but Xiao Nan Men perfected the crispy edges and soft doughy center, so you must must order it here.



Don't forget to grab a few of the colorful liang tsai or cold appetizer dishes at the front near the register. Everyone has their own favorites- pickled cucumbers, eggplant, or soybeans wrapped in tofu skin



The pan fried dumplings or guo tie (NT$110) weren't as crispy the second time around. Longer and flatter and greasier versions of the steamed dumplings with ground pork, they come in a set of 10.



The steamed dumplings (NT$110) can be ordered with pork, beef or vegetable fillings and come 10 in 1 steamed basket order. The dumpling skin has a nice handmade bite to it, and the fillings are soft and finely chopped/ground.



I've had better steamed and pan fried dumplings elsewhere, but they were decent.



And you can't forget the noodles. There's rice noodles in a tofu soup,(NT$100) pan fried hand cut noodles, or jia jiang mian. BTW- what the heck is the right spelling? Is it mien, mein or mian??

The tofu soaks up all the soup and makes for a juicy bite. The noodles and soup seemed a little blander on second visit, but it mights a light choice for those not wanting anything too heavy.



The Moo shi chow mein are chewy stir fried noodles with sliced pork, eggs and vegetables mixed in.



The ja jiang mian (NT$100) is thick and slightly oily, you should mix the sauce and everything together. The noodles are al dente and chewy and slippery.



If you just feel like soup, the hot and sour soup(NT$45) is peppery and with strong vinegar flavor without being too spicy, with bits of rice noodle, congealed pig's blood and silky tofu that tastes like Xiao Nan Men's famous dessert soy tofu dou hua. In Chinese, the name suan la tang is a literal translation- sour spicy soup.



Or this tasty seafood soup that my uncle ordered back in March- had a slightly sweet flavor that I couldn't figure out.



The total damage after everything is devoured on one visit- a little over NT$1100 (US$33) for 7 people. Awesome.



OTHER LOCATIONS:

Breeze Food Court at Taipei Main Station
No. 3, BeiPing W Rd, 2F
MRT: Taipei Main Station

Xinyi Eslite, B2
No. 11, Song Gao Road, B2
MRT: Taipei City Hall


View hungry in taipei restaurants in a larger map

CLOSED! chinese/dessert: i strongly recommend SAN YUAN CHINESE CUISINE

SAN YUAN CHINESE CUISINE 三源
(closed and moved to Neihu, renamed Dancing Chili)
at ATT4FUN
No. 12, Song Shou Rd, 5FL
台北市松壽路12號4F
(02) 7737-5088

MRT: Taipei City Hall

website: www.ace168.com.tw (Chinese only)

hours: 11 AM - 11 PM

$$ (about NT$400/person)

Kid friendliness: high chairs and kid dinnerware available. lots of kid friendly items on menu

Visit reviewed: 1/29/2012

Whenever I feel like eating out last minute on a weekend, it's kind of a pain. Most places are booked in advance or have crazy lines not worth waiting in. So on a recent weekend, my friends and I figured we'd head to ATT4Fun and walk around until we saw something without too long of a wait. On the 5th floor there's plenty to choose from and we picked the first one that could seat 8 people without a wait. A few doors down, the ramen place had a line of at least ten people, so we vowed to come back to try it out at a less busy time.

With the modern purple touch, Sanjin looks like it might be too fancy or expensive to eat at, but their menu of xiao long bao, dumplings, noodles and other Chinese food are affordable and surprisingly tasty. I'd previously spotted another branch at Bellavita's food court and heard about their chocolate dumplings. Yep, you heard me say CHOCOLATE!

dinner with a view of Taipei 101

Menus is both in English and Chinese thankfully, though a few descriptions still need further explanations. There are a few unique items besides the chocolate dumplings, like spicy oil fried hand cut noodles, or rice cake with kimchi, or handmade steamed buns that look like porcupines. San Yuan's house specialties are marked with a gold character on the left of the items on the menu, and we ended up ordering quite a few of them.

super hot xiao long bao anyone?

The waiter brings appetizer dishes for us to choose from- I think the group settled on edamame, taro and fried tiny fish.

The kitchen works fairly quickly and dishes start arriving- stir fried cabbage...

ketchup fried rice (NT$ which seemed to be more popular with the adults than the kids, contrary to expectations with the sweet tang...

squishy stir fried rice cakes, cooked to the right chewy-ness...

The steamed pork xiao long baos(NT$160) arrive and disappear quickly, one per person with 8 in a basket, so we end up having to add a few baskets... Hot and juicy, it is a crowd pleaser as much as Din Tai Fung.

We also try the house specialty Lee Xue mild spicy xiao long bao (NT$320), but they look exactly the same on the outside as the regular ones. On the inside, the pork is dotted with what seems like super finely diced chilies and a nice kick. There's a "super hot" one with three chilies pictures as well as a "superb xiao long bao" at NT$520.

The other dumplings are just as good... steamed vegetable and pork (NT$160)...

shrimp and pork shumai (NT$180) which floats a shrimp above a juicy pork dumpling (unlike the ones filled with sticky rice at Din Tai Fung)...

Don't miss the handmade steamed small bun (NT$90 for 3), which doesn't describe how adorable these buns are. 

Up close, I admire the handiwork and wonder how they make all the little spikes.

We weren't full, so we ended up adding the Lee Xue spicy oil fried handmade noodle(NT$200). The pan fried knife cut noodles were thick and chewy and had a nice flavor. A bowl for one would make a nice meal.

Be sure to order the steamed chocolate bun (NT$220 for 5) ahead of time and save room. Bite sized, these are like fat mochi dumplings filled with warm, melted chocolate. Try not to fight over them, or order extra.

chocolate + dumpling = mmmmmm

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by San Yuan. Even though we ordered some of the pricier things on the menu, sharing it allowed everyone a taste and it ended up being affordable at about NT$400 a person. IS a good family style restaurant with speedy service and a nice setting, and most importantly, delicious enough to make a mental bookmark to consider another trip back, before it's as packed as the other restaurants in the area.

OTHER LOCATION

Bellavita, B2
28 Songren Rd
台北市松仁路28號B2
(02) 8729-2739