Xu Family Steamed Dumplings

許記蒸餃

No. 306, Linsen Rd, Sanmin Dist
高雄市三民區林森一路306號
(07)235-3624

Monday-Saturday 
11:00am-10:00pm

English friendly: no
vegetarian friendly: doable
average cost: 50-100NTD

If you're like me, or like me before I came to this restaurant, you may have never heard of 麵糰 before. That 糰 there is the same 糰 from 飯糰, those little triangles of rice wrapped in seaweed that frequently feature in Japanese anime and Taiwanese 7-11s, and my dictionary tells me it means "dumpling." Whatever you say, dictionary.

This place, which has been open for more than 20 years, is famous for its actual dumplings as well as its 麵糰, which are definitely not dumplings. 麵糰 are also known as 麵疙瘩, or "noodlestuff goosebumps", but I suppose that doesn't get us a whole lot closer to knowing what they are now does it.

Also, curiously, this place is famous for its "imperial milk tea", over there on the left, available to try for the low low price of 25NTD. You don't often see milk tea sold at restaurants like these, so that's pretty special. I did try it, though I don't have a picture, and I thought it was Perfectly Okay. Definitely not too sweet or thick like some milk teas, and with a subtle sense of depth. Subtle, but good.

Ah-ha! Here we are. One bowl of pork chop 麵糰, at your service. As you can see, this dish is magical noodlestuff in a new form: thick, flat, and petal-shaped, similar to 年糕 but with an organic handmade touch. I really liked them. Very thick and very chewy, in the most satisfying way.

I have finally learned to avoid 濃湯 when I don't feel like a thick, blandish, sweet-and-sour-soupish soup, so I enjoyed the soup this time too. Well, mostly I'm just glad it was a liquid... The flavor was still pretty bland. The pork chops were generous, and I'm sure pork chop fans will be satisfied.

Here we have a small serving of 麵糰 in 濃湯, which I think would be vegetarian friendly. At the very least it would be vegetarian in the Chinese sense, defined as "but but there's only a little meat in it?"

And here, their famous dumplings! These dumplings do look pretty good, and are probably distinguishable from those of other places on sight: the skin is extra thick, and has an interesting pockmarked texture to it. But apart from their slightly chewier exteriors, they're pretty much your standard steamed pork dumplings. 

If you haven't tried noodlestuff goosebumps before, I can guarantee you an interesting lunch experience here; I'm just not entirely sure you'll want to come back a second time. Man was not meant to survive on chewiness alone. This restaurant has been afflicted with Taiwanese creeping blandness disease, and the addictive texture of the 麵糰 is not enough to save it in my eyes.

Still, what do I know. Try it out for yourself, and tell me what you think.

OVERALL RATING: 3/5

Drunk Cheap Japanese Fast Food

醉便宜日式快餐

No. 25, Yanji St, Jiuru 1st Rd
高雄市三民區九如一路延吉街25號
(07)386-6261

Monday-Sunday 
11:00am-2:00pm
5:00pm-9:00pm

English friendly: no
vegetarian friendly: no
average cost: 100-150NTD

"Drunk" and "most" have the same pronunciation in Chinese, so this restaurant's name is pretty cutesy. Don't get your hopes up though--it isn't very cheap, not relatively speaking, and I am almost positive you will not come away drunk.

I'm not one to waste a lot of space/pictures on the interior design of a place, or other non-food-related things, but so you know this restaurant is a lot nicer than the places I usually hang out (har har har). It's all decked out in Japanese style, with a wooden sushi counter and standing formation of young pretty waitresses in cute little uniforms. A good place for a date! Though be aware it can get pretty crowded.

You can order sushi of all varieties to-go at the sushi counter, or sit down for a more substantial set meal. Your choices are basically meat of some sort on top of stewed pork rice (which automatically comes with black tea, soup, and some greens) as well as whatever extra raw fish, cooked vegetable, etc. you'd like to order on the side. Because this is "fast food" in Asia, it comes to your table marginally faster than regular food at about twice the price. The most expensive things down there at the bottom are the salads, because they are salads.

Worth it??? Check out their seafood salad, a beautifully arranged bouquet of seafood (and mashed taro) just bursting with color! They also have a supposedly famous fish roe salad which sounds really neat, but I only found out about it after so will have to wait until next time...!

A massive salmon roe hand roll, which I did not have the pleasure of ingesting. 

So here we have a set meal, delivered on a huge cafeteria tray like a real fast food restaurant. This is the chicken drumstick option, and if the perspective weren't so whacked you would notice that the drumstick is TOTALLY GINORMOUS, as big as your FACE. I don't want to know what sort of mutant monster chicken that came from. My friend who ordered it said she thought the chicken was too salty, which--seeing as she is Taiwanese--is good news for you, you salty foreign devil!

Here is the stewed pork rice that comes at the base of every meal. It is good on its own, but not amazing. I sort of wished the rice were a bit fluffier. 

I personally selected the 虎掌飯 or "tiger paw rice" set meal option that this restaurant is famous for, which means my meat topping was the bloody severed paw of a wild Bengal tiger. Just kidding, it was this. Pig foot! You guys have started to eat pig foot by now, right?

I hope so, because it is in general seriously delicious, and this time around definitely-not-messing-around seriously, SERIOUSLY delicious. Smooth and chewy and fatty... if there were bones it would be falling off them. I guess it already fell off them. When paired with rice, it is just... perfect. It will make you so happy.

There is also a bountiful cache of bamboo hiding in the soup, to console you when you must face the crushing absence of pig foot because you ate it all in the first two minutes.

We all ordered 蒸蛋 ("steamed egg") on the side, and it came looking like this. Because I'd completely forgotten what we'd ordered, I initially thought it was tofu pudding, or some sort of custard. Even after I remembered, I was still sort of disarmed by it--it looks like it should taste sweet, but instead it's all salty and eggy and stuff... An exercise in mental disconnect.

There's all sorts of pinkish seafood hiding inside, including a random clam still in its shell (not pictured). I am still not sure how to feel about the whole thing. I would suggest ordering it if you are curious, looking to experience something new, or really REALLY into the taste of slippery egg whites.

Here we have my other friend's beef set meal. The beef was good, but it was still just beef. If you're coming here for the first time, I would not give up an opportunity to try the tiger paw rice.

I'd also like to note that the red tea that comes with each meal is REALLY good. It's been prepared in the traditional way, which means it has a complex, chocolately flavor instead of whatever tea-flavored sugar water flavor you get from the junk sold in 7-11.

I'm not sure how "Japanese" Drunk Cheap Japanese Fast Food is, as their set meal options are all variations on Taiwanese stewed pork rice, but I don't care. This place is special. It's not a chain restaurant, despite the "fast food" label, and it is good, despite the "fast food" label. Definitely stop by and give it a try.

OVERALL RATING: 4/5

Lu Family Stinky Tofu King

廬記臭豆腐王

No. 253, Zhonghua 3rd Rd, Sanmin Dist
高雄市三民區中華三路253號
(07)281-9808

Monday-Sunday 
11:00am-2:00pm
5:00pm-1:00am

website: http://lugicdf.cdmcjoe.com.tw/

English friendly: no
vegetarian friendly: YES
average cost: 70-100NTD

If you're a connoisseur of stinky tofu, like me, you'll be thrilled to learn that this most definitely famous Hong Kong-style stinky tofu restaurant is within walking distance of your house. That is assuming you live in southwestern Kaohsiung, like me. 

You'll know when you've reached this place from smell alone. Now, because I am a freak I do actually enjoy the smell of stinky tofu (the stinkier the better!) but for me the stinky tofu king's palace takes it a step beyond "sharp cheese" veering dangerously into "gas station bathroom" territory. I was a little alarmed at first, but as always my nose slowly adjusted and soon enough I couldn't smell it at all.

The menu is a stinky tofu DREAM! They sell Hong Kong-style crispy-skinned stinky tofu, Japanese-style cold dressed stinky tofu, vegetarian steamed stinky tofu (so named because the Taiwanese Buddhist conception of vegetarianism also forbids "strong" flavors like salt, garlic, and MSG--the more you know!), fried egg yolk taro balls (???), as well as a large variety of hot pot and many side dishes including wood ear(!) and kimchi. I wanted to try EVERYTHING but unfortunately we were in sort of a rush.

I ended up getting the Hong Kong-style stinky tofu. A small gets you four cubes, a large six, served in the traditional way with a side of pickled cabbage. (You're supposed to put it on top... if you didn't... know that.) This stinky tofu is stinky tofu perfected. Crispy, salty, and incredibly juicy--a waterfall of stinky tofu soup exploding in your mouth with every bite. The pickled cabbage may also have been pickled cabbage perfected.... It tastes the same wherever I get it.

I also got fried ice cream, which I had never seen in Taiwan before and was REALLY excited to try. I was promised a crispy hot crust surrounding a smooth cool ball of ice cream...

...but the outside was just sort of oily and soggy and room-temperature, while the ice cream was a little too hard and a little too cold, and I'm still not sure what flavor it was supposed to be. So if you're looking for fried ice cream in Taiwan, be encouraged, it DOES exist, but you should probably look for it elsewhere. I hear it's good in Tainan?

As far as the stinky tofu goes, definitely look for it here. I think this is the perfect place to take the uninitiated and enthusiast alike. I, at least, will be back very soon to test out their other myriad stinky tofu styles!

OVERALL REVIEW: 4/5