Taiwan Cuisine

After a couple of bad experiences with Michelin Taiwanese beef noodles in Taiwan, I kind of swore off Taiwanese beef noodles. Perhaps my taste buds cannot appreciate Taiwanese Beef Noodles.

But today I take it all back after lunch at Niu Dian. If you can forget that their Michelin Bib Gourmand was from a couple of years back and that Show Luo is their ambassador, and just concentrate on the food itself, you will be in for a pleasant surprise.

First of all, the broth is very special. Not too spicy and full of pleasant herbal after taste, it is very different to any I have eaten on my trips to Taiwan. The noodles can be tailored to all preferences, soft, normal or hard. Beef is tender especially the tendon.

At 19.90 for the Trio Combination, it’s a tad expensive but we’ll worth the money.

I am glad they came to Singapore.

Quite rare to get legit Taiwanese food in Singapore. This restaurant’s has done it, both in terms of the different street food offered and also the taste.

The double mix mee sua in particular was very impressive. For $11, it comes with intestines, oyster or chicken. You can choose two of the three. The portion is large and it comes with stripes of crunchy black fungus with generous shavings of cuttlefish. You should add more vinegar and also their special chilli sauce. Be careful with the latter because it packs quite a bit of heat.

The braised pork rice was good but nothing to scream about. And so was the popcorn chicken. The cuttlefish balls were packed with pieces of crunchy octopuses and really delicious.

Must come back to try other items on their menu.

I knew I was going to be in for a treat when a Taiwanese accented voice greeted me in Chinese as I walked in. Over here, you place your order at the counter before you are assign a seat/table. And even though I was the first customer of the day, I was still assigned a window sill counter seat.

I ordered their Oyster Pork Intestines Mee Sua ($6.90 for small portion) and Gua Bao ($5.00). First the noodles.

The Mee Sua was served piping hot. The bowl was filled to its brim with starchy brown braised sauce and a teaspoonful of minced garlic sauce topped it. Inside were 4 decent sized oysters and about 8-10 pieces of intestines. The Mee Sua was nice to slurp down, take care not to choke on a hidden piece of oyster or intestines. Savoury by itself, you can add vinegar and/or chilli sauce to it. I did both. The oysters were very fresh and the intestines were very soft and easy to chew on. One of the better Taiwanese Mee Sua I have had in recent years including those in Taiwan.

Next the Gua Bao. For those who are unfamiliar with the name, it is a Taiwanese sandwich comprising of a bun and a piece of braised pork belly. I was pleasantly surprised with my first bite. There was a lot going on in terms of taste and flavours. Upon closer inspection, I found ground peanut powder mixed with fine sugar, pickled sour vegetables and lots of coriander. The choice of the pork belly was clearly the correct cut as it had just the right amount of fatty meat to melt in your mouth.

Lots of other items in their menu. Can’t wait to come back and try their other stuff!

When the server hails from Taiwan and there are Taiwanese customers eating in the restaurant, you know the food will not be far from authentic.

I found this to be true in this Taiwanese cafe. The Braise Pork Rice and Beef Noodles were super authentic Taiwanese taste. The Dan Zhai Noodles not so much. The Hakka Deep Fried Chicken could be a little more salty or spicy or something, too bland.

By the way, you can choose Guan Temple Noodles (broad noodles) for all your noodle dishes. These are more al dente and chewy.

I’ll be back to try their fried rice and dumplings.

This cafe serves Taiwanese food. We ordered their Zeppin Braised Rice ($5.80), Phoenix Tail Prawn Roll ($5.80), Signature Egg Fried Rice ($10.80) and Mini Waffle ($12.80).

Service was good and waitress even apologised for the longer wait than usual to be served due to Christmas Day lunch crowd. The food is also of a high standard, with the braised rice very close to what you can get in Taiwan. The pork is sliced into cubes instead of minced. Slightly sweet and savoury. The mini waffles requires a wait of 20 minutes but it is quite a work of art and definitely Instagramable.

The Signature Egg Fried Rice is not your standard serving of fried rice with egg coated grains of rice. It is more like Japanese OmuRice with watery scrambled egg pour over egg coated fried rice. Definitely a must for egg lovers.

There are more and more offerings for Taiwanese food these days but this one definitely is one of the better ones. Will come back to try their other offerings in their menu.

This obscure stall is located in an old landed housing estate. I doubt if there is a high volume of footfall, you’ve got to be going there specifically for a purpose or you live around there.

I saw a review online and since we were craving for Taiwanese, decide to go see whether this is any good. Due to this stupid rule of 2 pax dine in limit, I am forced to Da Bao home. Worried this will not do justice to the food itself.

I ordered their Popcorn Chicken Braised Pork Bento $8.80, Intestine Mee Sua $5.80 (but they ran out of intestines at 11.20am so replace with oysters huh?) and Pork Belly Bun $3.80. The bento was still warm and the rice was still moist. The braised pork was cut into small cubes so it melts in the mouth. The pop corn chicken was normal but being crispy it added another dimension in texture. One braised egg that did nothing much for the bento but the added pickles and salted vegetables came through. Their sourness and crunchiness were a delight and they balanced against the mainly sweet and salty elements from the braised pork and the pop corn chicken.

I won’t review the Intestine Mee Sua cause it had none. The Pork Belly Bun was quick normal but I must say the extra thought in packing the pork and the bun separately with pickled vegs at the side makes sense as the pork belly is juicy and comes with some gravy. Won’t do if the bun soaks some of that and becomes soggy by the time you reach home.

The place is an old Kopi Tiam filled with boomers flouting COVID prevention rules of 2 in a group. Not sure if you want to join that crowd so Da Bao is not a bad option as I can vouch for the taste after a 20 mins ride home and another 10 more mins before tucking in. Well done!

This small cafe located in Lengkok Bahru sells Taiwanese food in a modern cafe concept. The place is ver small with limited seats further impacted by social distancing requirements.

We ordered their Gua Bao ($7.90), the Niu Yolk Fried Rice ($18 + $2 for tobiko) and Prawn Toast ($11). The Gua Bao is huge. It is a meal by itself. The braised pork is tender and its sweetness is balanced with sour pickled vegetables and enhanced with crush roasted peanuts. Not bad.

But the surprise was the fried rice. We expected some beef in there but it came with an onsen egg , a few slices of grilled pork and the extra tobiko. No beef. Until you take one bite into the fried rice. It was fried with beef fats so the rice is very tasty and also has a strong aroma of truffles. Probably from truffle oil. Very yummy especially with the onsen egg and tobiko well mixed with the rice.

Prawn toast was just prawn paste heaped on toast and then fried. Served with Mayo. Nothing to scream about.

I saw lots of alcohol and cocktail on their drinks menu in the wall. Thinking of coming back in the evenings and see if this place rocks.

I think this is a Taiwanese Cafe, newly opened at Newest. Their specialty is super long French fries covered with mentaiko or seaweed. Today I ordered their braised pork rice and flamed beef cubes. The beef cubes were served first and they we tender and juicy with the right hint of saltiness. Eat immediately when served cause they tend to cook down very quickly.

The braised pork rice ($6.90) came with an onsen egg. Mix the pork and egg with the rice thoroughly and you get silky rice and sweet pork with every mouthful. I am surprised at how good it tasted.

Total damage came to $24 with one drink (Lychee Fizz). Not the cheapest lunch you can get but very satisfying meal.

I’ll be back to order their much vaunted fries and maybe taste their sliced beef bowls.

This braised pork rice stand out from the rest in Singapore because of the pickled sliced cucumber. The tanginess of the pickled cucumber goes very well with the braised pork. Their onsen braised egg is also unique

Their Chives Pancake is also very good and an authentic Taiwan snack. They are freshly made and pan fried upon ordering. But at $8 for two pieces, it a bit expensive.

Yet for me, this is a place worth coming back to.

Authentic Taiwanese cuisine. Ordered their large intestine mee suah, salted crispy chicken rice and braised pork rice. Best Taiwanese food in Clementi area.

New place with long queue of customers. Their Chilli Oil Dumplings, Fried Rice with Pork Chop, Large Intestines Mee Sua are very authentic. Beef noodles broth has a strong meaty taste. The best part is you can choose either the standard thin noodles or Guan Temple Noodles (flat noodles) that are more chewy.

I’ll be back to taste the other stuff in their menu including Braised Pork Rice, Three Cups Chicken and Dan Zai Mian.

Even at 2pm, we had to wait for 30 mins to get a table. Ordered the standard braised pork rice, chicken rice and mee sua set. The chicken rice was forgettable but the braised pork rice really brought me back to Taiwan. The mee sua had a few large and fresh oysters in it. Not as good a Ah Zhong Mian Xian in Ximenting but close enough that I’ll return to order a stand alone bowl. The Taiwan sausage was a let down, too dry. The Herbal Pork Rib Soup surprisingly has a strong herbal taste and the meat on the ribs come off easily. Good choice but not recommended often enough. Can skip all the bubble teas because any decent Bubble Tea stall can give them a run for their money.