Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup in Bay Area
4 enticing new options for Taiwanese food in the Bay Area
Taiwanese beef noodle soup from a new Cupertino pop-up.
Courtesy Eric BatesWhen Cafe Mei held a examination opening in Fremont late last month, people came from equally far as Santa Cruz to look well over an hour for the restaurant's prized Taiwanese breakfast sandwiches. Taiwan News covered the "keenly anticipated" opening in a story headlined, "Californians welcome genuine Taiwan breakfasts."
Though not impossible to find, Taiwanese nutrient remains a a relative scarcity in the Bay Area compared to other Asian cuisines. There's enormous local demand for the cuisine, and in item for Taiwanese breakfast. (People waited every bit long as four hours for a breakfast pop-upward at Taiwan Bento in Oakland before this year.)
But happily, Taiwanese food is on the rise in the Bay Expanse with the opening of four new businesses: Cafe Mei; Xiaoman, which specializes in fan tuan, or sticky rice rolls, another Taiwanese breakfast favorite; Chiang Beef Noodle, a pop-up devoted to the iconic soup; and a new outpost of Southward Bay favorite Taiwan Porridge Kingdom. Several of the owners were motivated by culinary nostalgia and a desire to put Taiwanese food on the map in the Bay Expanse. Read on for more on each business organisation.
Cafe Mei, Fremont
Cafe Mei'due south breakfast sandwich with pork patty, egg, ham, cucumber and housemade mayonnaise.
Courtesy Buffet MeiCafe Mei has been teasing its breakfast sandwiches for months, taking orders in Mandarin from those in the know on Facebook since concluding year and popping up at Daly City boba shop Truedan in February. The Fremont restaurant is finally gearing up to fully open up on Aug. 12.
The restaurant serves sandwiches, burgers and dan bing, crepes layered with egg, cheese and scallions and served with a garlic dipping sauce. But the sandwiches are the eating place's calling card: crustless slices of pillowy white bread layered with ham, a seasoned pork patty, egg, sparse slices of cucumber and housemade mayonnaise. Other filling options include taro and pork, fish or veggie floss. It's a simple simply supremely satisfying sandwich that fueled possessor Kandy Wang on many mornings in Taiwan, she said.
Earlier Wang came to the United States more than 30 years ago, she worked at Mei Er Mei, a popular Taiwanese breakfast chain. The restaurant's food and energetic environment — where the act of recalling a regular'due south guild seemed to instantly heave their mood — left a lasting impression on her. She remembered that when she beginning moved to the U.s.a..
"(In that location are) a lot of challenges when you lot start upwards here, peculiarly with language. Every day I just need a boost to get me upward," she said. "I told myself, one day, if I take the capabilities … I would love to open up a store like that."
Cafe Mei is independent from Mei Er Mei, but Wang managed to convince the possessor of the Taiwan chain to share their recipes with her. She spent virtually six months perfecting the dishes. Because she's using local rather than Taiwanese ingredients, she said they taste 90% similar what you'd get at the Taiwan original.
Wang was so upset by the long expect at Cafe Mei's trial opening that she shut downwardly ordering until she can hire and train sufficient staff. Only she was heartened by how many people came to swallow the food.
"It has this taste of Taiwan that comforts a lot of immigrants and students that are here. They miss home," she said.
Takeout only. Opening Aug. 12. 43761 Boscell Road #5125, Fremont. cafemeiusa.com/
Xiaoman, San Jose, Santa Clara
The crunchy purple rice fan tuan from Xiaoman in San Jose, stuffed with a marinated egg, fried donut, pickled radish and other fillings.
Elena Kadvany / The Chronicle/Xiaoman serves just i dish: fan tuan. The honey Taiwanese breakfast dish, sticky rice rolled around fillings, is made here with either white or royal rice. Tucked within the thin layer of warm rice, there's pork floss, a soy sauce-marinated egg, sauerkraut and pickled radish imported from Taiwan and a deep-fried cruller so crispy information technology audibly shatters when you seize with teeth into it. An fifty-fifty more crunchy version comes with fried onions and crispy seaweed mixed with fried okara (a tofu byproduct). A compact menu, the only other offerings are soy milk and soy milk black tea.
In Taiwan, owner Mina Chen ate fan tuan for breakfast most every day. E'er since moving to the Bay Area, she's been on the chase, by and large unsuccessfully, for a comparable version. And then she started making them at dwelling house and shared them with friends, which eventually gathered enough steam that she decided to open her own business.
"I miss this season and want to share information technology with people, no thing if they are Taiwanese people or not," Chen said.
Xiaoman is located inside ghost kitchens in San Jose and Santa Clara so is only open up for takeout. San Jose is open 9 a.g. to 12:xxx p.1000. on Friday and Sabbatum. Chen is planning to open Midweek-Friday in Santa Clara starting this week. Also, look out for announcements of periodic pop-ups in other Bay Area cities on Facebook.
Takeout, pickup and delivery. 1614 Pomeroy Avenue, Santa Clara; 328 Commercial St., San Jose. riceburrito.com/
Chiang Beef Noodle, Cupertino
Justin Chiang spent 6 months perfecting his recipe for Taiwanese beef noodle soup earlier selling it on Instagram.
Annie ChangJustin Chiang started selling Taiwanese beef noodle soup, or niu rou mian, on Instagram in June after spending half a year tinkering with his recipe.
The whole process takes 24 hours from start to cease. The rich goop cooks for eight hours. Beefiness bones, tender beef shank and beef tendon mingle with 30 spices and aromatics. Chiang filters the fat out using methods he learned working at ramen hot spots Taishoken in San Mateo and Orenchi in Santa Clara and Redwood City. He sources a chewy, springy noodle and offers toppings like lettuce and pickled mustard greens. He stirfries the greens with spices to make a Japanese rendition, piri-kara takana, with "extra dimension and kicking," he said.
Chiang isn't Taiwanese — he's from Florida and grew up in Hong Kong, but has spent time in Taiwan and said he feels continued to the country'due south food civilization. Like Chen's search for fan tuan, he was surprised at how hard it's been to find quality Taiwanese beefiness noodle soup in the Bay Area.
He wants to grow his beefiness noodle soup operation, whether that be moving into a ghost kitchen to expand production or opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
For now, Chiang is selling about 100 to 150 beef noodle soup kits in one case a week from his home in Cupertino. To social club, become to instagram.com/chiangbeefnoodle.
Taiwan Porridge Kindgom, Fremont
The third location of Taiwan Porridge opened in Fremont in July, joining the other 2 restaurants in Cupertino and Milpitas. Comforting congee, served apparently or with hunks of sweetness potato, is the main event, accompanied by a parade of side dishes like bitter melon with anchovy and braised pork.
If you're dining in, the congee is all you tin eat for $ane per person. And at lunch, you can get porridge with iii dishes for just $12.
The owner of Taiwan Porridge Kingdom could not be immediately reached for comment.
Indoor dining, takeout and delivery. 34137 Fremont Blvd., Fremont. taiwanporridge.com
Elena Kadvany is a San Francisco Chronicle staff author. Email: elena.kadvany@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ekadvany
Source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/4-enticing-new-options-for-Taiwanese-food-in-the-16358746.php