But never fear! I live in Taipei, where a wide array of tasty, inexpensive and only moderately unhealthy takeout options are always literally just down the block. Down the block for us usually means walking down Section 5 of Zhongxiao E. Rd. to Lane 30 of Yongji Rd. (there’s a Crown & Fancy bakery/coffee shop at the corner), where there are a number of interesting food stands and little hole-in-the-wall spots.
Lately I’ve been much enamored with a little shop, about a five-minute walk down this lane, that specializes in Japanese-style BBQ. There’s no English sign, but the name of the place is 烤師傳 (Kao Shi Zhuan), which I guess translates to something like BBQ Master (fluent Chinese readers, correct me if I’m wrong).
Anyhow, if you like meat (and boy do I like meat), this place is great. They cook everything on a hot charcoal (I believe) grill, with the flames shooting up and everything, and you can pick from a wide selection. I highly recommend the BBQ Chicken Leg set（和風烤雞腿飯):
(sorry for the craptastic Photobooth photos)It comes with a few generous pieces of grilled BBQ chicken leg (with not much bone to deal with), some green beans, half an egg, some bamboo shoots, a slice of sausage, and rice.
The BBQ here is nice and smoky-tasting, like the ideal of what you try to attain when you’re sitting in front of a campfire with your buddies. The marinade is flavorful without being too sweet and without overwhelming the natural flavors of the meat. I happen to like my meat to have just a little bit of a burnt flavor, and as far as I’m concerned they get it just right.
For only NT$89, it’s really quite a good deal. They also have rice sets that come with grilled beef or chicken breast or eel or a couple different kinds of pork. In the future I want to try their regular BBQ beef set (NT$69) and their garlicky grilled salt pork set (蒜香烤鹹豬肉飯, NT$89). You can also order grilled meat and vegetables a la carte, on skewers or otherwise, for about NT$30 apiece and up. The pork skewer I got one time was juicy and just the right amount of fatty.
There are maybe three little tables inside, so it seems like most of their business is takeout, and if you go by around dinnertime there’s often a sizable crowd of people waiting outside for their orders.
Incidentally, ordering consists of checking what you want on a slip of paper, and it’s all in Chinese, so be forewarned. If you call and order over NT$500 worth, I think they deliver.
On this particular evening, I also picked up an NT$15 xie ke huang (or “yellow crab shell,” which is really a baked sesame pastry with scallions inside) from a vendor across the street.
The BBQ here is nice and smoky-tasting, like the ideal of what you try to attain when you’re sitting in front of a campfire with your buddies. The marinade is flavorful without being too sweet and without overwhelming the natural flavors of the meat. I happen to like my meat to have just a little bit of a burnt flavor, and as far as I’m concerned they get it just right.
For only NT$89, it’s really quite a good deal. They also have rice sets that come with grilled beef or chicken breast or eel or a couple different kinds of pork. In the future I want to try their regular BBQ beef set (NT$69) and their garlicky grilled salt pork set (蒜香烤鹹豬肉飯, NT$89). You can also order grilled meat and vegetables a la carte, on skewers or otherwise, for about NT$30 apiece and up. The pork skewer I got one time was juicy and just the right amount of fatty.
There are maybe three little tables inside, so it seems like most of their business is takeout, and if you go by around dinnertime there’s often a sizable crowd of people waiting outside for their orders.
Incidentally, ordering consists of checking what you want on a slip of paper, and it’s all in Chinese, so be forewarned. If you call and order over NT$500 worth, I think they deliver.
On this particular evening, I also picked up an NT$15 xie ke huang (or “yellow crab shell,” which is really a baked sesame pastry with scallions inside) from a vendor across the street.
For about three U.S. dollars for everything, it didn’t end up being too shabby of a dinner at all.
烤師傳
Yonji Rd., Lane 30, Alley 151, No. 2-1, Taipei
(02) 2746-6632
11:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
1 comment:
ah that sounds pretty yummy.
and i like cheap :P
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