I was pretty curious about Eat At Taipei because of the super long queue every time I visit Jcube but the recommendation rating at Hungrygowhere.com is the lowest I had ever seen, at 17%. Why the contrast? Why the rating is so low, yet so many people are queuing for it? I decide to bust this strange phenomenon and do a review on the food. I visited the outlet around 630pm on a Sunday with my bro and mum. The place is really striking, the first thing you will see when you take the escalator to the third level.
There wasn't much of a queue (like 5-6 people in front of us) Wait time was around 5 mins. The dishes are served pretty quickly, around 5 mins as well.
Chinese tea - $1.50 per cup (free flow) The first cup tea is pretty good with Jasmine fragrance. However, like all tea in teapot, the second and third cups gets pretty bitter after the tea leaves sit in the hot water for some time.
The first dish - Spring onion pancake (葱油饼) - $3.90 What you see is what you get. This pancake tasted like crispy roti prata. There is no onion fragrance/ seriously mild onion taste. If you have tasted good spring onion pancake/ a big fan of spring onion pancake, this will be a disappointment. Not saying this is a bad dish, it is just that it isn't the taste I am looking for.
I believe that they cooked many pancakes at one go as this dish is only slightly warm, perhaps sitting at the kitchen for a while. People who dislike onions probably will like this dish.
Rock salt crispy chicken (盐酥鸡) - $6.90 I have never been to Taiwan so I really do not know how the "authentic" fried chicken taste like. However, this tasted like the usual fried chicken chunks you can buy at Shilin eatery in Singapore. Crispy skin with the rock salt seasoning. Tender chicken pieces with fats. I was really hungry so this crispy chicken tasted pretty savory.
Vermicelli with oysters (大肠蚵仔面线) - $6.90 The vermicelli contains pig intestines. As you all know, when the pig intestine is not handled well, it leaves a foul pig smell which is what this vermicelli taste like. I hate that foul smell. The vermicelli tasted more like beehoon and there is only a couple of oysters to be found. If you are like me who can't stand the pig smell, don't order this.
I prefer the Shilin oyster vermicelli (with no pig intestines) over this.
Out of curiosity, we decided to try the Taiwan coffin bread (棺材板)- $8.90 I find the name pretty attractive and I think it is a cool concept that the Taiwanese came up with.
The broth in the bread is basically creamy sweet corn with prawns, squid rings and fish. The seafood is really fresh and very well cooked. Squid is not too chewy, springy prawn and tender pieces of fish. However, after several spoons of it, the sweet creamy broth can be a little too cloying so you might want to share this toast with a couple of friends. I love the crispy thick bread that is deep fried. Very fluffy and slightly crispy, like those good fried buns that the western store serves.
Crisp fried oysters - $9.90 Tiny plate of oysters. I heard that the oysters in Taiwan are big and fresh. This one is pretty small, like twenty cents coin. The crispy skin is similar to the skin of the rock salt crispy chicken.
Assorted Ice - $6.90 I think I expected too much out of the Taiwan shaved ice. I used to watch on TV those large bowl of delectable treats and when this small bowl of dessert is served, I was really disappointed with the portion. I think even the ice kachang I get for $2 the hawker centre has a larger portion than this.
The taste of this is pretty good though. The toppings are strawberry burst, strawberries, mangoes and jelly with nata de coco. The shaved ice taste like milk shaved ice which is slightly sweet and goes well with the fresh and slightly sour fruit and strawberry burst. I love the balance in sweet and sour. I will definitely love this more if they were to give a bigger portion.
Rating: 3/5
Overall, the food is pretty average, not as bad as what I heard. I think the reason why it received very low rating is due to it's comparison with the authentic Taiwanese food. When people cannot get the same taste as what they get in Taiwan, it can be a little disappointing. It is sort of pricey for the average tasting food though. Service is hard to gauge. One of the servers that served us was pretty friendly and the other is pretty cold and kinda rude. It really depends on your luck.
As the eatery is located beside the ice skating rink, it can get pretty cold after a while. The music at the rink is always Bruno Mars songs. I hope that change the track because feels kind of repetitive after going there several times.
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