Taiwanese food lovers, add this to your Sydney food list. Meet Taiwan in Bexley is a casual Taiwanese cafe serving comforting classics like crispy Yan Su fried chicken, beef noodle soup and crunchy crumbed pork steaks. Tt is also dog friendly and the prices are affordable too. Find out more!
Whenever I see a Taiwanese restaurant in Sydney my ears perk up because I love Taiwanese food ever since visiting Taiwan. Taiwanese food is different from Chinese food (which is highly regional anyway) as it has its own influences from Japanese and Fujian cuisines.
Meet Taiwan used to be a food truck in Hurstville but 6 months ago opened up a cafe in Bexley on Harrow Road. There's a carpark around the corner but it gets busy at times.
Although most of the cafe is indoors they have two outdoor tables which are perfect as we have Teddy and Milo with us. Inside is busy on this rainy summer weekday for lunch. I go to the counter to order and pay. Prices are very reasonable, for two mains and a starter and two drinks and a coffee it is $75. You help yourself to cutlery and sauces from the table inside.
The winter melon lemon tea is delicious and sweet and is similar to Korean yuzu honey drink. I love mung bean milk, it's one of those drinks that is popular in Asia and if you enjoy taro milk then mung bean milk is similar but with texture from the pulverised dried mung beans.
We start with the Taiwanese fried chicken, tender boneless pieces of salt and pepper chicken with slices of fresh garlic and a side of Japanese mayonnaise. It's like a cousin of karaage chicken but in smaller pieces. This is tasty, freshly fried and succulent.
The signature dish here is the pork steak rice bowl which is actually on a plate with a crumbed and fried pork steak sliced up and served with rice, broccoli pickled cabbage and some braised pork mince and a braised egg. The pork steak is juicy inside but crispy on the outside and I also add some Lao Go Ma chilli sauce and mayo to dip it in.
It's a rainy and slightly cold day so a noodle soup appeals to us. The prawn and pork Dan Zai noodles are wheat noodles with a delicious rich pork bone and prawn shell broth. On top are pieces of bok choy, a savoury minced pork, tiger prawns, braised soy egg and bean sprouts. The egg noodles have the perfect texture to them and the whole dish has a comforting home style quality to them. I know that I have to eat my fill of these because Mr NQN will devour them.
We return another day to try some more food and start with a taro milkshake and a black sesame one. Both are delicious but the black sesame has an appealing nuttiness.
I was intrigued by the idea of the plum salt on sweet potato fries (although they can also add chicken salt if you prefer). The sweet potato fries are regular ones but are served piping hot and the plum salt is a brilliant seasoning that gives it a bright sweet saltiness to the sweet fries.
The egg crepes are part of the breakfast menu that finishes at 3pm. The basic egg crepe or Dan Bing comes with just spring onions but can be filled with a range of fillings from bacon, cheese, corn, ham, lettuce, pork floss, or tuna salad with either a sweet soy sauce or a spicy version. We go with their recommendation of cheese and hash brown with a spicy sauce. The omelette comes out and it's delicious, sizeable and great for sharing with a nice, oozy cheese pull. I particularly like this with the Lauganma chilli crisp that you can help yourself to inside on the cutlery and condiment table.
Lu Rou Fan is a popular Taiwanese pork rice bowl made with finely chopped pork belly in a sweet soy sauce over a bed of steamed white rice. This also comes with a bok choy, soy egg and simmered and fried tofu. This is pure comfort food with the soft meat and rice and I can see this is also very popular among other tables.
So tell me Dear Reader, have you tried Taiwanese drinks like taro, mung bean or winter melon tea before? Have you tried much Taiwanese food?
All of this food was independently paid for.
Meet Taiwan
1 Harrow Rd, Bexley NSW 2207
Phone: (02) 8384 4755
Tuesday -Thursday: 9am-2pm
Friday - Sunday: 8am-3pm, 5pm-8pm
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