Taiwan Day 10: Jin Chun Fa Beef Restaurant / 金春發牛肉店 (Taipei: Datong District / 台北市: 大同區)

Ever since my cousin first recommended Jin Chun Fa (金春發牛肉店) to me, it has been one of my absolute favorite places to eat in all of Taiwan.  It is a restaurant that specializes in beef dishes, and it proudly advertises that it has been in operation for over 100 years.  There are over 40 dishes that feature all parts of the cattle.  Dishes range from the safe and traditional like beef satay, curried beef, and beef and potato stir-fry... to more adventuresome plates of tendon, tongue, stomach, brain, heart, and penis.  Here are some of the items that I order whenever I visit.

One dish I dream about at night is this curry beef chow mein (炒咖哩牛肉麵), an absolute must order dish at this restaurant.  The spice from the curry, although apparent, does not take away from the strong point of this dish, which is the sliced beef.  It is sliced thin, which makes it tender and almost elastic in texture.  The noodles are my favorite because they are saucy, slippery, and slurpable, the way that a traditional Taiwanese chow mein is cooked.  It is neither greasy nor spicy... a surprise to most who try it.

Most bone marrow lovers prefer theirs oven roasted and served with toasted bread, but this stir-fried dragon bone marrow (炒龍骨髓) is what I crave.  It has been wok tossed with tomatoes into a savory and saucy dish that tastes like a soy sauce infused marinara.  All that marrow gravy goes great over rice or noodles.  Mmmm... and although I am not sure why it is called dragon bone marrow, I am sure that after having this dish you will change your mind about how you want your bone marrow prepared.

You know me... I need my vegetables.  What better way to get your greens in than by combining it with beef? This sauteed water spinach (炒空心菜) is flavored with garlic, red chili, and a blend of curry powder different from the one used in the chow mein.  The hallowed vegetable stems are crunchy and are a nice contrast to its leaves.  The beef, by the way, is just as soft and tender as the the leafy spinach. 

Another favorite at the restaurant include the stir-fried vinegar beef (炒醋肉), cooked with strands of ginger that blend into a sweet and sour sauce.  The satay beef (沙茶牛肉) using traditional Taiwanese barbecue sauce is an authentic dish that is worth a try as well.  All of these dishes, by the way, would pair well with a bowl of steamed white rice, but they taste even better chased down with ice cold beer.  Taiwanese beer is light and has lots of tingly effervescence, enhance the very flavorful beef dishes, many of which have lots of spice and seasoning, even further.

Anthony Bourdain featured this place on his episode of The Layover in Taipei, but I'm happy to say that I have been eating here years before he had ever dropped in.  He tries the beef noodle soup, but I think the stir-fried dishes definitely steal the show here.

Until next time, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

Jin Chun Fa Beef Restaurant (金春發牛肉店)
台北市大同區天水路20號
No. 20, Tianshui Rd., Datong District, Taipei City

ML - 20130709

153. Bay Area - HK Style Chinese BBQ at Cooking Papa / 好煮意 香港大排檔 (Bay Area: Santa Clara)

If you are in the Bay, and all you want is some Chinese food, Cooking Papa in either Santa Clara or Foster City is a good choice.  This Hong Kong style restaurant is not really an eye-opening surprise of ridiculous deliciousness.  It is just good food.  It is quick.  It's affordable.  It's no fancy restaurant, and it's no hole-in-the-wall either.  And it satisfies when you are hungry.  It was the first place that I stopped at on what seemed like a never ending journey through Bay Area.

Cooking Papa makes some solid Cantonese BBQ, referring to the roasted chicken, duck, and pork on the menu (or hanging in the window).  Juicy and succulent, our combo platter of roasted duck and pork (燒味雙拼) fit the bill just right.  This, by the way, is different from Peking duck, which is northern style BBQ.  Northern or Peking style roast duck focuses on the crisping of the skin; the meat is usually not as succulent.  On the other hand, southern or Cantonese style roast duck focuses on the tenderness of the meat.  It is usually very juicy, and the skin is usually not as crisp.

The house special pan fried noodle (招牌煎麵) is on the money too.  It is an authentic take on a Hong Kong style chow mein, frying up the yellow noodles until they are crisp all around... and then smothering the top with sauced up scallops, shrimp, pork, mushrooms, and bok choy.  This is one of those dishes that everyone at the table dives into, and each individual douses their portion with extra soy and chili.


What is spectacular about Cooking Papa is the dessert... and not just any dessert.  The Hong Kong style egg puff (鬆化沙翁), which should be ordered at least ten minutes in advance of your desire for dessert, is particularly dramatic.  These egg puffs are somewhat like waffles, only that puffed up hemispheres of batter take the place of the square shaped dips in a typical American waffle.  They typically fit into a paper sleeve to be held while eating on the streets of Hong Kong, but it looks like the Papa injected some Godzilla portioned steroids into these overly gargantuan super sized monstrosities.  Oh, and then Papa dusted it with some powdered sugar.  Cray cray.  The egg puffs are a sweet way to end the meal.

Until next time, let's get S.O.F.A.T.

Cooking Papa / 好煮意
2830 Homestead Rd.
Santa Clara, CA 95051

ML - 20130831

Post 82.1: Yaki Udon - Mr. Lee Brought Fresh Udon from Japan, Part 1

Ken's dad recently returned from Japan and brought with him some fresh udon from a local noodle shop in Tokyo... and I was fortunate enough to be around when Ken wanted someone to cook them.  Who, me? Me cook udon? Fresh udon? Well, who am I to say no to this request? I love noodles! Especially Asian style noodles... and it's been a long time since I've cooking anything special.  Lucky me.

Besides submerged in soup broth, one of my favorite ways to have udon is stir-fried or yaki style.  Yaki udon is a stir-fried noodle dish.  Some may even say that it's the Japanese variation of Chinese chow mein.  Instead of the commonly used thinner, Chinese yellow egg noodles, though, yaki udon uses the thicker, more doughy udon noodles.  It makes for a very luxurious tasting dish... one that allows the eater to swivel the silky texture of the noodle around the plate or in the mouth for complete enjoyment.

The first thing I did was to make sure I had a good amount of mushrooms to work with.  Since I was cooking with Japanese noodles, I decided to go with a duo of Japanese mushrooms, a well known Shiitake and the more honored honshimeiji mushrooms.  I soaked the Shiitake mushrooms in a cold water bath, and cut the bottoms off the honshimeijis to give them a proper cleaning.

The next step to make julienne some vegetables.  Carrots, celery and spring onions made for a very colorful trio of vegetables that added vibrant color and freshness to the stir-fried udon.  When stir-frying, the spring onions get added at the bookends of the cooking process.  It is added first when the oil first coats the wok to infuse some of the onion flavor in the cooking lubricant, and it is added again at the end of the cooking process as a garnish.

When eating yaki udon, I've usually had it prepared with thinly sliced beef from the fattier areas of the cow.  It get prepared with white or brown onions that are caramelized to give the udon the rich taste that we so desire.  I haven't quite mastered that method of cooking noodles, so I sliced up some pork instead.  I used the hind leg meat of the pork, and marinated it with just a bit of soy, ponzu, sesame oil, and rice wine.

While stir-frying all the ingredients together, I made sure to season the dish every step of the way.  First, the vegetables... next, the meat... and finally, the noodles.  I topped it off with sesame seeds and the freshly sliced spring onion (green onion).  I can't say it was the most traditional of Japanese noodle dishes, but I definitely did my best with it.  Thank you Ken and Mr. Lee for allowing me to do some justice to those fresh Japanese noodles.  Itadakimasu!

And just for fun I made a kimchi fried rice with soft boiled egg on top.  More details on that to come another day.  But for now... happy eating! Did I mention that there were two packages of fresh udon? Heh, heh, heh... more udon on the way! Until then, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

This post features photography by Ken Lee.

ML - 20120316

Post 56: Islamic Chinese for Uncle Ma (OC: Anaheim)

When I mentioned that there was Muslim Chinese people and hence, Muslim Chinese food, many of my co-workers responded that they never knew such people or cuisine existed.  So I decided to do a little research by browsing online and asking various family members about this unique group of individuals that happen to make delicious noodles and flatbread.

The Muslim Chinese are descendants of Arab and Persian Silk Road travelers.  Athough they have intermarried into the local Han Chinese population through many generations, they retain their religious beliefs such as the consumption of Halal meat and the restriction of pork from their diet.  Chinese Muslims are considered Hui people, which are one of the 50+ officially recognized ethnic minorities in China.  There is also a sizable ethnic Hui population in Taiwan as well.  In China, a large portion of Hui or Muslim Chinese are surnamed Ma (馬), meaning horse.  However, the root of the last name Ma supposedly originated from the Muslim name Muhammad.  It's no wonder that so many of the Islamic Chinese restaurants in Southern California are named Ma.

I dropped by Mas' Islamic Chinese Restaurant to grab some Muslim Chinese food, specifically the beef noodles and the sesame flatbread as a way to remember my Uncle Joe.  My Uncle Joe happens to be surnamed Ma and also happens to have parents who are Hui Chinese.  In fact, they even have a Koran that has been translated into Chinese characters.  But that all might just be coincidental...

Thin sesame flatbread (芝麻大薄餅)

listed on the menu as thin sesame bread with green onion

The sesame flatbread is what I came here for.  And let me warn you... the flatbread is no joke.  It's a platter of sixteen slices of sesame sweetness that will make your eyes open wide and your jaw drop completely open.  It's larger than an XL pizza pie, and it's something that even a family of four will have trouble finishing due to its sheer size.  The flatbread has a texture that is a cross between the firmness of a leftover French baguette and a spongey Ethiopian injera.  The look of it is also a combination of sorts... it reminds me of the delicate nature of an Indian naan but with the girth of a rustic Australian damper (bush bread).  When a co-worker took his first bite of this bread, he exclaimed, "it tastes like sesame."  No kidding.  There seems to be more sesame on this plane of bread than there are grains of sand on the beach.  But it's the sesame and the chopped green onions inside that form the base for flavor.  And it's the bread itself that forms an awesome foundation for whatever sauce or soup it gets eaten with.  Hint: it tastes great with the next item we ordered.



Green onion, ginger, and garlic stir-fried lamb (蔥爆羊肉)
listed on the menu simply as lamb with green onions

The absence of pork from the Islamic diet leaves a gaping void for a Muslim Chinese restaurant to fill.  And although Mas' seems to have filled that void with fish and seafood, it's lamb that seems to be the underacknowledged champion protein.  Each of the lamb dishes on the menu has been prepared with strong and flavorful ingredients (pickled cabbage, Chinese style barbeque sauce, chili peppers, etc.) to minimize the gamey taste that lamb naturally has.  The dish that we ordered was no different.  Upon first whiff the gamey taste dominates all other smells.  But one bite into the lamb, and the pungent garlic, spicy ginger, and hearty green onion immediately knock out that gamey flavor.  It's almost like Taiwanese stinky tofu... the smell is horrible, but one bite and you would think someone took Febreeze to the air.  Well... okay, maybe not so much.

Beef stir-fried with hand-sheared chow mein (牛肉炒刀削麵)

listed on the menu as beef dough sliced chow mein

Noodles! Oh, noodles and pasta are my weakness... especially freshly prepared noodles.  This "dough sliced" chow mein refers to the way that the noodle is prepared.  Rather than making hand-pulled noodles (think ramen or spaghetti), the chef takes a blade to a big ball of fresh dough and shears the noodles off one ribbon at a time (think machete).  For a less violent image, think about that Tillamook commercial that shows the block of sharp cheddar getting sliced one perfect perpendicular plane at a time.  But think a lot faster... and less perpendicular... and also imagen a vat of boiling water at the other end of the figurative machete plank.  After a quick boil and an even quicker stir-fry with bountiful slices of beef, bean sprouts, green onion stalks and scrambled egg, the result is a chewier, more elastic version of the typical Cantonese beef chow fun.

Beware though, there was a significant layer of leftover oil on my plate.  If you are an avid gym-goer, then by all means, help yourself to another slice of flatbread to swivel around and soak up the fatty juices leftover by the lamb.  But if it's tough for you to hit the gym (if you have absolutely no discipline like me), then maybe taking a swig of that hot tea (to wash away the oil) is a better idea.

I have yet to learn more about the Muslim Chinese dishes or even about the people and their history, but sesame flatbread is a good start to further exploration.  I hope future culinary curiousity reveals more surprises about a people or world culture previously unknown to you.  To new discoveries and to my Uncle Joe... until next time, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20110725