The Taiwanese kind of egg roll
This post is as much about my discovery of another favourite Taiwanese dish as to chat our search for a place to go to chill for hours on end like what Kitty and I sought out a short while ago.
Living on opposite ends of the city, albeit a small big city, Kitty and I don’t meet up a often as I’d like and we just want to get really caught up! As is with most social interactions beyond those with an NPY, we end up combining it with a meal but where could we go for a few hours, not get haughty service, and not have to pay a lot? A coffee shop doesn’t have good food. The wrong kind of traditional restaurant will make motions to push you out the door. Kitty suggested going to a Taiwanese diner/restaurant and I immediately approved of that suggestion. Having met up in the south Burnaby area, we drove up and down Kingsway. First we tried to go to Chill–famous for serving alcoholic bubble tea–but not only did it change owners/name (Google Maps has yet to catch up to that fact), they were not open. I didn’t want to bother Kitty to drive further to The One where we’ve been several times, so we ended up at Bubble World where I had not before dined, only having gone there for drinks.
We strategized to order our drinks last, enjoying the complimentary hot tea with our meal and Kitty made a suggestion to have a small appetizer and I had never heard of, Taiwanese egg rolls (蛋餅), so I accepted it. While I love Taiwanese beef noodle soup and don’t feel like I could have my fill or get tired of it, I opted for a rice dish. I slurp up noodles way too quickly and the rice dishes come with extra little dishes of cold marinated vegetables. And when I’m not out with NPY, I take the opportunity to order something spicy so I got mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐)–the Taiwanese preparation is different, a little gooey, still spicy, and delicious. Kitty ordered a fried rice vermicelli with meat sauce on account of her cold and it was perfect for it: the vermicelli noodles were “wet” stir-fried (濕炒) with lots of julienned vegetables and the Taiwanese meat sauce topping mixed in made it a heartier dish. After our main dishes, over which we lingered but not really conscientiously, we ordered a pot of sesame matcha tea served in a bodum to share.
The egg roll was really great with an pancake-shaped egg with scattered green onions rolled up in a chewy and tasty savoury crepe. The dipping sauce may have been hoisin sauce that I find too sweet and I could have done without.
We went at 6:30 and the place was quiet but as the night went on, it got really busy! People were not waiting for seats although the restaurant practically filled up–the crowd at the door was waiting for famous Bubble World bubble tea to go. I guess it works in our favour that some girls in our culture eat like birds so we could emulate that to squeeze out more time in a place to chat!