Here's a great Taiwanese food tour you can take without a plane reservation.
Just go to Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center in Irvine (above). There, within a few feet of each other, you'll find three places where you can explore Taiwanese cuisine from soup to desserts and baked goods.
Stop 1--Meet Fresh. This brand new sweets and tea shop (above) is the first outpost in the United States established by a Taiwanese chain that has 500 stores around the world.
The signature dish is a bowlful of herbal jelly, herbal blended ice, taro balls and sweet potato balls accompanied by a pitcher of cream (above).
When you stir it up, it looks like this.
The dark roll on this tray of mochi sweets is flavored with brown sugar, and the taste is so rich and brandy-like you'll probably want to order a second tray.
You can have green or black teas, but choose instead cold sweet winter melon tea, which comes plain or with such additions as lemon juice, herbal jelly, taro balls or milk.
As is typical of Chinese desserts, nothing is overly sweet and cloying. Even the herbal jelly bowl seems light despite its many components. This means you won't be too full to enjoy the next stop.
Meet Fresh, Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center, 2710 Alton Parkway, #105, Irvine, CA 92606. (949) 955-9236.
Stop 2. Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle. Chef Hung is a perpetual champion in Taipei's International Beef Noodle Soup Festival. Three of his champion soups are on the menu at this Irvine restaurant (above), which is the only Chef Hung restaurant in the United States.
The chef owns restaurants in Taiwan but sells the rights to the overseas stores, along with his recipes. He comes to Irvine once a year to consult.
The three champion beef noodle soups you can try include the traditional style, with a dark, strongly flavored broth. A second soup has light, clear broth in order to focus on the flavor of the meat. And the third has a touch of tomato in the broth, a newer concept that has become very popular in Taiwan. You can see all three in the photo above.
The noodles are handmade for the restaurant, and all the soups are made with beef bone stock that cooks at least 15 hours.
The many Taiwanese side dishes on the menu include "deep fried tasty chicken wings" (above), which are as tasty as their name.
Be sure to ask for golden kimchi (above), which is nothing like kimchi in Koreatown. It's a Chef Hung original.
Although beef noodle soup is the top draw, you should also try the restaurant's wonton soup (above). The wontons are small, and the wrappers are so sheer that it takes a fine hand to work with them.
Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle, Daimond Jamboree Shopping Center, 2710 Alton Parkway, #117, Irvine, CA 92606. (949) 756-0088.
Stop 3. 85°C Bakery Cafe. When this popular Taiwanese bakery opened in Irvine, you had to wait up to four hours to get in. The wait is still long on weekends, and weekdays can be busy too (above).
Interestingly, Taiwanese say the baked goods here are better than at 85°C in Taiwan, because American butter and milk are superior.
One section is devoted to luscious desserts such as tiramisu and Black Forest cakes (above).
If you can tear yourself away, go to the bread section (above), where workers shout "fresh bread" as they bring trays of buns straight from the oven, and everyone rushes to see what's new.
The Chinese egg tarts with their flaky, crisp shells are irresistible. One is partially hidden by the four segments of brioche in the photo above. Other top sellers, starting from bottom left, are a chocolate chip bowl, a milk bread with powdered sugar on top, a milk pudding bun filled with custard and a berrytale bun with blueberries peeking out the top. Not everything is sweet. A ham and cheese bun is at top left.
The chocolate bowl is worth looking at again. It's a big bun, for just $2.
Black calamari breads colored with squid ink and lined with garlic spread (above right) might not appeal as much as sweet buns, but they're very popular too. For breakfast, you'll definitely want the chewy multigrain bread with raisins at left.
The name 85°C refers to the ideal temperature for serving hot coffee, but the famous coffee at this bakery isn't hot. it's cold, sweet sea salt coffee, made from Guatemalan beans and topped with thick, salted whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa.
85°C Bakery Cafe, Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center, 2700 Alton Parkway, #123, Irvine, CA 92606. (949) 553-8585.
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