Line up!
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| OUT THE DOOR |
So Taiwanese people really love their lines – you line up to get into the subway, line up at the beginning of school, and pretty much line up to go anywhere. But one thing Taiwanese especially love to line up for is trendy and hyped-up restaurants. This past year, I think there’s been a Krispy Kreme, In-N-Out, and even Alexander’s Steakhouse pop-up in Taipei and that really gets the Taiwanese populace going. The lines were out the door, but it doesn’t take a new restaurant to get the blood flowing around here. In fact, one of the most consistently long queues day by day is for the best Chinese breakfast in Taipei – Fu Hang Dou Jiang. So what is a Chinese breakfast? Well, allow me to explain.
A traditional Chinese breakfast can be composed of many things, but the main breakfast items that Chinese people love are soy milk,
danbing,
shaobingyoutiao, porridge,
fantuan, etc. The list is pretty long, but the one I’ve provided here encompasses the majority of what Chinese people eat for breakfast. I have eaten everything on this list, and I can relate most of them back to a childhood memory in Taiwan. When I was a kid, we often went back to Taizhong (台中), in the central part of Taiwan where my grandma lives. I was just a chubby little kid from America who refused to adjust to TPE time, and thus ran around at like 5 in the morning wanting to get food. So my dad brought me out to this store (I’m going to Taizhong today, I might go) a few blocks down from my grandma’s house and ordered some breakfast. I still remember how humid the air was and how the screaming of the cicadas scared me a little . When we walked in, my dad sat me down at one of those timeless aluminum tables and got me a
danbing,
youtiao and
shaobing. And I really remember that day, just munching on
shaobing youtiao in the early Taiwanese morning, a moment that kinda cemented my love for Taiwanese food.
Shaobing youtiao is this bread wrapped around a fried piece of dough called
youtiao wrapped in a little omelet. When you bite down, you taste the sweetness of the dough first, then the unique taste of egg, and finally the crunchy texture of the
youtiao as it breaks under the pressure of your incisors. Usually, it’s pretty decent wherever you go, but at Fu Hang they do it a little differently. Back to Taipei!
So at Fu Hang, the first thing you must do is queue. If you need help finding it, just look for the line stretching out the door, down the flight of stairs, then out the door to the street. In all honesty, the line moves quite quickly but it still seems like a grueling wait in the humid Taiwanese air. As you finally get up to the second floor, you can watch as the cooks mix and fry the
youtiao, the
shaobing, and other breakfast goods in a sectioned off area while you slowly inch forward in line towards the cashier. And when you get to the cashier, don’t hesitate when you order – you’re just slowing down the line. They’ll get you everything on a tray, ask for your money, then send you off to find a seat in the spacious plaza. Once you grab a seat (you can also stand at the island-bar thing), appreciate for a moment that you just waited in a line that started outside the building (not the restaurant area, the building) and went up a flight of stairs for this meal. Seriously, give yourself a pat on the back because it takes a special type of person to be able to do this!
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| Shaobingyoutiao |
I personally like the
shaobing at Fu Hang because of how sweet they are – it adds a nice spark to the flavor and makes the day seem a lot sweeter. The warmth of the fresh
shaobing combined with the sweetness just overwhelms you, bringing a smile to your face after the 20 minute wait and preparing you for a day full of fun in Taipei!
You can find me on Instagram as @stumpyeatsfood and on yelp at theplumpcat.yelp.com. You can also check out more of my photos on Flickr! If you've got a restaurant recommendation or even a recipe that you think I should try, send it to me at ryanjchen2@gmail.com!
Thank you for reading!
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