Where to find the best Taiwanese food in town
We have compiled a list of top 5 Taiwanese establishments throughout the greater Vancouver.
We have compiled a list of top 5 Taiwanese establishments throughout the greater Vancouver.
To be honest, Potelicious’ food tastes mediocre because more than half of the items I’ve ordered lacks flavour. Their spicy sauce are tasty. Most customers probably use condiments to make up for the taste. The sausages are and chicken are tasty and I enjoyed the stinky tofu’s texture. I can understand their popularity based on their low price and large portion. You really can’t get the same food quality elsewhere for the same amount of money you’re paying here. We recommend Potelicious for people who can eat a lot, but don’t have unrealistic high expectation for the taste.
MYST has a pretty high price point at $20 per person. Their food is quite authentic, and the speed of bringing the orders to the table is very fast. All the dishes I have ordered have a good portion. I would definitely recommend MYST if you have not tried it yet.
The first thing I noticed was the droopy grass jelly covering the crushed ice. They are black and shiny like a mirror. It is the most jiggly grass jelly I have seen in Vancouver. When eating, the grass jelly has a noticeable herbal taste. The soft texture makes it the highlight of this dish. The crushed ice is course but not sharp. They are soft to the bite. Unlike Icy Bar’s Razor Sharp Ice, there is no unpleasant texture. There are condensed milk and brown sugar added to the crushed ice. I could taste a strong flavour of cane sugar, which is also quite pleasant. Taro Balls and Yam Balls are being called “TaroQ” and “YamQ” at BlackBall. To be honest, I am a little disappointed in these. The bite to them has no bounce. I understand this means that there is not much starch powder added, but it is not the texture I was looking for. Flavour-wise, they are not really sweet but has a good natural flavour of taro and yam. All these beans are perfectly cooked. Adzuki bean and Mung beans are cooked until their skin starts to peel. This made the interior very starchy. Sugar was added to the cooking process and very noticeable. The Kidney Beans are larger beans. The structure is more intact. I could still feel the pop when I bite into them.
As soon as I walked in, it is evident the restaurant had been renovated. The front curve that direct customers towards the left have been replaced by two straight walls. This is a much more efficient use of space. The tables and chairs have also been changed from ugly, cheap (it was the theme before), and down to earth style to the Zen-like Japanese style decoration. The feature wall on the left has been kept. You cannot tell it’s an old wall. Overall, it is a much appreciated transformation aesthetically.
It is Din Tai Fung culture to serve pot stickers upside down to showcase the crispy bottom crust. The extravagant thin crisp crust hide the pot stickers underneath. When you eat them, you estimate where pot stickers are and break the crust accordingly. It provides excitement to eating an ordinary dish. Unfortunately for the Din Tai Fung in Seattle, I broke the bottom crust and knew this is not the right stuff. The crust should have been light, fluffy and crispy. This crust was soggy. I could not break it off easily because the top layer of the bottom crust was still wet. This is not cooked properly. The Shrimp and Kurotuba Pork Pot Stickers pot stickers should be soft and juicy to the bite. The real Din Tai Fung’s potstickers should have a bounce and give me a satisfying feeling when biting into them. However, the texture of the pot stickers can only be best described as “wimpy”. I don’t care if it’s Kurotuba Pork or whatever the pork they use. I cannot taste the difference. If you want to use prestige ingredients, customers should be able to differentiate it in the taste. Also something of note, shrimp does not have much texture.
Gokudo Shabu Shabu is one of the oldest Taiwanese personal hot pot restaurants in the lower mainland. They have been around for about 15 years, and their second location just recently opened…