Tri-City: Du Xiao Yue

My mom, ahyi, and I showed up at Bob Sang one Sunday morning hoping to get some Korean tofu only to find that the restaurant doesn't open for lunch on Sundays.  Yea...should have looked that up before we got in the car.

The only other restaurant (besides McDonald's) open in that plaza was Du Xiao Yue:

Not sure if any of these people were like us and tried Bob Sang first:

Du Xiao Yue serves Taiwanese cuisine.  Before I go any further, I have to give a disclaimer.  My mom and my ahyi were born and raised Taiwan.  I was born here, but I've grown up eating Taiwanese food...in Taiwan.  Keep that in mind if I seem a bit harsh in my critique.

It's difficult to find stinky tofu here in the States because, well, it smells so much that neighbors complain and cities often force restaurants to cease and desist.  So when we saw it on the menu, we had to order it:

Du Xiao Yue's stinky tofu ($5.95) was actually pretty good.  Fried just right and stinky enough to still be pleasant (though it could be a bit stinkier).  For those of you who have never tried stinky tofu, don't be scared.  The smell has nothing to do with the taste.

My ahyi wanted a gua bao or steamed bun with pork ($4.25):

Actually, she only wanted the bun.  She gave the pork to me.  She's strange like that.  Not that I'm complaining.  The pork is the best part!  This one was rather meh and not as juicy as it could have been.

Taiwanese sausage ($6.25) is a beautiful thing:

Especially with raw garlic.  While I've definitely had better in Taiwan, this wasn't bad.

The bamboo ($5.95), however, was a whole other story:

It tasted like it came out of a can.  The texture was all off and it tasted watery.  Blech.  Even the mayo was weird in a fruity way.

For my main dish, I got the pork intestine cooked in the three cups style ($9.95):

Three cups style refers to cooking with soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil along with garlic, ginger, and basil.  So good.  Especially with rice.

Both my mom and my ahyi wanted soup.  My mom went with the shredded pork noodle soup ($7.50):

While my ahyi went with a pottage:

Pottage?  If you're confused, don't worry.  You're not alone.  I wiki'd it just right now and it is defined as a thick soup or stew.  I doubt the owners of Du Xiao Yue looked it up before they decided on using the word "pottage" to describe what we call in Chinese, "ruo gen."  Think instead soup thickened by cornstarch and filled with veggies and boiled sticks made of ground meat.

In this particular case, my ahyi ordered one made of squid and including noodles ($6.50).  She added vinegar to it, which is key to deliciousness.  She wasn't all that impressed with Du Xiao Yue's ruo gen, but we had fun laughing over the word "pottage."

My mom was also rather blah about her noodle soup.

If we ever find ourselves standing outside a closed Bob Sang again, I'd probably suggest going to McDonald's instead of trying Du Xiao Yue again.  The food just isn't all that great.

There must be a better Taiwanese restaurant in the Bay Area...right?


Du Xiao Yue
4161 Cushing Pkwy
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 661-9316