Taiwan: Jin Ji Yuan
Since it was the girls' first trip to Taiwan, it was only right to take them to Jiufen. Before we caught our morning train, Jiejie took us to Jin Ji Yuan for breakfast:
So early in the morning on a weekday, the place was basically all ours:
If you don't care for social interaction, you'll like Jin Ji Yuan's ordering system:
Just mark down what you want on their paper menu and hand it in. (Don't know if they have an English version though.)
I saw that there were flaky green onion pastries on the menu, so I asked Jiejie to get me one (25 NT / $0.80). She got two:
When these are good, they are freakin' amazing. When they're alright...they're just alright. Jin Ji Yuan's were just alright:
They were just a tad on the bland side.
Jiejie said that Jin Ji Yuan is known for their tofu noodle soup (80 NT / $2.59):
The broth was very clean and the ingredients very simple. I'm not a huge fan of cellophane noodles in soup, but the girls seemed to enjoy it.
What I did love, were the steamed cakes. Jiejie got the red bean one and the "thousand layer" one (30 NT / $0.97 each):
I've never really had steamed cakes like this and I am now a believer. I especially like the thousand layer (more like a dozen layers) one because it was slightly savory.
For that warm comforting feel, we got an order of congee:
I don't remember what kind though. (Sorry!)
Jin Ji Yuan is actually most famous for being an alternative to Din Tai Fung. We got the crab roe soup dumpling (80 NT), the shrimp shao mai (80 NT), and the regular xiao long bao (70 NT / $2.26):
As if that wasn't enough, we also got an order of pork and veggie steamed dumplings (80 NT):
Din Tai Fung might have stellar service and more intricate dumplings, but Jin Ji Yuan's dumplings are just as delicious with much less pretension, much less wait, and a much cheaper price tag. While you might want to feel fancy from time to time, Jin Ji Yuan is the place to go when you just want good soup dumplings with zero fuss.
Their main branch in Da'an made it onto the Michelin Bib Gourmand list, so head to the Gongguan location if you want to avoid the crowds.
金雞園
台北市羅斯福路三段316巷8弄3-1號
(02) 2368-0698
So early in the morning on a weekday, the place was basically all ours:
If you don't care for social interaction, you'll like Jin Ji Yuan's ordering system:
Just mark down what you want on their paper menu and hand it in. (Don't know if they have an English version though.)
I saw that there were flaky green onion pastries on the menu, so I asked Jiejie to get me one (25 NT / $0.80). She got two:
When these are good, they are freakin' amazing. When they're alright...they're just alright. Jin Ji Yuan's were just alright:
They were just a tad on the bland side.
Jiejie said that Jin Ji Yuan is known for their tofu noodle soup (80 NT / $2.59):
The broth was very clean and the ingredients very simple. I'm not a huge fan of cellophane noodles in soup, but the girls seemed to enjoy it.
What I did love, were the steamed cakes. Jiejie got the red bean one and the "thousand layer" one (30 NT / $0.97 each):
I've never really had steamed cakes like this and I am now a believer. I especially like the thousand layer (more like a dozen layers) one because it was slightly savory.
For that warm comforting feel, we got an order of congee:
I don't remember what kind though. (Sorry!)
Jin Ji Yuan is actually most famous for being an alternative to Din Tai Fung. We got the crab roe soup dumpling (80 NT), the shrimp shao mai (80 NT), and the regular xiao long bao (70 NT / $2.26):
As if that wasn't enough, we also got an order of pork and veggie steamed dumplings (80 NT):
Din Tai Fung might have stellar service and more intricate dumplings, but Jin Ji Yuan's dumplings are just as delicious with much less pretension, much less wait, and a much cheaper price tag. While you might want to feel fancy from time to time, Jin Ji Yuan is the place to go when you just want good soup dumplings with zero fuss.
Their main branch in Da'an made it onto the Michelin Bib Gourmand list, so head to the Gongguan location if you want to avoid the crowds.
金雞園
台北市羅斯福路三段316巷8弄3-1號
(02) 2368-0698
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