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Jul. 5th, 2011 03:10 pm
Voting the island off
I wish I cared more for 527 Café. Like Taiwan, it has several advantages over neighbouring Joy Yee: it seems cleaner, quieter, more modern, and less crowded. And I love the fact that it's clearly family-owned and not part of some expansive restaurant empire. But so far none of the dishes there has really wowed me, which is a problem as I'm quickly working my way through them. At first, I thought the focussed menu might work to their an advantage (just reading Joy Yee's would take your entire lunch break) but it must not be, since they've decorated the dining room with home-printed signs listing various Taiwanese specialties.
Portion size is also an issue. Again, say what you will about Joy Yee, but you won't ever leave there hungry. Indeed, one serving is plenty for two people (or for one meal in house and one to take home). Today I tried the "Taiwanese-style pork with rice noodle" at 527 Café and found it didn't fill me. Partly it might be that I was expecting nice fat rice noodles instead of fine vermicelli. But I ended up paying another $3 for one of their signature "Korean tacos" (whose issues I've already beefed about) to top myself off.
And since the woman at the counter misunderstood my request and left off my drink, I decided to splurge on a "Taiwanese root beer float". This at least provided amusement: Mama-san came out to see how I liked it. "It tastes just like a regular root beer float," I told her. "What makes it Taiwanese?" "It's Taiwanese root beer!" A moment later, her spouse came out to ask me again. "The idea is from Taiwan!" he said proudly. I wasn't about to contradict a sweet old fellow in his own restaurant, so I nodded as he went on about getting the idea from visiting night markets back on the island. But I couldn't help telling him that I had ordered one because I was nostalgic for the "brown cows" I had as a child, which seemed to confuse him a bit.
Portion size is also an issue. Again, say what you will about Joy Yee, but you won't ever leave there hungry. Indeed, one serving is plenty for two people (or for one meal in house and one to take home). Today I tried the "Taiwanese-style pork with rice noodle" at 527 Café and found it didn't fill me. Partly it might be that I was expecting nice fat rice noodles instead of fine vermicelli. But I ended up paying another $3 for one of their signature "Korean tacos" (whose issues I've already beefed about) to top myself off.
And since the woman at the counter misunderstood my request and left off my drink, I decided to splurge on a "Taiwanese root beer float". This at least provided amusement: Mama-san came out to see how I liked it. "It tastes just like a regular root beer float," I told her. "What makes it Taiwanese?" "It's Taiwanese root beer!" A moment later, her spouse came out to ask me again. "The idea is from Taiwan!" he said proudly. I wasn't about to contradict a sweet old fellow in his own restaurant, so I nodded as he went on about getting the idea from visiting night markets back on the island. But I couldn't help telling him that I had ordered one because I was nostalgic for the "brown cows" I had as a child, which seemed to confuse him a bit.
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