Taiwan Restaurant

445 Clement Street | San Francisco, CA

We went to Taiwan Restaurant for dinner a couple of days ago.  We got a carb load of food, but we took a lot of it to go because they are yummy.

Almost all the stuff we ordered are northern-styled dim sum.  Even though this is primarily a Taiwanese restaurant, they also serve some  Shanghai food.  Northern-styled dim sum differentiate from southern-styled dim sum by the thicker texture of the dim sum skins.  Northern style are generally made by flour or wheat or combo of these while southern dim sum pride itself on the thinner skins made from rice flour or wheat flour.  Also, northern dim sum tend to be more pork and cabbage filled, some preserve meat or vegetables, and offer more pickled vegetable options than their more seafood-oriented southern neighbors.  As I understand it, I think this is due to the scarcity of vegetables and meat in the colder climates. While I love southern-styled dim sum equally, I like that I can eat lots of red vinegar with my northern dim sum.  As far as I know, (and don’t quote me because I am not an expert) the vinegar helps cut down on the fat and carbo-load of the dumplings due to its high content of amino acid.  The fact that it tastes good to me is a big plus.

So we ordered the potstickers.  Then we had the shrimp & leek dumplings…very filling. And the pork dumpling which is almost the same to me except it’s got pork instead of shrimp.  But it came with these really thin sliced ginger that goes really well with the soup like filling when eaten hot.  Oh yes, be careful because you can really burn yourself with these dumplings. They are served and eaten hot! Very hot!  G and I also ordered a wonton soup and it was one of the most spicy wonton soup we have ever eaten. I don’t remember them serving it like this here, but then again, we haven’t been to this restaurant for a while…  And lastly, we got the garlic spinach…

Everything was delicious, hot, and reasonably priced!  And lots of to-go containers…