Menu, Interior and tea with edamame served on the side
On a recent Saturday, a friend and I went to Flushing, Queens for grocery shopping. Starving and craving for something different than dim sum, we thought of having Taiwanese food. My friend suggested 101 Taiwanese Cuisine as there’s word around that it’s pretty good.
The restaurant is located a block away from the hustle and bustle of Main Street, not far off from the 7 train station, making it a bit more serene than most establishments who are on it. Two things I’ve noticed when we entered were how spacious it is and it’s clean (unlike most fast, casual food establishments tend to be relatively dingy).
Shortly being seated, we’re presented with a welcoming hot pot of tea and a small bowl of steamed edamame to snack on while we’re flipping through the pages of the menu.
Sliced roast beef with five-spice sauce
We started first with a cold appetizer of sliced roast beef with five-spice sauce (五香牛肉) ($7.95). This large plate of fork-tender beef was thinly sliced and can easily be shared with three or four people. It was generally tasty but the sauce was too thick, viscous and tuned down the five-spice powder a bit. The latter makes the sauce have a bitter, gritty aftertaste.
Lu Rou Fan (Minced braised pork on rice; 滷肉飯)
For familiar Taiwanese dishes, we ordered lu rou fan (滷肉飯) or minced braised pork on rice ($3.95). It’s supposedly an appetizer but it’s a medium-sized bowl that was brimming with rice, braised minced pork and its sauce, topped with pickled mustard greens, and a hard boiled, soy sauce egg. This was pretty damn delicious and I could easily eaten the entire bowl myself. However, it was served a bit cooler than what I would prefer.
Sanbeiji “Three-Cup Chicken” (三杯雞)
The sanbeiji or “three-cup chicken” (三杯雞) ($13.95) was served in a large clay pot, mingled in Chinese chives, a heavily spiced, a bit too salty gravy, with lots of fresh ginger. I liked how tender the chicken was and it made me crave a bowl of white rice.
Taiwanese “red roast” spicy beef noodle soup (台灣川味红燒牛肉麵)
Obviously, we ordered a dish too much but we could not resist this large bowl of Taiwanese “red roast” spicy beef noodle soup (台灣川味红燒牛肉麵) ($6.50).
What I was informed by my friend, who is a Chinese food expert, that Taiwanese soup noodles have two different styles. One type has a clear beef broth and served with thin noodles and various toppings. The ones similar to what you see above, the beef broth contains fermented soy bean sauce, dark soy sauce and the noodles would be thicker and wider.
Anyway, this was my favorite dish of the entire meal. The large, fist-sized chunks of braised beef were super tender and the supple, chewy noodles were fantastic with that robust soup. If I was fed this almost everyday, I would be a very happy woman.
Generally, this place is good if you’re craving for Taiwanese food. It’s not perfect but there were a few very good dishes I would go back for. The service was decent, as our server was attentive at times.
To view more photos of this meal, please view the slideshow below (or CLICK HERE for my photo set):
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Information:
101 Taiwanese Cuisine
135-11 40th Rd
Flushing, NY 11354
Telephone: (718) 886-8600
