Elmhurst Review: Taiwanese Specialties

[scoopG]

The Chinese name for Taiwanese Specialties is Old Snake Alley, a famous Night Market in Taipei. That’s fitting considering the large number of Taiwanese appetizers (23) small plates (10) and specials on their ambitious menu.

They even will hand you a special laminated menu that contains 15 specials in Chinese only and 10 listed in English and Chinese on the reverse side. There is no overlap between the two.

Two of these Chinese specials were ordered: Fragrant and Hot Shrimp
(香辣中蝦) and Plain Boiled Pork (蒜泥白肉). The Fragrant and Hot Shrimp were saucy and spicy while the Plain Boiled Pork (sliced pork belly) came with shredded ginger and a soy garlic dipping sauce.

Ginger Duck Soup in Hot Pot was ordered from the English language specials and was quite savory with generous pieces of chopped duck, sliced ginger, tofu, goji berries and red jujubes in a boiling broth.

Taiwanese Specialties serves up excellent versions of the Taiwanese Hamburger or Gua Bao (only $3.50), Oyster Pancakes and Braised Pork over Rice .

They feature plenty of offal dishes, soups and seafood as well as almost 20 “over rice” dishes like Beef Stew over Rice and Dried Bean Curd and Pork over Rice.

Taiwanese Specialties provides yet another solid reason to visit Elmhurst.

Taiwanese Specialties
Taiwanese Gourmet, Corp.
老華西街台北菜館 (Lǎohuá Xījiē Táiběi Càiguǎn)
84-02 Broadway (corner of Broadway & St. James)
Elmhurst, NY 11373
Tel: [phone]
Free Parking
Hours: Everyday from 11 am until 2 am.

Slideshow:
https://picasaweb.google.com/100446449829763315847/TaiwaneseSpecialtiesElmhurstNY?authkey=Gv1sRgCMLb4NWZ5OHkmAE#slideshow/5659370710184625906

Village Voice review:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-09-2...

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Taiwanese Specialties
84-02 Broadway, Queens, NY 11373

[Lau]

interesting, sounds good, had you been there before when it was david's or lin's? I kept hearing it went downhill so i never tried it, but sounds like maybe its under new ownership

[scoopG]

I had not been there when it was David's or Lin's. They have many more Taiwanese appetizers than I remember at Main Street Imperial. (I've not been to Red Chopstick yet.)

[Lau]

yah alot of the food you got and the food they talk about in the VV article is all street food stuff.

- Main Street: definitely is not specializing in street food. I really need to go back here and write a full review again.
- Red Chopsticks: has alot of it on their menu. The 雞捲 / chicken roll (which is actually pork and fish paste) is really good and worth trying.
- Gu Xiang: doesn't really doesn't excel at street food although i tried a dish last weekend that was pretty decent, ill write another review about that dish. Their food is more like home style stir fries. Still my favorite of the bunch.

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Main Street Imperial Taiwanese Gourmet
59-14 Main St, Queens, NY 11355

Gu-Shine
135-40 39th Ave, Queens, NY 11354

Red Chopstick
136-17 41st Ave, Queens, NY 11355

[scoopG]

I found Gu Xiang to be not as good as Main Street Imperial, although that was some time ago.