TAIWAN 🇹🇼
Lovers of Taiwanese-style stinky tofu will know right when they open the door that they are in for a treat. The smell of fermentation hits you right at the front, enough so that a stinky tofu rookie was actually observed stopping in her tracks and retreating back out to the street when it reached her nose. Open up the restaurant's menu and five large photos of stinky tofu dishes take two out of the four pages.
The other two pages and the back focus on a surprisingly wide breadth of Taiwanese favorites from the bento boxes made famous on railways to three cup and popcorn chickens. The Taiwanese couple that runs the tiny corner shop is dedicated to bringing as much of their cuisine to Sunset Park as possible, a neighborhood that has a few choices for Taiwanese but usually from a mainland perspective and very focused.
Of course on any Taiwanese menu these days is beef noodle soup ($9, above and below), a dish whose "moment" does not want to fade. The version here is certainly near the best in the city, with super tender high quality meat and unique house made noodles. Lift them up with your chopsticks and notice the wavy edges. Bite into them for the wonderful chew and mouthfeel.
Recommended is to resist the urge of the spicy version they offer and do it yourself by adding the chili oil that is on each table. This lets you focus on their delicate savory broth and put just the right personal touch into it.
Don't be shy about the tofu, unless you already know it's not your bag. The fried blocks here are definitely stinkier and funkier than most locations that offer it but dumb it down quite a bit. With Golden Rich's version, you can vividly remember your first experience with the dish in a Taipei night market whether that be positive or negative.
In addition to a plate of ungarnished stinky tofu, they specialize in what they call "stinky hot pot." Four offerings are available with beef, seafood, pigs feet, intestines, or a combination of everything that is the signature dish. The beef stinky tofu hot pot ($13, below) uses those same beautiful cuts that were found in the noodle soup, but surrounds and submerges them with the tofu.
Also really enjoyable amongst the dish and rich soup of the hot pot is a really nice pig blood cake, dense with glutinous rice, as well as the tiny bowl of braised pork over rice that is served with every hot pot.
Amongst the Taiwanese favorites hinted before is their really simple bowl of pork chop over rice (below), a meal that usually never lives up to the one at Hua Ji in Chinatown. Here it is successful though, and uses a perfectly fried chop, bits of fried pork belly, pickled mustard greens, and a nice yet sparingly used sauce over the rice.
Come back many times and enjoy quintessential dishes like noodles with soybean paste ($7.50, below). This tofu is of the unfermented kind and is combined with ground pork and put over the same noodles found in the beef soup. Any dish that uses these should be considered, as they really are a star.
A nice array of flavors is in the dish, make sure to mix it up thoroughly to make sure the greens and sauce gets to every last noodle.
A couple burritos populate the menu as well, but thankfully this is not some sort of unfortunate fusion food and just an interesting way to translate. The beef burrito ($7, below) is actually niu rou juan bing (牛肉捲餅), rolled up goodness surrounded by a crispy fried wrapper. The essential pairing with the beef inside of these is scallions, some of which stick out one end with other crunchy greens. A lovely layer of sweet hoisin sauce permeates the whole thing, making every bite almost a dream.
The second time the roll was a bit soggy, but hopefully this is the exception to the rule. For such low prices, it is fascinating that everything can maintain such a high quality here across the menu, using good ingredients. Golden Rich is a real gem.
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