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TAICHUNG DINING FEATURE

COMPASS MAGAZINE,Feb 2000. VOL. 7 ISSUE 5

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A Taste From Every Corner of China

by John Chislett

When I first moved to Taichung from Taipei, I noticed that there didn't seem to be quite the diversity of Chinese food that was available in Taipei. I found some places that had the old standards ("Gung Bao Ji Ding", "Mao Pu Do Fu"), but none that captured any of the unique areas of China that gives Chinese food its distinctive quality.

Then one day I was introduced to "Ba Fen Baau" and found a restaurant that all by itself offered, and even surpassed, the diversity that I had gotten used to.
One of the things that make this restaurant so unique is that there is more than one and each one has a slightly different style of Chinese food.

The restaurant in the Tung Hai area is a "Ke Ja" (Chinese gypsies also known as Hakka people) style. The one on Yin Tsai rd. is "Chang Jr" style (located in the Southeast part of China) and on Ching Cheng Rd. the style is "Sze Chuan."

So as you go to each restaurant even though a majority of the dishes are consistently the same, you will find some dishes that are unique to that particular location. The other nice thing is the decor -- the restaurants have a refined but also relaxed atmosphere that makes dining very enjoyable.

Some of the favorites that you can find at most locations (I haven't been to all four of them yet) are; cod with fried (soy) bean (NT$288), shrimp ball with fruit (pineapple) (NT$278), beef with oyster sauce (NT$168) or chicken with cashew nuts (NT$168).

For those of you a little more adventurous the restaurant at Tunghai and the one on Yin Tsai Rd. have a dish called bitter melon with duck eggs (NT$158) and a kind of seafood stew called three cups cuttle fish (NT$328) that is quite good. I also highly recommend the General Dzou chicken (NT$188) at the Ching Cheng Rd. location.

So for any of you who are looking for some unique Chinese food, make sure to find one of the "Ba Fen Baao" restaurants. With four locations there should be one near you. You'll probably find that after you find one, you'll want to try another one just to find out what different dishes they have.