Profile
Price Range: $
Accepts Credit Cards: no
Attire: casual
Good for kids: yes
Take out: yes
Waiter Service: yes
Outdoor seating: no
Alcohol: no
Rating
Food Quality: 4 out of 5
Decor: 3 out of 5
Service: 3 out of 5
Overall: 3.3 out of 5
Recommendation: Yummy pork buns
Review
In the back alleys of Gong guan across the street from the NTU front entrance lies a area filled with restaurants. Amongst these restaurants is a simple little crack in the wall joint called Blue Family's Traditional Taiwanese Snacks. They offer a simple menu with all items priced around 50 NT. You can get braised pork buns割包, chinese tamales粽子, and four-god soup 四神湯 here. This place is special because you can actually customize the braised pork bun lean meat to fat ratio of the buns. This is a pretty popular place for takeouts, and not too bad for eating in as well. I recommend this place for a quick, cheap, yet succulent bite.
It isn't fair to say that this place is a hole in the wall joint, but it is certainly getting there. At least they have a clean area with comfortable enough seats. The service is a very rushed and typical order and serve style. I am not sure if its fair to say they have waiter service in the ideal sense, but oh well. I think most people in Taiwan are already used to this type of rough waiting. The main thing I like about this place is their braised pork buns, but since I set my mind to actually review this place, I ordered two other significant items. (Pretty much the items with the larger fonts on their sign).
Since I ordered the Chinese Tamale and the braised pork bun, I imagined I'd have a irritatingly dry meal, so I ordered one of their other signature items, the four-god soup. I am glad with my choice becuase this was really necessary especially when paired with the Chinese tamale. I feel like their four-god soup was a teeny weeny bit about average. The right smells and flavors were in it, its just that the ingredients were rationed very sparingly. I might need to sample on more supposively good four-god soups to have anything meaningful to say. I never really liked this soup, so I hardly ever order it anywhere.
I posted up the outside in inside pics for the Chinese tamale and the braised pork bun so you can see whats inside the item as well. I would not advise anyone to come here for the Chinese tamale. It cost 45 NT and it was not very good. The rice was too hard and not flavored well enough. The ingredients inside were also rationed out very sparsely. The Chinese tamale somehow did not have the pungent smell of the leave wrapping, and that was confusing to me. The main beef I have with chinese tamale is that the rice is not soft and flavorful enough. Maybe they did not use enough oils or fat or something, but it just didn't bode right in texture and taste. Stay away from this place's Chinese tamale unless you are desperate.
I really enjoy the pork buns here. I probably go for it once or twice a week. It costs 45 NT and it is truly one of my favorite Taiwanese Snacks. The braised pork bun is essentially braised pork, cilantro, and pickled vegetables stuffed into a U-shaped baozi bun and topped with crushed peanuts. The layers of flavor and textures are amazing. I also just like holding the item because the bun is so soft, warm, and fluffy. Each bite starts with contact with a semisweet, fluffy bun. Once you pass through that tender bunk, you start to work ur way through the cilantro, pickled, and meat. The first bite is dominated by the cilantro, peanut, and soy sauce flavors, but once you beginto chew you start to crunch the pickled vegetables and work out the juices of the pork. The final flavor is succulent, sweet, yet sour. I recommend getting the fattier pork bun, because the more fat there is the more pork oil and flavor there is to the item. If you are in the area, you should give this snack a try.
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