10 March 2013

Yen Yen: A Taste of Taiwanese Street Food

Since we've been planning to visit the hometown of the ageless F4, we decided to pay Yen Yen another visit to get a taste of authentic Taiwanese street food. We are really looking forward to trying out different Taiwanese street food once we get to Taiwan so we decided to familiarize ourselves with some Taiwanese street food made available here.

For those of you who are not familiar with Yen Yen, it is a small hole-in-a-wall type of snack house. It used to be located beside a car wash along Ortigas Road, but they've since transferred to a much bigger location along P. Guevarra in San Juan. They boast of authentic Taiwanese street food, a first in the metro (as far as I know).

The first time we ate in Yen Yen, Gus ordered one of their most famous dishes, Pork Chop Rice. But since we are planning to visit the home of beef noodle soup, we decided to try something different this time.

I ordered a bowl of their Taipei Beef Braised Noodle Soup. Since the first stop on our itinerary would be Taipei City, I decided to try their beef noodle soup so I can compare it with the real deal when we get to Taipei. As for Gus, he'd been craving for pork kidney so he decided to get Stir-fried Pork Kidney with Rice.

When we got our orders, we were so surprised. My beef noodle soup was in a very large bowl. There was a lot of beef, huge carrots and radishes, and a lump of noodles. I had already eaten half of the noodles but it still looked full after.



After eating what I thought was most of the dish, I still had a lot of noodles hidden at the bottom of the bowl! O_O


Gus's dish was the same. The serving of the stir-fried kidney was also good for 2-3 people. He kept on eating but it felt like there was just more and more kidney slices in the serving dish.


We haven't tried authentic streetfood-from-the-streets-of-Taipei dishes, but all we can say is that these dishes weren't bad. I'm not fond of beef noodle soup because of it's strong, salty taste, but this one I liked. It had a beefier flavor rather than salty, and they were very generous with the serving. This is the first beef noodle soup that I actually liked.

Gus also enjoyed his pork kidneys. He couldn't explain it but it was also one of the best pork kidney dishes he ever tasted. He liked his ama's the best, but this was a good alternative. The sauce was just right, nothing too salty but with just enough flavor to make you enjoy the dish.

For servings as big as Yen Yen's and for dishes as good as this, your money will sure be well-spent here. But the staff could use more smiles. They looked so unhappy taking our orders and serving our food. :[


Price: PhP150 - 300/person

4 out of 5 for Yen Yen Taiwanese Street Food

Yen Yen Taiwanese Street Food
198 Wilson St. cor P. Guevarra
San Juan
Contact Number: (632) 945 4389


Contact details courtesy of: http://food.clickthecity.com/b/HZ51772/yen-yen-taiwan-street-food-wilson-st

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