A Cheng Goose is a speciality restaurant that elevates goose cuisine to new heights. With a cosy ambience and a menu bursting with innovative goose-related dishes, this restaurant offers a unique dining experience that’s perfect for both locals and travellers.
At A Cheng Goose, the star of the show is their tender, succulent goose meat, prepared using a blend of traditional and modern techniques. From succulent plates of thinly sliced goose to savoury braised options and delightful noodles, their goose creations are a must-try. But that’s not all – the menu is a culinary adventure, with an array of side dishes and delicious traditional Taiwanese snacks.
Whether you’re a food enthusiast looking for a new experience or a visitor exploring Taipei’s gastronomy, A Cheng Goose promises deliciously humble food and will transport you into the world of gourmet goose cuisine. Don’t miss the chance to redefine your love for this delectable delicacy at A Cheng Goose, a restaurant recommended in the Michelin Guide.
Table of Contents
A little while back (I think this happened during COVID, but don’t quote me on that), A Cheng decided to open up a new branch of the restaurant almost directly opposite the existing branch on JiLin Road in the north of the city. Both of the restaurants were incredibly busy, but eventually, this seems to have led the original branch to specialise in take-out only, with the newer branch opening up as a dine-in option.
The new branch looks infinitely brighter, cleaner, and much more welcoming. There is a bit of a makeshift seating area outside and an open kitchen as you walk in so that you can see exactly what is going on.
A Cheng Goose Restaurant does get busy, so be prepared to wait. The newer addition to the branch here is the screen that tells you how long your wait might be depending on the size of your group. This is a similar idea to Din Tai Fung and a lot more restaurants now. It’s providing us all with the immediate information that we need to make an informed decision on whether we want to wait or not. I implore you to wait, as the food is pretty good here, and you’ll be missing out if you walk away now.
So, what should you order?
If you aren’t sure how to order or what to do when you arrive at A Cheng Goose, then this is the post for you. See below for How to Order in Taipei Restaurants like a definitive pro!
3 Fast Tips on How to Order in Taipei Restaurants like a definitive pro!
As previously said, A Cheng Goose has an open-plan kitchen area, so as you walk in you can see a whole host of kitchen staff busy preparing your meal. There's a downstairs space with limited seating and an upstairs space that can accommodate more people and bigger parties of people.
I'd like to think that this is my A Cheng Goose that he is cutting, but as I had yet to order I just had my face pressed up against the glass screen salivating at the glistening goose being thinly cut by the skilled chef.
The Menu
The menu at A Cheng Goose Restaurant is just to my liking - not too big. It doesn't feel stressful to look at, and the way it's set out allows it to easily navigate through. They also have some pretty clear English on the menu, allowing you to make an informed (also some accompanied by a picture) choice on what you want to eat.
The Sauces
Once you have placed your order, you should go to the sauce station to get your sauces and chopsticks for your meal. If you hang around long enough, the servers at A Cheng Goose will help you out with their recommendation of the sauces to accompany specific dishes. But, as a general rule of thumb - that dark orange sauce should accompany your goose meat, and everything else is fairly self-evident as either a stupidly spicy chilli, garlic, or soy-based sauce.
A Foodie’s Guide to 15 Taipei Bib Gourmand Restaurants
What We Ordered
Goose Oil Rice
Yes, you read that correctly - goose oil spooned over a freshly cooked steaming bowl of white rice. The oil is spiked with enough shallots so that the air fills with the fragrance of them and the sweet, thick, savoury goose oil. I could happily finish off a couple of bowls of this. It coats your mouth with delicious flavours and leaves your lips covered in a shiny sheen.
Sausage w/King Trumpet Mushrooms
Here is the king trumpet mushroom sausage. I was quite surprised by this. An abundance of Taiwanese sausages are just sweet, with very few other flavours. As an Englishman coming over here, it was originally quite difficult to adjust to the sweetness of Taiwanese sausage.
We are more used to eating Lincolnshire or Cumberland sausage, for example, which focuses on the more salty and peppery flavours. However, this one isn't too sweet, even though the name suggests that it will be. The sausage is fatty, the skin is thin, and the meat is of good quality and plentiful. Where the king trumpet mushroom sits within this has completely escaped me, there is no taste of it, whatsoever. Maybe they are just going for the texture? Of course, it is also accompanied by 5 cloves of cut garlic to be eaten with it.
How do we all feel about raw garlic + sausages? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think.
Blood Cake
Calling this blood cake on a menu isn't flattering in any way at all. However, I don't know what could be a more flattering name for it - Blood pudding? Blood and rice steamed cake? There doesn't seem to be a name that doesn't strike fear through the hearts of many people not used to seeing 'blood' on the menu...
So this blood cake is served cubed up and liberally doused with peanut powder and a few leaves of coriander/cilantro. We all know how I feel about peanuts by now, surely?
Each little cube is delicately steamed, and when you put it in your mouth there's an initial chewiness that you expect, a subtle taste of rice, and then a mildly metallic flavour that comes through but is quickly moved on by the peanut powder and fresh herbs on top. It's really quite addictive in flavour and texture, and I encourage you to order it. You wouldn't think to come to a restaurant such as A Cheng Goose for this, but it would be a mistake to leave without tasting it.
Noodles (Dry)
Simple noodles like this can make a restaurant, and these did not disappoint at A Cheng Goose. There are plenty of noodle stalls scattered around the streets of Taiwan that do a similar dish to this, but not nearly as well. And, really, all it is is noodles, shallots with oil, beansprouts, and leeks. It's so simple, how can it taste this good?
Perfectly cooked noodles that retain a good bite to them transport this shallot-spiked goose oil onto your tongue, which is then cut with an almost garlicky onion flavour of the leeks. Then it gets washed away as you bite down on a refreshing beansprout. Try this, it's impressive.
Goose Intestine w/Special Sauce
This isn't going to appeal to all based on the name, alone. But, if you like a chewy texture to your meal, then this could be for you. There's not the strong flavour that you can often come to expect/anticipate with pork intestines, but more so a slightly chewier, more resistant texture. The sauce is slightly spicy with chilli and slightly sweet as well as sour. I wasn't wild about this dish, but it's worth trying.
A Cheng Goose Meat
If the restaurant is called A Cheng Goose, then ordering goose is a given. We opted for a $220 portion of meat, which is both breast and leg meat, with the skin left on. Some people choose to take the skin off for health concerns of it being too fatty, but I plead with you to at least try it with the skin on because it makes the dish!
Picking a piece of A Cheng Goose meat up, adding a fine cut of ginger and then putting it in your mouth is what it's all about. The taste coming through from the meat is perfectly cooked smokiness - resulting in the meat being very tender and juicy. The skin has a slight element of bite to it, with a rich depth of flavour that means the overall flavour in the mouth lasts and doesn't just dissipate. Once again, there is a lot of meat here, don't be fooled.
Hopefully, you made use of that sauce station, and when you dip your goose meat into the sauce you'll realise why you made the right decision. The pairing is spot-on. There's a mild chilli flavour (but not heat), in addition to a light soy that allows this perfect balance of salty sweetness to it. A resounding success, I would say. A Cheng Goose really hits the brief here, making their goose stand out above all else.
The Table Spread
There are not many prettier sights on a weekend lunch than this at A Cheng Goose. Fill your boots, and enjoy a great meal for an extremely reasonable price at a Michelin Guide-recommended restaurant!
The bottom line
Is it worth it? A Cheng Goose does everything right. It's definitely worth it.
What is the best dish? The goose is faultless. But the goose oil rice here at A Cheng Goose is also exceptional.
Are there other places like this? A Cheng Goose is relatively unique in that it's right in the centre of the city, serving up amazing goose-inspired cuisine. There are other goose restaurants around, but none that compare, in my opinion.