Fong Sheng restaurant is located on Yongkang Street, near MRT Dongmen station, in Taipei. This restaurant does some seriously good Taiwanese food. Whenever I come around this area of the city and crave for some authentic Taiwanese cuisine, I think about eating here. However, it is slightly more difficult to order here as a foreigner. Let’s try and navigate that right here, right now.
Walking in, the décor is pretty old-school basic, which is nicely heart-warming. You’ll be shown to your table, given a pot of tea, then you go to the cash register to order.
Table of Contents
The Menu at Fong Sheng Restaurant
The most popular orders of Taiwanese food
Some of the menu is pictured and put on the board, but most of it is on these wooden plaques and you order from there like that. I’m going to throw down some things that I recommend based on previous experience of ordering them and loving them, and also things I want to try in the future. It basically reads as the who’s who of Taiwanese food.
What we ordered
農家小炒 nóng jiā xiǎo chǎo ‘Farmhouse’ stir fry of stinky tofu, century egg, and leek flowers $200
芝麻烤南瓜 zhī ma kǎo nán guā baked pumpkin with sesame $140
番茄牛肉 fān qié niú ròu Tomato and beef stir fry $250
XO醬娃娃菜 XO jiàng wá wá cài XO sauce stir fried veggies $160
滷肉飯 lǔ ròu fàn Braised pork over rice $25
白飯 bái fàn plain rice $15
Tried and like
煎虱目魚肚 jiān shī mù yú dù Pan fried milkfish belly $250
鳳梨蝦球 fèn glí xiā qiú deep fried shrimp with pineapple and mayonnaise $250
炒水蓮 chǎo shuǐ lián stir fried water lotus $130
Not tried yet, but it’s on the list for next time
糯米椒牛肉 nuòmǐ jiāo niúròu Beef with fresh green peppers $250
三杯中卷 sān bēi zhōng juǎn 3 cup squid $?
How to order
So ordering can be overwhelming, but fortunately, I have created this article which talks all about the key pillars of how to order in restaurants around Taiwan. Check it out if you’re looking for inspiration on flexing those Mandarin-speaking muscles.
Let’s see what we ordered then
Each table is given a pot of tea, and some dressed onion appetizer. I am not wild about raw onion at the best of times, to be honest, as I feel like it’s all I can taste for the remainder of the day. I mean, is it even a classically Taiwanese food? I digress, the good things started to come!
Beef and tomato stir fry
Tomato and beef stir fry ($250) is up first, and it is looking fiiiiine. Delicate slices of beef are stir-fried with fresh tomatoes and some broccoli is added in there helps all the colours to pop. Beef and tomato is a classic flavour, and this didn’t disappoint. Again, though, is it Taiwanese food? I feel like it’s more Chinese if anything. Most Cantonese restaurants in the UK will have it on the menu, at least… However, spoon some of that deliciousness over your rice, and you’ve got a winner. Again, perhaps not traditionally Taiwanese food, or even a staple of Taiwanese cuisine. But, nonetheless, I enjoy it.
Farmhouse stir-fry
Closely following behind that tomato and beef is this ‘Farmhouse’ stir fry. There are definitely some Taiwanese food classics right here in this bowl. And it’s, undoubtedly, going to divide opinion. The stinky tofu is quite stinky, the century egg is a semi-translucent fermented egg that is brown and green, and there are these tiny little whole shrimp dotted throughout. I love this, and I would come just for this and a bowl of rice. Taiwanese food at its finest. The shrimp are little pops of sweetness that help to cut through the peppery saltiness of the dish, and the leek flowers give this almost garlicky flavour to the dish.
Stir-fried veggies
Here we go with the obligatory veggies, stir-fried with XO sauce. There wasn’t a huge lot of flavour here, to be honest. Maybe it’s because the other dishes have heavy flavours, or maybe it just doesn’t have a particularly discerning flavour. Either way, I won’t rush back for it. I love these types of veggies for the texture, but the XO sauce didn’t offer up anything of any substance.
Table Spread
Topping off the savory dishes are the plain rice and the braised pork gravy over rice. The latter of the two being the one with something extra, and the former of the two just helping to dissect the saltiness of the meal. Get the braised pork gravy over rice. Simple. It’s a banger, and you can’t go wrong.
Baked pumpkin
The ‘sweet’ part of the meal comes in the form of baked pumpkin with sesame. Why is it sweet? That sesame sauce is put on top, that’s why. The pumpkin is deliciously soft and melts in the mouth when paired with this strangely moreish sesame sauce. That sauce has whole seeds in it, as well as sesame powder. It’s like a sesame sauce mixed with sesame jam, really. It’s so good. I have been here a bunch of times and always ordered this dish every single time, without fail.
Complimentary fruit
A slice of guava ends the meal, with a happy smile. One of my favourite spots in the city for its simple Taiwanese food homeliness. It’s only about a 5min walk from Dongmen MRT station, too.