Taipei restaurant – 東一排骨總店 Dong Yi Pork Chop

Updated, September 2022

Prices updated

I had heard about this place described by a friend as “old school Taiwanese classics”. It piqued my interest, and even on looking at the outside of the restaurant with that big chandelier and the red lanterns – I got the feeling it was going to be pretty weird and wonderful inside…

My impressions off the street were confirmed upon reaching the entrance

So, if you ignore the bin bags to the right side, and focus on the decorations you can see from the outside, you’re going to get sort of an idea of how it’s going to go down inside.

I’m going to walk you guys through this from right to left, top to bottom:
Main meals:
排骨 飯。麵 $160
pái gǔ fàn/miàn
Pork chop with either rice, or noodles

雞腿 飯。麵 $160
Jī tuǐ fàn/miàn
Deep fried chicken leg with either rice, or noodles

魚排 飯。麵 $160
yú pái fàn. miàn
Deep fried fish with either rice, or noodles

排骨 雞腿 魚排 乾麵 $160
pái gǔ, jī tuǐ, yú pái。 gān miàn
pork chop, chicken leg or fried fish with noodles (dry)

牛腩燴飯 乾麵 $170
niú nǎn huì fàn gān miàn
Brisket beef with noodles (dry)

咖哩飯 $160
gā lí fàn
Curry with rice


Soup and snacks:
當日附湯 $20
dāng rì fù tāng
Soup of the day

魚丸湯 $50
yú wán tāng
Fish ball soup

貢丸湯 $50
Gòng wán tāng
Pork ball soup

泡菜 $40
pào cài
Kimchi

油豆腐 $40
yóu dòu fu
Stewed tofu

滷蛋 $10
lǔ dàn
Hard boiled egg

Extras:
麻油雞。飯。麵 $180
Má yóu jī. Fàn. Miàn
Sesame oil cooked chicken with either rice, or noodles

燙青菜 $50
tàng qīng cài
Cooked vegetables

蝦仁棬 $60
xiā rén juān
Deep fried shrimp rolls

Not quite a red carpet, but I love it

I didn’t take many pictures inside, but safe to say I was grinning whilst eating. This place is just a blast from the past. I’m from England, so not even a blast from my past. But, what I imagine is a blast from the past for pretty much any Taiwanese aged 30 or above. It really is quite a special place.

排骨飯 $150

This would definitely be the ‘must-have’ dish at this place. It’s called a pork shop restaurant, and this is the pork chop. Expect the pork to be battered and fried to perfection, frangrantly battered, juicy meat, and great accompaniments in the rice bowl with veggies and gravy.

雞腿飯 $150

So, whilst the pork chop is delicious, I do think the chicken leg is better. It’s crunchy, it’s juicy, it’s meaty, it’s flavourful. It basically ticks everything off for what you’d want in a deep fried chicken leg.

In your accompanying rice dish, you’ll find a sizeable portion of rice, plenty of stewed pork gravy ladelled on top, and some veggies stuck on the side, too.

In addition, you gotta order the 蝦仁棬 deep fried shrimp rolls. They’re damn good, and accompanied by some pickled cucumber which helps to cut through the grease somewhat. They’re good perfectly, and packed with flavour.