Taiwan Tasty

This is my first time visiting yummy house because of the reviews, I think maybe there has been a change in ownership because the Taiwanese dishes here aren't very good. Let me preface this by staying that there are two menus. One more Shanghai/Mandarin, and the other more Taiwanese. On my visit, I only ordered Taiwanese specifically salt pepper fried chicken and Taiwanese beef noodle soup. The pros: the restaurant seemed to be owned by a young couple, the lady took orders and the guy manning the kitchen. She was very nice and the service was great, very attentive and friendly. They also served hot sweet chrysanthemum tea instead of water which was a nice touch. The menu had quite a bit of Taiwanese dishes, which was nice to see. The cons: well the beef noodle soup was not anything near Taiwanese style beef noodle soup. The noodles were fine and cooked well, however, the soup was an odd beef broth that was sugary and had no spices or herb flavoring. The beef served was thin slices of lean beef and the veggies sliced green lettuce. No mustard greens were served alongside. Hot chili oil made it okay. The salt and pepper fried chicken were thicker slices of chicken instead of a more chunky cut. The coating was ok, but the seasoning again lacked the white pepper, garlic and basil flavoring. Again, the review was based on the dishes I ordered and their specialty seems to be soup dumplings and Shanghai style foods. I will come back to try those other menu items as this restaurant is right next to a Chinese grocery store. But I would probably skip the Taiwanese items.

Tasty Moment truly knows how to make an impression. Beginning with the wonderful hostess, who showed us to our table, the attentiveness from the wait staff, table setting, modern sleek aesthetics, and the plating of the dishes as they are both delectable and exceptionally photogenic. This is their new location as they have relocated into the old PappaRich restaurant in the H-Mart complex. Tasty Moment specializes in Shanghai cuisine but does carry other items on their menus such as dim sum and specialty drinks. Happy to say, their menu is diverse and there are plenty of vegetarian dishes. You will even see them making their famous XLB expertly prepared fresh, behind a see-through plexiglass area separating you from the people, as soon as you place your order. We ordered crab and pork meat soup dumplings and I can easily see why this place is famous for their XLB. You will do yourself a great service by asking for ginger and chili oil to go with your dumplings. Not everybody wants them so they do not automatically offer this to you. After biting into the dumpling, you will be rewarded with rich soup so be sure to have your dumpling resting on the spoon to catch every bit of liquid bliss. We also ordered their pan-fried soup dumplings and while their skin was thicker than their steamed counterpart, it was just as scrumptious. My partner in food crime today shared a bowl of pork knuckle noodle soup and the pork knuckle was so savory accompanied by a rich broth that I have not tasted in quite a while at any restaurant. The portions are generous so we were quite satiated by the end of our meal. After we took care of some business, the meal was so impressive that I went back and placed a takeout order with Lucy, our original and gracious hostess. She told me my order, mixed mushrooms with green vegetables would take about 15 - 20 minutes. I mentioned I’ll be outside sipping on my boba drink and set my timer to go back at the given time. Sipping my beverage, reading, and enjoying the warm sun, Lucy came out and personally handed me the order as my order had just come out of the kitchen, piping hot. Hubby and I have had our fair share of horrible take-out Asian cuisine recently and so he was dubious about the quality of the food. Skeptically, he opened the container not expecting much. The first thing he noticed was that the vegetable dish’s sauce was not saturated with oil. The second thing he noticed was a mixture of 3 different types of mushrooms and the super green Shanghai tips. Our only wish is that Tasty Moment would have more vegetables in their dishes. I found the same problem with my noodle soup earlier. He tasted it and declared, it was indeed one of the best takeouts in quite a while. Special shout out to our wonderful waiter, Brian who will make your dining experience as wonderful as possible. Another shout-out goes to Lucy, the hostess who welcomes you like you are old friends and helped me ease back into dining in. She felt my nervousness and placed us at a table where we were far from others and made sure not to have anyone be seated too close to us. They also clear the tables and thoroughly wipe down the tables after patrons leave so I feel quite safe knowing they go through the extra steps of keeping tables clean. My final two cents worth is, as we are hopefully coming out of hibernation due to the pandemic and the indoor dining at restaurants, we are all wanting to have an enjoyable time out. However, the pandemic has affected many restaurants and unfortunately, some restaurants had no choice but to cut corners and some even let go of the cooks and the owners themselves are doing the cooking. That is why some restaurants’ food taste so different from their heydays. Tasty Moment has not done so and instead, focused on hiring cooks who specialize in Shanghai cuisine as well as a variety of dim sum and more. In times such as this, every restaurant should take a lesson from this restaurant.

Made a phone order for 5 dishes using the menu pics from 2019. The owner was very friendly over the phone, characteristic of Taiwanese hospitality. He said 20 minutes but I had to wait for another 15 minutes when I got there. No big deal really. When I was there I got the current menu and was pleasantly surprised that prices remained the same. When I was ready to pay, however, I was taken aback that the total was a lot more than my after tax estimate. I didn't have time to confirm nor contest, but after I went home I realized I was overcharged by $6. Not sure if it was a "COVID surcharge" or credit card service fee like many establishments do, but it wasn't on the menu, neither was I told about it. So do check your bill and ask for an itemized receipt. B-2 Three Cup Chicken $10.95. This is a Taiwanese staple dish and I'm very familiar with it. The chicken was tender but the flavor intensity was a few notch too low. After reheating in the microwave the flavors seemed to get elevated, especially the sesame oil, and it was much better. B-3 Spicy Hot Crispy Chicken $10.95. This is totally different from what I expected. The chicken was chicken-finger sized instead of cubed. The crust was not crispy but soggy. I guess that's one of the drawbacks with takeout boxes when the steam easily ruins the crusts. Notwithstanding my expectation, the taste itself was rather bland. B-18 Water Spinach Beef with Shacha Sauce $13.95. This is one of my favorite Taiwanese dishes. And it did not disappoint. The whole family enjoyed it the most. N-1 Pop Corn Chicken $6.95. Everyone should recognize this as this is one of the most popular small dishes offered at many boba tea cafes. Let me tell you, this serving was one of the worst I've had. Not only was the chicken tough (my son had to spit out a mouthful after chewing on it for 3 full minutes), but the signature taste was missing! F-. N-5 Taiwan Pork Roll $7.95. I really miss this snack which I Mom used to make. If you've never had it, think along the line of Vietnamese shrimp cake. The soul of its flavor was there, although the skin was not crispy as it should. Again I attribute it as another casualty of takeout.

The food is decently authentic and they have lots of classic Taiwanese "night market" dishes like pork chop rice, minced pork rice and pork intestine. If you're craving for some classic Taiwanese flavors, give this place a try. My problem with this restaurant is that it feels dirty. The floor seemed dry but it's slippery, like it's covered with slime. There's also a tiny hint of mildewy smell. Honestly I've been to plenty of places like this in Manhattan's Chinatown years ago, so I'm not overly concerned for my health if I just come once in a while. But that level of hygienic standard is not acceptable even for Chinatown this day and age. So clean up the place!