September 20, 2009
半畝園
We wanted to get some dinner after wife's mom and sister took us and the baby out for an afternoon playing in the park. But with a tired baby we wanted something quick and not too formal. Mom-in-law has brought take-out from this restaurant many times, but this time we decided to eat-in. We got there in the middle of the dinner rush and had to wait. Thankfully we had plenty of manpower and toys to keep the baby amused in the meantime as the crowd cycled through and we got a table in due time.
The restaurant specialized in northern-Chinese style food, hearty noodles and dumplings with meaty fillings. Compared to the usual run-down hole-in-the-wall 小吃 places, the restaurant's decor is almost sumptuous, with real, solid furniture and indirect lighting. Priced slightly higher to compensate, but not outrageously so.
牛肉餡餅 pan-fried buns filled with juicy ground beef is a signature offering. That first bite is always risky as you have to be careful of hot squirting juices. Once the initial bite is taken quickly catch the leaking meat juices with a spoon since it would be a shame to let all that savory goodness go to waste. There's also a vegetarian 花素 version that's filled with chives, egg, and rice noodles instead. The wide array of side dishes are good, too, like the 干扁四季豆 string beans. They serve it cold as a side, but the beans are well-cooked and infused with flavor without being too oily.
The beef rolls featured thin slices of roast beef wrapped in a thick crepe-like 餅. A thick scallion stem is wrapped in the middle to add a fresh spiciness to the salty, savory mix leaving you wanting more. The 炸醬麵 fry-sauce noodles had the usual soy-brown sauce mixture but with a generous sprinkle of cucumber and bean sprouts to cut the heaviness of the sauce with fresh crunch. The sauce wasn't too salty and complimented the noodles well once you blended it together, although personally I wouldn't minded it a bit spicier.
The simple nature of the food makes it suitable for takeout, but the restaurant's also nice enough to sit-in, and it's all really good, which is quite a rare trifecta. The location is not terribly convenient for us to regularly visit, but if we can con someone into doing the driving for us it's not so far out of the way for a good 餡餅.
北平半畝園
台北市大安區東豐街33號
02-27005326