Nostalgia...or not

New Taiwanese restaurant Keelung was very hyped up even before its opening, where its boss also owns a few other major restaurants in London Chinatown.

Having grown up with Taiwan night market food, and even though I know it would never be the same in a restaurant, curiosity got the better of me and I dragged a friend along to Keelung.

The menu that featured a photo of the Keelung harbour listed a mixture of typical Taiwanese market dishes and confusingly, typical Chinese dishes. There was also a star-chart of chef's recommendation v.s. how to cook your food, I did not give it a second look nor did I bother to try and work it out.

We went straight for the steam buns (siao-long-bao), fishcakes, beef noodle and rice paste. My friend, an expert in beef noodle, said it was too dry and not tender enough. Steam buns was so-so - the restaurant next door actually does it better. It was juicy as how it was supposed to be, other than that, I was getting no chemistry.

I was half-expecting the restaurant decor to pair with the down-to-earth street food but the mini vineyard near the main entrance was making a louder statement that "we are obviously targeting the non-Chinese customers"; something's not quite right.

All in all the restaurant is giving Taiwanese food a bad name, and I restlessly test and prove the theory time and time again: good food lives in the memory, and it just doesn't work when you know better.

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Keelung
6 Lisle Street, Leicester Square,
London WC2 (020 7734 8128)
Mix-match dishes with ice tea for two: £35


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too good to be true

鼎鼎有名的小籠包
Originally uploaded by chowen

This is THE best steamed dumpling I've ever had in my life, period. You don't need more proof than the long queues outside the restaurant, including tour groups from Japan.

The thin pastry wrapped around the main minced pork ingredient with delicious juice that burn your mouth when taking the first bite. The tiny packet of dumpling is meant to be eaten slowly, give it time to enjoy the melt-in-the-mouth experience. Dipping in the rice vinegar with shredded ginger, the tanginess makes it wholesome.

The only thing I'd trade it for is the vegetarian variety of the steamed dumpling. The minced green vegetable (I suspect it to be the mustard greens) with a very gentle mixed vermicelli blend. Each dumpling is the exact size that require organisation and precision in the making; the same goes for the super efficient, multi-lingual staff.

Definitely missed but not to be missed.

DinTaiFung
Per portion: TN$180 (£2.80)

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