Taiwan Xiao Chr ("Small Eats") at Wang's

Wang's Beef Noodle House (formerly Taiwan Beef Noodle King)
Granville Street & West 68th Avenue
Vancouver, BC

[ts]
Seeing as we don't have anything to offer yet in way of posts, I thought I'd finally let this one see the light. These pictures were taken a while back and I don't know why the level of blurriness is so high.

Moving update: The kitchen is more or less set up. Well, the infrastructure is there. I was wrong in guessing that all our pantry and fridge/freezer items would be transferred a few days ago. With all the running around and buying needed (non-food) things for the house, the transfer took a backseat. Ah, also, the internet will supposedly be set up on Monday next week.



[js]
Wang's is our old standby when it comes to Taiwanese beef noodles. Being one of the first restaurants we've tried for Taiwanese beef noodles, it has set our standard for how these beef noodles should taste like. (However, the same location has been through 3 different owners, I think.)

Generally, the beef noodles are very good and I love the coarser, thicker noodles to eat. The pickled greens they put on top are very, very good and makes the whole dish. The only problem wth Wang's is sometimes they are inconsistent. Some days it's top-notch, but there are days when the broth tastes watered down. Some days the spicy version is not spicy at all, and other days, uber-hot.

[ts]
In any case, we thought this would be a good time to showcase a variety of Taiwanese xiao chr ("small eats") dishes. Usually, this is a specific genre of restaurant; Taiwan xiao chr restaurants offer different foods from "regular" Taiwan restaurants (such as Vogue).

I ordered bubble tea!

I don't usually order bubble tea here, preferring to go further up north to Granville Street & 64th Avenue and get my fix at Bubble World. Anyway, this is my standard bubble tea order: jasmine green milk tea without (tapioca) pearls.

I held the mug handle for scale.

[js]
One of my favourites here are the pork dumplings, the "huo tyeh". (See here for its shape.) We didn't order it this time, considering we already ordered a considerable amount of food.

[ts]
Yes, there were only two of us and we ordered this much! See for yourselves.


The classic: Marinated Tofu
(I believe the Chinese translates as "tofu dry".) Served cold or room temperature.


Stir-fried Vegetables
We usually don't order this, but we did, for some reason. The vegetables are whatever they have on hand.


Sliced White Pork with Garlic Sauce
Not bad. But my heart belongs to the pork with garlic sauce at Cabin 5555.


Spicy Cucumbers
I forget the English name for this. Spicy cucumbers, or chili cucumbers... something to that effect.


Deep-fried Steamed Buns
The name is correct. These are white sliver-y buns that are steamed first, then deep-fried. I was disappointed in the crumb of their buns, as the insides aren't really in slivers or "threads"/"fibers". Anyway, these are served with condensed milk.


The spread

[ts]
Plus, we each ordered a bowl of the beef noodles. They ask for your noodle preference. All of us in the family prefer these thick, toothsome type. There's that "pickled vegetable" there that's so good.



[ts]
Taiwan Beef Noodle Soup is a dish that's long been on our to-do list. It just seems difficult to obtain that elusive recipe. What we've seen so far seem to be missing "secret" ingredients. One day.