Lunch with BB at Chinatown. Braised pork belly bento x2 + salted crispy chicken, $36.70 total ($13.90 each + $8.90). 😋👍🏼

What was in the bowls:

Thick slabs of braised pork belly: the dark, soy-lacquered bang-bang-style pieces laid across each bowl, fat layers rendered translucent
Braised egg: whole, tea-brown from the soy bath
Pickled mustard greens (suan cai): the sour-savoury green tangle in the centre
Cucumber slices + blanched cabbage: the fresh crunch section
Fried tofu strips: golden batons stacked at the side
Sausage slices peeking from under the greens
Plate of salted crispy chicken (yan su ji, 盐酥鸡): the craggy popcorn-chicken pieces on the doily

The bento format here is the Taiwanese kong bah ben (焢肉饭) restaurant style rather than the hawker scoop: every component plated in sections around the belly slabs, so each bite can be built. The belly was the thick-cut whole-slab school (closer to kong bah / Hokkien braised pork) rather than the diced lu rou style, braised until a chopstick passes through the fat without resistance.

The pickled mustard greens are the structural ingredient, not a garnish: their lactic sourness is the only thing that can reset your palate between bites of belly fat. Taiwan’s braised pork bowls almost always carry them; skipping the greens is how a bowl turns cloying.

Yan su ji (salted crispy chicken) is the Taiwanese night-market fried chicken: bite-size dark meat marinated in soy, garlic and five-spice, dusted in sweet potato flour for the craggy crust, fried, then tossed with fried basil and pepper-salt. This plate skipped the basil leaf but kept the crust texture and the white-pepper finish.

At $36.70 for two bentos and a chicken plate, this is cafe-Taiwanese pricing: double the hawker equivalent, with plating and air-con doing the explaining.

Overall: 4.2 / 5. 😋👍🏼 The belly’s rendered fat layers were the standout, the suan cai earning its place. Would re-visit.

Original IG post