Check-in Taipei review: Tasty Taiwanese in the heart of Central, Hong Kong
- Try tasty night market staples like crispy chicken and knife cut beef noodles at this cosy eatery in trendy SoHo
Taro balls dessert, lots going on and it might not be to your liking. Check-in Taipei
G/F, 27 Hollywood Road, Soho
Central
Tel: 2351 2622
Grub: Taiwanese food
Vibe: Dimly-lit, warehouse-esque and lively. Make sure you’ve got your “Night mode” set up on your phone’s camera to get the best possible Insta shot in front of the neon sign on the wall!
Who to take: A small group of your best mates. Any more than five or six people, and you may end up waiting a fair while to be seated together.
What’s hot: Not everyone’s got the dosh to take a merry weekend trip to Taiwan, but there’s a little taste of Taipei right in the heart of Central. Crispy chicken is a standard street food in Taiwan, and the signature crispy chicken with truffle mayo and yuzu mayo
(HK$85) is served piping hot and just as tasty as it would be in Ningxia Night Market.
The signature beef noodles (HK$108) can be served with knife cut or ramen noodles. Both options are chewy and springy, and are served with a fried cruller which provides a nice contrast to the tender beef.
The homemade milk mochi (HK$68) was fun, if messy, to eat, and we liked that instructions were offered on every table on how to tackle the chewy mound of mochi-like goop. They are, however, only offered in Chinese. We enjoyed the mild, milky flavour against the crunchiness of the peanuts that you roll the mochi in.
Although the service can be slow (even at the start of the evening when there are few people), staff are pleasant and very helpful.
What’s not: Fans of traditional desserts will love the taro balls with Earl grey jelly (HK$65), but as we aren’t, we didn’t particularly enjoy this. There are a lot of textures and flavours going on, but they didn’t really work for us.
Cost: Starters are HK$65-HK$85. Mains cost between HK$68 and HK$148. Desserts are HK$65-HK$68. Drinks are HK$42-HK$52.