Taipei Travel

a lot of different dishes here. If you like Taiwan cuisine you should give a try! 道地的台灣菜色，蛤蠣絲瓜、鹹蛋炒竹筍、白斬雞都好吃，非常推薦！平常我都會和好友來此用餐，一人平均花費400-500元，適合打牙祭！

Quite happy with the food. All food were nicely done and unique. The food not oily and very cute in display. However, the price was not cheap for 2 persons. We spent a total of NT740 for 4 dishes.

This is a little gem hidden on lane 59, away from the main street. The food is amazingly good. There is no English menu, but there are pictures with prices so that it is not too difficult to manage (no one speaks English in that restaurant). The staff is very friendly and seem genuinely happy that foreigners enter their restaurant. The prices are extremely reasonable (plates vary from about 120 to 180 NT).

I rarely do reviews for my hometown of Taipei, but for many of my friends who like to ask me the question “where do I bring a friend who like local authentic Taiwanese food,” one of the first answers I’ll give them is Lusang Restaurant. Truthfully speaking, it’s quite hard to characterized what you mean by Taiwanese food. For the majority of visitors, Taiwanese food probably means either of two choices: 1) Chinese cuisine (the kind featuring 10-dish course for a table of ten), or 2) hawker food stalls at night market. Well, the fact is that both variations do exist in the grander scope of Taiwanese cuisine – you got a great influx of Chinese cuisine from different regions of China in the post WWII era, while the more straight-forward dishes (like oyster omelets or braised pork rice) are convenient to cook and serve. Now, what if you only have a small party of two or three individuals who cannot finish an entire course, but still looking for something more enjoyable then eating night market food in a rather noisy environment? I think Lusang Restaurant is a possible choice. The restaurant itself is about a few minutes walk from MRT Dongman Station. Simply find Yongkang Street (the one where the famous Dingtaifong is located) and walk straight in; after a few minutes you’ll encounter a park, and Lusang is located right across the park. The renovated restaurant attempts to recreate the traditional Taiwanese country-style housing from the early days. For those not familiar with the choices of Taiwanese (Yilan-style to be specific) cuisine, there’s photos of a selection of dishes right next to the entrance, making life a lot easier. Again, if you’re not with a local friend or guide, the easiest thing is to eliminate the stuff you don’t want (I personally love the braised pork rice, but that may not work well for some people) and try the ones with ingredients you can take. There’s also traditional entrees such as pork chop, tofu, and squid; of course, for the more adventurous, there’s also dishes such as broiled chitterlings and smoked shark meat. This specific time went with a friend from Japan. The waitress was pretty concise in her suggestions, recommending us to select about five dishes. She was right, and 5 dishes was enough to fulfill the appetite of two hungry men. Again, if you don’t have any idea about how many dish you should order, ask for expert advice. The price of the meal is reasonable for restaurants of similar caliber in Taipei. Another great aspect for me (and other oversized people around the world) is that the food is not as oily – well, compared to other restaurants serving similar Taiwanese entrees. I think Lusang strikes a good balance between delivering good taste while not overloading you with grease. However, visitors should take heed that the majority of restaurants in the Yongkang Street area closes around 9 PM. Therefore, those planning on visiting the shop should plan so accordingly, preferably leaving 1.5 to 2 hours to enjoy a good meal. Fortunately, the time between when the order is taken and when food reach the guest’s table is pretty short. For those looking to try out some authentic Taiwanese cuisine, I think Lusang is a good choice without having to brutalize your wallet or forcing on a few extra pounds. PS: The complimentary oval kumquat tea is definitely something visitors should try out – a specialty of Yilan.

Alot of food, portion is big enough for two person. We were 11 people so we ordered like 16dishes. Everything was ok-good. Nothing is ugly. The pork liver, the oysters was good. The fish and the super huge plate was quite over. We spend around 8k only. The most expensive was the unagi on top of sticky rice, but it was so big, can be eaten by 11 people it self. Id recommend everyone to come here. The place is unpretentious. No english so just point at the pictures.service is good too. Better than those in the mall.