Saturday, June 25, 2005

Kingswood Taiwanese, Cupertino, CA

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Smack in the middle of a huge Taiwanese shopping center (anchor tenant: Ranch 99), this place serves Taiwan-style spicy hot pot (and separately, Taiwan teppanyaki). This is pretty darned authentic, just like the NT$299 (US$10) places in Taipei, but not all you can eat. Still, prices are reasonable, and the ingredients are just like it is in Taipei with sa-cha sauce, raw eggs, and the broth.

The broth is the best part - I think they procure it straight from Taiwan. Beware - the "middle hot" is actually the full broth, so it's more like the "big hot" in Taiwan (my stomach is still burning right now - to be revisited tomorrow morning, if you know what I mean). Apparently to get "small hot," they just mix in the non-spicy broth, while the "large hot" has an added packet of chili peppers. Either way, this is darned spicy (and darned authentic). And yes, it's still better than the mainland versions. It's a bit funny coming all the way to the US just to eat Taiwanese food though.

On a side note, this place's teppanyaki is pretty good too. Normally I bash the Taiwanese for completely obliterating and destroying all that is good and pure about any non-Taiwanese food, but Taiwanese teppanyaki is one thing that is actually pretty darned good in its own right (savory with lots of butter and grease without any nasty sauces or anything), and Kingswood does a pretty good job of it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, but do they have seasoned seaweed? And how are the jellybeans?