Taipei City - Emperor Foods: the best pork chop in town!

This is it, look no further, I've found what you've been looking for! 

I'm guessing you've seen this place around, there are a few branches dotted around Taipei. The name is 君悅 排骨 (jun1yue4pai2gu3). The menu isn't extensive, but it doesn't need to be because what it does well, it really does do well. What we ordered:

1. 排骨飯 (pai2gu3fan4) Pork Chop with rice.

Nothing else needs to be ordered, because this dish is in the name and it really is fantastic. 

1. 排骨飯 (pai2gu3fan4) Pork Chop with rice.

First to come is your main bowl, with a bamboo shoot soup. Inside the main bowl, we have some cabbage, bean sprouts, meat gravy and pickled vegetables all served on top of a generous dollop of rice. Honestly, the bowl of veggies is just alright. It is a good accompaniment for the pork chop that arrived around 5mins after. 

排骨 is a famous dish around China and Taiwan. The fantastic flavour comes from a specific spice used on the pork itself, called 五香粉 (wu5xiang1fen1) which is a Chinese five-spice. If you haven't cooked with, or aren't sure if you've eaten it before, it is made of: cinnamon, star anise, cloves, fennel seeds and also szechuan pepper. It's not spicy, per se, but it does lift the meat with a little sweetness and a very mild peppery spice.

As you can see, there is a generous amount of fat and meat in these pork chops. The meat always remains perfectly moist. Served on top are some sweet pickled cucumbers. Sweetness, meatiness, moistness, delicate. Really, this pork chop is great. It's one that I will just continue to keep going back to eat. However, if pork isn't your thing, they do also do other dishes. I have previously had the 雞腿飯 (ji1tui3fan4) Chicken leg and rice. This dish is good, but everytime I go I just have to eat the pork, because it is so damn good. In addition to the main dishes, they do also have some nice small plates 小菜 such as tofu with century egg, kimchi, pickled cucumbers, pickled radish etc. The price for the 排骨 is a little more than you may pay at other places, but I can assure you that the taste is worth the price. 

One of the great things of this chain, is that the food they turn out at each of their branches is of equal quality. I know what I want for lunch today! 

Happy Eating!