K C Kitchen
About a year ago, a couple of friends had invited me to have lunch with them. They said it was a little hole in the wall at the Chinese Cultural Center...and boy, they weren't kidding! K C Kitchen is located at the Chinese Cultural Plaza's Open Market.
This eaterie, is a literal hole in the wall!
See the brightly colored strips of paper on the wall? That's the menu!
On a normal Saturday afternoon, the place is packed. Today, I was lucky. No waiting. No crowds. Just good food! Taiwanese-style food that is. As I ordered my lunch, a friend just so happened to be coming in as well and decided to join me.
I ordered the bak chang(US$2.50).
It is a glutinous rice ball steamed in banana leaves. This one is prepared Taiwanese-style, with peanuts, a lean pork and salted duck egg filling, and covered in a type of clear sauce. It's then topped with fresh Chinese parsley and served with grated ginger and chilli sauce.
I also ordered the minced pork on rice ($US2.50). This one's served in a small bowl and topped with fresh Chinese parsley and pickled vegetable (this looks like a pickled radish).
My friend had ordered the deep-fried pork chop on rice (US$5.00). It's served with salted and pickled vegetables and an egg (cooked in soy sauce) piled high on rice topped with minced pork.
And on top of all that, we ended up sharing an order of potstickers (10 pieces, US$5.00).
They were very nicely fried and came to the table with a nice crispy "skin" on the bottom!
Just one word to describe it all...delicious! The homestyle cooking and friendly service make this a place worth coming back to time and time again.
K C Kitchen
Chinese Cultural Plaza Open Market
100 North Beretania Street
Telephone: 808.538.1151
very interesting bak zhang... have never seen it served with coriander/cilantro leaves, ginger, chilli and a sauce before.
I love coriander... hmmm... will try eating my next bak zhang in this way. : )
our favorite family recipe for bak zhang uses ground peanuts... lots and lots of ground peanuts. yum!
I love braised eggs too... usually braise them with duck... woohoo. delish!
Posted by: Renee | April 17, 2004 at 09:54 PM
Renee, I really enjoy this. I'm sure the one's you've had are good too. There are also Vietnamese-style steamed mochi rice dumplings. Those I haven't tried just yet.
Posted by: Reid | April 17, 2004 at 11:36 PM
they've changed owners since and the food is nowhere near as good. very disappointing since they were the only good taiwanese restaurant i ate at.
Posted by: tiff | November 14, 2007 at 06:29 PM
I LOVE the beef noodles that they serve there! Yes, they've changed owners but it's still good!
Posted by: Julianne | December 02, 2007 at 08:00 PM