But first, a lite lunch (or snack if you will) at Far East Plaza...
I went to the top floor to order a few items from the relatively new Lao Tao, a Taiwanese street food eatery. While it was serene and empty on the top floor, the opposite was occurring down below. The reason for this? Lines of people willing to wait one hour or more for Tennessee style hot chicken at Howlin' Ray's (read Kirbie's recent post here). Bert and TC were trying to find a Thai place, but it was actually at another plaza, which I didn't realize.
I like the hairy butt of their mascot creature. :)
Bert and TC went up to join me. By this time, the food was starting to arrive. This was Bert's sarsaparilla drink, which had a bite to it. It was like a very strong root beer.
I am not familiar with Taiwanese street food. Reviews I read (and listed below) were mixed. Reviewers either loved it (or maybe these professional reviewers were doing some ass kissing because they wanted to hype it?) or hated it, as in "this isn't authentic", blah blah. Well, I have no preconceived notions of this type of food but I do have to say that this food definitely was overly salty.
Twice fried popcorn chicken (very spicy) and Rub a Belly (pork belly in a bowl with pickled cucumber, corn and a Century egg, a type of preserved egg).
We liked the pork belly bowl. I liked that there was a mixture of tasty vegetables in the bowl as well. The pork itself had sweet, caramelized taste and was tender. I wished there was more of the pork belly in this dish. The rice helped cool down the heat from the popcorn chicken, which I didn't really like. We didn't finish it actually. It was too spicy and dry. I wished there was a cooling dipping sauce. According to their menu, there are two types of peppers/chilis in it. It was not pleasant to eat.
As an afterthought, I also ordered the Chicken neck roll. It's not really the neck of a chicken but a pork and fish pattie wrapped in tofu skin and fried. The accompanying sauce was a thinned out chili sauce which was on the spicy side.
It had five spice powder in it. Not a flavor profile that I like, which rules out a lot of Chinese dishes for me. I mean, it's okay in small doses but after awhile, the flavor gets really overwhelming for me.
Now on to downstairs...
Where we checked out Endorffeine at the recommendation of Caren Anderson from Velveteria. She is a regular there and really enjoys their cappuccinos. It's right next to Scoops and in stark contrast to the madness outside, was devoid of people, other than the owner and employees. It was nice to be in a quiet place where there weren't tons of people.
Decor is very spare. The articles for Endorffeine linked below explain the owner's aesthetic. Their menu below. We selected their two iced specialty drinks, the Palm Sugar whiskey and Vanilla pandan lattes. I didn't realize they would be served premade in those brown bottles.
Ridiculous long @$$ line outside. Dayum.
Our drinks...
Of the two, I liked my palm sugar whiskey better than the vanilla pandan. The whisky taste wasn't that strong. Since this was a latte, there was a lot of milk. There wasn't even a choice of regular or almond or whatever. It was milk. As for the vanilla pandan, Bert was glad that the milk used was coconut. No dairy problems there. I ended up taking a few sips and then stowing it our cooler in the car later.
Before we left I snapped a photo of these packages of pandan leaves which were lying on their counter.
Ten Ren's Tea Time was just a few steps away. Now it was TC's turn for her drink. I reminded her that the last time we went here, she did not like their "mushy" boba. She wanted to give the place another try.
Taro milk tea with boba. She was not expecting taro chunks to be in the drink. She didn't like the consistency of the chunks, which settled at the bottom of the cup. She said it was like grainy, mealy AND gooey and kind of like "boogers" (not that she's eaten those, ha). The boba texture this time was much better. More firm and "normal" rather than soft and gross which she hates.
Notice no photos of the interior? There is actually a sign that says to not take photos. OMGWTF. Well, I did for our first visit. Still looks the same. No need.
Previous visit to Ten Ren:
July 2014
Articles about Lao Tao (I'd take a few of these with a grain of salt, ha ha):
"Some killer Taiwanese street food is coming to Far East Plaza" Eater LA, June 1, 2016
"Inside Chinatown's new Taiwanese street food specialist", Eater LA, June, 1, 2016
"Lao Tao Taiwanese Stret Food brings even more fantastic food to Far East Plaza" TimeOut LA
plus after the opening:
"Taiwanese street food reigns at Chinatown's Lao Tao" LAWeekly, Oct. 27, 2016
"Lao Tao" FoodTalkCentral, Sept. 25, 2016
"We're obsessed with this new Taiwanese street food spot" LAMag, Oct. 12, 2016 (not sure if this "glowing" review was one of those typical fawning ass-kissing reviews because they were a media invite)
Articles about Endorffeine:
"Jack Benchakul's Endorffeine replaces Cognoscenti Coffee in Chinatown" Eater LA, Aug. 17, 2015
"Cognoscenti's pop up in Chinatown is closing, but Endorffeine is opening next door" LA Times Daily Dish, Aug. 17, 2015
"Edorffeine part of culinary resurgence in L.A.'s Chinatown" Sept. 22, 2015
"Endorffeine - Far East Plaza's Sleekest" 2015 LA Downtowner
plus praise for their specialty drinks:
"15 Coffee Drinks in LA to break up your average coffee routine" (their pal sugar whiskey iced latte is #8 on this list), LA Eater, Nov 16, 2016 (this article was written AFTER our visit)
"Endorffeine brings cappuccinos, cold brews and palm sugar whiskey lattes to Chinatown" LA Eater, Sept 1, 2015
**All three of these businesses are located in the Far East Plaza in Chinatown
Lao Tao (2nd floor)
727 N. Broadway, Unit 207
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 372-5318
laotaostreetfood.com + reviews from you know where
Endorffeine
727 N. Broadway, Suite 127
(415) 322-0918
endorffeine.coffee/fb page + reviews from you know where
Ten Ren's Tea Time
726 N. Hill St., Ste 136
(213) 626-8844
www.tenren.com.tw + reviews from foursquare & that four lettered site
With lunch, or rather, a snack under our belts, it was time to walk on over to one of our favorite museums...
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