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Yeah Taipei
Cuisine of Taiwan and Japan, now made in America
BY ROBERT NADEAU

 Yeah Taipei
(617) 566-8888
1030 Comm Ave, Brookline
Open Sun–Thu, 11 a.m.–10:30 p.m., and Fri–Sat, 11–1 a.m.
AE, MC, Vi
No liquor
No valet parking
Sidewalk-level access

What are we to make of a restaurant with Taiwanese snacks and Japanese entrées? Although Taiwan was the only China recognized by the US government for almost 25 years during the ’50s and ’60s, it was a colony of Japan for 50 years before that. I hadn’t noticed a lot of Japanese influence on Taiwanese food in the past; perhaps just some extra emphasis on deep-frying. But here we have both a blond-wood sushi bar and a wall of hand-lettered Chinese specials; statuettes of cats that wave hello, and booths in bright, good-luck crimson (well, actually in compromise pink).

The Japanese food on the pink menu is good, cheap, and familiar, with an occasional duplication from the blue Taiwanese menu. At least one dish, gyoza/ " fried dumpling " ($3.75), is identical on both, and highly recommended. These are thin-skin, Japanese-style Peking ravioli, with a nice gingery filling. Their Taiwanese competition is the unattractively translated " Steamed Meat Bun " ($6.75), a bamboo steamer of eight beefier-tasting dumplings, shaped like twisted purses à la Tibetan momos. These come with a little dipping bowl of shredded ginger, into which one should squirt some of the contents of the table’s bottle of white vinegar.

The Japanese answer is shumai ($3.75), five fish balls wrapped with a thin dough into bay-scallop shapes, with a livelier flavor. Ironically, both " shumai " and " gyoza " are Japanese transliterations of Chinese names for dim sum. Among the Taiwanese appetizers, the steamed tofu ($1.95) is something of a best buy. The cubes appear to be fried, then steamed and covered with a sweet-salty garlic sauce that’s very flavorful. Garlic pork ($6.75) serves up nearly identical sauce on thin, tasteless shavings of pork.

Scallion pancake ($2.75) is somewhat familiar as a Mandarin dim sum, but Yeah Taipei’s rendition is one of the best. It comes to the table hot, greasy, and crisp, with a thick, sweet-salty sauce I couldn’t get enough of. " Spicy Oil Pork Ear " ($3.75) is one of the classic Taiwanese snacks. The ears are full of cartilage, and sliced thin for a chewy effect. I am told by a Taiwanese-American expert that this texture is called " Q-Q " in Chinese. Though most unfamiliar foods are supposed to " taste like chicken, " I have to say that pork ear really has little flavor other than sesame oil and pepper. If it tastes like anything else I’ve ever eaten, it tastes like jellyfish, which is dried for a similarly bland " chew. "

" Stewed Mixed Taiwanese Special " ($6.75) is another worthless translation. Here it’s a cold appetizer that includes a very long-cooked egg, a few thin slices of cold spiced beef, an anise-y seaweed salad, pressed tofu (which has the texture of a hard cheese), thin slices of some kind of tripe (rather like the pork ear), and some thick-sliced " noodle " objects that I think are made from seaweed. I can imagine several homesick Taiwanese students sharing this dish, along with tea and gossip.

The tea, by the way, is good but weak green tea, served for the table in a filter pot. Sodas are inexpensive, and Yeah Taipei also does a lively business in sweetened milk teas with various seeds and objects in them. These are more like desserts or snacks than drinks to accompany food, judging by " Pearl Milk Tea " ($2.75). This looks like a glass of iced coffee, but is served with a high-caliber straw, about the diameter of two pencils. The straw is designed to target dark-brown " pearls " of tapioca, which seem to have been marinated in sweetened black tea. The fluid tastes like black tea with milk and sugar, and I enjoyed it quite a lot, especially sucking the last dozen " pearls " out from the remaining ice.

A lot of the entrées are giant-noodle soups. " Fried Chicken Noodles Soup " ($7.95) has the meatiest stock, taking some caramelized flavors from the meat. The noodles are egg ramen, and like most of the soups it also includes bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, a slice of Japanese fish sausage, and plenty of onions. Tempura udon ($6.75) uses the fatter Japanese noodles and seems to have a simpler broth. " Vegetable Noodle Soup " ($6.75), from the Taiwanese menu, has a broth influenced by the seaweed and also adds kernels of corn to the basic mix.

None is as good as the simple, meaty broth we had one night as the side soup with an order of duck don ($6.95), otherwise a nice rice plate topped with pieces of duck, onions, and a sweet-savory sauce. Teriyaki beef ($7.95) is served about the same way, although you get more meat. In both cases, these rice plates really feature the rice, which is very good and sticky, more like Japanese rice than Chinese-restaurant rice.

There’s a long menu of individual sushi and sashimi, with small assortments for $8.50 and $10.50. We tested the " Sushi and Sashimi Combo " ($18) as a dinner for two. All the seafood was impeccably fresh, but cut more thickly than at most Japanese restaurants. The platter thus didn’t look very full, and the sushi had a lower rice ratio than we expected. That said, the sashimi census was three thick slices of red tuna, three more of very thick salmon, two of a striped white fish, and two pieces of false crab. The sushi were all nigiri (fingers): two salmon, two tuna, a sea-clam, a cooked-shrimp, and a white-fish. There’s always at least one bit of fancy work on a large platter like this, and Yeah Taipei’s chef has a nice way of twisting a thin slice of lemon over the salmon fingers: it looks great and adds a flavor accent.

Service is good and accurate, but attuned to the ethnic audience. One has to ask for forks or water, although these things are quickly supplied. Explanations of poorly translated menu terms were helpful, and our server was able to accept that I had eaten pork ear before and wouldn’t send it back. Non-Asian-Americans may not want to work through the Taiwanese menu, but shouldn’t miss that scallion pancake, or an inexpensive rice-plate, tempura, or sushi snack.

Robert Nadeau can be reached at RobtNadeau@aol.com

Issue Date: May 30-June 6, 2002
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