Old Tree Daiwan Bee 老樹台灣味, London

Being one half of Taiwanese, I do find there is a lack of Chinese restaurant that is specialised in Taiwanese dishes. One of the most famous Taiwan export is probably bubble tea (also known as pearl milk tea or boba milk tea), with outlets opening crazily over London. To be frank, only Chatime that does it decently and the rest are quite horrid. I would not really want to drink bubble tea in Europe. So when my friend Calvin said there is a Taiwanese restaurant, my eyes sparkled.

Located on Rupert Street, off the main chaotic Gerrard Street is a small restaurant serving Taiwanese dishes. Based on Taiwanese street food, the menu is full of street food classics that is hard to decide. I literally wanted to order everything off the menu, even so I will never be fully satisfied.

Taiwanese Beef Noodles in Soup

Spring Onion Pancake, Braised Pork Rice, Spare Ribs Soup

Even before coming, I already had my eye on the braised pork rice. Along with the rice, I also had a spring onion pancake and a spare ribs soup. Calvin settled for Taiwanese beef noodles and a minced pork pancake (not in the photos). Can't really compared to what I had in Taiwan, but it was satisfying to have the street food that I missed and the food didn't feel oily. The pork on the rice just had the right amount of fat. The pancake was crispy but couldn't really taste the spring onion and the soup was alright. I can't comment on what Calvin had as I did not get to taste it but it looked tasty. I was kind of hoping they would have stinky tofu, well only ever in my dream I will find stinky tofu in London.

Old Tree Daiwan Bee serves good simple Taiwanese street food with a price that you can't complain at all. The bowl of rice with braised pork topping was £3.50, with that price I think in most places you can only get boiled rice. The front of house also act as a mini bakery and sells Taiwanese pastries which I was tempted to buy (next time I will). It is good to know when I have a craving of Taiwanese street food I know where to go now.

Score Rating: 3/5

Price: £10-15/head