Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet is a Taiwanese restaurant on Sydney's Broadway. It’s a very popular place for home-sick Taiwanese people who want a taste of Taiwan at a very reasonable price. So what is the food like and what did we love to eat here?
I love getting food recommendations from people and this was a recommendation from a Taiwanese guy called Ian that I met at an event. He was so enamoured of the food at Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet that he says that he is a regular here, eating here almost every day. He told me that they had nailed the quintessential taste of Taiwan food. After visiting Taiwan 10 years ago, I have become absolutely obsessed with Taiwanese food. And this restaurant has reportedly been open since 2004 and there is also a branch in Chatswood.
Mr NQN and I arrive unexpectedly early on a Tuesday and that is a little tip Dear Reader. Come 6pm every single table in this restaurant will be taken so try and arrive before 6pm if you don't want to wait. But the turnover is quick, the food comes out super quickly but it’s still all freshly cooked. And there's also a machine at the front where you can order and pay for takeaway. Delivery drivers are like a revolving door here with lots of people ordering food to go.
We take a seat and they pass us a copy of the menu plus an iPad to place our order. After submitting your order you pay at the counter and they bring the food to you. Service is friendly although it is the sort of place where they’re very busy so you can’t really ask them too much. Mr NQN had a bit of a cold so I order the honey lemon juice with aloe ($7) with just the right amount of sweetness and lemon. It's like a medicinally healthier version of a bubble tea but with chunks of aloe vera.
Within five minutes of ordering, our food starts to arrive. You can probably see that I had over ordered but the intention was to take some home for Mr NQN to eat. The first thing to arrive is the ginger pork. It’s in a smaller bowl and there is the option to add rice for $2 extra. I only ordered it because Mr. NQN loves ginger and this ginger pork it’s pork belly thinly sliced with ginger but yet it ends up being one of our favourite items because it is perfectly balanced.
The Taiwanese beef noodle soup is an enormous bowl and there are two types: the signature beef noodle soup and then the spicy version. We ordered the spicy version - not going to lie, this did not hold back. This was spicy and deeply flavoured with lots of soft beef shank pieces in it. This is for when you are ravenous and love chilli.
The other dishes arrive in quick succession. The beef brisket with tomato is nice and comforting although after the spicy beef noodle soup it sort of takes the backseat as it is less punchy without the chilli. Still the beef is soft and the tomato gives it a mild sweetness and the creamy textured sauce is made to pair with some steamed rice.
Two of my favourite dishes are both fried chicken. The regular Taiwanese fried chicken has lots of pieces of fresh garlic on it and is freshly fried and juicy and is a generously sized portion for the price.
But hands down, my favourite thing that I keep going back to is the curry crispy chicken. If you love Japanese curry sauce and fried chicken then you will love this combo. There’s just the right amount of mild curry sauce to season this juicy, boneless chicken.
I can see a lot of people are ordering the sets which for $22.50 seem to be good value for dinner so I ordered one just to see what it was like. The red rice yeast pork fillet reminds me of something that my mum used to make with red rice koji. It’s like a pork Katsu but with a slightly fermented flavour and the pork fillet is crisp and delicious. It also comes with two vegetable sides with tofu, capsicum and onion and a cabbage and ham salad. There’s also a choice of a basic drink eg soft drink or a tea and I go for the hot ginger tea which arrives slightly sweetened and more warm than hot.
There’s not much for dessert but the set menu does give you a small cup of sweet red bean and black rice soup. And mindful of the queue of people waiting right next to us, we finish up and leave, all in under an hour!
So tell me Dear Reader, is there a country whose food you are obsessed with? Have you ever tried much Taiwanese food or been to Taiwan?
This meal was independently paid for.
Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet
147 Broadway, Sydney NSW 2007
Open Tuesday to Sunday 11am-3pm, 4-9pm
Tel: +61 (02) 92115298
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