Taiwan Tea House - Revisit

It has been a long while since I had been to Taiwan Tea House. My BFF regularly frequents the place and was more than happy to go with me the other day. I still like the simple décor and the real plates and bowls they use—and they’re actually pretty dishes, unlike the standard Chinese restaurant ware. Our server is very friendly—one of the owners I am sure, as he has been there every time I have been. Sometimes the communication is a bit lacking due to the language difference, but we managed.

I ordered the fried tofu ($2.75) to start, based on someone’s recommendation on one of my last posts. And I do like some good fried tofu. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it when I first saw it, because you could tell it wasn’t going to be really crisp and it wasn’t really, but it had a great taste. I really liked the soy-based sauce that they drizzled on top. The crust on the tofu taste good too even if I would have preferred it a little crisper. I couldn’t stop eating just a little more.

For my lunch, I ordered the mapo chicken ($6.99). This is my BFF’s favorite dish, and her usual order, but she wanted to try the spicy wonton noodles instead, so I got it. To start with, they bring you a bowl of soup (really, really hot as in temperature). It’s a simple soup, but I nice was to start especially on a very cold day. There are some nice chunks of tofu and some egg as well as some tomatoes and black pepper.

The chicken dish was a little disappointing actually—the chicken was cooked a little too far making it not just a bit tough, but giving the edges an almost crunchy texture. Both the chicken and the veggies just seemed like they were cooked over too high a heat. I do like the flavor of the sauce though—had a nice balanced taste with soy and some garlic and ginger perhaps. A touch on the oily side, but still good. The entrées each come with two crab Rangoon as well. I like the version they do here because they are nice and crisp and not oily at all. My only complaint was that one of them wasn’t quite warm all the way through. Assume they make them and then just heat them quickly before serving.

My friend’s spicy wonton noodles were good—they are really quite spicy—lots of little bits of garlic and chili in there and some stuffed wontons mixed in. They can’t really make the dish less spicy because he said they make the sauce in advance, and it has a fair amount of heat. They can make it spicier if you want though which would be too much for me, but I am sure some of you guys would like it that way.

All in all, an ok experience. It’s not a bad place to have nearby, and they do use a lot of fresh ingredients. I think my dish was a little off on this day, but it wouldn’t stop me from trying again.

Taiwan Tea House

3746  E. 82^nd Street

Indy 46250

317/598-9733

Taiwan Tea House -Reopen

I was quite happy to see Taiwan Tea House return after quite a lengthy absence.  It has been quite a few months since they had to move one strip mall down (I assume because of the new Nordstrom Rack and Container Store going in).  The sign was back up almost immediately, but it took quite awhile for the place to actually get running again.  But I am happy to say it is—it is quite near my house in an area that is somewhat lacking in good lunch choices (it is right next to the Barnes and Noble at 82^nd & Dean), so it was missed when it was gone.  The new interior is remarkably similar to the last one, clean and simple.

Although I really enjoyed my Mapo chicken last time, for the benefit of variety, the BFF and I both got different things.  And you know I was really glad I did, because I really liked the things we got on this visit too.  We started with an order (6) of “boiling dumplings” ($4.55) which were nice and light (and pork filled). Your classic dumplings, much like I recently had at Saigon, but with a sauce that was a little more unique.  It had the soy flavor as well as the slightly sour vinegar taste along with lots of chilis.  They were good, but not amazing.  I have yet to have an appetizer here that blew me away.

We were also brought a bowl of soup (comes with the entrée), which I liked a lot more than the one I remember having before.  This one tasted like a light miso soup with large pieces of tofu in it.  It had more depth of flavor than what I remember having there before, which I remember to pretty much just be a chicken broth.  We both commented on liking it (don’t get me wrong, it isn’t life altering or anything, but mild and comforting).

 I ordered the “family tofu with meat” for my entrée ($6.95).  The dish consisted of lightly fried cubes of tofu, chicken (you have your choice of meat), and lots of veggies (broccoli, onions, carrots) in a rich brown sauce—it wasn’t overly sweet l (yea! finally) and had a nice flavor—tasted like it had soy and maybe some oyster sauce in it. The ingredients are exceptionally fresh, and the more I ate of it, the more I wanted. The chicken was also properly cooked, and was a slightly firmer texture than went nicely with the very soft tofu and crunchy veg.  I really enjoyed the combination of different textures—you don’t often see tofu and meat in a dish, and I liked it. They also give you a couple of crab rangoons with each lunch, which while the aren't my favorite, are a nice change from the egg rolls you get everywhere else.  And they are small and very crunchy adding a nice crunch to the meal.

I had a couple of bites of my friend’s Lo Mein as well (which was enormous by the way).  There were lots of nice pieces of chicken as well as the pile of noodles, and the flavor was interesting. It had a brownish sauce as well, but tasted as though it may have some sesame oil in it as well, and possibly some vinegar (in addition to soy).  It did have a slightly sweet flavor, but that was set off nicely by the other things.

All in all, I am glad to have Taiwan Tea House back in business, and judging by the people who kept slowly streaming in as we ate, I am not the only one.

Taiwan Tea House

3746  E. 82^nd Street

Indy 46250

317/598-9733

Taiwan Tea House

I finally got over to the Taiwan Tea House after a near miss once before (FYI, they are closed on Mondays). It has been on my list for awhile, and has been recommended by a few readers. It is one of those places in the middle of a strip mall that you may drive by 100 times and not even notice. But it is worth a stop.

The Taiwan Tea House has an extensive tea list (go figure) as well as the various fruit smoothie type drinks. You can also add Boba (or tapioca pearls) to your tea for an additional charge. I went with a friend and we settled on one of the green tea choices and perused the menu. I noticed several different fried chicken entrees (fried chicken which was whole pieces of chicken and popcorn chicken which was described as well, nuggets.) I was just curious about this because I had never seen so much fried chicken on a Chinese menu. There are lots of different other options though with shrimp, chicken or beef and plenty of veggie options as well.

For our lunch, we ordered 2 different chicken dishes just to try out different seasonings, etc. We ordered the chicken with asparagus (you can order it with whichever meat you want) as well as the Mapo sauce chicken (again you can get whatever meat you want). I also ordered a shrimp and chive cake appetizer just to see what it was like.

We were first brought a bowl of soup and our tea. The soup wasn’t overly exciting—just a thickened chicken broth with some veggies. But it was included with the meal which was nice. My shrimp and chive cakes were only ok—the shrimp were teeny tiny and sparse--they were really more like green onion cakes than anything else. They were lightly fried and very hot. They definitely had a strong flavor of greens. If they had had a bit more shrimp, I would probably order it again, but as it stands, I probably won’t. There are also several other appetizer options including several dumplings, which are always a favorite of mine, so next time we’ll try some of those. Interestingly, they also came out after the first main dish had been served, even though listed as an appetizer.

The real stars here are the main dishes, the chicken and rice. They give you a very nice sized portion of chicken and vegetables served with a bowl sized serving of steamed rice. All the ingredients they are using are very fresh tasting, the chicken is all white meat and the quality is top notch. This is especially true when you consider that the dishes average $6.99 for the meat & veggies, soup and rice. Oh, and they put two little crispy crab rangoons on each plate which I really enjoyed. Usually crab rangoon is not my favorite thing, but these were light and didn’t have too much cream cheese.

The chicken and asparagus (shown here) was good and delicate tasting, again, the ingredients fresh and tasty, with quite a bit of asparagus as well as broccoli mixed in, but this dish wasn’t as good as the second dish we ordered, the Mapo chicken. When I asked what it was, it was described as a spicy sauce and I think he mentioned something about beans. Anyway, this sauce was certainly more flavorful and not really spicy, although you could see some red pepper flakes in it. I really liked it and of all the dishes, it was my favorite. It was served with lots of onions and broccoli and some red peppers and celery.

While I am not one to generally order the most spicy things in say, a Mexican place, I find Chinese “spicy” is usually not really that spicy and actually just more flavorful. I am sure it is different if you actually eat in China, but in the places I have eaten, I have found this a pretty universal truth.

Now, I have read very unkind things about service at this restaurant but I found the service to be very prompt and pretty friendly (a bit of awkwardness over asking for some explanations of dishes due to a slight language barrier—and the menu has pretty much no descriptions of the dishes, but otherwise, quite courteous). Our pot of tea was refilled with fresh hot water at least 3 times (you get a nice pot of tea with lots of loose tea and they just pour some more hot water over it occasionally) and we were pleasantly thanked as we left. I actually commented to my friend that the service here was better than half the restaurants in this City.

I also really liked the actual dishware—they were quite lovely and sturdy, not the typical ware you might find in your run of the mill restaurant supply company (and I used to work at one so I am familiar!) I will certainly be returning for lunch or carry out. They also serve dinner but do not have a liquor license—so no way will I get hubby there for dinner (plus it is a little sparse décor-wise in my opinion for dinner, but that’s just me). I think it would also be a great place for kids as there are many items that kids would probably like. If you can’t get them to eat regular stir fry, I am sure they would probably like the popcorn chicken or noodles. All in all, this place is a great value for high quality and tasty Chinese food. Give it a go. And hey, what is your favorite Chinese place? Let me know. I'll add it to my list to try!

Taiwan Tea House
4040 East 82nd Street
Indy 46250
317-598-9733