Really Something 非同小可 – Affordable Taiwanese Fare From $3 in Chinatown

These days, I find myself thinking of Taiwan a little more than usual. I miss the long cooling nights combing night markets for a hot bowl of lu rou fan (braised pork rice), fried chicken, or just a simple plate of comforting egg fried rice. Perhaps it’s the rainy weather of late that’s got me feeling a bit nostalgic.

Hence, imagine my excitement when I received a picture of a bowl of lu rou fan from my boss asking me to “check it out”. You can never defy your boss’s orders, right? So of course, I had to head over to 5 months old Really Something at Chinatown Complex Food Centre to see if they were indeed, really something.

It is no secret that Chinatown Complex Food Centre houses A LOT of good food at really pocket-friendly prices. But given its relatively confusing layout, locating particular stalls may be challenging if you are there for the first time. Look at the signages at the end of each lane, or ask the friendly uncles and aunties for stall #02-207 and they will be more than happy to guide you!

Once you get to the right section, it is not difficult to spot Really Something with their quirky and garish signboard. As there was no queue yet, my colleague and I quickly placed our orders.

We got the regular signature Braised Pork Rice ($3) which came with a mound of pearl rice, braised pork belly strips, a hard boiled egg and giam chye (salt-pickled mustard greens).

I don’t know what constitutes a good bowl of lu rou fan for you, but for me, the pork belly has to be tender, flavourful, and armed with that layer of fat that melts in my mouth.

Sadly, the braised pork belly at Really Something didn’t have that melty texture. It was more firm and chewy. But what was outstanding was the lor (braising liquid) which was both savory and sweet. Despite having ordered a table full of other carb-heavy dishes, I could not help myself from spoonful after spoonfuls of the soft rice which had soaked up all the lor. We appreciated that the pork belly strips were not overly greasy though, and had a good lean meat-to-fat ratio. The giam chye also provided a nice tinge of sourness to cut through any potential jelatness of the bowl.

While waiting to collect our orders, we were impressed by the systematic one-man-show going on within the stall. The owner, a true-blue Taiwanese in his mid-30s from Chiayi province, manned everything from ordering, frying, serving to cashiering. Each order of rice-based dish was carefully portioned out and weighed for a precise 180g, before being topped with the requisite ingredients. Even as the queue steadily formed up, he did not once reveal any signs of being stressed. Mad respect to him!

It only made sense for us to try the Chiayi Chicken Rice ($3) since the owner was from Chiayi. This bowl came with shredded chicken atop a mound of pearl rice, topped off with fried shallots and spring onion. What caught our attention even before we started digging in, was the extremely aromatic wafts of sesame oil and shallot oil emanating from the pale-looking bowl.

Although the shredded chicken was admittedly dry, the specially formulated sauce more than made up for it in terms of flavor and texture, coating every shred with a shiny sheen which made it very appetizing. My only gripe was that it got a bit oily towards the bottom of the bowl, still shiok nevertheless!

With more places coming out to sell DTF-style fried rice, we wanted to see if the Shrimp Egg Fried Rice ($4.80) at Really Something would be the next hit. Within a neatly portioned bowl of egg-coated rice speckled with spring onions, we counted 11 fresh prawns that were bouncy and sweet, nothing similar to the frozen limp prawns you sometimes get at even higher price tags. Even though there were sparks flying when the owner was frying up our order, the fried rice lacked a prominent wok hei to it.

The dish was lightly seasoned but very eggy, and the rice was soft and fluffy. Ah, comfort food at its best. My colleague even remarked that it reminded her of a familiar taste of home (家的味道)! This version was definitely not as flavourful as DTF’s version, but still enjoyable.

No Taiwanese meal can be considered complete without fried chicken! The Fried Chicken Cutlet ($4) featured 2 large thin slabs of butterflied chicken breasts coated in flour, and deep fried to a golden exterior upon order. It was sprinkled with a simple jiao yan 椒盐 (salt and pepper) seasoning and red chilli powder. The crunchy batter reminded us of KFC’s fried chicken, but noticeably more dry (especially the thinner edges). For a more value-for-money option, get the Fried Chicken Cutlet Egg Fried Rice ($4.80) as it comes with 1 entire slab of fried chicken and egg fried rice!

Considering that we tried almost everything on the menu, and finished everything that we ordered (there were only the 2 of us ladies), the food at Really Something was indeed really something. With its Really affordable price tag, Really Something is Really worth a try.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.