#8: Formosan Restaurant
Posted on February 25, 2007
Filed Under Taiwanese | 14 Comments
Thanks to Ms. Raamona for the recommendation and for personally taking me out, I had the pleasure of eating some Taiwanese style steak this week.
So what’s the difference between Taiwanese steak and its American counterpart? Taiwanese steak relies heavily on sauces, it comes sizzling on a cast iron pan, and has a pretty standard set of fixin’s to go along with the steak: Bread, of course, cream of corn soup, salad, rice or spaghetti, and the best part — an egg dropped on the pan as its being carried out to you.
The waiter would set the pan down in front of you, lift the lid, and you would be greeted with a shock of steam and a huge mass of food sizzling in your face. It is advised that you lift your napkin and hide behind it for a minute, lest the splattering grease gets on your shirt. One time in third grade some splattering oil almost got me in the eye, I ate the steak that day with a new profound appreciation of life.
Formosan had garlic bread along with the soup and salad.
We also ordered the crispy fried tofu. The garlic sauce is signature Taiwanese and kicked it up two notches.
Ms. Raamona ordered a medium-rare ribeye. This is definitely bigger than the ribeye at Costco, although a little thinner.
Faced with her enormous steak, I had no choice but to go all out and try to beat her. So I got the surf-n’-turf combo, squid with ribeye steak. ($15)
This is comfort food territory to me. The steak with the black pepper sauce brings me back to steakhouses in Taiwan and memories of my mom treating me to a steak when I did well on tests back in grade school. It’s not the greatest steak in the world, (that’d be the Rothenberg steak) but it’s certainly a great interpretation of Western food from an Asian view. The portions are incredibly generous, the service was quick with our fun and playful waitress, it was a great meal. It’s not a date place, so bring you gluttony partner(s) and be ready to loosen your belt a bit.
Ms. Raamona is part owner of a Tapioca Express in the Cerritos mall. She makes a damn good cup o’ boba, so do drop by and order something if you’re going to Formosa. Yes, I know there’s another Tapioca express in the same plaza as Formosa, but hey, you drove down to Cerritos for steak, what’s another mile or two for good boba?
Formosan Restaurant
18846 Norwalk Blvd
Artesia, CA 90701