2.45 Four Seas - Taiwanese breakfast
Posted on January 21, 2009
Filed Under Breakfast, Chinese, Taiwanese | 2 Comments
I’ve always wanted to do another Taiwanese breakfast entry, not that Yung Ho Tou Chiang is bad or anything, I just wanted to try more places. I found Four Seas on Yelp but have actually been there a long time ago, when I was working as a software intern in the City of Industry back in 2002. I remember that their rice balls (my favorite breakfast item) were very good. So, here we are, six years, two jobs, and a food blog later, back at Four Seas.
A good sign when you walk in to any restaurant is that there’s a line. This gave me a good amount of time to browse the menu, which is posted on the wall along with each item’s prices. Prices are very decent, breakfast items are typically $2-3 dollars, noodles and things are $5 or $6.
We start it off with our usual sweet and salty (goodies added) soy milk. I think the soy milk here is a little richer tasting than Yung Ho Tou Chiang, but then I didn’t feel the salty version was particularly flavorful, maybe they don’t have all the ingredients figured out right. In any case, there should be some fried cruller, dried shrimp, green onions, chili oil, etc. in the salty soy milk. The sweet soy milk actually comes to your table unsweetened, you add your own sugar as you see fit. There’s also cold sweet soy milk (that should come pre-sweetened) and rice milk. $1.50 - $1.80
(Salty Soy Milk: xian dou jiang. Sweet Soy Milk: tian dou jiang)
Turnip cake. This is very much like the fried turnip cakes at Dim Sum places, very solid, but I got a hint of almonds in the finish. Weird, but pleasing. $2.80 (luo bo gao)
Here’s a classic breakfast item, fried cruller. It’s basically two thin strands of dough fried in a giant wok, it’s spectacularly crispy and tasty. (you tiao)
Here we have the egg pancake in front, it’s actually eggs fried and layered with a pancake, you can mix your own flour and fry with beaten eggs, or, I’ve seen people make it with a large flour tortilla. The different textures are very pleasing, soft eggs and a chewier pancake rolled together, along with the nice fragrance of the green onions. (dan bing)
On the same plate is a salty rice ball. It’s basically sweet / sticky rice wrapped around a small piece of fried cruller and some dried pork. I love the simply sweet taste of sticky rice, and the mixture of different textures knocks it out of the park for me. You can order a fancier version with pieces of braised egg and also sour cabbage, which makes it ever better, but at $4 it’s also a little pricy. (xian fan tuan)
Yup, if it’s on the menu, I gotta order it. Here is another example of the green onion pancake, this didn’t stand out very much, it’s decent but the #1 and #2 spots are still filled by Mon Land and Mama’s Lu. (cong you bing)
Overall I think this is a good find, the tastes are authentic and it feels more homemade than Yung Ho Tou Chiang. There’s not much service but then neither does the breakfast places in Taiwan. Unfortunately there’s no English menu, so I’ve added the pronunciation of each item in parenthesis in case any non-Chinese speakers are hoping to go. When in doubt, bring your iPhone and show them the pictures here.
Four Sea
2020 S Hacienda Blvd
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
(626) 330-3088