Mother Chu's Taiwanese Cuisine

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I have a lot of memories of this place. When I first came to Australia as a child, this  was one of my parents' favourite places to eat to comfort their "Chinese stomachs". There are quite a bit of similarities between the taste profiles of Shanghainese cuisine and Taiwanese cuisine, now that I think about it: both cuisine prefer that lovely umami sweet-savoury and dainty little portions. Even some of our breakfast foods are just variations on a theme. 


This, for example. Glutinous rice logs filled with fried dough stick (you tiao), Taiwan-style pork floss (which is a little sweeter and more toasted than its arch-competitor, the Taichang-style pork floss) and preserved raddish. It is filling, comforting and texturally varied (chewy and soft vs crunchy). It is also easily transported, so a perfect breakfast-on-the-go or snack item. The Shanghainese version is shaped like a ball and sometimes replaces the pork floss and preserved raddish with preserved vegetables. 


Egg panckae with youtiao - if I had to pick a favourite Taiwanese / Shanghainese breakfast item, this would be it. The youtiao is like a deep-fried baguette, really: it is glitsteningly crunchy on the outside, light and airy inside. Wrapping around the youtiao is a pancake with a scrambled shallot egg.  So much carbs, and oh-so-good.


When you go to a Taiwanese restaurant, you must not forget the Taiwanese beef noodles. Look at those generous slices of beef! The noodles in this particular dish was just a little bland and soft for my liking - I prefer my noodles chewy and heavily sauced - but I highly recommend this noodle soup for a cold winter's night. 


Minced pork sauce atop rice is a dish for which I have a lot of fondness. A Taiwanese family friend who cooks beautifully used to make this for me when I was a teenager and in my early twenties living alone in Sydney while my family were overseas. It will never not evoke a sense of being generously cared for through every Asian's love language: food. The version at Mother Chu's is respectable, but man, nothing compared to my Aunty Lin's. 


Don't be fooled by the snow-white, bland-looking appearance. Looks, as we all know, can be deceiving. Underneath this blanket of thick coconut cream is a sweet pudding of purple glutinous rice, perfectly flavoured to be "not too sweet". Dreamy. 

A meal at Mother Chu's is almost like going home and getting absolutely stuffed by card-rich comfort food. The staff are friendly, enthusiastic and lovely - they do their bills by hand (using arithmetic!) which I found surprising in this day and age, and utterly charming.

Score: 3/5
Price: all that food came to $50 and had both of us groaning with fullness. 
Address: 1/84-88 Dixon St, Haymarket NSW

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