South Taste Restaurant has a reputation for offering the best and most authentic Taiwanese cuisine in the area. Since I don’t read or speak Mandarin, and since pork, a favorite ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine, is not my meat of choice, I decided to bring my mother in law ("MIL") with me to investigate.
South Taste provides a healthy dose of appetizers and "snacks," from $1 - $4.95. Be prepared for dishes that are, shall we say, foreign to American taste buds, like Simmered Pig Feet and Sliced Boiled Pork Diaphragm. Less adventuresome buds may wish to stick to the ever-popular Deep-Fried Stinky Tofu, which, although it calls to mind gym socks, is crunchy and creamy in the middle and features a delicate soy sauce, vinegar, and chile-oil topping.
Soups run the gamut from the simple (Meatball Soup, Wonton Soup) the herbal (Don-Que Duck Soup for regulation of the female system, according to MIL, and which, yes, may cause you to grow your own uterus, guys), and the interesting (Fried Taro and Sparerib Soup). The herbal ones require some getting used to -- the aromas and flavors, while not gym socks, often have bold, sometimes bitter flavors.
Generally, "Pan Fried" specialties are either pork or curious seafood-based, like Yellow Croaker with Dry Seaweed or Sautéed Periwinkle with Basil (periwinkle is a small marine gastropod; if you don’t like snails, fughetaboutit). There are a handful of dishes which let you choose beef or lamb as the main event, like Sautéed Beef or Lamb with BBQ Sauce. The only chicken dish is House Special Chicken in Pot, which MIL translated as "Three-Cup Chicken," so-called because it is supposedly made from one cup of soy sauce, one cup of sesame oil, and one cup of wine. The sauce was redolent of basil, but South Taste only gives you snipped pieces of wing, making this dish very Kate Moss -- that is, skin and bones. At $7.95, this is one of the few dishes that is not a good value.
If you’re looking for adventure, there’s Sautéed Uteri with Basil. When I turned to my MIL with a look of dismay, she replied, "Don’t worry, it’s probably not uterus, it’s duodenum." Duodenum? The small intestine, amateur!
Most luncheoners come for the noodle or rice plates. Tainan Ground Pork with Mushroom Dry Noodles features wheat noodles, bean sprouts, and cilantro. Tasty but short on mushrooms, but who’s complaining at $3.25 per dish?
Other popular entrees are Tainan Sha-Cha Chow Mein, which has a spicy satay-like sauce made from peanuts, ground shrimp, and chile peppers, and Omelet Rice, a mound of rice with a paper-thin layer of egg covering it. Most noodle and rice dishes are under $5, a real bargain.
While I’m unconvinced that South Taste offers the "best" Taiwanese food in the area, it certainly is authentic. Step out of your routine and check it out. At these prices, you can afford to try the duodenum.