Sometimes, you’ve gotta roll with the punches. The plan was to go to Xing Long Ju, a very well regarded breakfast joint in Kaohsiung. A little bit too well regarded, it turns out — the line was bonkers.
Not that I’m particularly adverse to standing in long lines for food, but this one was particularly nutty, and I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to eat or how I’d order.
Then I noticed another popular breakfast place right next door, selling a variety of buns and pastries. This one also had a line, but it was a bit more manageable. Bonus: it was self-serve, thus completely cutting out any ordering stress.
Double bonus: it’s delightfully affordable. Basically everything on offer costs 13 NT$ (just about 50 cents Canadian).
I got a couple of things. The first was this baked sesame flatbread. I wasn’t sure if this would be stuffed with something (none of the labels were in English, obviously), but it was just plain bread.
It was quite tasty though — fresh, flaky, and buttery, with a nice toasty sesame seed flavour.
I also tried a bun, which turned out to be stuffed with a very flavourful mix of chives, glass noodles, eggs, garlic, and tiny little shrimps.
This was really, really good. The bun itself was super fluffy, and the filling was a taste bonanza.
Location: No. 186號, Liuhe 2nd Road, Qianjin District, Kaohsiung City, 801
How to find it: I don’t know what the restaurant is called (the Chinese name is 果貿來來豆漿 — I don’t think it has an English name), but thanks to its self-serve layout, it’s hard to miss.