#dan bing

Today Starts Here is a Taiwanese breakfast pop-up. It seemed like the most popular place in Chinatown during our visit. To order, I think they want you to place the order online and then pick up your food from the Hill St. side (for safety reasons). They have dan bing, daikon rice cakes, fan tuan, soy milk, chive & egg pockets, coffee, tea, and desserts (e.g., dou hua and red bean mochi).

I went with the combo: 2 pcs daikon rice cake, dan bing, your choice of soy milk (savory, plain, or black soy).

House pressed organic soy milk: It can be lightly sweetened or unsweetened. I went with unsweetened. The initial sips were nice – naturally sweet, soy flavor but the drink was a bit gritty. Mr. Froyo had the black soy milk. He liked the taste of black sesame but said it was gritty.

Dan bing: Thin crepe, scallions, organic eggs, corn, cabbage – seemed underseasoned and bland. The sauces helped.

Daikon cakes with fried shallots and shiitake mushrooms: soft, not crispy on top, bland…dipping in the sauce helped but the garlic soy sauce was too salty. However, the daikon cakes didn’t seem to have any salt.

I appreciate what they’re doing (fresh Taiwanese breakfast) since there aren’t many (any?) other Taiwanese breakfast places in Chinatown. The prices aren’t bad…but the food is bland. It tastes healthier though.

For a better Taiwanese breakfast, try Yi Mei (Monrovia, Rowland Heights) or Huge Tree Pastry (Monterey Park).

3 out of 5 stars.

Another day, another dan bing!

This is a famous street stall here in Shanghai located at 585 Nanchang Lu, right behind the iaPM mall. The auntie working here cranks these Chinese stuffed crepes out at a rate of about one per minute, wrapping them a little tighter than a few of the other locals do. Got mine with a little more spice this time as well!