Food Talk Cafe

My family is still big fan of this Taiwanese place over many years. We are here for almost every 1 or 2 weeks. We never get any issues for their dish and service. We are Japanese family and we don’t like spicy /​salty. Highly recommended!

Selection of dishes good and food comes out quickly. Friendly service and was quiet for a Saturday evening although it got more crowded after 8:30 or so.

Serves really good food; the Xiao Long Bao is excellent as well as the Peking duck course with the wrapper. Most of the entries that we have ordered in this café is very good. If only they serve wine and not just beer.

Poor service. The young waiter was irritated that we asked questions and it seemed like she doesn’t want to be there.
The other waiter was better. They don’t speak a lot of English. So one of my dishes came out wrong. I asked for bean curb, but they gave me fried tofu. Oh well.
Food was good… better than a lot of Chinese restaurants I have been to.
Peking duck was good.
Basil clams were good.
Fried tofu was good.
Preserved egg porridge was just okay.
We are here because it was the only restaurant opened around 4pm.

The noodle soup tastes ok but not impressive. You can choose from several types of noodle like egg noodle, white noodle, rice noodle, etc. Parking is easy.

Bad customer service/​language barrier, good food…
Been waiting literally 20min to get our tea pot refilled while the Hostess and servers stay in the back of the dining area. Waiting here so long that I even managed to take an awesome picture of them chillin in the corner while my poor tea pot is screaming for a refill.

It’s a little confusing… what kind of food does this place serve?
They have some Canto, Taiwanese, and everything in between. It’s difficult to order because you’re left wondering… are they good at everything they make, or do they specialize in one cuisine and just put the other dishes on the menu for funsies?
The overall quality isn’t bad. The beef fried rice was the best dish we ordered. It had great flavor, but wasn’t overly oily or salty. We also ordered the five spice duck rice plate. It wasn’t bad. The «Ja Jeng Mein» was also pretty good. The Hainan chicken with noodle soup was alright. The chicken didn’t taste too fresh though.
Service was good, although the owner lady got offended when we said the house soup looked too oily. She just stood there and stared at us for a while after insisting that it isn’t oily at all until we asked her to take it away. Awkward.
The restaurant itself looks nice, but definitely doesn’t really «match» the type of food that’s being served. So it’s a decent choice if you feel like some type of Chinese food but can’t decide which… for me, if I’m in this area, I’d rather go to Shao Mountain.

My co-​worker brought me here for lunch, and he said this place was pretty good so we tried it out. When you walked in the place was pretty dark. We got seated next to the window and the lighting was still pretty dim. I guess that’s the vibe they are going for.
But anyways, I ordered their beef noodle with no been sprouts. They served us a complimentary hot milk tea in a silver metal cup, and a small bowl of sweet and sour soup. The milk tea was okay, not bad, but I do prefer my milk tea cold. On the other hand, the sweet and sour soup was good, not a lot of ingredients but it was tasty, and I put a lot of white pepper to give it more flavor. My beef noodle tasted normal, nothing special to it and nothing wrong with it. The portion is small compared to other chinese places I’ve tried but still good.
After trying this place out I give it 3 out of 5 stars. There is nothing special about this restaruant but the food is not bad, pretty good. The food here is a bit pricier than I thought it would be but they do have to be competitive since there are so many food spots around this area. If I’m craving for chinese and I’m around this area, I might just come back to try something else.

Name-​wise, I had no idea what kind of restaurant Food Talk Café was, but it was a spot my hubby’s brother chose for our double date so off to Fremont we went! Located right next to Snow Crave, Asian Pearl, Hot Pot, and Supercue, Good Talk Café had pretty stiff competition. Of course, on a Friday night, parking was a nightmare, but after circling a couple of rounds, we finally found a spot.
The café itself is TINY. Yes, they utilize every spot available for seating, but you sit uncomfortably close to the party next to you. However, the restaurant is nicely decorated to look very warm with Asian themed wallpaper and paintings. I personally liked the blue velvet booths alongside the wall.
The menu itself seems really daunting when you first open it up. The font is small and there are so many words that your eyes tend to glaze over as you read TENS UPON TENS of various food items. HOW DOES ONE CHOOSE JUST ONE MEASLY LITTLE DISH? So with Asian restaurants like these, eating family-​style is always the way to go, that way you can try as many dishes as you can.
So to share, we ordered: Mongolian beef, sweet and sour flounder, spicy and regular house dumplings, fried rice with scallops and shrimp, and Peking duck with buns.
The Mongolian beef was ultra tender and when cooked alongside the spicy pepper, had a good kick of heat,. That sauce was the bomb! Even the onions were cooked well, crunchy and savory. The next best dish had to be the flounder. Although it was drenched in a sweet and tangy sauce, you could still taste the crispy breading around the fish. So yummy! The Peking duck was very tender and juicy, but its probably because of all the fat that was still intact. One bun of duck was more than enough. Delicious, but way too fatty!
Unfortunately, the fried rice was completely flavorless. We actually had to eat it with the Mongolian beef just to give it a bit more life. Ordering white rice would have been better since it would have been cheaper. Finally, the dumplings made with XO liquor was just way too watery! One bite and a fountain of liquid sprayed all over my plate, not to mention, there was barely any filling. The house tea itself was bland, tasting more like boiled water than anything (their ceramic tea cups were super thin so I couldn’t even hold my cup for a good 15 minutes).
Because the restaurant is so small, Food Talk Café doesn’t have many waiters or waitresses, but they seriously should hire more. The two people manning the dining floor were running ragged. I felt so bad! Therefore, even though the service wasn’t amazing, for two people, my hubby and I understand why.
Prices are quite cheap here for their portions, but the quality isn’t very consistent. It was a decent first experience, but I’m quite certain it’s not a place we would go out of our way to come back to.

It saddens me to see so many bad reviews! Me and my family have never had a single bad tasting here and they are extremely picky with their food.
I am obsessed with their beef noodle soup… It is so flavorful and delicious. Their Peking duck and most other dishes are really good too. You can probably order anything and it’ll taste good.
They lost a star because we found the little plastic band that binds (kinda like a rubber band) the vegetable together in our food and when we told them about it, they just took it out and reheated it but then we found the band again … But that was one time out of the many times. If it happens again we won’t be coming back.

What an absolute waste of time.
Waited here for 30 minutes. We got seated, ordered, and waited patiently for our order. After a while I asked what was taking so long — she said it wasn’t even on the goddamn computer. Even though we ordered 20 minutes previously. From the same waitress.
And of course I wasted my lunch hour on this. They have lost my business as a customer.
Don’t ever go here unless you like nothing for lunch.

I’ve been here many times and just recently went for the last time. Food is pretty average — it’s nothing spectacular but not terrible in any sense. What makes me not wanting to ever come back it’s the lying and deceitful staff.
So we came here to grab a bite before a movie that’s showing across the street. We ordered two dishes — both of them noodles. The first one came out within 10 minutes of ordering. Half an hour later, there’s no sign of the other order. People who sat down after us got their food. At this time I told the waitress if they haven’t started preparing it, we would just like to cancel because we have a movie to catch. We saw her go over to the chef and told him about our order. No wait — we wanted to cancel! I call her out on her obvious betrayal with our request and her response was that they were already preparing it. The noodles came out about 10 minutes later … about the same time it’d have taken to make it from scratch. So yes, this is how you lose a customer forever. Never eat food from dishonest people — it’ll just leave you feeling disgusted and angry about the whole experience.

!!!HOLY BARF BATMAN!!!
One of the hosts was sitting outside cough up a lung — then after were seated she walked to the back grabbed water went back outside scratching and rubbing her nose.
The restaurant smelled of old fish and the two dishes we ordered so nasty that we couldn’t finish them.
I had duck and rice, but the juice the duck was in smelled really bad and my boyfriend some sort of beef noodle soup that I could not readily identify right away…
Oh I forgot the food floating in his water… YEP
sooooooo NO!

TL;DR:
Pretty decent eats, especially the Peking Duck, though you have to be ready for this Cantonese interpretation.
THE DEETS:
***海南鸡饭 [HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE]
Those of us who have lived in Singapore have very particular requirements for Chicken Rice. The bird should be pleasantly chilled, with soft skin & tender plentiful flesh (meat-​heavy, bone-​light). The rice must be fried in the oil of the chicken, then boiled in its broth with whole chunks of ginger, garlic, & green onion. Lastly, the accompanying cilantro, cucumbers, and chili sauce must be fresh and of the proper variety. A little thick sweetened soy sauce drizzled on top as the perfect finish.
The chicken used at Food Talk Café was chilled, but quite dry, wiry, & bone-​heavy. The rice was a bit oily and reasonably flavorful, but it didn’t taste like it had been properly fried. There were no cilantro or cucumbers, and the chili sauce used the wrong kind of pepper. There was an accompanying green sauce (ground ginger, green onions, garlic, cilantro) that added some pleasant notes and was welcome. Unfortunately, for all it had going for it, this wasn’t the chicken rice I know and love, but a second tier counterfeit.
***北京片皮鸭 [PEKING DUCK]
This dish might as well have been called Canton Duck. This is not meant as an insult, but a descriptor to highlight stylistic differences. Peking Duck is served in boneless slices, carefully preserving the crispy skin, delicate fat, & soft flesh beneath. It’s to be wrapped in thin powdered dough wrappers with cucumber slices, thin white strips of scallion, and 甜面酱 [sweet bean sauce].
This ‘Canton Duck’ was basically just crispy strips of duck skin, separated from but lying on chunks of duck meat, bone-​in. There were a few little chunks of fat left over on the skin, but most of it had been removed. There were no cucumbers, and the sweet bean sauce tasted like a grocery variety. Rather than wrappers, it was served with steamed mantou bun flaps. Don’t get me wrong, the flavors here were still rather exquisite. The skin was particularly crunchy & sweet. The meat, when removed from the boney chunks, was pleasantly soft & well flavored. And the pillowy mantou actually made an incredible partnership with the crispy skin, creating a harmony that dare I say exceeds standard wrappers.
***小笼包 [XIAOLONGBAO]
Not bad in the realm of Xiaolongbao. Nice thin wrappers, plenty of soup, tender filling. Served with dark vinegar & ginger strips as it should be. The flavors were slightly off, though. Not in your standard low-​end ingredient Cantonese way. Just… a tad off somehow. But not bad.
I think I’d come here again, at least for the duck.

This is one of my favorite Taiwanese Restaurant in the East Bay.
The décor is upscale and the food is consistently good. Service is efficient.
The price is on the expensive side for a Taiwanese Restaurant.
My favorite dishes are: spicy duck tongue, fried stewed tofu, Hainan chicken rice, roast Peking Duck noodle soup, and their sautéed vegetables, pork dumpling.
My family tend to end up ordering too much food because they have so many items on their menu.

Let’s talk about their mediocre food shall we?
Met my friends for lunch down here, and had to hang my head in shame for recommending this place after finding it on Unilocal.
Their duck was so fatty… how fatty was it? This duck has as much fat as Roseanne Barr, okay?
Also, their jellyfish salad was quite plain. Needs some sesame oil, or something else.
Their eggplant dish was super spicy, which we weren’t prepared for. Oh, and it was greasy.
The Hainan Chicken was a joke. Give me a rubber chicken any day over this dish.
The only thing that bumps this up to 3 stars is the service and the dumplings.
We ordered tons of their dumplings because
1) We were still hungry
2) We were too tired to go anywhere else.
But their dumplings were good. Not great, just good.

Been coming here with my family for many years now, although since they raised their prices, we come much less often.
Pros: The food is actually really good. Peking duck is amaaaazinggggg. They make it really well. Same with the xiao long bao. I actually consider their XLBs to be one of the best in Fremont. Definitely recommend those two things. The service is also pretty great. There’s an enthusiastic canto man there that cracks me up. And when I took my grandma here to eat he was especially nice to her so I was really appreciative of that :)
Cons: THE PRICE. My god… their XLBs are amazing but like $ 8 for 6 pcs??? No way Jose. Only come here when you’re feeling in that TREAT YO’ SELF mood.
Overall: Food Talk has quality food, but until they lower their prices, I’ll only be coming here once in a great while.

I love the fried rice with tiny shrimp and shredded scallops! It’s not oily at all and made with only egg whites. The Peking Duck is a favorite here and yesterday’s order seemed to have much crispier skin. The Hainan chicken is cold but the ginger/​scallion oil dip/​sauce is sooo tasty! I have no idea how they make that but it’s delicious. I’ve tried their soup dumplings and they’re pretty good too. My first encounter with the potstickers was phenomenal: fresh, almost steaming filling enclosed by a slightly chewy yet delicate wrapper. The second time it was just meh.
I’m amazed at how simple some dish names are– you would have to read the description in order to know what you’re getting. For instance, the fish cake with green vegetable contains leafy snow peas.
I had the fried tofu for the first time here and they basically fry one or two 4“x4″ squares of tofu and slice them into log shapes before serving it on a pool of lightly sweetened broth.
One time my friends and I stayed here for so long during an odd hour (right before dinner) we were given complementary black sticky rice soup dessert. Yummy.
I go back here frequently when I’m in the area. It can get packed when there’s a wedding reception at Asian Pearl though. Parking during that occasion bites!

Your standard chinese offerings. came for late lunch, and was not very impressed. $ 8 lunches until 1430.
tea had no taste and our sever, he was very very odd!

I’m not sure I’d consider this a Taiwanese restaurant per se, but it serves food that my Taiwanese family loves. Our all-​time favorites include the XO xiao long bao, Hainanese chicken rice, and stewed tofu. Runner-​ups are the roast duck with mantou, scallion pancakes, and sauteed veggies.
Their regular xlb isn’t bad in terms of texture and thickness of bao skin and the amount of melted gelatinous goodness hiding within, but the overall flavor is bland (probably because they don’t use MSG here… DTF, at least in Asia, does). Adding the XO gives it some kick.
Now, the Hainan-​style chicken and rice dish is probably the main reason why I’d make the drive here. The chicken they use is free-​range or organic or something to that level that one would not typically associate with Chinese food in Fremont. It’s very clear this isn’t your hormone-​pumped Costco chicken the moment you take a bite. Judge me all you want, but I also love chicken skin (and duck skin, and pork skin, etc). The skin here is splendidly flavorful and firm. And their rice is right on par with their meat, magnificently aromatic and wondrously oily from all the chicken broth. Accompanying the dish are two sauces, their garlic and ginger paste being my current obsession.
Unlike some places, the stewed tofu here is served hot. My mom thinks they’re bland and in need of some chili oil, but I think it’s perfect. A good balance between spongy and firm, with that fresh bean curd taste that I love. An excellent appetizer for you soy lovers.
Surprisingly, their roast duck isn’t bad either, but the quality is definitely lower than that of their chicken. Some pieces can be grisly and there’s usually a lot of fat. But I still like it (since, um, I like duck fat) and it’s tasty with either a bowl of soup noodles or with their steamed white buns, raw scallions, and hoisin sauce.
The green onion pancakes here are a treat too, but they’re usually sold out by the time we roll in for lunch and they’re pretty pricey for what they are. The selection of vegetarian dishes seems more limited as well, but any time we’ve ordered a sauteed veggie in season, it was good.
Competition is fierce in this area, but I think Food Talk Café holds their own. Staff is mostly competent and the restaurant is surprisingly clean. All in all, would recommend.