Taste of Formosa

I wonder why the beer labels were old and dated…
Is that really Taiwan Beer? Do you actually see them open the bottles? Just a thought. Next time I have to keep my eyes open to clarify. I visit Taiwan frequently for work and something tastes a little different. They told me it classic but the label said «gold medal.»
Pricey for Taiwanese street food. You should be able to drink beer and smoke inside. Kidding, yeah, yeah we’re in America and San Francisco is even more expensive than New York now a days. So ignore comparisons /​reviews affected by living costs. For San Franciscans seeking Taiwanese comfort, this is the place to go. You do only have like 2 – 3 other choices in the city. I’d say GO TO LOS ANGELES!!! Food was pleasant here though. Very nostalgic. Everything in San Francisco: Quickly, Taiwan Restaurant, etc. feels more like Cantonese /​Taiwanese fusion to me.

I love Taiwanese food especially its fried chicken steak 雞排 rice dish. So I ordered the dish at the restaurant. For $ 8.95, I got one small piece of fried boneless thigh and some preserved vegetables and rice. The chicken steak was not flattened, and there was not even enough meat to make up the steak at all. The quality of the food and the price they charge for the dish were just outrageous. Very disappointing. I wonder when this restaurant would go out of business. There are a lot of competitions in the neighborhood. Please check in with your chef and ask him or her whether or not Taiwanese fried chicken steak should be cooked that way.

Her friends are abroad all around the globe,
She is here with me and the San Francisco rain.
Half past six on a Sunday night,
The media feed lighted with pictures of places she wished to go.
A date night, I urged,
a humble consolation prize
It’s not the Eiffel, the Ben, or towers under the Shanghai sky.
I have not the means to feast your eyes to the wonders of the world,
but a A Taste of Formosa is the best I can do.
I took her by the hand and dove under the sea,
for a plate of Jellyfish as refreshing as June.
It smelled of a field of sesame under the tropical sun,
She smiled as she savored on the crunch of the texture.
Next we flew out of the present and back to my past,
holding two sides of a Sticky Rice with my five year old hands.
The small side for you and the big side for me,
she accepted my childhood favorite with a kiss on the cheek.
We landed in a different culture with the Water Cooked Fish,
the spicy region of the Chinese cuisine.
Our minds wandered to the red chili farms,
tongue slowly numbing after each little nibble.
This is not the glamour of a Trans-​Atlantic flight,
just a little trinket in lieu of a well-​deserved gift.
Princess Carewee held my hand in the rain,
and gladly traded a kiss for the Taste of Formosa.

Great food. Super friendly staff. Nice bathroom. Toddler-​proofed eating-​ware:) (paper plate, a fork, pink plastic cup with a straw). Loved all the chubby chunks of garlic cloves throughout many of my dishes.
I enjoyed the following there:
–scallion pancake with egg — yum! And hearty
–Chinese doughnuts — crunchy through and through (more crunchy than I usually have it, but still good!)
–sweet soy milk — super sweet (satisfied my toddler’s craving for chocolate milk)
–homemade sausage — enjoyed! More meaty than the mass produced version.
–stinky tofu — ooooweee. Stinky.
–Chinese tamale — really liked! (Bonus points for the egg yolk inside)
–stir-​fried squid — yum!
–stir fried pea sprouts — good.
–corn and chicken soup — toddler-​approved
They even nicely packaged my leftovers afterward. I’d definitely go back!

I miss Taiwan therefore I was so happy that they have a taiwan restaurant in the city. It’s nothing like taiwan but I still like coming here. This place is pretty pricey, especially for their portion size, isn’t big. Can’t come here everyday. Not everything is good, work close by so I have tired many things on the menu. I love sticky rice roll but their rice is moist/​wet and doesn’t stick together.
My favorite dish is the braised pork over rice, make sure you add an egg. Also I like their cold braised tofu. Since other things on the menu isn’t great, I just get the same thing every time.

ATTN TAIWANESE PEOPLE: Not very Taiwanese.
Stinky tofu: stinky, but not fried enough. The side sauce was typical Chinese chilli and soy sauce. The kimchi was also subpar
Beef noodle soup: savory, but noodles over cooked. Plus side, beef tendon was very soft and milky
Green onion pancake: Awesome, this was awesome. Fluffy, flakey, and rolled in a traditional fashion

I always really like this place, but it is pretty far from where I live. I like the beef noodle soup, rice cakes, minced pork with rice (and an egg), the seaweed or cucumber apps, and etc. I am glad they have 2 floors as it can get really busy. The dumplings are really good too. The street parking is the only thing that would make you question this place and if you can eat here.

Not bad. I’ve been craving a really classic Taiwanese dish — pork chop rice — for awhile, and was on a hunt to find somewhere in the city that I could get it at. Taste of Formosa definitely came up as one of the most popular dining options, so I dragged the SO over one Friday night. The place was pretty empty when we went, and service came out pretty quickly. I got the pork chop rice and the SO got a braised pork belly rice.
The pork chop rice was okay… but nowhere near the best that I’ve ever had. I’m a really big fan of Ocha for those of you in the Valley. The pork chop at Taste of Formosa was super oily, bony, and just not delicious. The rare pieces that I was able to have were pretty good, but overall, it was fairly underwhelming and most of it was really bony. SO really liked his pork belly rice though, that did look good.
I do appreciate that they take credit card here because I find that most Asian restaurants never take credit card, so that’s at least some thing good.
tldr; okay Taiwanese food, but nothing special

I FOUND A PUBIC HAIR IN MY MINCED PORK BOWL. It was gray and black. One of the older cooks must hate their job. I love this place and the minced pork but deliberately messing w the food for no apparent reason is disgusting.

Sucks how there’s nooooo Taiwanese food in SF. barely any. But this place is pretty authentic, it has all of my childhood favorites. like TAIWANESE MEATBALL! But it’s honestly not that good here. The skin of the taiwanese meatball was too. uhh… dry? no doughy at all. That’s the only bad thing about this place (besides parking. but hey, it is Richmond so parking you are screwed).
We ordered the oyster crêpe, dan dan noodles, and popcorn chicken! Everything was delicious. The dan dan noodles didn’t taste as peanutty/​sesame like as I would have imagined, but it wasn’t bad at all. It had a smokey taste to it. and a numbing feeling. cuz it’s kinda spicy.
Popcorn chicken was slightly better than your average quickly’s but with a higher price point. It was delicious. and the oyster crêpe is another one of my favorite taiwanese food too. It was on point here.
My breath smelled so bad and garlicky, but it was so good. And they understood my taiwanese!!! Hahaha so that is a plus.

Came here on another whim. After the Breton fare, last night.
We tried the 蚵仔煎，滷肉飯，臭豆腐，台南碗課，大腸蚵仔麵. They were all pretty good! We had to roll out the place.
Added an extra point for being the only Taiwanese place worthy within access of public transport. The Geary 38 bus drops you off on 25 Ave., and you’re within 2 blocks from the restaurant.

Taste of Formosa is one of the most authentic Taiwanese restaurants in the city. Please enlighten me if there are other comparable Taiwanese restaurants around. I’m always on the search! It would be a different story if we were comparing it to the places in Fremont, Milpitas, and South Bay.
What I like to order:
— Taiwanese Style Dumpling: Yum. More meat inside please!
— Oyster egg omelette: It’s not as chewy as I’d like.
— Clear noodles with spicy pork: This isn’t exactly Taiwanese but still good!
— Beef Noodle Soup: Noodles are good! Broth is ok.
— Minced Pork Rice: Typical Taiwanese food, on point, the go-​to.
This will do when I’m missing Taiwanese food in the city! The food is cheap; I’m happy with it and there’s nowhere else better so I’ll be coming back. Parking sucks, so maybe just do pick-​up and eat at home.
*Card Minimum: $ 20

I’m here for the stanky tofu. It was my first time trying it ever and I’m really into it. I have such a love for food, I can almost eat anything and everything. It has a very distinctive smell. The flavor is not too intense but you can definitely taste the fermentation. The service is Chinese, what I mean by that is that it’s quick and they won’t bother you. You order, you get your food, you get your check. Straight forward. A variety of tasty dishes for cheap! I tried the oyster omelette, a well known dish of Taiwan, and was disappointed. I’m not sure how it should be properly prepared but I wasn’t expecting a glutinous rice, chewy texture. very saucy as well. Not my cup of tea. I’ve also tried the wontons in chili sauce, pot stickers, braised pork w/​rice, and savory soy milk. All were pretty tasty.
However, I’m still craving my stank tofu… yummmma.

This review is for the Beef Noodle Soup ONLY.
A little background. I come from the South Bay so I’m very used to a full-​bodied broth, beef that just falls apart in your mouth, and a beef/​bok choy ratio that shows one is only there for color.
That being said, Taste of Formosa is… not bad. It wouldn’t rate among my favorites but it’s definitely not the worst I’ve had. The broth was decent. It could have had more flavor and I felt like there was maybe a little too much anise but not too shabby. The noodles were the weakest link. You need hand-​pulled noodles to make it to the big leagues. The noodles here sort of fell apart and were very thin. The beef was something I could only describe as inconsistent. The first couple pieces were chewy as hell. The third was a little better, and the fourth hit that sweet spot of just falling apart in your mouth.
All in all it’s as my rating suggests. It’s A-​OK. It wouldn’t be my first choice but in a pinch, it’ll do…

Delicious, balanced flavors. Thoroughly enjoyed the perfectly fried stinky tofu w/​it’s tasty yet not over salted sauce. Not super oily. The veggies were wonderfully pickled. Extra side of eggs is a must for me. Also ordered the pork chop rice but that’s for the hubs so can’t rate that yet.
Phone orders are quick to be fulfilled but the lady speaks very low so it’s a wee but hard to understand.
Definitely better than Spices.

Meh. For a restaurant that specializes in Taiwanese food, it sure as hell was bad Taiwanese food. Everything is over-​priced, not good, and even their soy milk tastes like stinky tofu.
If anyone knows of a place with great Taiwanese breakfasts, please let me know!

I’ve always thought I was fairly well-​versed in Taiwanese food because I knew more than the common knowledge of beef noodle soup and boba – I was acquainted with 3 cup chicken, beef wraps, pickled veggies, and tea eggs. However when I came here with a Taiwanese friend, I realized that was the tip of the iceberg (or tip of the island, since TW has no icebergs???)
TL;DR: Flavor and texture explosion!
Situated in the Richmond i.e. culinary Chinatown, Taste of Formosa is a 2-​story restaurant with a family-​owned vibe. The décor is nice: traditional and zen-​like, in fact so traditional that you are greeted by a waft of burning incense when you walk in.
The menu is one of those wonderful yet overwhelming colorful glossy booklets you find at many Chinese cafes – wonderful because there are plenty of pictures, but overwhelming because there are endless pages and everything looks good.
(++) Oyster noodle soup: The thin rice noodles are tasty in the flavorful broth and cilantro topping. It was quite strong in vinegar, so if you are not a fan of acetic acid I may suggest that you try another noodle soup. Also, I was expecting the ginormous oysters you get in tofu clay pot, so I was surprised when the oysters turned out so tiny. Overall though, I really liked it because it was delicious, simple and, perfect for SF weather.
(++) Oyster crêpe: FYI I’ve also seen this called pancake (or, as my relatives call it, Chinese pizza). It has a good proportion of Chinese vegetables, egg, oyster, and batter, drizzled with this tasty sauce that’s something between honey and sweet and sour, only it’s too good to be compared to the artificial sauce of Panda Express sweet and sour chicken. It looks a bit odd with the puddle of thick bright orange sauce, but it’s better than American pizza.
(+) Taiwan dumpling: This seemed like an interesting variation of lotus wrapped sticky rice, except that the sticky rice was formulated into a jelly-​like wrapping around the chicken and mushroom filling. I think it could have used more filling relative to the rice wrapping, but it had a nice, complex blend of savory sauces and seasonings.
It came out to a little over $ 20 before tip, not bad! At first we were skeptical when we heard the servers chatting in Canto, but we also heard them talking in Mandarin later… maybe they were practicing their Canto? In any case, TW food is surprisingly difficult to find in SF, and my TW friend thought this was pretty authentic and also nostalgic (which is the restaurant name in Chinese).

A very simple neighborhood restaurant for Taiwanese food. The dinning place inside is quiet small yet they deliver in San Francisco area. I live very close by so most of the time I just walk there to drive over to pick up because there’s NO parking ANYWHERE in clement and they charge extra for delivery.
As for the food, it’s all fair price and very easy to get full. A few must try if you are here for the first time:
Braised pork over rice — traditional taiwanese dish. One of this plus another small dish and you will be full!
tofu with thousand year egg — good to have on a hot day; interesting chinese favor.
garlic pork belly — a personal favor, little spicy appetizer
All the food has a strong taste so some veggie would be good as nice — I’d recommend the fresh cucumber in garlic.
Staff — all girl and pretty nice yet a bit slow on the din-​in service; but usually pretty fast with togo orders.

I wanted to like this place so bad. However everything tasted close but slightly off. We ordered the following:
* fan tuan– not bad, probably the best thing we ordered. Just wished it was more tightly packed since it was falling apart to easily
* braised beef noodle soup — The noodles were not bad, and the broth was almost there. However the broth very clearly has chinese XO sauce added in. I’ve never had this in any beef noodle soup anywhere. XO sauce has a very strong taste and distracts from the usual beef noodle soup flavor.
* Chinese doughnut– Good but somewhat small portion
* Sweet, hot soy milk– Really how can you get this wrong? I have no idea what happened here, but for some reason it has a fermented aftertaste. It’s almost like it’s spoiled or something.
* scallion pancake with egg added — Okay but not a huge fan.
Overall this prices are a bit high for what you get. Sadly I have yet to find a great Taiwanese restaurant in the city.

Overall rating 3/​5, but ⁴⁄₅ for the beef noodle soup and scallion pancake!
Service is very decent. Most of the dishes were very home-​style, not particularly unique but very tasty nonetheless. Pork and sticky rice was great, braised napa cabbage tasted just like at home, and there was a chicken dish that was decent.
Order the beef noodle soup and the scallion pancake for sure.