Today Starts Here is Vivan Ku’s (Pine and Crane in Silverlake and Joy in Highland Park) Taiwanese breakfast new venture in Chinatown. As of right now, you can only take their food to-go. @JeetKuneBao @PorkyBelly
This meal fed one hungry moonboy403 so at $40+ for a Taiwanese breakfast, it’s certainly not cheap. But if you’re in the area and craving for Taiwanese breakfast, this is probably your only option around.
black milk tea with organic milk
I believe this is unsweetened.
steamed mantou
Much better than the typical mantou where they dry out your mouth. This mantou has a hint of sweetness and much lighter in mouthfeel.
dan bing | taiwanese crepe, scallions, organic eggs, corn, cabbage
Fluffy.
daikon rice cakes | zai lai rice flour, fried shallots, shiitake mushrooms
These are nice. There are shreds of daikon left in for texture variation which always takes more work and is what I prefer. The finely chopped, but powerful, shiitake is also a given in daikon rice cakes but my preference leans toward having dried shrimp and preserved meat added in for that extra oomph because I’m Cantonese! Is the shiitake only version typical for Taiwanese?
fan tuan | pork floss, you tiao, soy braised egg, preserved vegetables, purple sticky rice
Just right. You tiao is crisped up in parts; soy braised egg isn’t dry and crumbly; sticky rice has a nice chewy texture. But as usual, the salty-sweet preserved vegetables and salty pork floss are what really makes a fan tuan tasty IMO.
red bean mochi with osmanthus
Highlight! Lovely osmanthus floral notes in those chewy mochi with slightly sweetened red bean that’s cooked to just the right softness rather than cooking them down too much. But there’s one YUGE problem…see below.
You would think that you’re suppose to use these given sticks to pick up the mochi right? WRONG.
The mochi are all stuck together very badly. Heck, they’re stuck to the paper they’re sitting on too so I ended up having to use my hands to tear em apart and destroyed every single piece. The paper on the bottom were all torn up too…
dou hua with ginger syrup
A nice dou hua is silky smooth like a baby’s butt but these are a step down from that with a slightly chalky mouthfeel. As for the ginger syrup? It’s very thin and doesn’t “stick” to the dou hua when I spoon em up so it’s quite bland. The dou hua’s flavor by itself is fine with nice soy bean flavor.
Water drips from condensation built up before the dou hua was cooled down? Or perhaps they didn’t strain out the bubbles?
Today Starts Here
935 Mei Ling Way
Los Angeles, CA 90012
my dou ha had a bunch of toppings on it (because I loooove toppings) so I didn’t see if mine had the bubbles on it like yours. But yeah I do think it had a slightly chalkier taste and wasn’t as “smooth” compared to the tofu pudding I get at Vietnamese tofu places.