koffeeguy wrote:Anyone tried this? Is there something I'm not understanding about Taiwanese shaved ice?

As posted above, it's a ridiculously sized portion, easily enough for four (or two happy_stomachs). You should order it once, just for a laugh. I like to point to it and go, "This means something!" in my best Richard Dreyfuss.

cilantro wrote:

koffeeguy wrote:Anyone tried this? Is there something I'm not understanding about Taiwanese shaved ice?

As posted above, it's a ridiculously sized portion, easily enough for four (or two happy_stomachs). You should order it once, just for a laugh. I like to point to it and go, "This means something!" in my best Richard Dreyfuss.

I've had it a few more times.

Here's the red bean version. The person who made this was being trained how to make the shaved ice. I think she got a little carried away with the condensed milk. There was like a whole can's worth. It was delicious and, on a hot day, totally worth the price.

After some positive LTH comments, I met a friend for lunch at 527 yesterday. I ordered the beef-noodle soup and experienced something I've never encountered in an Asian restaurant-- overcooked noodles. Way overcooked. Almost to mush. The heavily 5-spiced broth did little to redeem the soup.
My friend ordered Korean tacos. His unenthusiastic description: "interesting."
Maybe I just caught them on an off day.

I ducked in for a pre-rehearsal snack and thoroughly enjoyed 527. Green tea float was delicious, as were the Korean tacos: my method is eating half the filling with chopsticks, add soy, and then fold and consume the rest as a taco, since they're certainly overstuffed. The space has a great modern vibe and I particularly admired my green melamine serving tray.

An odd moment was dipping an eggroll lustily into what I thought was sweet and sour sauce with a dollop of Chinese hot mustard: ketchup and mayo. Once my palate and color vision had adjusted, it did make some sense.

I ate at 527 Cafe for brunch this past Sunday. They serve their entire menu as well as the additional dishes they have for weekend brunch. I had the beef noodle soup (described above, quite good especially for the big hunks of meat), the deep-fried sweet buns (donut-like, okay but unremarkable), the sweet tofu pudding (if you're old enough to remember Junket rennet custard... rather flavorless with a silky texture), and the almond beverage pictured above (think of almond paste and milk, pureed and warmed - if you enjoy sweeter almond dishes, you'll like it, and I did). They were pretty busy; almost all the tables were occupied.

Santander wrote:An odd moment was dipping an eggroll lustily into what I thought was sweet and sour sauce with a dollop of Chinese hot mustard: ketchup and mayo. Once my palate and color vision had adjusted, it did make some sense.

Boy, I'm glad I passed on the eggrolls (and dipping sauce) at 527 yesterday. Though I shared some fries with a colleague earlier this week who unfortunately didn't know that I use sriracha instead of ketchup. Oops.

A nice thing 527 did for my companion yesterday: he wanted to try the pickled mustard green soup but doesn't eat pork. Instead, they made him a side of fried tofu with some kind of mayo dressing that was very pretty and served the soup well. (The broth is chicken-based, so this is not a vegetarian option).

For a $1 upcharge, you can now have your soup with handmade noodles.

That is all.