Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet ~ Broadway

Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet on Broadway is a little gem for Taiwanese noodle dishes, crepes and tea.

[LAST UPDATED JULY 2013]





Today our walk to Chinatown is cut short at Broadway when we see this sandwich board outside of Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet. Alison and I stop, drool at the board, then give each other a knowing nod and grin. In we go...



Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet is another one of those joints we've been walking past for years and never tried. It was once called Sunflower Crepe Cafe. We've been scarred by too many sub-par Pancake Parlour experiences to be lured in by crepes. But it looks like Sunflower has tweaked their business to a more of a Taiwanese angle, which suits us just fine.



Inside Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet is kinda groovy, small and cosy, a nice place to hang when it's not crowded.



Beef tendon for starters. $4. Chewy, lardy, fun. Tendon always seems like a nice way to dress up a piece of meat that would normally be thrown away. Some would say there's also good reason for that too.



Iced passionfruit green tea and iced lemon black tea. Only $1.50 each with a Taiwanese meal. A nice strong tea flavour, sweet but not overly so. Delicous, refreshing and a bargain.



Marinated Chicken Drumstick with Rice - $9.50. The chicken tastes poached and is moist and subtlety flavoured, kind of like a Taiwanese take on Hainanese chicken. There's a generous hunk of protein, a gorgeous tea smoked egg, some pickled veggies and lovely kind of potato salad with corn and soy beans. And there's a little dollop of savoury mince on top. Very very happy.



The chook is moist, juicy, tender, and all other chicken related superlatives.



Stewed Pork Noodle $8.20. A very generous serve of marinated pork belly on top of flat, rough cut rice noodles, served with a tea smoked egg and grated veggies. Plus a much appreciated dollop of savoury mince. Another winner.



Bugger it we say, let's get dessert! Green Tea Bliss - $9.50. 'Served with sunflower crepes, topped with green tea custard, red beans and whipped cream and a scoop of green tea ice cream'. Yes folks, it's as good as it looks.



Hurry up and take the damn photo!!!!



Scientific pancake dissection: the semi savoury red beans cut the sweetness and added substance, unusual to our Western palates but dang it works. And look at that green tea custard, oh yeah. Green tea and red bean is flavour also used at Happy Lemon up the road, it's growing on us.



Gotta try that dark plum tea...

[BACK AGAIN JULY 2013...]

It's been a long time between visits. We walk past here several times a week year in, year out and it's pretty much always busy. This place is special.



Taiwanese pork mince on rice $7.50 with iced black tea ($1.50 with meal). The classic Taiwanese of mince pork with veggies and a wonderful tea smoked egg. The iced tea is a surprise hit, it's only lightly sweetened.



Taiwanese beef (brisket) soup - $9.50. This is a killer noodle soup, a big fella too. A lovely sweet beefy broth given some extra tang and body with some pickled veggies, just a little, just the right a amount. A few big hunks of beef and nicely cooked fettucini style noodles. Highly recommended by this noodle soup nut.



Taiwanese beef (flank) soup - $10.50. This version is $1 more fancy than the brisket. It is the same wonderful broth and noodles but with thin slices of tender beef.




Taiwanese sausage noodles - about $9. Lovely thick chewey boiled noodles topped with Taiwanese sausage which is sweet and lightly spiced. There's a lovely tea smoked egg lurking under the cucumber. Awesome.



Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet Menu - Click to Enlarge



Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet Menu - Click to Enlarge



Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet Menu - Click to Enlarge



Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet Menu - Click to Enlarge


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Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet is at 147 Broadway. There's a few more dishes and tea we would like to try here, we look forward to coming back.