Luke L.
Yelp
While I was on my way to Temecula, I recalled this Taiwanese restaurant in Chino that I had bookmarked before COVID. I first heard about this restaurant from the 626 Night Market many years ago and always wanted to visit its physical location since then. The restaurant is located in this fairly desolate plaza with plenty of parking spots. Inside the restaurant, you'll find various Taiwanese grocery goods such as boba popsicles, beverages, condiments, snack noodles, refrigerated beef noodle soup broth, etc. I came here on two separate occasions (once at 1 PM and another time at 3 PM) and there were plenty of customers come in and out of the restaurant to pick up to-go orders. I had to wait about 30 minutes for in-person orders, so my no. 1 recommendation (no pun intended) is ordering on their website (or call) ahead of time. There are some outdoor tables & chairs just outside of the front entrance and the staff had their masks on despite San Bernardino county is not forcing the staff to wear masks.
[Menu]: Really impressive selection with some of the most authentic Taiwanese dishes you will find in Southern California (yup that includes San Gabriel Valley or SGV). Some examples are milkfish belly porridge, guabao (Taiwanese pork belly buns), stinky tofu, Taiwanese sausage with sticky rice (aka small sausage in large sausage), Taiwanese meatballs, Taiwanese chicken steak, purple glutinous (sticky) rice cake, pork & pickled mustard noodle soup, stir fried clams with basil, squid with five taste, etc. Crispy pork belly pocket (or crispy guabao) appears to be the signature item here, but you will rarely find dishes like milkfish belly soup and Taiwanese sausage with sticky rice even if you visit Taiwanese restaurants in the SGV area.
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Fried Guabao (fried Taiwanese pork belly buns, $6.50): You can get it unfried or fried ($1 more expensive). This is a must-order appetizer because the pork belly had that amazing melt-in-your-mouth texture. I don't think the fact that buns were fried made it taste better, but the combination between pork belly and peanut really pushed this appetizer to the next level.
Combo plate (1 entree + 2 sides [changes daily] + steam rice + a choice of 16 oz milk tea/red tea/green tea - fried pork chop for $10.95): I got green tea and it was refreshing. Two side dishes were mapo tofu (spiciness was just right, but it was a bit weird that it also had some corn & peas) plus green bean & egg (tasted ok). Pork chop was excellent - fried just right and meat was juicy.
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Taiwan's No 1 Cuisines is hands down one of the most authentic Taiwanese restaurants I have tried in the past decade. In some aspects I actually prefer Taiwan's No 1 Cuisines over SinBala on certain dishes like guabao and fried pork chop. I only wish they open another location in SGV so that I won't have to drive that far.