• Cuttlefish Balls -just as good as I remember from the night market 
• Popcorn Chicken - juicy with a soft batter; personally I prefer more of a crunch but B likes it
• Mama Bear Hot & Sour Dry Noodle - thought it was cold noodle, but it was a warm, very spicy after mixing!! But still I loved the texture of the noodles
• Taiwanese Hamburger - a soft cold bun with pork belly

• Very generous amount of pork & rice, lots of sauce
• All three side dishes were really good - tomato egg, veggies
• Great deal for $8.99

8333 Kennedy Rd (at T&T Plaza), Markham

Discovered this Taiwanese cafe about a month ago and it's my current favorite for popcorn chicken lunch/dinner combo and a nice place for conversation. Space is large and spacious; a lot of staff compared to the low traffic. Very extensive drink menu, as well as lunch/dinner, snacks, and dessert (shaved ice, toast..)

Ordered from the $9.99 lunch/dinner menu which comes with a large drink and dessert (some jello/pudding). The complimentary garlic black pepper edamame is quite tasty as well.

Popcorn Chicken + Noodle; Grapefruit Green Tea
- large portions!! Couldn't finish at all
- popcorn chicken was crispy, light batter, and juicy
- noodle is plain white, soft, thin noodle, to balance out the saltiness of the deep fried meat, with some green veg. and egg

Green Onion, Chili and Pepper Chicken (椒鹽) (popcorn chicken again!) and Satay Beef (~$10.99?). The chicken was pretty good - large, tender pieces, spicier than I expected (black pepper). The beef was on the oily side, but sauce pretty tasty. Served with white rice.

Friends' first impressions: very purple & green. feels like a jewelry store. comfortable chairs. A few other people were there enjoying the free wifi.

Food: I never really eat at bubble tea places 'cause it's expected that the food isn't great, but that day I wanted to try popcorn chicken. I expected it to be all batter and no meat, but it wasn't. The pieces were quite big,  tender on the inside, slightly crispy outside and the portion was quite large (~12 pieces). The rice had a bit of meat on top, but I wish they put more 'cause eating the rice with no sauce was a bit bland. The rice combos also come with a side of corn and cucumbers. For $2 extra, I added a Malt Milk Tea - my usual go-to drink. It was good with soft bits of [oat flakes?] mixed in and not artificial tasting. So overall for ~$10 it's a quick meal of "average" quality expected from a bubble tea cafe, though other dishes that my friends had (rice + fish and noodles) were not good.

1. Shilin Night Market, Taipei
Shilin was a bit of a disappointment. There was very little variety in food stalls and not many choices appealed to me (or maybe because we got lost and went the wrong way at first). I enjoyed the street food in Damsui (grilled squid) and Jiufen (fried squid) and the night market in Kenting more. 


Best street food picks: