Goodbeitao

When you talk about Xiao Long Bao in Taiwan, most people will go to the original Din Tai Fung, but I like to explore new places since we also have Din Tai Fung in Singapore. We kind of chanced upon Goodbeitao as we were at the new Huashan 1914 Creative Park and read pretty good reviews of the restaurant

Located about 10 minutes by foot from the creative park, the restaurant is quite discreet in terms of the store name and we nearly missed the restaurant while looking at the Google map. The restaurant has a small entrance and minimal signs giving clues on the types of cuisine sold inside

Once you step inside, the interior is bright, modern and comfortable. There are only 4 tables on level 1 but more on level 2 which I did not go up to explore. Level 1 shares the same space as the semi-open kitchen so you can see the food being prepared

The main items sold in the restaurant are Chinese dim sum, soup dumplings as well as some rice and noodles dishes. There are also some Chinese stir-fry dishes which can be accompanied by rice for a more filling meal

Upon placing our orders, we were served sliced ginger which you can pair with condiments like black vinegar, soy sauce and chilli oil which is available at every table. For drinks, we ordered the non-sugar green tea cold brew which was bottled in this pretty 1-litre bottle which was more than enough for 2 people to share. I love that the tea tasted extremely refreshing for the hot weather and also helped to tame the spicy dishes

Since we were here for a late lunch, we decided to order only snacks and not filling items like rice or noodles. For a start, we ordered the sour and spicy soup which was served in a cute porcelain container. I personally feel that the soup was less starchy than the usual sour and spicy soups in other restaurants. It was lighter and more savoury so I added more vinegar to the soup to whet my appetite for the rest of the meals

I ordered the spicy vinaigrette dumplings, one of my favourite dishes, so I had to order them when I saw them on the menu. The sauce was quite light and not sour enough for me although I like the mala kick. The dumplings are juicy and fatty in fillings which was very delicious

The pan-fried carrot cake was perfectly cooked with a nice charred exterior giving the radish cake a nice smokey flavour. The cake texture was soft and packed with flavours from the Chinese ham inside the radish cake

We also ordered the pan-fried guo tie which was nicely browned on one side and soft and chewy on the other side. The dried chilli gave the dumplings a light Mala flavour and was not spicy. The dumplings were the same juicy ones as the vinaigrette ones except the pan-fried side gave it more texture in a bite

Last but not least was the steamed xiaolongbao dumplings. We ordered the melon with meat fillings and the crab roe and meat fillings. I was genuinely surprised with the flavours of the melon and meat version as it was light, refreshing and very homey. It was almost like having a hearty melon soup inside the dumpling. The melon greatly reduced the greasiness of the meat making the dumpling light yet flavourful. The crab roe version was more similar to the ones outside with a stronger and more savoury flavour as you bite into the dumpling. Both dumplings were delicious but if I had to choose just one version to have more servings, it would have to be the melon version

Overall, the food at Good Beitao was good and unpretentious with simple yet on-point flavours. The price point of the dishes was also between NT 400 to 800 and not overly expensive with a cosy environment. I still think of their melon dumpling every now and then

Address: No. 9號, Section 1, Hangzhou S Rd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100

Opening hours: 11 am to 9 pm