MELBOURNE | 老街鷄排飯 Taiwan Village is a small Taiwanese cafe that recently opened in Melbourne’s CBD. Their focus is on simple breakfast favourites and lunch bento boxes, the kind that you’ll typically find being enjoyed across Taiwan. I recently popped in to get some photos for What’s On Melbourne.
In the kitchen you’ll find chef Jay Huang, who brings over a decade of experience cooking in Taiwan, and several years cooking in Melbourne, to the table. You may know Jay from his lockdown side hustle turned Glen Eira eatery, Jymmanuel. Jay isn’t reinventing the wheel at Taiwan Kitchen, which he’s opened with his business partner Yvonne, but rather refining the classics.
Jay hails from Kaohsiung, in Taiwan’s south, and his cooking reflects the sweeter leanings of the region. On the breakfast menu, which is available until 10:30am, you’ll find things like double egg sandwiches filled with Taiwanese sausage, Taiwanese pancakes filled with pork floss, and sides like corn soup, and oyster mee sua. Soy bean milk and milk tea complete the offering.
The oyster mee sua are a must order side, and thankfully available on the breakfast and lunch menu. They’re wheat vermicelli noodles, served in a thick, almost congee consistency-like soup, with a generous serve of plump oyster. The contrasting textures and balance of sweet and savoury hit just the right note.
For the lunch bento boxes, it’s set combinations of a main and three sides, with a cup of traditional Taiwanese tea to drink. Mains include things like fried chicken, Chiayi-style chicken rice, and Taiwanese sausage with braised pork. For sides, you’ll find steamed greens, veg salads, lotus root, and more. To add to your bento, you can also purchase additional mains and soups.
老街鷄排飯 Taiwan Village
4/280 King Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Telephone: (03) 9008 4058
E-mail: n/a
Website
Open
Mon – Sun: 8:00am to 2:30pm