Banqiao has a strange kind of restaurant.
You may never have eaten there, but you have definitely heard of it.
六必居潮州一品沙鍋粥 (民權店)/板橋美食 (Liubiju Chaozhou Casserole Porridge (Minquan Branch)) is that kind of place.
The sort of name that makes everyone nod when they hear it.
In winter, it gets even more extreme.
You are not eating congee; you are fighting for a seat.
—
First, the Clay Pot Congee.
It is still bubbling when it arrives.
Bubbling with real presence.
The broth tastes sweet.
Not from sugar, but the sweetness slowly simmered out of seafood.
Like when you are hungry at midnight
and take a sip of hot soup.
Your whole body goes quiet.
There are plenty of ingredients.
But honestly—
some are only supporting players.
What you remember in the end is the congee itself.
—
Next, Salted Egg Yolk Tofu.
This kind of dish easily turns greasy.
But this one does not.
Savory outside, soft within.
Like someone with a vicious tongue
but a truly soft heart.
Bite after bite, it gets dangerous.
You may accidentally finish a whole bowl of rice with it.
—
Finally, Moon Shrimp Cake.
A very ordinary name.
But it is hard for it not to taste good.
Crisp outside.
Springy within.
Like the air conditioning in a convenience store—
not something you usually praise.
But without it, you would be annoyed.
—
Liubiju really has no tricks.
It simply makes ‘the things everyone eats’ well.
And then you discover—
somehow you cannot get a reservation again.
