Rouge Rosette

Hello everyone!

Today's topic is the famous gigantic fried chicken which is famous in Taiwan. Its name is 雞排 (pinyin: ji1 pai2). It is my favorite street snack in Taiwan, and one of the major cause I gained a lot of weight during my stay there! xD

Me myself eating 2-Peck's tasty fried chicken!

My favorite ji pai is from 2-Peck! (Chinese: 2-派克, or just 派克)



Especially with dried plum flavor! (梅子味)

Here you can see the magnificent 2-Peck fried chickens. The above picture was the one I bought near my host family's house in the Yongkang Da Wan district, while the below picture was the one I bought in a 2-Peck store in Kaohsiung.

Considering I only eat dried plum flavored ji pai, this blog post will be all about it. No other flavors, I'm sorry! :')

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Plum? Why plum?

Rather than imagining this plum, imagine dried plums. Chinese ones.




Yes, the ones like this. It's grounded into powder and then can be added as seasoning. In Indonesia, these dried plums are usually called kiamboy.

There are two kinds of dried plum powder: white and red. According to my host mother, usually Taiwanese people prefer the white dried plum powder to be added as a condiment, but not everyone likes its flavor. Take my host family for example, they do not like the taste of dried plum. I, on the other hand, LOVE it. From my above fried chicken photos, you can see that the above fried chicken has a reddish hint to it, but here's a clearer picture.


See the orangey-red colored seasoning on the chicken? That's it :)

Below is another picture of fried chicken, which is the Kaohsiung-bought ji pai ;)


This fried chicken with dried plum flavor incorporates both kinds of dried plum seasonings: white and red. However, I think the Kaohsiung ji pai uses more white dried plum powder than red.



Before I knew of this flavor, I stuck with original or spicy flavors, and then, on one fateful day, I tried my friend's fried chicken (with plum flavor) and that's how I fell in love with it. Plum tastes sour, very sour when you only try the powder, but when added to fried food, they taste very good! There's sweet, sour, and bits of savory in it.

I live in Indonesia, Jakarta, where Taiwanese-inspired snack stands are quite scarce until very recently. Having tasted Taiwan's fried chicken firsthand, my taste buds learned the high standards before having tasted the lesser tasty ones. So when Shihlin opened in Jakarta and I tried their fried chicken, I was disappointed for the lack of Taiwanese fried chicken taste!

They played safe, they only had original, spicy (medium to very spicy), or barbecue. My favorite flavor, plum, was reserved solely for the sweet potato fries/balls I forgot. I. was. not. happy.

I bought their fried chicken occasionally despite not being fully satisfied; in my opinion, it is not as Taiwanese as it claims to be.

I do not have the pictures of Shihlin's fried chicken, but they have more flour than meat compared to this:



JJJJUUUIIICCCYY!  The best part of the chicken, the boneless meat! Other part of the chicken, which is bony, still tastes good, but nothing tastes better than eating chicken with no bones. (Pictures are unedited, straight from my iPhone so I'm sorry if it's too yellow because of the lamp lighting)

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In Jakarta, a Taiwanese snack/drink shop has recently opened. Its name is A Gantea.


To be honest, for almost every franchise/snack stall that appears in Jakarta such as Chatime and A Gantea, is something I have never seen before in Taiwan. Or maybe that's because I lived in Tainan and not Taipei. However, one yinliao(drink) shop, COMEBUY, is something I saw in Tainan. The one I saw was located near the Tainan Railway station, near the zebra cross.

Anyways, A Gantea has made my dream come true. My dream of tasting an authentic Taiwanese fried chicken taste recreated in Indonesia!

Before I go further, this blog post is not sponsored at all. This is all an analysis based on personal experience and preferences.

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Plum is not a safe flavor. At least in Indonesia.

The last time I bought a fried chicken at A Gantea, I ordered a plum-flavored fried chicken. The lady told me beforehand, "But it's sweet" (Tapi ini manis, mbak), I said "Yes, it's okay" (Iya nggak papa kok mbak)

There was a promotion at that time, where you get a drink + chicken for the price of one fried chicken ( IDR 35,000 / NTD 87,09). I got the drink first, and before they cooked my fried chicken, they reconfirmed it with me, that it was sweet. They were making sure that I really ordered the plum flavor. I replied with yes, yes I DID order plum flavor.

Seeing that Shihlin only had super basic flavors for its fried chicken, and how the lady reacted to my flavor of choice, I have come to the conclusion that Indonesians dislike fried food + sweet/sour seasoning, or more simply, it is not a safe or easily marketable flavor to have.

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A few days ago, I went to buy a gigantic fried chicken again. I ordered a plum flavor, but then the lady said I can mix the flavor. So I said I wanted garlic with plum. Originally I said curry but she misheard me, and then I said, "ok garlic" because a random thought in my mind thought it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

This time, the cashier lady also made sure by asking me "But it's sweet" (Tapi ini manis, mbak). Please remember me as the Plum Fried Chicken lady. I am very sure with my decision of ordering a fried chicken with sweet seasoning.

That turned out to be the best decision ever. To mix garlic with plum.