I had it in Longshen, China. There were also hotdog-like sausages in case you wanted “meat” in the filling (I called them Chinese hotdogs. They didn’t look appetising). Young daughter, who was probably no older than 12, took over whilst father was on a smoke break.
The rig and how it’s made, by the roadside. There were many people standing round watching. Then succumbed and bought one. I much prefer fluffy scallion pancakes in Taiwan.
Yep, the same rig.
The chef is originally from Shen Yang, and was trained by someone who made Jian Bing in Beijing for 20 years. He told me that Beijing, Shandong, and Tianjin have their own styles of Jian Bing, differing by whether the egg is on the outside or inside and whether they are stuffed with a long doughnut (you tiao), crispy wontons, or fried bean curd skin. I forget which regions use which permutations.
He uses the Beijing style, and I got the traditional variety. He started by spreading the batter on the hot cooking surface. The batter contains mung bean, soy, black bean(you can see the specks), and other flours. He then cracked eggs onto the batter, tearing open the yolks as he spread them. Next came green onion, shakes of black and white sesame seeds, and cumin, which all bound to the egg. He flipped the pancake, spread on sweet bean paste, red fermented tofu, and chile sauce; layered a stack of five deep fried wonton ; and folded it up.
It was delicious! The stack of five deep-fried wontons gave the Jian Bing loft and crunch, and the whole has a lightness to it that I’ve not encountered in other local Jian Bing.
I would guess the version with the egg on the inside and the fried tofu sheet is Shandong style. At least that’s the only kind I’ve found in Shanghai, and Shanghai tends to borrow and reference Shandong style small eats.
According to their Twitter account, they’re returning on Sept. 4th. This time, they’re pop-ing up at Nabe, the Japanese hotpot place on 9th in the Inner Sunset.
The Tai Chi Jianbing popup was at Nabe in the Inner Sunset today. I ordered the Old Street Original Jianbing. It took about 30 minutes to get my order as there’s only one person making them.
I thought it was very good. Soft egg and crepe outer layer with a crispy and crunchy inner layer. Bit of smoky sweetness from the sauces, which according to the menu has sweet bean paste, garlic chili sauce, and red fermented bean curd. The only other jianbing of this type that I’ve had with the wonton wrappers inside was from the Bing Mi truck in Portland. In comparison Tai Chi Jianbing’s version was more heavily tilted towards the crispy wonton filling, which was thicker than the one from Bing Mi. However, the sauce was more pronounced in Bing Mi’s version.
They have a 2nd pop up now, at Inteanet in Cupertino Main Street.
I thought Anna Roth moved to NYC?
