When I think of Taiwan, one of the things I miss the most is Taiwanese breakfast. There are so many traditional Taiwanese foods that are available for breakfast including egg pancakes, soy milk, fried crullers, and rice rolls. And for some reason, it’s really hard to find good versions of those items here in the U.S.
I had heard that Four Sea is a popular chain in LA for Taiwanese breakfast. This year, they also opened a location in Irvine. On a recent OC trip, I went to go check it out. The place was quite busy the whole time we were there.
When you enter, they have a large display of pastries and steamed buns. The menu is on the wall and you order at the register.
They have a huge selection of breakfast items, offering almost all of the traditional favorites.
Rice Roll
One of the most popular items here is the rice roll. It’s like a burrito, stuffed with shredded pork sung, fried cruller and pickled radish, all wrapped together in sticky rice. You can also request versions with marinated eggs and other ingredients. They had several variations at Four Sea. We ordered the most basic one. I’ve had a hard time finding a good version of the rice roll in the US. Most places that make it use the wrong rice or stale fried crullers.
We really enjoyed the version at Four Sea. It’s the best version we’ve come across outside of Taiwan. Our favorite version is the pickled vegetable variation.
Fried Cruller
I can never resist the Chinese fried cruller (literally translated as “oil stick” in Chinese), a savory fried dough stick. By itself it’s quite oily. It’s usually dipped in soy milk, which is how we ate ours.
Egg Crepe
Egg crepe or egg pancake is a scrambled egg cooked with a tortilla or savory chinese pancake and then rolled up. Sometimes the middle is stuffed with ingredients. Unfortunately, the version here was too salty.
We’ve been back to this location and the one in San Gabriel Valley a few times now. We’ve tried various items, but most of them are just mediocre. The one stand out though are the rice rolls. If you’re craving rice rolls, this is definitely a good place to stop and get one.
Four Sea Restaurant
15435 Jeffrey Rd
Irvine, CA 92618
Have you tried Huge Tree in Monterey Park?
I have not! I’ve heard of it but I’m not usually in MP in the morning as I’m still driving over from SD. Will have to try it sometime!
are non pork rice rolls?
cruller sounds good, but they fry in canola oil right?
No chance of olive oil or cocoanut oil ?
Yes there are nonpork ones but the traditional common one has dried pork. And I dont know what they fry the cruller in but it is likely canola oil.
Good to know there is one whenever we go to Irvine. We have resorted to making our own Taiwanese breakfast in SD after not being able to find a decent savory one (the curdled soy milk one with chili oil). We just have to buy the you tiao from Ranch 99.
Mmm, good idea to just make your own!