I can remember when there were only a few MOS Burgers in Taipei and now they’re almost ubiquitous. They’ve even begun to muscle out McDonald’s and there’s nothing bad to be said about that.
We stopped at the MOS in the basement of the new Zhongxiao Fuxing Sogo department store and, rather than have my standby MOS Cheese Hamburger, I decided to try their new specialty sandwich, a southern Asian chicken sandwich. The sandwich was a boneless fried chicken thigh served with two kinds of sauce and shredded lettuce. The first sauce was something like a cross between teriyaki and orange chicken sauces and the second was akin to a bland tartar sauce (it may have just been mayonnaise and pickle relish.)
It was fresh and pretty good, although I wouldn’t choose it over a MOS burger in the future. It was certainly unique.
I made a combo out of mine and had a drink and (instead of fries) a piece of fried chicken. The fried chicken is, I think, a leg, that the bone has been cut off above the ankle, and the upper leg portion, now boneless, is pounded into a patty before being battered and fried.
I skipped the fries because, despite the fact that MOS always cooks their fries fresh when you order them, they also never salt them. Since they don’t offer salt as a condiment, you really have to like your fried potatoes completely unadulterated.
They do offer “black pepper†as a condiment and when Irene looked at the ingredients, it became clear it wasn’t black pepper. It was a blend of black pepper, salt and MSG. That sounded like a winner to me, so I ordered fries after the meal just to try their “black pepper†on them. It wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, but the MSG did give them a uniquely Asian flavor.
Part of the reason MOS is doing so well in Taiwan is their rice burgers, which Irene had.
I know local taste prevails but I just can’t understand the popularity of these so-called burgers. They have to go to great lengths to compress the rice and wrap it in a special way just so you can hold it and “pretend†it’s just as convenient as bread to carry around. They might as well try to sandwich meat between two layers of thick soup.
Combine that with the fact that (and my western bias is really showing here) well, while rice has been historically part of the asian diet, it’s only that way because it’s a great filler. It hasn’t got a lot of flavor on its own. At least good bread can taste good by itself.
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