Three-cup chicken is a signature dish of Taiwan; we have verified places to eat it in Taipei. San bei ji is the signature Hakka-Taiwanese braise: chicken pieces stir-fried with equal cups of rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil, finished with handfuls of Thai basil. Start with where to eat Three-cup chicken in Taipei.
Three-cup chicken · Taipei
San bei ji is the signature Hakka-Taiwanese braise: chicken pieces stir-fried with equal cups of rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil, finished with handfuls of Thai basil.
Three-cup chicken is usually traced to Jiangxi province, where it is a Hakka speciality, and folklore ties it to the Song dynasty general Wen Tianxiang; Taiwanese food historian Chunghao Kuo found no evidence for that story, and the veteran chefs he interviewed point to the dish taking its Taiwanese shape on the island itself, spreading with local chicken restaurants. The three cups (one each of rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil) give it its name and the explosive aroma. Shin Yeh, opened 1977 on Shuangcheng Street, keeps it on the menu of its original Taipei branch. The finishing handful of nine-layer Taiwan basil (jiu ceng ta) is what distinguishes it from the Jiangxi original.
Where to eat in Taipei:
- Shin Yeh Shuanglian
Where to eat Three-cup chicken in Taipei: the editor picks