When it comes to standard breakfast fare, many people think of a Japanese-style breakfast course — rice, miso soup, and grilled fish or natto [fermented soybeans] — or toast and eggs with coffee, or perhaps ready-made cereal or oatmeal. Some people might prefer a morning course meal at a coffee shop or café. A recent addition to these options is breakfasts originally from Taiwan. A string of restaurants have opened across the country, but especially in Tokyo, serving Taiwanese breakfasts.
For this article, we visited Tokyo Doujan Seikatsu [literally, Tokyo Soy Milk Life], a pioneer in specialty Taiwanese breakfast restaurants, in Tokyo’s Shinagawa ward and spoke with Harimoto Masahime, the assistant manager who herself has Taiwanese roots.
The Taiwanese people have a deeply rooted breakfast culture
Tokyo Doujan Seikatsu opened in 2019. The owner, Tanabe Yoshihisa, and his Taiwanese wife started the restaurant with the idea of bringing the breakfast culture of Taiwan to Japan. Since its inception, the restaurant has been hugely popular, and it is not uncommon to see people lining up outside from first thing in the morning.
Harimoto describes the restaurant’s customers. “Many of our customers live in the neighborhood, but on Saturday mornings, we get a lot of people visiting from farther afield. I would guess around 40 percent of our customers are Taiwanese or Chinese.” Given that the restaurant is frequented by people who really know how breakfasts in Taiwan should taste, it’s easy to infer just how delicious and esteemed Tokyo Doujan Seikatsu is.
Assistant Manager Harimoto Masahime spoke with us for this article
Most Taiwanese make sure they eat a proper breakfast every day. Many have breakfast at a café or restaurant or as a takeout. The reasons for this are breakfasts are delicious and reasonably priced and both husband and wife work in most families and have hectic mornings. Shops that serve breakfast often open around 5:30 a.m. Some people eat in, but, equally, many grab a takeout breakfast before work and eat at their office. Harimoto related what she has heard about Taiwan’s breakfast culture. “My friends have told me that they get takeout breakfasts and eat them at work. I’ve even heard stories about senior workers going out and buying breakfast for their subordinates. So clearly, it’s common in Taiwan to see people eating breakfast at work.” She went on to say that among her friends and family in Taiwan, she has never heard of anyone who skips breakfast.
“Before the pandemic, I would visit my grandparents’ place in Taichung every year. In the morning, my grandfather or uncle would ask me, ‘What are you having this morning?’ They would head out to one of their favorite shops and buy breakfast for the whole family. Ló͘-bah-pn̄g [minced pork rice] and boiled gyoza dumpling shops also open early, and many people choose those dishes in the morning. I think that eating a good breakfast is an ingrained part of Taiwanese culture, for men and women, young and old. Because I grew up in Japan, I wasn’t used to eating that much in the morning. So I used to get a little flustered when I was asked every morning what I wanted to eat. But since working at this restaurant, I’ve developed a new appreciation for this amazing culture.”
Xian doujiang made from fresh soy milk and popular su bing pastries
Xian doujiang [savory soy milk soup], which Tokyo Doujan Seikatsu has served from Day 1, is a mainstay among Taiwanese breakfasts. Xian doujiang, which literally means salty soy milk, is a curdled soup made by adding vinegar to soy milk. The salty and sour tastes, the umami flavor of the dried shrimp and pickled salted daikon radish, the spiciness of the Chinese red chili oil, and the richness of the deep-fried flour dough called you tiao add up to make a mild tasting yet filling dish that is perfect for breakfast.
“Taiwanese people drink a lot of soy milk just in general. However, they don’t often drink it on its own. Rather, they usually have it in a sweet flavored drink or eat it as xian doujiang. We make our own soy milk at Tokyo Doujan Seikatsu every morning. We source our soybeans from Miyagi prefecture, which make soy milk that our customers say is thicker and tastier than regular soy milk. Using fresh, thick soy milk is one of the secrets to making creamy, delicious xian doujiang.”
The in-house soy milk prepared every day is delicious even on its own
Tokyo Doujan Seikatsu also serves soy milk and brown sugar soy milk that can be drunk straight. Alongside xian doujiang, another popular item at the restaurant are the su bing pastries. “The first character means dough that has been folded in layers, and the second character means bread dough,” explains Harimoto. Su bing pastries have a uniquely appealing texture somewhere between pie and bread. On the day of our visit, there were six varieties of su bing available. We tried jiucai su bing, a hearty pastry filled with garlic chives, egg, vermicelli, and peanuts, and hua sheng bing, packed with peanuts for a perfect balance of sweet and salty flavors. Other pastries included cong rou su bing, with leeks and minced pork, luo buo si su bing, a pastry filled with daikon radish, and huma bing, a sesame bun with a mild sweetness.
Jiucai su bing is a hearty pastry filled with garlic chives, egg, vermicelli, and other ingredients
Hua sheng bing, packed with peanuts, is one of the more popular options on the sweet su bing pastry menu
“We have gradually expanded our menu since opening. Because many of our staff members are from Taiwan, we incorporate their ideas when we develop new menu items. Two items that our Taiwanese customers especially love are Taiwanese-style rice balls and rousong sandwiches filled with Taiwanese denbu [mashed and seasoned pork]. Taiwanese-style rice balls are extremely popular in Taiwan, and many students get these rice balls to go for breakfast or lunch.”
Su bing and shao bing pastries are prepared by the restaurant every morning. Many customers have them to go.
On our day, the restaurant was also serving another Taiwanese go-to, shao bing —a type of baked, layered flatbread — stuffed with green onions and fried egg. The generous amount of egg sandwiched in the sesame-crusted shao bing was incredibly satisfying. Shao bing with you tiao [deep-fried bread dough] and rousong [mashed and seasoned pork] were also on offer.
A shao bing stuffed with green onions and fried egg, a popular item in Taiwan as well for its convenience and taste
The restaurant’s cool nostalgic Taiwanese atmosphere is conducive to a leisurely breakfast. Even though we visited on a weekday, when the restaurant opened at 8 a.m., a steady flow of customers, both for takeout and eating in, arrived and quite soon the restaurant was completely full. We enjoyed a hearty and tasty breakfast and felt totally re-energized. Not only were we nourished and our bodies warmed, we also felt satisfied that we had made the most of our morning in a healthy way, leaving us with a sense of fulfillment for the remainder of the day.
The idea behind Tokyo Doujan Seikatsu — to spread Taiwan’s culture of healthy, plentiful breakfasts to Japan — has resonated with many customers and looks like it will continue to grow.
