Street Eats: The Remorseless and Evil Food No. 1 Fried Chicken Fillet

Taiwanese fried chicken fillets have maintained steady rule, sitting atop the greasy street food hierarchy since first appearing four years ago, and in doing so broke the norm of school kids getting sick of hip street food trends within six months of their introduction. First originating in Taiwan, these slices of deep-fried goodness can now be found everywhere.

The chain that dominates is aptly called The Top Best (第1佳, Diyijia), one of which can be found in the lane behind the Sanlitun Apple Store. This specific branch claims to have been open since 2009, and is owned by the Shanghai-based Shine Good China, which has offices in five Chinese cities, and more than 200 outlets under the Diyijia brand in Beijing alone.

Upon our visit, we ordered the basic Big Chicken (RMB 15), which can be upgraded to the Exploding Chicken (RMB 20) if you like your grease with a big ol' dollop of sloppy melted cheese. They also provide an assortment of tempura: fried sweet potatoes (RMB 9), fried squid (RMB 10), and fried mushrooms (RMB 10). If you're lucky enough to have to wait in line you'll more than likely see the sign that deems what you're about to shove into your face “Evil Food No. 1,” just to remind you what the devil's chicken is about to do to your insides. How considerate!

There are five flavors to choose from: original, spicy, sweet plum, cumin, and curry. We wouldn't be qualified editors if we didn’t choose the weird one, so the sweet, powdered, plum-flavored Big Chicken it was. To our surprise, the big hunk of chicken wasn’t greasy at all, and as we stood there in awe, we thought to ourselves that there was no way we were going to be able to finish it, but finish it we did, thanks to the magic Taiwanese powder pixie crack dust sprinkled all over it. The sweet and sour balanced well with the juicy texture of the deep-fried chicken, and fooled our mind into thinking that this delicious invention may actually be healthy. I then underwent a period of torment as my entire body willed me to indulge in a second serving. I would have run away if I could.

Verdict: So. Good. No wonder the evil fried chicken fillet has been popular for so many years. Luckily for all of us, the five flavors mean that you can rotate breakfasts throughout the weekday and what makes it even more dangerous is that if you're stumbling through Sanlitun, having blasted all your money on Dirty Bar Street, you can still pay for your breaded mess with WeChat Wallet. Hooray! All aboard the obesity train.

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos: Tracy Wang, Dianping