Dingjian Pork Chop King

Review

Dingjian Pork Chop King is tucked into Lane 72 of Kangle Street in Neihu, about a three-minute walk from Donghu's Lohas Park, and is one of the bento shops nearby office workers and residents buy from most. The shop is small and mainly takeaway, built around two mains, pork chop and chicken leg, and a queue often forms at mealtimes; local media list it as a must-eat around Lohas Park.

There are seven mains, with boxes costing about NT$80 to NT$130, and each box comes with three sides of your choice. The most popular is the chicken leg rice at NT$130: a big leg marinated in the house sauce and fried, fragrant outside and juicy inside. The pork chop is the other signature, in the classic Taiwanese style, and a pork cutlet is also available. The box looks small, but there are no dividers and the food is packed tight, so the portion is bigger than it appears.

Reviewers widely say the chicken leg is a must, the sides are tasty and the whole thing is good value, with some saying a roughly NT$100 box fills them right up. Complaints focus on the pork chop: some find it thin and partly dry, and it is less popular than the chicken. Chicken legs and meats often sell out before closing, so late arrivals may get other options, and a few reviewers would like hygiene habits to improve.

It opens at 10:30 a.m. on weekdays and closes around 7:30 to 8 p.m., with sources differing slightly, and it is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. The busiest times are 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the after-work rush, so arrive early if you want chicken. It is mainly takeaway, so you can take it to Lohas Park; it is about a ten-minute walk from MRT Donghu Station on the Wenhu Line.

It suits people working in Donghu looking for an affordable bento, and anyone strolling around Lohas Park who wants to grab lunch. First-timers should simply order the chicken leg rice and pick three favourite sides; to try both signatures, get one chicken and one pork chop with a friend and swap.