Dragon Tea celebrates its ten

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Dragon Tea, the importer of Taiwanese flavor, celebrates its ten-year anniversary by launching a new menu. Additions include Taiwanese-flavored skewers and a pair of the most famed dishes in Taiwan: braised pork belly over rice (Lu Rou Fan) and minced pork over rice (Rou Zao Fan).

Dragon Tea Brings in Taiwanese-Flavored Skewers and Special Braised Pork Over Rice Honolulu – Dragon Tea, the importer of Taiwanese flavor, celebrates its ten-year anniversary by launching the new menu.

KALIHI, HAWAII (KITV4) Dragon Tea, the importer of Taiwanese flavor, celebrates its ten-year anniversary by launching a new menu. Additions include Taiwanese-flavored skewers and a pair of the most famed dishes in Taiwan: braised pork belly over rice (Lu Rou Fan) and minced pork over rice (Rou Zao Fan). Along with launching its new menu, Dragon Tea Taiwanese Cuisine now provides full-service dining by which guests are seated and served by wait staff.

Both lunch and dinner are offered. Dragon Tea opened its first location on Waikiki Beach in 2013 and expanded with a shop at Market City in 2017. In 2019, the entire operation relocated in Kalihi. Upon opening, Dragon Tea specialized in Taiwanese bubble tea, but it has since developed into a full-menu restaurant. “Every ingredient is imported from Taiwan, and we focus on bringing the most authentic Taiwanese flavors to Hawaii,” says Steve Lai, the owner of Dragon Tea Taiwanese Cuisine.

In keeping with the philosophy of “authentic Taiwanese taste,” its menu features a variety of Taiwanese street foods, noodles, rice bento and snacks. Together with its signature dishes -- beef noodle soup, sesame noodles and hand-made dumplings – the restaurant has now added Taiwanese-flavored skewers and two of the most renowned dishes in Taiwan: braised pork belly over rice and minced pork over rice.

The Taiwanese skewer is special in its use of seven distinct sauces. Dragon Tea developed its own special house sauce by marinating skewers in several different Taiwanese ingredients and then using a unique Taiwanese method to grill them. In this way, skewers are full of flavor but with little grease. Signature skewers are lamb, frog leg, pork belly, pork ribs, fish balls and fried firm tofu. Braised pork belly over rice and minced pork over rice, which are all-in-one rice bowl dishes, are Taiwanese classic comfort food. There are many similarities between these two dishes. They both apply the same basic principles of braising meat with soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and plenty of rock sugar to achieve that glossy finish. The differences lie in the ratios of ingredients and cut of the meat. Any given Taiwanese family probably has its own recipe for these two dishes. Dragon Tea’s recipe originated with the owner’s mother, a Taiwan native, which adds a taste of home. Lai, himself a Taiwan native, named his shop after the mythical dragon because it is so essentially Chinese.

The shop follows the original Taiwanese method of preparing its bubble tea. Each bubble milk tea drink uses Assam black tea, the same used by Chun Shui Tang, which originated Taiwanese bubble tea. Authentic bubbles are a key element, and Dragon Tea imports them from Taiwan, adding only black sugar after cooking with purified water. Dragon Tea ‘s signature milk tea is tiger sugar milk, which uses only Taiwanese natural black sugar and Hawaiian fresh milk.

The shop’s health-conscious fruit tea includes green jasmine tea with the natural freshness of local fruit. The signature passion fruit green tea blends in passion fruit jam imported from Taiwan, discovered by Lai on a farm after scouring half the island in search for just the right ingredient.

Dragon Tea Kalihi is located at 1339 North School Street, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96817. Daily business hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The shop also offers free Wi-Fi and charging stations. Take- out orders can be made via Door Dash and Uber Eat.

Reservations can be made by phone at (808) 847-4838. Parking is available on two levels behind the building. Follow Dragon Tea @dragonteallc on Instagram and Facebook.

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