Bento 886 — Restaurant in Markham

Bento 886 is as close as I remember Taiwan tasted like in my childhood - yes, more than Hualian Tai Ping Hsiang in Metro Square on Steeles. The Taiwanese fried chicken steak here was much more authentic than the other “Taiwanese” fried chicken spots like AiTaiker & Monga. It was well marinated in white pepper and sweet soy sauce, coated with chunky potato starch, then deep fried to perfection - juicy and crispy. Eating it brought me back to the memory of me (6 years old), standing in a busy night market in Taiwan, holding one chicken steak in one hand and one bubble tea in the other, hanging out with friends and family I no longer talked to. It made me homesick and nostalgic a lot. The popcorn chicken here was also very authentic—the fragrance of the deep-fried Taiwanese/Thai basil fused in the chicken, along with a single bamboo stick to eat it. Great stuff. The only minor thing was that the popcorn chicken was a bit dry, especially compared to its chicken steak. The oyster fry was another of my favourites. Juicy and sweet like what oyster tastes like in Taiwan. I hope they also serve Taiwanese oyster omelette one day - one day.

The price-to-value ratio at Bento 886 was also excellent. The bento box was incredibly filling, full of delicious veggies like stir-fried bean sprouts, napa cabbage, braised minced pork, seasoned corn, a braised egg, and protein of your choice on the side. Each bento is priced at 13.50, which is highly reasonable.

The interior of the shop was very nice, too. They included many Taiwanese elements, like old movie posters, while playing Taiwanese variety shows on TV (something I watched a lot with family on Saturday nights in Taiwan) and Gaji bags, lmao. The vibe is cute and cozy, albeit with very limited seating. The owner (I think?) Kevin was also very welcoming to my family and me. It's funny that he also mentioned it’s been a while since he visited Taiwan, just like me fr lmao.

I'll be back often, and bring my non-Taiwanese friends...

Decide to stop by for a quick snack after learning about this newly opened Bento 886 on social media. The shop seems to be a takeout spot with food items readily available.

We ordered a few snacks to share, and it all came in a paper bag with some skewer sticks for utensils. The service was very good; the lady serving us could speak English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

All the items had the same Taiwanese signature flavouring; it was on the saltier side. The wintermelon tea drink, on the other hand, was sweet, so it balanced the saltiness out.

I would recommend the Thousand-Layer Tofu and the Turnip Cake. The Popcorn Chicken looked pretty good, but it was a bigger portion, and we didn't want to get stuffed before dinner. The staff accidently dropped off the popcorn chicken to us (and I took a picture of it anyway lol)

The only item that really threw me off was the cuttlefish balls. The menu image shows 5 whole cuttlefish balls for 4.99, which sounds decent, but what we got seems to be 1-2 cuttlefish balls cut onto 3s for 4.99, which I didn't think was worth it.

I would want to come back again to try the bento meals and the popcorn chicken...

This was my first time to try this new restaurant.

Food: I ordered Popcorn chicken bento, the popcorn chicken was authentic. Although they were not super crispy, but that’s what I like about because the meat inside was juicy and not dry at all. The bowl of rice had lots of veggies on top with an egg too! The rice was tasty with their special sauce.

Drink: wintermelon tea, very tasty and not so sweet !

atmosphere: the restaurant is clean and quite spacious, it’s good for family or friends too.

Service: Good and friendly, they gave me a little prize draw today, and I’ve got a 10% off coupon (spend $12.99 or more before tax).

parking: quite limited due to size of plaza, and some are reserved for other shops.

—- I needed to add a little remark here, I usually buy take out , but today, I chose to dine in . They turned on the TV with a Taiwanese entertaining show, sorry, it’s way too noisy and annoying. And the tables are not very very clean, a but sticky here and there.. That’s quite...