Dishes
Ham and egg toast
火腿蛋吐司
Also called: 火腿蛋三明治 · ham and egg sandwich
Toasted bread with ham and egg, the everyday order at Taiwan's Western-style breakfast shops.
Photo: fullfen666, CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo: BNBTW~commonswiki, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Bevis Chen, CC BY-SA 2.0What it is
A toasted sandwich of ham and fried egg, cheap and quick. It is standard fare at Taiwan's Western-style breakfast shops, which sell sandwiches and burgers.
Where it comes from
Western-style breakfast chains spread across Taiwan from the 1980s. The best-known name, Mei Er Mei (美而美), began in 1981 when Lin Kun-yen opened a Taipei shop selling cheap sandwiches and burgers. A Tainan chain now called 早安美芝城 started in 1983 as Mei Er Mei Hamburger Shop.
How it is made
Bread is toasted and filled with ham and a fried egg. At Lao Chiang in Kaohsiung the egg is left soft and the toast is spread with house-made margarine.
How to eat it
Eat it hot for breakfast with a cup of black tea or black tea with milk. Round-the-clock shops also serve it as a late-night snack.
In Kaohsiung
TVBS reports that soft-egg ham toast is the most ordered item at Lao Chiang Black Tea Milk, both at breakfast and late at night. The shop was founded in 1953 and is open 24 hours.
Where to eat it in Kaohsiung
Sources