I have been obsessed with Jian Bing for YEARS. Somehow a jian bing video popped up on my YouTube feed once and then I fell into like a vortex of videos. I’ll post some of my favorites at the end of the post. So what is jian bing? I guess the best way I can explain it would be a Chinese street food, a large savory crepe that is used to house a special sauce, won ton cracker, veggies, meat (sometimes), egg, etc. It’s like a Chinese burrito and is very cheap to grab and go with in China for breakfast. Well, it has finally arrived in Hawaii and I was very excited to try it.
Okay, so I picked a very bad time to try it. It was the week a big article was released about it. Bing Bros currently only opens on Saturdays for 4 hours in Salt Lake, at that time, they were still taking pre-orders on their website so I placed one in for three different jian bings to try. I requested for my order to be complete by 11:30 AM and as the time crept closer, it looked like they were going to be slammed. Well, they were. And well, let’s just say I didn’t get my order until about 12:30 PM. Wasn’t terribly happy about that delay but understand since they are new.
Regular Jian Bing | $10.00
egg, romaine lettuce, pickled mustard cabbage, wonton cracker, cucumber, green onions, cilantro, bing sauce, and chili sauce
The Works | $13.00
pork floss, lup cheong, egg, romaine lettuce, pickled mustard cabbage, won ton cracker, cucumber, green onions, cilantro, bing sauce, and chili sauce
Go big or go home right? I sacrificed the look of the jian bing and opened it up for you folks to see. I enjoyed it, how can I not enjoy pork floss and lup cheong? What did I think of the outer crepe? Ehh…perhaps it can’t be helped but the crepe gets very soft and soggy because there is sauce on it. I feel like jian bing needs to be enjoyed fresh off the grill. I also would have liked if the cabbage (there seemed to be regular shredded cabbage too on top of the preserved mustard cabbage ) was at least quickly pickled.
Hawaiian Breakfast | $13.00
spam, two eggs, portuguese sausage, romaine lettuce, pickled mustard cabbage, wonton cracker, cucumber, green onions, cilantro, bing sauce, and chili sauce
Another deluxe model, had to try the Hawaiian one! This was good, couldn’t tell there were two eggs (lol). Very small dices of spam and portuguese sausage. The prices to me is a bit high for what you get. And when I look at the website, their menu is already outdated and I paid $3 bucks more for each deluxe dish. They do have bigger plans for the future so hopefully they will get their orders and execution down, nice for me to try but I am not hankering to go back anytime soon.
YouTube Links:
China Street Food Jian Bing (Danbing)
Shanghai China – street food (crepe) – this one is funny cause the cook is so cranky lol
Bejing Jianbing (first video I ever saw on this)
interesting! the China ones look so skimpy compared to
what you got. I guess difference between snack and meal?
I guess so! And also price…I think the china ones are like a dollar haha
I think these are/were popular in harajuku & shinokubo too, haven’t been to these areas since the pandemic, so I don’t know if they are still around
Ah, I bet still get some around! Still seems trendy…not as fast as other trends but trendy!
I bet you can make them and they would be even more ono.
oh thank you Aunty, I bet you can make it too with your good lup cheong from SF! 🙂
Looks interesting and if the taste is “Asian like”, I assume it tastes good too. Here in AZ, I got to the Food Court in a supermarket that caters to the Mexican crowd and get the breakfast burrito. They advertise that it has two large eggs in it, but I always watch as they make it and they always put in 3 large eggs. And you get either ham, chorizo, or bacon (lots of it), and potatoes, beans, rice, cheese, onions, and salsa. And the best part is they only charge your $4.49 and you also get a 20 oz drink with it too. Such a deal!!
Oh wow! Your breakfast burrito sounds much more of a deal to me than what I got! Wish we had those kind prices here! lol
Yup, it certainly is a deal! That same place has good deals every week in their Food Court. They have taco Tuesdays, where the tacos are $1 each. But they also have a $4.99 carnitas dinner every week too. You get 1# of carnitas and 10 corn tortillas. Since my wife loves carnitas, I buy that and we can make at least 6-8 big tacos and with their condiment bar, we put on the pico de gallo, onions, cilantro, salsas, and they even will give me a couple of roasted jalapeno peppers too! Yup, great deals there. Oh yeah, they also have a big bowl of hearty menudo for $5.99 too! Menudo is not as tasty IMO as Hawaiian tripe stew, but I love it nonetheless.
Oooh never had menudo! Now I like try!
Menudo is pretty good. Sorta like Hawaiian tripe stew (kinda). Main ingredients are tripe, beef foot (like pig’s feet), chili, oregano, salt, pepper, and hominy. Since moving to AZ, I eat menudo all the time; maybe once a week.