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Just east of Baldwin on Duarte, behind the popular Ding Tai Fung Dumpling House in Arcadia, sits another omnipresent Asian shopping center. Without guessing you already know what kind of businesses have opened up shop. You’ve got your supermarket which proudly sits in the center of the lot like a king on his throne. To his left and right, you’ve got the minions: the bookstore, the video/karaoke store, the boba shop, the herbal medicine shop, a travel agency, a hair salon and of course, about four restaurants. All packed within a kingdom of super compact parking spaces and people who would rather tend to their cell phone than drive. I drove by once for some take-out and noticed Sinbala , a popular Taiwanese joint – packed with people out the doors. On another occasion, I drove by to find that again, Sinbala was packed. Okay, something’s going on – was this the Taiwanese version of Pink’s Hot Dogs?

Close. My friend and I perused the menu and since we’re Cantonese, we typically stay with the more recognizable Taiwanese fare like Pork Chop Fried Rice (Pai2 Gu3 Fan4), Ground Meat and Brown Sauce Noodles (Ja Jiang4 Mian4), Beef Noodle Soup (Nu2 Ro4 Mian4) and the Scallion Pancake (Chong Yo2 Bing3). As I was going down the menu, I noticed there was a section dedicated to Sinbala’s specialty: Chinese sausages.

Sausages with Basil…
Sausages with Garlic…
Sausages with Green Onion…

Then it started to get odd…

Sausages with Wasabi…
Sausages with Satay Sauce…

Now we were suddenly transported to another planet…

Sausages with Chocolate…
Sausages with Strawberry Jam…
Sausages with Mango…

By now, I was damn curious about Sinbala. I looked over at Anthony Bourdain, who was sitting next to me, as he gave me the go-ahead to try the latter three. “No thanks, Anthony.â€? We didn’t go for the dessert sausage because Porky Pig and Chocolate didn’t seem to mesh. Instead we stuck with the Wasabi and Satay (BBQ) flavors. 10 slices for $1.50. The ‘Sausage with Wasabi’ dish was nothing special. I expected to see a perfectly made sausage infused with the awesome horseradish – it was merely a sliced up sausage with Wasabi on the side. Lame. The Satay as you can see, was simply smothered on top of the sausage. The Taiwanese sausages tasted different than the usual Chinese sausage you eat in fried rice. It was sweeter and definitely more succulent. I’ll give Sinbala that. But the whole deal on toppings was disappointing. It was kind of like going to a Sundae Ice Cream bar and adding whatever topping you could find. In our case, it was Wasabi and Satay. I don’t see the big deal about this place, but just try it for yourself.

And now for the regular food:

A. Sausage with Wasabi - $1.50
B. Sausage with Satay Sauce - $1.50
C. Fried Pork Chop with Minced Meat Noodle - $5.00 - Pork Chop was flavorful, noodles were bland. I had to add my own soy sauce.
D. Ground Meat with Brown Sauce Noodle - $4.25 - Huge serving but it’s a little bit sweet. Not what I’m used to.
E. Fried Pork Chop - flavorful.
F. Scallion Pancake - $2.25 - Very good and crispy! My favorite part of the meal.

SinBaLa
651 W. Duarte Rd. #F
Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 446-0886
*Closed Every Tuesday

By eatdrinknbmerry (see more of his posts). You can find more of eatdrinknbmerry's writing at his own website eatdrinknbmerry