Tainan Food Tour Part 1
I know a lot of people have written about a food tour in Tainan, and everyone certainly has their own list of what makes it to #1 in their list, one thing we can all agree on is that we all enjoy good Tainanese food, so here’s my version of a Tainan Food Tour.
Start your day at this corner of the YongLe Market 永樂市場. This traditional market is the location of our first 4 stops. If you are interested in temples, on the opposite side of this market, you will also find the tsuí-sian-kiong 水仙宮 (Water God Temple).
https://goo.gl/maps/REvKVTaF8EfKxAA1A
No. 181, Section 3, Guohua St, West Central District
台南市中西區國華街三段181號
At this location, we’re going to get lǔn-piánn 潤餅, uánn-kué 碗粿, kuah-pau 割包, and ô-teh 蚵咧. We are going to an older district in the center of Tainan, where besides these restaurants you’ll find a busy and narrow street that is typical of Tainan street design.
Our first stop will be Kim-Tik-Lǔn-Piánn 金得春捲 where we will get some lǔn-piánn. The lǔn-piánn is a food item that looks similar to a Mexican burrito, but it is only similar in looks. The skin is much thinner (but somehow doesn’t break until you bite into it), and you might be surprised that aside from the usual meats and vegetables, they also put a liberal amount of sugar in it.
Nextdoor, you will find our next restaurant, Pù-Sīng-Hō-Uánn-Kué 富盛號碗粿, you can also find a good bowl of hî-kenn 魚羹 here. Uánn-kué is a gelatonous and savory cake made from rice, known for being a good representation of Q. What is Q, you might ask? Q (khiū) 𩚨 is the Taiwanese ideal of food being simultaneously soft and bouncy at the same time, not too soft so that we lose the texture, and not too hard that it loses its chewiness. Hî-kenn is a bowl of creamy soup made with a technique called velveting with fish paste in it. The fish in Tainan is very fresh as it is one of the biggest producers of sat-ba̍k-hî 虱目魚.
Then cross the street to the other side to A-Tshîng-Kuah-Pau 阿松割包 to get some kuah-pau, also spelled as gua bao, sometimes erroneously called bao buns (erroneously because bao already means bun so bao bun would be bun bun). This item has become popular in the US recently and consists of a piece of fatty pork in a bread sliced open in the middle. The fatty pork might be too heavy by itself but the bread balances it out very nicely. There’s also an abundance of cilantro and crushed peanuts in this Taiwanese classic. On the same side of the street, you’ll also see Tshun-Ô-Te 春蚵嗲, to get some ô-te. This is a fried breaded ball with oyesters in it.
There used to be a good stir-fried store around here called A-Thih-Tshá-Siān-hî 阿鐵炒鱔魚 but it has since been closed down. Tshá-siān-hî is a type of stir-fried eel dish common in Tainan, there are many others around, and maybe someday I’ll find another one that I’d like to recommend.