San Guan Wang Taro Ice

Review

San Guan Wang Taro Ice stands on Wenhua Road in Jiaxian, right where the Southern Cross-Island Highway begins. Supertaste says it was founded in 1971, making it one of the town's most representative taro shops. Jiaxian is known for taro, and Wenhua Road has several taro ice shops, but San Guan Wang is the one visitors stop at most, with bloggers calling it a fifty-year-old institution.

The signature is taro ice cream made from top-grade taro, smooth and dense with a clear taro aroma, and diners generally find it not too sweet. The shop also turns taro into a range of sweet and savoury snacks, including taro cakes, taro ball soup, taro paste pastries, taro pies, taro mochi and taro chips. A 2017 blog post recorded a small box of five pan-fried taro cake slices at NT$40, fried to order with a crisp outside and soft inside; prices may have changed since. A newer creation, Year-Round Fulfilment, combines a taro ice scoop, four pieces of candied taro and taro balls, served with fresh milk to pour over.

Fans praise the rich, unheavy taro ice and the wide choice of gifts, and the taro pastry gift box lets you mix four flavours for twelve pieces, which is good value. The shop is bright, spacious and air-conditioned, a welcome break on a long drive. Complaints centre on weekend crowds, queues for popular items and tight roadside parking, and some feel prices are a little high for a tourist area.

Sources differ on hours, but it generally opens around 8 a.m. and closes around 7 or 8 p.m., often later on weekends; check before you go. The shop faces a 7-Eleven and has a large car park beside it. Weekday mornings are quieter, while weekend lunchtimes are busiest; if buying gift boxes, decide on flavours before reaching the counter to save time.

Good for families and road-trippers on the Southern Cross-Island Highway or visiting Jiaxian and Xiaolin, and for anyone wanting taro gifts to take home. First-timers can start with a taro ice cream, add a box of pan-fried taro cakes or a bowl of taro ball soup, and pick up a box of taro pastries on the way out, for roughly NT$100 to NT$200 per person.