A-Ming Pig Heart Glass Noodle Soup

Review

A-Ming, at No. 72 Bao'an Road in West Central District, has been running for nearly seventy years and is one of the street's longest night-time queues. The MICHELIN Guide lists it and warns that people line up before opening, so be prepared to wait. Owner A-Ming comes from the Huang family's pig heart lineage, and relatives run other shops in Tainan.

The signature method is to slice heart and liver to order, place them in aluminium cups, pour in hot broth and let them cook gently in a water bath, keeping them crisp-tender; the broth is clear yet full-bodied with no gaminess. Pair it with glass noodles, rice vermicelli or wheat vermicelli, and there are herbal braised pork ribs and slow-steamed herbal duck wings and feet, all eaten with young ginger.

Fans say the heart is tender and the broth sweet and clean, and the sesame-oil liver and duck wings get frequent praise; watching A-Ming slice, serve and take payment single-handedly has become part of the experience. Critics call the flavours ordinary and not worth the queue, and service is slow; the owner himself has joked that the bowls are small and not cheap.

Open 5 p.m. to midnight, closed Mondays. A queue forms before opening and the usual wait is twenty to thirty minutes, easing a little later in the evening. Cash only. Supertaste listed pig heart soup at NT$50 and pork kidney vermicelli at NT$85; check prices on site. Parking around Bao'an Road is tough, so walk and combine it with nearby snack stops.

Best for adventurous eaters looking for a late-night meal. First-timers can order pig heart glass noodles plus herbal pork ribs, and sesame-oil fans should add liver; groups can share duck wings and feet, with plenty of young ginger on the side.