Beidou Ba-wan Rui

Review

Beidou Ba-wan Rui is at No. 89 Zhonghua Road in Beidou, next to a convenience store, and the interior is clean. Supertaste says it has more than a century of history, and a Smile Taiwan article traces it, along with Sheng, to the local legend of the first savory ba-wan created after the 1898 flood. Supertaste mentions that the same owner runs a branch called Beidou Ba-wan Rui Q in the Dian'an Temple square, but one blogger treats the two as separate businesses, so sources differ.

The ba-wan are made fresh every day. The skin uses long-grain rice from the Zhuoshui River area plus pure sweet potato starch and is fried in lard, giving a soft, springy bite with a clear lard aroma. The filling is pork leg, diced ma bamboo shoots and fried shallots, seasoned with five-spice and white pepper, and it leans light overall. The sauce is cooked from fermented black beans and glutinous rice, then seasoned with sugar and Xiluo soy sauce so the saltiness turns mellow and sweet. The menu also has pork-bone tofu soup, braised pork rice and cold-brew tea.

Fans praise the springy skin, the solid filling and the sweet-with-a-kick sauce; a Supertaste blogger found it a little oily but still delicious and recommends adding chili sauce. Another blogger felt it was plainer overall than the other two famous shops on the same street, and some say the taste varies slightly depending on when you go.

No source lists prices, so check on site. Supertaste's shop card gives weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and weekends until 7:30 p.m., or until sold out, with no closing day listed. During the Lunar New Year peak the queue once reached two hours, so avoid noon on holidays. You can dine in or take away, and ba-wan gift boxes and raw ba-wan are sold for steaming or frying at home.

It suits anyone who wants to compare several ba-wan shops in Beidou or buy a gift box to take home. Order ba-wan with tofu soup and a bowl of braised pork rice to taste the lard-fried skin and light filling that set it apart.