Da Qiao Tou Tube Rice Cake

Review

Da Qiao Tou Tube Rice Cake is at No. 41, Section 3, Yanping North Road, a few minutes' walk from Daqiaotou MRT Station. Mirror Media reports that founder Yang Tsung-shou came from Tamsui, ran small businesses around the old Taipei Roundabout and later took over a stall near Daqiaotou. The area was full of day labourers back then, so filling rice and restorative soups sold well. The shop has been going for about fifty years, Supertaste says it has made the MICHELIN Bib Gourmand list three times, and it appears on the 2026 Taipei Bib Gourmand list as well.

The signature tube rice cake costs NT$40 with either fatty or lean pork; the lean version adds a small piece of braised egg, and a large NT$80 portion lets you have half of each. Several writers note that the grains stay separate without drying out, reportedly thanks to rice aged over a year and carefully timed steaming. There are more than ten soups; the favourites are the oyster and pork liver soup at NT$95 and the pork liver and pork blood soup at NT$75, with tender liver and plump oysters that do not taste fishy. Tables carry sweet chilli sauce and a house radish chilli sauce, which you can also buy by the jar.

Diners praise the texture of the rice, the fair prices and the generous, fresh soups, and many return just for the radish chilli sauce. Complaints are mostly about queues and space: the shop is small, you order at the door and then find your own seat, and at peak times the line spills onto the road. Some find the rice itself mild and reliant on sauce, and big eaters may find the portions small.

Online listings show hours of about 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Tuesdays, though one article says it opens at 6, so check before you go. Breakfast and lunch are the busiest times, and people queue early for the oyster and liver soup. Many customers take away, so the line moves fairly quickly. Parking nearby is difficult, so the MRT to Daqiaotou is easiest.

Good for anyone after a traditional Taiwanese breakfast or lunch, or exploring the Yansan Night Market and Dadaocheng nearby. On a first visit, try the fatty rice cake for its rich pork flavour with a bowl of oyster and liver soup; two people can share a large half-and-half portion plus a pork liver and blood soup. Spice lovers should try the radish chilli sauce, which cuts through the richness of the rice.