Fengjia Puli Rice Cake

Review

Fengjia Puli Rice Cake is hidden in North Alley 1 of Yongxin Lane off Wenhua Road. The shop is narrow and sees few tourists, and reports say it has quietly been running for about 30 years as an old-style dinner and late-night spot familiar to Fengjia students and locals. It opens only from late afternoon into the evening, and a Fengjia food list on Dcard includes it among the market's back-lane picks.

The signature order is tube-steamed rice cake with a bowl of stewed soup. The rice cake costs NT$35 and is topped with cilantro and house braised minced pork; the rice is moderately seasoned and not greasy, and there is Dongquan chili sauce on the tables to add yourself. There are said to be nine stewed soups at a flat NT$45, such as fried pork rib, shiitake chicken, four-herb and bitter melon with pork rib, and NT$10 more turns any soup into a noodle soup. The four-herb noodle soup has a medicinal aroma, with poria, Job's tears, red dates and cleanly prepared pork intestine; the fried pork rib noodle soup holds 4 to 5 pieces of rib stewed until the meat falls off the bone, plus two big chunks of daikon and traditional yellow noodles. Silky steamed egg and blanched greens topped with minced pork are popular sides among regulars.

The detailed coverage available comes mainly from a single roundup, which is positive overall; the fried pork rib noodle soup gets the most praise, and many regulars are said to return. However, few user reviews can be found, only four of the nine soups are described in detail, and there is almost no criticism, so keep expectations modest.

It opens from 4pm to 10pm and is closed Mondays. Ordering is done the traditional way by ticking a paper slip: red for dining in, yellow for takeaway. At dinner and late-night hours the shop is often packed with both dine-in and takeaway customers, so come early for a comfortable seat. The lane is very narrow and cars cannot enter; drivers should park around Fuxing Road or Wenhua Road and walk in.

It suits students, office workers and night-market visitors who want a cheap hot soup with rice cake. The basic order is a rice cake plus a soup, about NT$80 for a full meal; for something heartier, upgrade the soup to noodles and add steamed egg or blanched greens.