Hao Ji Danzai Noodles

Review

Hao Ji Danzai Noodles is at No. 79 Jilin Road in Zhongshan District and runs three storefronts together with A-Mei Restaurant in the neighbouring lane: A-Mei focuses on banquet-style dishes, while Hao Ji centres on danzai noodles and Taiwanese small plates. The Jilin Road area was once known for barbershops and salons and later reinvented itself as a food street, and Hao Ji is one of the road's most-mentioned old names, busy year-round and recently expanded by opening into the shop next door.

The signature danzai noodles use a pork-bone broth with minced pork sauce, cost NT$40 a bowl and are small, ideal as a starter. Hao Ji's braised pork belly has a deep soy aroma, with fat that melts in the mouth, though the lean part can be dry. Bloggers rank the squid, conch and leek soup among the best they have had, savoury with a garlicky lift, and the red crab sticky rice, rich in crab roe, is the centrepiece for groups. Sashimi, pork intestine and pork liver cold plates are also frequently recommended.

Praise focuses on the full range of Tainan banquet dishes, fair prices that keep even a full table affordable, and long hours that suit late-night gatherings. Critics find the danzai noodles themselves ordinary, some stir-fries no better than a regular stir-fry joint and the sugarcane-smoked chicken dry; others mention retro decor that feels staged, dusty corners, and crowded, noisy dining rooms at weekends.

Map listings show daily hours of 11:30 to 14:00 and 17:00 to midnight, while a blogger's post gives A-Mei's hours instead; the two differ, so check before going. You order by pointing at the priced food models at the entrance. According to Supertaste and a blogger, danzai noodles are NT$40, braised pork NT$160, red crab sticky rice NT$590, and squid, conch and leek soup NT$400 small or NT$700 large, with banquet tables from about NT$6,000. Most tables seat four or six, parking nearby is hard, and Songjiang Nanjing MRT station is the easiest approach.

It suits groups of friends, family dinners and anyone craving Tainan-style late-night food. Two or three people can order danzai noodles, braised pork and one or two cold plates; four or more can add the squid and conch soup and the red crab sticky rice for a full Taiwanese feast. Solo diners can simply have a bowl of noodles with a side.