Lao Pai A-Gei

Review

Lao Pai A-Gei sits on a small slope on Zhenli Street, a short walk beyond the busiest riverside stretch of Tamsui Old Street, and is often seen as one of the birthplaces of the Tamsui A-Gei. Supertaste reports that the current owner's mother founded it around 1961, while an older Tamkang Times piece says an elderly man started it in a backyard wooden shack before his daughters took over. Accounts differ, but there is no doubt it has served students and residents breakfast here for decades.

A-Gei is made by stuffing seasoned glass noodles into a fried tofu pouch, sealing the opening with fish paste made from the day's catch mixed with shredded carrot, steaming it, and finishing with sweet chili sauce. The noodles are only blanched in hot broth before being dressed, so they stay springy, and the tofu skin soaks up the sauce. Each one is about the size of a fist. The fish balls in the soup hide a minced pork filling, and the light broth balances the richness.

Most diners praise the shop for keeping the original method: the sauce is savory-sweet, the noodles are not mushy, and many feel it tastes more old-fashioned than the tourist shops on the Old Street. The spicy sauce version gets many recommendations. Complaints focus on the fish ball soup being bland and the soy milk being an acquired taste, and some find the staff blunt, which foreign visitors may not be used to.

It opens from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. and closes on Mondays (some reports say every other Monday, so check before going). From MRT Tamsui Station, walk along Zhongzheng Road and up the hill for about ten-plus minutes, or take a bus two stops. Prices are low: a 2018 report listed A-Gei at NT$40 and fish ball soup at NT$30, and diners say prices have risen slightly since, so go by what is posted. The shop is plain; bring small change.

It suits anyone wanting an authentic Tamsui breakfast or comparing different A-Gei shops. First-timers can order one A-Gei with a bowl of fish ball soup and an iced soy milk. Choose the plain sauce if you avoid heat, or add chili if you like it spicy. A-Gei arrives very hot, so slit the tofu skin to let the sauce soak in before eating. It closes at 2 p.m., so go in the morning.