Qitou Ba-wan & Tube Rice Cake

Review

Qitou Ba-wan & Tube Rice Cake is at No. 247 Shilin Street in Dongshi, right next to Dongxin Elementary School, and locals regard it as a long-established snack shop. Supertaste says it has been running for more than 60 years and still sticks to traditional methods. An early blogger described a family operation: the owner couple greeting customers in Taiwanese, Mandarin and Hakka, children and grandchildren helping out, and a dining room that had barely changed in decades.

There are two signatures. The tube rice cake is steamed in porcelain cups inside a bamboo steamer, then turned out with separate yet slightly sticky grains, topped with minced pork, dried shrimp and taro and a dash of house red sauce; a 2023 report put it at NT$45. A dish of crisp, sour pickled mustard greens on the side cuts the richness. The ba-wan costs NT$50, with a soft, chewy skin, a lightly fried bottom and a filling of pork hind leg and diced bamboo shoot with a strong pepper note, best with the house chili sauce. Soups are built on fried pork ribs, in day lily, bitter melon or taro versions, and there is oden as well.

Media and bloggers praise the rice cake for not being greasy, the bitter melon soup for being sweet rather than bitter, and the soft taro soup. On the other hand, some mention a bare-bones room with basic seating that gets noisy when busy, and years ago the four-herb soups sold out before 1 pm. Some diners prefer other ba-wan shops in Dongshi, so tastes differ.

Hours are roughly 10 am to 7 pm, closed Mondays, with Sundays ending around 3 pm; popular soups can sell out, so arrive before noon. Sources do not say which payment methods are accepted, so bring cash. It sits on residential streets, so drivers need to find roadside parking.

Good for anyone in Dongshi wanting an inexpensive, old-style meal. First-timers can order one rice cake and one ba-wan plus a bitter melon or day lily rib soup, which is about right for two people to share.