Shantou Chuan Cheng Hotpot (Zhongshan Main Restaurant)

Review

Shantou Chuan Cheng was founded in 1943 and calls itself Taiwan's first sacha hotpot restaurant. Over eighty years it has expanded from Kaohsiung to Taichung and Hsinchu, while the Zhongshan main restaurant at No. 7 Zhongshanheng Road keeps the original flavour. It sits near Formosa Boulevard MRT Station and is a go-to for family dinners and for showing visitors a Kaohsiung classic.

The signature is the Shantou flatfish pot: Donggang flatfish is fried until crisp and simmered with red-tail shrimp, giving a sweet, clean broth with no fishiness. Oddly enough there is no sacha in the pot itself; the house-made sacha sauce, with a peanutty aroma, comes on the side to mix with raw egg yolk, scallion and onion. There are also spicy and split pots, and jars of the sauce can be taken home for noodles or stir-fries.

Diners praise the rich sacha sauce and the fresh meat and seafood, often naming the handmade shrimp paste, duck blood and egg dumplings; sacha beef with fried rice noodles is a widely recommended side, and service for foreign visitors is called friendly. On the downside, prices are on the high side, with some saying portions are big but not cheap; the olive-leaf fried rice divides opinion, and peak times mean a wait.

Sources disagree on hours: map listings and some round-ups say 11:00 to 1:00 a.m., while one report says until 23:30, so check before you go. The restaurant has offered two-person, four-person and individual sets, but none of the sources list current prices, so check the menu when ordering. Anniversary promotions and similar deals usually expire, so do not rely on old reports. Weekend dinners get busy, so book ahead.

It suits family meals, visitors wanting a taste of Kaohsiung sacha hotpot, and anyone craving a late-night pot. First-timers can order the flatfish broth with beef or a seafood platter, stirring egg yolk into the sacha sauce for dipping; if you like heat, choose the split pot and eat the spicy side before sipping the flatfish broth, and finish with sacha beef fried rice noodles.