Xiaosan Glutinous Rice Sausage

Review

Keelung Xiaosan Glutinous Rice Sausage is tucked into an alley off Xiao 3rd Road, just a few minutes' walk from Keelung Station. Supertaste reports that it has been open since 1968 and is often full even on weekdays. Keelung locals call glutinous rice sausage 'large intestine ring', and this is the name most often mentioned around Xiao 3rd Road; the owner of the nearby Ju Jie shop was once married into this family before branching out on her own.

The signature sausage is made by stuffing glutinous rice into pork intestine and steaming it. Sliced, the rice is chewy and sticky with a light savoury richness, eaten with the house sweet chili sauce. The cold cuts are popular too, including pork heart, diaphragm, cheek meat, aorta and stomach. Blog records from around 2025 list the sausage at NT$60 a portion or NT$180 per catty, heart and diaphragm at around NT$50 to NT$60, and pork blood soup at NT$30; two or three people eat well for about NT$200.

Diners like the springy sausage and the cleanly prepared offal with no gamey smell, noting that steaming keeps more of the original flavour, and the prices are fair. Some mention free iced black tea in summer and hot soup in winter. On the downside, some find the flavours simple and the fame bigger than the food, mealtimes are crowded with shared tables, and one diner reported being told off by staff for taking extra sauce with takeaway.

Hours are roughly 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Mondays, and it closes early once sold out. There is no parking in the alley, so use a paid car park near the station and walk, or come by train. The interior is simple but bright, clean and air-conditioned, and taking home a whole catty of sausage to reheat is easy.

It suits fans of Taiwanese offal dishes and anyone wanting a local Keelung brunch, and it's a convenient stop for train travellers. First-timers can order a portion of sausage with two or three cold cuts and a bowl of pork blood soup; if offal isn't your thing, the sausage alone shows what the shop does best.