Banshin Castella

Review

Banshin Castella is at No. 388, Section 1, Taiwan Boulevard in Central District, across from the Second Market. In business for over half a century, it is the castella shop older Taichung residents grew up with. Smile Taiwan estimates it opened by the 1970s at the latest, possibly making it one of the oldest surviving castella shops in Taichung, and an old notice in the shop declares it the only one in the province, with no branches. The shop keeps a low profile, with no official website or Facebook page, and photos are banned inside and out.

The recipe uses only eggs, sugar, flour and malt syrup, with no honey and no chemical leavening. The crust is caramel-colored and the inside golden; the texture sits between a sponge cake's fluffiness and the bounce of brown sugar cake, moist, fine and strongly eggy. Reports put one loaf at about NT$200. Length is fixed at about 27 cm while width comes in several sizes, the smallest hand-cut into eight pieces, and the gold gift box feels substantial in hand.

Reviews are mostly positive, but opinions on sweetness differ: some find it just right, while one outlet calls it on the sweet side and suggests unsweetened tea or black coffee, or chilling it first. Storage advice varies by source: one article recommends about three days at room temperature, saying refrigeration makes the crust soggy, while another says chilling gives a firmer texture. The biggest complaints from netizens are the long queues, no phone orders, and hard-to-find parking nearby.

Open Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00–19:00; closed Mondays. You must queue in person to place an order and come back at an assigned time to collect it. Waits of over an hour are common, and one report mentions two to four hours. Go before noon to reserve, and browse the Second Market while you wait. No home delivery.

It suits anyone wanting to bring a box of old-school Taichung flavor to elders or clients. Place your order early in the day; once you have the cake, open the lid to let it cool, close it again, stand the box in water to keep ants away, and finish it within three days.