Located in the southwestern end of Tainan, the Anping District has been labelled a major small tourist town. It’s likely thanks to the popular attraction of Anping Fort (安平古堡), originally known as Fort Zeelandia (熱蘭遮城), built in the 17^th century during the Dutch colonial rule in Taiwan. Besides the fort, Anping offers other historical landmarks such as the Anping Treehouse (an abandoned warehouse overgrown with banyan trees), or several large, intricate temples dotted throughout.

But a tourist town would never be complete without sustenance, and that’s where we slide into play. Temples are often accompanied by markets, and scenic spots by local restaurants. While Anping doesn’t have its own night market, it does have a functioning daytime one that operates on Anping Lao Jie – Anping Old Street (安平老街), which is very nearly the same thing. We did, of course, want to see the sights, but we searched for Anping must-eats, and we weren’t disappointed.

Anping District is no exception to the capitalisation of basic street food. We weren’t going to miss out. In Tainan, one must visit Anping. And so we did, taking the first bus Google Maps recommended out on a gorgeous, sunny day, to get our fill of both the sights and the snacks.

Shrimp Crackers (蝦餅)

We’re not quite sure as to why there are so many. Perhaps one store started it all, to which other vendors flocked by the dozen to set up shop and get a piece of the tourist pie. Anping has an abundance of oysters, so shrimp may be a similar deal. In any case, what surprised us more was that each shop was different – be in the taste of the shrimp cracker, the flavours available, or a marketing gimmick such as building levels of spiciness, we had a fair share of these crackers and found that each had a unique taste, though only very slightly.

Everyone loves shrimp crackers – the crunchy puffed snack flavoured ambiguously salty, savoury, seafoody, and of all shapes, colours and sizes, best eaten when scooping Westernised not-quite-Chinese food into your chomping gob. Still, there’s no reasonable explanation as to why a town can become so obsessed with shrimp crackers in the way that Anping is. While our research had suggested a cute number dotted throughout the district, the reality is much more obscene; they’re absolutely everywhere, especially on the main roads and the Old Street, enticing tourists with the smell of fresh crackers as they pop from demonstrative machines.

We’d been quick to make our purchase but we highly encourage you to do otherwise; make your way around the city and hork all the free samples on offer. There’s bound to be one that you like more than the rest. If so, they make pretty tasty souvenirs.

Oyster Rolls (蚵仔卷) and Oyster Omelettes (蚵仔煎)

Oysters are available in abundance in the Anping area, with many restaurants and vendors selling some sort of oyster delicacy all throughout the district. At the right time, you may come across workers as they shuck them by the dozen, shells piling up in huge buckets around them. Oysters are almost as big of an obsession as the shrimp cracker, such that they make cement from its shells, which you can learn all about at the corresponding Cultural Museum (安平蚵灰窯文化館).

Two popular methods of cooking oysters in the Anping district is in an omelette (蚵仔煎), or as a roll (蚵仔卷). Unlike omelettes in the western world, the Taiwanese style also uses a slurry of cornstarch and water to add volume and give a distinct, soft pull and chew, and topped with an ambiguous sweet-and-savoury brown sauce. The rolls are similar to a spring roll, oysters mixed with a meat (likely pork), chives, and white pepper, wrapped in a pastry, and deep fried until crunchy.

YangHe ShiJia (養蚵世家)

Oyster omelettes are a tasty treat found throughout Taiwan and an obvious product of the large oyster supply in Anping. On the other hand, oyster rolls – similar to spring rolls – are a little more unique to the area, and equally tasty. While there are many places to visit for them, such as the famous Chen Family Oyster Roll (陳家蚵捲), or Chou’s (周氏蝦捲 台南總店) for slightly more upperclass fare, we decided to visit Yang He Shi Jia (養蚵世家) on the slight more western end of Anping district.

It’s a small restaurant with only half a dozen benches lined up, and clearly old. Its most distinguishing feature are the tags, signatures, and scribbles all over the walls, the result of hundreds or thousands of patrons, many of whom quite literally left their mark.

They have a fairly extensive menu which features oysters and prawns heavily. Their oyster fried rice was popular enough that each group of diners we witnessed throughout our time there ordered at least one portion amongst them – in many cases, one portion each. While we didn’t quite have the stomach for such a volume of food, we did order the oyster omelette (蚵仔煎; NTD60; US$1.95), and the oyster roll (蚵仔卷; NTD55; US$1.80).

Despite the oysters being quite small in size they burst with that intense salt-and-sea flavour unique to oysters, and the sauce added a delicious umami to the dish. However, the oyster rolls were our number one choice. Its filling was flavourful of oysters, fragrant with white pepper. Rich, juicy, and greasy, in all the best ways. Add a touch of vinegar to cut through the grease or a dab of chilli for heat, and you’ve got an excellent combination that anyone can enjoy.

Tofu Pudding (豆花)

Tofu pudding, or tofu jelly, is widely consumed throughout East and Southeast Asia. Consisting of a soft, wobbly, jelly-like soy milk and drizzled with a sugar syrup, there are dozens of ways to make it unique such as the addition of toppings. In the Anping district, black soybeans are commonly used, resulting in a jelly that is tinged distinctly grey, and is said to be more nutritious than its white counterpart.

Much like the shrimp crackers, you can find several of these tofu pudding stores all throughout the Anping area offering very similar fare with some minor menu differences, mostly in the toppings and the price. However, don’t let that stop you from taking a seat to enjoy a nice, cold bowl of sweet, smooth tofu pudding on a warm day in Tainan.

Mao Ji Black Tofu Pudding King (茂記黑豆花大王)

Even within Anping there are multiple branches of this one store. Their basic black tofu pudding (黑豆花) is NTD40 (US$1.30) and of a very good size. There’s hardly any distinguishing flavour when eating the black tofu pudding, so definitely don’t let that put you off. It has none of the bitter or grassy flavours that a poorly made tofu pudding can have, lightly sweetened by the syrup to give a fragrant, light, refreshing dessert to eat in the middle of the day. Highly recommended.

Tong Ji Tofu Pudding (同記安平豆花)

Near the oyster roll place where we ate is both Mao Ji and Tong Ji tofu pudding stores, so you can get an ultimate pudding fix for any reason your heart may desire. Here, the tofu pudding is slightly cheaper at NTD35 (US$1.15) for a similarly sized bowl, though it doesn’t make it any worse. Compared to Mao Ji, the syrup here is sweeter, and the pudding perhaps not so smooth, but its flavour is otherwise comparable.

The white tofu pudding is perhaps a little bit stronger in the nutty-beany flavour, but in a blind taste test it’s very difficult to distinguish. Through this delicious experimentation, we concluded that any tofu pudding experience you have is bound to be as enjoyable as another, so long as you’re up for a cold, sweet bowl of soy goodness.

Winter Melon Tea (冬瓜茶)

Also known as winter melon punch, this drink is made from the winter melon gourd and sweetened. It’s cheap to make, done by boiling the winter melon flesh with caramel and brown sugar to give rise to a distinct flavour. The most popular stop to visit for this drink is Yi Feng Dong Gua Tea (義豐冬瓜茶) which has several locations, or many others around Anping and Taiwan sell this beverage because of its deliciousness and popularity.

Anping Old Street Yang Jia Sour Plum Drink (安平老街楊叔叔酸梅湯)

We visited Anping Old Street Yang Jia Sour Plum Drink (安平老街楊叔叔酸梅湯), which retrospectively might have been better for its sour plum drink, but we couldn’t read enough Chinese to have identified that as its primary product. It was a pretty large size for its price of NTD25 (US$0.80), with not too much ice in there to boot.

It has a slightly herbal flavour similar to herbal jelly, as well as the caramel-molasses flavour that we associated with the flavour of the weird slimy stuff that pearls sit in. Delicious, and surprisingly not all too sweet. A recommended drink, whether you stop at this little stand or another.

Chive Pockets (韮菜盒子)

This stop might not be so much a specialty of the region but it is a must-eat because it’s cheap and delicious, and a very long-standing establishment. A sort of savoury pocket, these pastries are stuffed with chives and scrambled eggs before being shallow-fried. It’s a popular snack throughout Taiwan and China. But the place we visited is so popular it’s been televised, and you’d be hard-pressed not to find a queue outside.

Liu Ji Chive Pockets (劉記韭菜盒子)

There are only two items on the menu. The first is a grilled pancake (烙餅; NTD20; US$0.65) which has been cooked until crunchy. It’s seasoned enough that it’s tasty on its own, flavoured by the golden-brown colour on the sheet of carbohydrate.

The other is the famous chive pocket (韮菜盒; NTD25; US$0.80). It’s very stuffed, thanks to their method of trimming the excess pastry right where it seals in the filling. The chives are incredibly fragrant, the herbaceous smell wafting from the heat and filling your mouth and nose right before you’ve bitten through it, and it’s seasoned just enough to be flavourful but not salty.

Caramel Flan Pudding (布丁)

This may be also due to Japan’s heavy influence in Taiwan, where the “purin”, the Japanese-stylised pronunciation of “pudding” is a popular dessert also stocked in Taiwanese convenience stores. In the Japanese style, these puddings are actually crème caramel flans, with the distinct caramel top and the creamy, wobbly-soft pudding.

Fang LanChuan Flan (方蘭川布丁)

Fang LanChuan in Anping area takes the quality to the next level. Focusing on fresh ingredients, these puddings have a short shelf-life of 8 days, and requires refrigeration just like any good dairy and egg-based product should do. Somehow, this independent little dessert became a staple souvenir amongst local Taiwanese people to take home from the Anping district. This may not be as common knowledge amongst foreign travellers but we’re always up for sweets, especially if it’s a pudding.

Fang LanChuan puddings supposedly differ from others because of its surface. According to their website, a delay in the baking temperature caused the top to burn during a trial and resulted in a caramelised surface, thus its name “焦皮布丁”, which means “burnt skin / caramelised pudding”.

When we visited, one pudding cost NTD40 (US$1.30) though the website seems to indicate that it has since gone up in price. As it’s also a souvenir, you can also buy a 6-pack and a 12-pack to take home and share.

Despite its wrinkled surface, the pudding has a smooth consistency throughout, with a slight custardy, milky flavour. The caramel is not all that sweet, balancing the mild flavour by offering some complexity from the sugars. It tastes far more natural than a typical convenience store pudding, so any lover of these custardy crème caramel flans are recommended to give this a go.

Besides plenty of things to eat, Anping district also has many sights to see and places to shop for the perfect trip outside of the main Tainan City area. Pick up edible souvenirs, handmade trinkets, or artsy postcards as you walk through the Old Street, or stroll along the walkways for a view of the sea and the harbour. If you’re lucky with the weather, it’s worth spending a full day to soak in a quiet, open village, and be entertained all the way through.