Taiwan is a country of foodies. It’s evident in the variety of their foods and the way their Chinese, Japanese and Western influences have been mashed together to create a distinct cuisine enjoyed by many. Despite the compact size of this little country, there manages to be dishes unique to the island created from the lavish offerings of the land and sea.

Tainan is no exception to this rule. The southern city is known as one of the best places to eat in Taiwan, and boasts many of its own specialties. Though the migration of dishes throughout the country means that you can now find a lot of these dishes all around Taiwan, we figure it’s best to go to their home city to try it where they know it best.

The Original Pearl Milk Tea at Hanlin Tea House (翰林茶館)

Pearl milk tea (珍珠奶茶), also known by names such as boba or bubble tea, has existed supposedly since the 1980s and consists of small balls of chewy tapioca (the pearls) sitting in a sweetened milky tea drink. Supposedly, the “pearls” refer to smaller white tapioca balls whereas “bubble” refers to the bigger black tapioca pearls that are more commonly consumed, though in Taiwan, these are all often still referred to as “pearls (珍珠)” on the menu.

Despite its long existence and its popularity amongst certain groups within the Asian community its popularity recently skyrocketed, resulting in its widespread enjoyment. We’ve drunk pearl tea on occasion since we were children, and figured that when in Taiwan we may as well look for the original. Two such shops claim this title, one hailing from Tainan.

The Hanlin Tea House (珍珠奶茶) has an extensive menu of both food and drink, but we were there just for one item. We went for the Panda Bubble Fresh Milk Tea (熊貓鮮奶茶) which includes both the small white “pearls” and the larger black “bubbles” in addition to using fresh milk rather than a substitute such as creamers, milk powders, or condensed milk. This will set you back NTD95 (US$3.10), which is very pricy compared to the typical NTD60-75 of other drinks of a similar size. You can also choose its sugar level at 0, 30, 50, 80, or 100%.

At 30% sugar, we found it was an acceptable sweetness for our personal preference. The milk tea is of pretty average quality, enjoyable to say the least but not spectacular or outstanding. The pearls were surprisingly nice, soft with a slight sweet fragrance. A reliable milk tea, though perhaps not for the price.

Wa Guey (碗粿) Steamed Rice Bowl Cakes at Fu Sheng Hao (富盛號)

It was a little difficult finding info on this elusive specialty, but it is best described as a savoury rice cake with pork, mushroom, and egg steamed in a bowl to retain its shape. It’s often served with a savoury-sweet sauce, minced raw garlic, and chilli sauce, but that mostly depends on the store you visit.

Despite how difficult it is to find information on it, these rice cakes are virtually everywhere in Southern Taiwan, and especially so in Tainan. We visited a restaurant famous in Tainan for this dish specifically, with their wa guey making up one of two items on their menu. One bowl is NTD35 (US$1.15) and of a decent size, enough for a small meal or a hefty snack.

It has the texture of a typical steamed rice cake, firm but with a bit of a squish. The rice cake itself is seasoned enough that it can be enjoyed on its own, but the flavour is boosted by the sauce and spicy raw garlic. The mushrooms add good umami and the pork, though sparing, is tender and melty. Though it might be a strange sort of food to those who haven’t had something similar, it’s a tasty, savoury treat that’s bound to fill you up until the next meal.

Fresh Taiwanese Cakes by Weight at A Mei Fresh Cakes (阿美現烤古早味蛋糕)

Taiwan has huge influences from Japanese food due to their colonial rule for 50 years over the early 20^th century. There’s no way that Taiwan would go so long without exhibiting some of it, especially in the food. Because of this, you can find things such as tempura or tianbula (甜不辣) and egg cakes cooked in shaped iron moulds, though neither quite in the original Japanese form.

Retrospectively, we ate several Japanese-influenced products in Taiwan without even noticing. One was castella, originally a Portuguese cake that was eventually brought over to Taiwan via the Japanese and gradually adapted for local tastes. There, the cake takes form of something between a sponge and the famous jiggly Japanese cheesecakes to create moist, light, fluffy yellow cake that is both airy but substantial.

We passed by this store and decided to stop because of the alluring scent of baking cake and the horde of boys gathered, waiting to buy the fresh products. Here, the cakes go by weight. They have a few cakes in their display case, huge slabs that put sheet cakes to shame, which you choose and have them slice to the portions that you’d like.

Besides the delightful honey castella, we also bought some of the brownie which seemed very popular. It’s more like a cake but to our surprise, the brownie is much softer, a little more crumbly. The cocoa flavour is strong and decadent, the slight bitterness adding depth. Despite the size of the brownie we’d purchased, we ended up finishing it while we walked through Shennong Street not 200 metres away from the location of the shop. It was absolutely delicious.

Glutinous Rice Sugar Sticks (白糖粿) at an Old Man’s Stand (趙家白糖粿)

Once more, Taiwan’s love of that chewy, toothsome “QQ” texture is exemplified through their favourite snacks. Glutinous rice is use for many things for its stretchy, pliant properties once cooked, and these sweet snacks are no exception. A common snack found everywhere throughout the country is bai tang guo (白糖粿). A dough is made combining glutinous rice starch and water and deep fried, then coated in sugar. It’s Taiwan’s answer to doughnuts, and a very good one at that.

The place where we bought ours is nothing more than a cart operated by an old man who’s supposedly been doing this for years. One stick is NTD20 (US$0.65), made fresh to order so it’s piping hot when he hands it over. The outside is lightly crisp, the inside tender and almost gooey in texture, cooling to a delightfully soft chew. Seasoned with just a little bit of sugar, you can taste the fragrance of the rice amongst the light sweetness of the snack. Delicious! Try a fresh one if you can!

Toothsome Steamed Dumplings (肉圓) at Tooth Ba Wan (牙齒肉圓)

Ba wan (肉圓) is the Hokkien pronunciation of the characters which translate roughly to “meat rounds”. It’s a steamed dumpling filled with a funky mix of pork, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms. The skin is made of potato starch, giving it a distinct slippery-soft texture and colour. It’s often served straight from the steamer, though there are also versions where the dumplings are kept warm in oil to prevent from drying out, which results in a light chew of the skin.

The shop we visited has the steamed version shaped in geometrical hexagons, which we noticed was pretty common at least in Southern Taiwan. It likely uses a mould or a machine, as each dumpling is very uniform. It’s possibly because of this shape that the shop is called牙齒肉圓, or “tooth ba wan”.

These come with a good splash of a sweet and savoury sauce, and a plate of 5 will set you back NTD45 (US$1.50). The filling was more flavourful than we expected, full of umami which we suspected is from the Taiwanese barbecue sauce, which has dried shrimp. It’s also a little sweet and pungent from the bamboo shoots, but with the soft potato-starch skin, makes for a delicious dumpling.

Fresh Spring Rolls (潤餅) at Golden Spring Roll (金得春捲)

Spring rolls are enjoyed all throughout East and Southeast Asia, with similar foods existing all throughout the world. One lesser-known Asian spring roll is one that is not deep-fried using a paper-thin flour skin that is wrapped around a large assortment of fillings, most commonly known as popiah. In Taiwan it’s called runbing (潤餅) in Mandarin or junpia or lunpia in the Hokkien dialect.

Compared to spring rolls, popiah have a much more complex filling, often several different components much like a burrito. The one we visited includes cabbage, tofu, garlic, peanuts, coriander leaves, and egg, just to name a few. We bought it at Golden Spring Roll (金得春捲), which caught our eye because of a huge queue which lasted pretty much all day.

One popiah here costs NTD40 (US$1.30), which is exceptionally cheap given its size. It’s full to capacity and bursting with flavours and textures because of the sheer number of components. Though not special to Tainan, it’s still delicious, and a great meal given its size.

Slack Season Noodles (擔仔麵) at Small Park (小公園擔仔麵)

This soup noodle is a Tainanese original. Consisting of egg noodles in a shrimp soup with shrimp, coriander and garlic, its small serving size often denotes it as a snack or a very light meal. It’s commonly known as dan zi mian (擔仔麵) or ta-a mi in Hokkien. At the restaurant we visited, one bowl is NTD45 (US$1.50), a fair price given its small size.

Though it’s most commonly a shrimp broth made with boiled shrimp heads, here the broth tastes more of pork, which is probably a cheaper alternative. Still, it’s hearty and rich, and slurps up well with the egg noodle. Add a dash of vinegar and the rich broth becomes mellow and sweet, and toasty from the fragrant chilli oil. Though perhaps not the best place to come for these noodles, these ones were nothing to turn your nose up at. Regardless, when in Tainan, you’ve got to try these.

Taiwan is a country of foodies, unafraid of combining flavours and textures and experimenting with their influences. While Taipei is hailed as a metropolitan, Tainan is the must-visit for foodies. Southern Taiwan, with its treasure trove of specialties, will make sure you leave full and satisfied, but will always beckon you back for more.