Late-night snacks on Jinhua Road in Tainan: sausage and cured meat stalls, mulberry milk snow ice packed with fillings

Text and photos bySan Gao Chi Han

This is my second food hunt on Jinhua Road at night~ The liveliest spot has to be Hupou, not far from Xizai. I thought I’d come back when it’s less crowded, even though I had just eaten Ah Jia’s sausage and cured meat from Dongcai Market that morning. But seeing Xizai again in the evening made my mouth water—“Just have a little slice!” I told myself...

It’s understandable that the sausage and cured meat stall didn’t have a huge crowd—after all, a few random slices could easily cost a few hundred NT dollars. It might be better to come with friends for drinks. I looked around and decided not to overeat, so I started with the refreshing bamboo shoot and bitter melon combo, then added some fried shrimp rolls. The other fried items looked tasty, but my summer appetite was low.

If there were more people, maybe I’d go for a whole squid too！ After ordering, you can head to the indoor area next door, which actually has a clean environment and air conditioning.

The bamboo shoots had fine fibers and decent sweetness—if served ice cold, they’d probably be even better. The fish balls were soft and refreshing, not overly rich, and the shrimp rolls were refried before serving, making them super crispy. These dishes were pretty straightforward in flavor but satisfying overall~

The owner said they’d make us a bowl of radish soup (turns out it was a big communal bowl). It’s not radish season right now, but it still tasted good—I imagine it’d be even better in winter. I found the service here friendly and the dining environment comfortable.

Back near the first stall I tried, Zheng Family Beef Soup, the Longxing Ice Shop gets busier the later it gets. This summer has been the season I’ve eaten the most ice in recent years, starting with my trip to Changhua in May.

Probably because I’ve had a lot of mango ice recently, I decided to switch things up and ordered mulberry milk snow ice and green mango ice. Then I saw the love-apple mango milk snow ice ordered by the table next to me—it looked amazing—and when I looked at the price, it was only 90 NT...

The mango bits are homemade by the shop, seemingly added generously without much concern for cost, along with brown sugar syrup. The sour-spicy level is really quite high—it might be too intense for anyone who doesn’t love sour flavors.

The mulberry milk snow ice is drizzled with juice pressed from mulberries, and the flavor is quite nice. The craziest part is that this bowl is packed with mulberries—there were at least 50 of them, almost too many to finish. Now I understand why there’s a small line even though the place is so popular—the value-for-money at this ice shop is really high.

Xizai Sausage and Cured Meat
Address: No. 110, Section 4, Jinhua Road, West Central District, Tainan City
Business hours: 4:00 PM – 12:00 AM
Longxing Ice Shop
Address: No. 39, Section 4, Jinhua Road, West Central District, Tainan City
Business hours: 11:00 AM – 1:00 AM (next day)

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