Dounan’s Late-Night Dining Spot: The Heartwarming Taste of Dogtail Chicken and Seafood Stir-Fries

Text & Photos /San Gao Eats Han

On the second evening of a three-day, two-night Qingming holiday itinerary, we drove straight from Kaohsiung to Dounan (not speeding would’ve been a death wish, right?)  After checking in and resting at the Royal Dynasty Hotel, we headed out for dinner. Dounan’s nights go dark quite early, which made this Dogtail Chicken spot especially eye-catching. In fact, the meal turned out surprisingly delicious—especially the ingredients and quality of the stir-fried dishes, which you wouldn’t expect from a place like this.

It was already late, so there weren’t many customers in the shop. I’m not sure if the place had been renovated, but it was actually pretty nice and air-conditioned. Sitting at the low bamboo tables and chairs, I almost thought I’d walked into some kind of claypot chicken restaurant. When it came time to order, we got a small pot of Dogtail Chicken, which was enough for two or three people, along with a few other stir-fried dishes to go with rice.

The Dogtail Chicken needed some time to prepare, so we started with some side dishes to tide us over. The signature braised pork rice didn’t really win me over—maybe it was the cooking time, but the pork lard lacked the richness of fat, leaving a greasy aftertaste, and the braising sauce didn’t really penetrate the rice. Honestly, ordering plain white rice would’ve been better.

The stir-fried fern (Shan Su) was right up my alley. The fern was tender, and they used plenty of fermented black beans, dried small fish, and garlic. The higher oil content helped blend the sweetness of the fermented black beans with the aroma of the dried fish and garlic, making it really tasty.

The bamboo shoot with pork belly is a spring-limited dish, so we ordered it to try. It was already pre-cooked, so it came out quickly. The bamboo shoots’ fibers felt a bit coarse, but it was okay. The flavor had the home-cooked style of an older generation—hard to describe, with a slightly salty soy sauce taste.

That piece of “Q meat” (tender braised meat) had already been slow-cooked until it fell apart at the touch of chopsticks—perfect with plain rice.

The garlic chives stir-fried with clams used big, plump clams that practically squirted juice—I thought I’d stepped into a fishing port. Although they used some satay seasoning, it wasn’t heavy-handed, and the natural briny flavor of the clams still stood out.

Finally, the chive blossoms with scallops were stir-fried quickly over high heat with something like XO sauce, full of wok hei (breath of the wok). The chive blossoms were tender and free of any off-flavors, with a sweet crispness from the onions. Tossed in were no fewer than seven or eight scallops—generous portions indeed.

The Dogtail Chicken soup was as good as expected. The soup also had smaller clams (not as big as the stir-fried ones), and it was sweet and savory. The chicken was, as expected, delicious, nothing too surprising, but dipping it in a bit of spicy oil and soy sauce was great too.

The whole meal cost less than NT$1,200, and the portions were actually quite generous. Although Dogtail Chicken can be ordered for delivery, eating here is definitely better because the stir-fried dishes are just as good as the star dish itself—really tasty.

Traditional-Style Dogtail Chicken
No. 57, Zhongzheng Road, Dounan Township, Yunlin County
5:00 PM – 1:00 AM (Closed Tuesdays)
05-5969789

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