Taipei also has traditional ice shops. This 70-year-old shop in Wanhua serves cakes made entirely of pure ice cream.

I remember as a kid, eating an ice cream cake was a luxury. The birthday child would sweat and struggle to cut through the hard cake, but their face would be all smiles. With international brands entering the market, ice cream cakes don’t seem so rare anymore. But if you want to try the most old-school taro, plum, or red bean-flavored “bobo” cake, you’ll have to head to the historic Ximending area in Taipei to find “Yongfu Ice Cream,” which has stood strong for 70 years.

Text and photos / Mirror Media Weekly

Starting with a single food cart, the first-generation owner pushed it on foot from Taoyuan to various spots in Taipei and Keelung, selling in the summer and winter. In summer, they sold rainbow ice, and in winter, they sold oil sticks, fried dough twists, and sweet glutinous rice balls. “A lot of people back then didn’t even know what ice cream was. Later, this area developed, and we finally got a store. We prepared ingredients in the morning, sold all day, and then made more at night,” the second-generation owner recalled. When asked why they didn’t switch to a simpler model, he said it wasn’t feasible, and in the end, they stuck with the original method passed down by the first person.

Marrying into the old ice shop, with capable in-laws, hardship came with the territory—but luckily, the children are thoughtful and eager to help out. “My son, back when he was in university and doing his military service, would come home to help whenever he had time. My daughter originally wanted to study abroad, but she stayed to help the family,” said Huang Su-zhen, pointing to her busy children behind the counter, unable to hide her proud smile.

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