Skewered pork rice – tender and flavorful, the fatty richness lingers deliciously on the palate. "Dudu Hao" is so succulent yet never greasy.

Photos & Text byXiao Hu’s Dream Food Blog

If you're familiar with my food adventures, you might know about this late-night eatery I both love and dread... It serves my favorite skewered pork rice, but it's so rich and delicious that I often find it impossible to stop eating. Yes, it’s the “Skewered” pork rice located at the head of Huajiang Bridge.

To be honest, I don’t like writing about the same place repeatedly unless it’s a spot that frequently updates its menu. Even for the 【Yongkang Street, Taipei City Hall Station】8% Ice Cream Specialty Shop, which I’ve visited over a hundred times, I’ve only written three or four articles. For small shops that sell just one or two items, I usually write one piece and call it quits — but this time, it’s because of “the book.” Since I’ve already taken the photos, I figured I’d write another piece to help new readers discover it =)

This little shop is a late-night spot. In the past, it was open from 9 PM to 9 AM and only closed on Sundays, but over the past year or two, its hours have gotten shorter (apparently selling out by midnight), and this year the official operating hours were changed to 9 PM to 5 AM, with weekends off.

The star of the menu is naturally the skewered pork rice. It’s called “Skewered” because two or three toothpicks are stuck into the pork — obviously to keep it from falling apart. But using toothpicks to secure the pork isn’t uncommon in southern Taiwan. That said, the shape of the pork they refer to as “skewered pork” (block-shaped) in the south is still a little different from the sliced version (sliced) up north.

When I first started eating here, each bowl cost 45 NT$, but it went up to 50 NT$ a year ago. Along with a not-too-big piece of pork, you can choose two daily stir-fried dishes. My top pick is “Tomato and Egg Stir-Fry,” and the other one varies — unless there’s a bento dish I always order, like “Stir-Fried Eggplant.”

I often say the best-tasting food is the kind that leaves you wanting just a little more. So no matter how good it is, I don’t “add extra.” But here, I completely can’t resist — I always end up ordering an extra piece after finishing one. Eventually, I just started getting 1+1 every time...

And when I go for the 1+1 combo, I usually get one normal piece (half lean, half fatty) and ask the boss to give me a fattier piece. After a while, the boss just started giving me two fatty ones... and I silently accepted it...

If you ask me why I love this place’s skewered pork so much, my answer might disappoint you — it’s the old cliché of “melts in your mouth” and “fatty but not greasy.” But really, it’s the perfect harmony between the sweetness of the fat and the saltiness of the pork sauce, where adding more of either would throw it off.

Then, one day I suddenly noticed some old-school pickled cucumbers on the table — something I hadn’t spotted in dozens of previous visits... But honestly, it’s just average — okay for changing the flavor, but not particularly delicious.

I have a standard routine for eating this skewered pork. With the first of the two pieces, I always eat it right when it’s served (usually the half-lean, half-fatty one), savoring the simple joy of that rich, oily, melt-in-your-mouth pork disappearing in my mouth, and relishing the slightly sticky, slightly tangled, slightly sweet aftertaste on my lips. That flavor is what made me fall in love and keep coming back again and again, even showing up in the middle of the night, even though I know eating it too often might give me a heart attack...

With the second piece, I deliberately break it up and mix it into the white rice before eating. This serves two purposes: first, the rice helps tone down any potential greasiness from the second piece of pork, and second, the pork sauce drizzled over the rice is absolutely delicious. That salty yet not-greasy sauce is another reason I fell for “Skewered.” Ps: I also love their tomato and egg stir-fry because the trio of pork, sauce, and rice creates a wonderful synergy — simply put, it adds an eggy texture to the melted meat and softened rice, and a touch of sourness amid the saltiness and sweetness. This mix gives the whole bowl of pork rice more texture and layers of flavor.

Food critic Chiao Tung once said that a good braised pork rice should still deliver the aroma of the sauce and rice even in the very last bite — and the same goes for this bowl of skewered pork rice. Even when there’s barely any pork left in the final few bites, it still leaves your mouth watering. It’s truly irresistible.

Finishing every single grain of rice is the highest form of respect I can pay to this bowl of skewered pork rice. Seeing that empty bowl, I’m suddenly reminded of the phrase “eating with longing.”

Here, you can usually choose from three soups: one is plain meatball soup (pretty ordinary), another is a well-whipped egg drop soup, and the third is bamboo shoot soup, which I think pairs best with the rich, oily pork rice. Honestly, if I had to pick a favorite among the three, it’d be the egg drop soup, but the bamboo shoot soup is the most refreshing of the bunch — and the main reason I end up not even considering the other two.

Skewered Pork Rice: No. 566, Section 2, Wenhua Road, Banqiao District, New Taipei City (on the Banqiao side of Huajiang Bridge), Phone: 0968 895 125. Business Hours: 9 PM to 5 AM (closed on Saturdays and Sundays).

[JiangZicui Station Eats - Skewed Pork Rice] Address: No. 566, Section 2, Wenhua Road, Banqiao District, New Taipei City (on the Banqiao side of Huajiang Bridge)

Phone: 0968 895 125

Business Hours: 9 PM to 5 AM (closed on Saturdays and Sundays)

Xiao Hu’s Dream Food Blog
If “eating” is just about filling your stomach, then “food” would be far too boring~~~