Pingtung’s “Ah Gong Dian” Snack Shop – Searching for That Delicious Taste from the Past

Text & Photos by

Shadow

A long-planned food trip to Chaozhou was finally happening. While this outing was just another typical eating and drinking adventure, what mattered most was revisiting a bowl of noodles I used to enjoy as a child. The memory was vague, but the only thing I clearly recalled was dry noodles with sesame sauce.

After searching online before the trip, I found this snack shop called Ah Gong Dian, which has been around for over 30 years. I wasn’t sure if it was the same taste I remembered, so I had to go and try it myself.


The shop isn’t far from Chaozhou High School, tucked away in a quiet alley. Quite a few people know about this place, probably because it was featured on the show “Foodie Safari.” There were both out-of-town visitors and locals, making for a lively atmosphere. The noodle lady’s voice could be heard from quite a distance. When she noticed us taking photos, she joked that we should make her look prettier, then pretended to focus seriously on cooking the noodles—only to burst into laughter the next second.


When we came to eat, business was booming. Too many customers showed up at once, and the lady couldn’t remember who ordered what, so she had to confirm with each table again. It might’ve helped to spend a little on printed order slips to avoid mix-ups. The dining area is your typical traditional noodle shop—I don’t think much explanation is needed.


Taiwanese noodle shops usually offer some side dishes like sliced meats or braised items to go with the noodles, so we picked a few small dishes too.

The shop keeps things simple, selling only four items: dry noodles, soup noodles, wonton soup, and wonton noodles—all priced between NT$40 and NT$50.


The side dishes arrived first: the soy-marinated egg, which was pretty standard and had a very common flavor.


Side dishes for NT$60 (including soy-marinated egg). The dried tofu was sliced into strips and sold this way for the first time—I’d never seen that before. The pig skin was braised to a soy-sauce brown color but wasn’t overly salty. It had a nice chewy texture. The side dishes weren’t drenched in sauces; the main ingredients were already well-braised, with just a light drizzle of soy sauce for extra flavor.

Dry noodles for NT$45/small. Maybe childhood memories are too fuzzy, or maybe after having eaten so many similar noodle dishes over the years, I can’t quite recall how that nostalgic flavor was supposed to be. But the wide white noodles paired with pickled mustard greens really did resemble the bowl from back then. Once the sesame sauce was added, the aroma filled the air.


After giving it a good stir, the noodles took on color and looked incredibly appetizing. They were a bit soft—if they’d been taken off the heat a bit earlier, they might have had more bite. The pickled mustard greens added variety and definitely made the dish more enjoyable. It was delicious, indeed.


Soup noodles for NT$40/small. Did the shopkeeper deliberately scoop a spoonful of sesame sauce into the ladle? Indeed, I seem to recall that Chaozhou-style soup noodles also add a bit of sesame sauce to enhance the flavor, yet without overpowering the original broth. However, compared to the dry noodles, the soup version wasn’t as impressive. It seemed most people came here for the dry noodles. As for the broth—it had so many things added that the actual taste was hard to discern.

Wonton soup for NT$40/small. It’s hard to describe the broth here—it was soy-sauce colored but not very salty. Was meat sauce broth added? Who knows.


Wonton soup for NT$40/small. The wontons were tiny and adorable—more like one-bite wonders, really. No wonder there were so many of them. Perhaps because they’re so small, the meat filling inside was minimal too. Putting just one in your mouth didn’t quite satisfy—it took several wontons at once to really feel their presence.

The rustic, old-school charm of Ah Gong Dian brought back that childhood taste I’d been craving. It’s a noodle shop recommended by locals. The passionate noodle lady’s loud voice left a deep impression. After saying goodbye, we headed to the hot air balloon event venue. We’ll definitely come back when we get the chance. Next time you visit Chaozhou, don’t forget to try the authentic, traditional dry noodles. Highly recommended to everyone.

[Ah Gong Dian]Address:
No. 45, Siwei Rd., Chaozhou Township, Pingtung CountyBusiness Hours:
07:00–20:00Shadow

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