Chiayi’s late-night eatery: an affordable Japanese-style yakitori spot with fruit skewers!

Text & Photos /Sir San Gao

I was already full after having grilled meat in the evening, and didn’t head out until after drinking coffee at the hotel around 9 PM. After all, since it’s not often I come to Chiayi, I felt I should still have a simple late-night snack. The Grass Carp Porridge shop near the West District wasn’t open, so I somehow ended up at the Wenhua Road Night Market. I took a little stroll, and Zhenzhen Seafood Porridge was still packed with customers. There were several late-night food spots on Wenhua Road, such as A-Xia, Guo Family, the Soy Milk Stall, and Dong Market Lu Shu Rou run by young people... etc. Since I didn’t have much of an appetite that day and only wanted to eat a little, I came to this Ran Shou Skewers, which had only been open for a few months.

I’d already had grilled meat for dinner, and now I’m having skewers for a late-night meal—seems a bit much, doesn’t it? The entrance of this small shop has a freezer, where you pick your own food before paying, quite in the style of Taiwanese barbecue. However, the shop name is very Japanese, the grilling method is also very Japanese, and the presentation of the skewered ingredients has a mixed Taiwanese-Japanese feel. What’s particularly unique are a few skewers wrapped with fruit—beef with apple, pork with pineapple—which made me want to try one. Judging by Taiwanese barbecue standards, the prices are a bit on the higher side, but compared to dedicated Japanese specialty shops, they’re actually quite cheap. It’s just that the handwritten sign uses “Q?quot; (yen), so if any Japanese pass by, they might mistakenly think the prices are in yen.

There are a few round tables inside for dine-in. Business is pretty good. Since I only wanted to enjoy the flavors, I didn’t order much, and since I was driving, I didn’t drink alcohol.

The texture of the sliced meat used isn’t bad—adequate for the price. The grilling was slightly overdone and a bit dry, but it was still quite juicy when you bit into it. The beef and apple skewer had a big slice of apple, juicy, though the beef flavor was rather ordinary, making the apple flavor stand out more. If better-quality beef were used to enhance the richness, even if the price went up, it wouldn’t be a problem—in fact, I’d be even more inclined to buy it. I liked the pork and pineapple skewer more—the fat from the pork paired well with the sweet-and-sour pineapple, cutting through the richness.

I also ordered chicken drumsticks, chicken gizzards, and chicken neck meat. The chicken neck meat, like in specialized Japanese izakaya-style skewers, is deboned and stacked in layers. But overall, the few things I tried were a bit coarse—okay to have with alcohol. At this price point, you can’t expect too much.

And so ends this simple late-night meal. When I’m in Central or Southern Taiwan, it’s rare that I go a few meals without having local specialties. Maybe in the future, I’ll reduce the local snacks a bit and gradually start trying other kinds of food.

Ran Shou Skewers
Address: No. 157, Wenhua Road, West District, Chiayi City
Business Hours: 6:00 PM – 12:30 AM
Phone: 05-2233808

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