A New Experience with Traditional Rice Foods: Hsinchu Rice Noodle Museum

Ever since we had little Ilya, we’ve been picking family-friendly destinations that offer educational and hands-on experiences so the children can learn something while playing~
Today’s plan was to visit the Hsinchu Rice Noodle Museum at ‘Lao Guo Leisure Farm.’ We drove onto National Freeway 3, exited at Xiangshan Interchange, and it was about 5 kilometers to the destination. Although the weather wasn’t great that day, the kids were absolutely thrilled because they got to eat rice noodles~

◆Hsinchu — Lao Guo Leisure Farm
Address of Lao Guo Leisure Farm: No. 569, Section 6, Xibin Road, Xiangshan District, Hsinchu City
Business Hours: 08:30 ~ 17:30When you talk about Hsinchu, rice noodles and meatballs definitely come to mind. Lao Guo Leisure Farm was a key player back in the heyday of Hsinchu’s rice noodle production. Whether it was the craftsmanship or the quality of the noodles, it was highly regarded locally. Their own rice is even considered representative of “Hsinchu Rice Noodles,” and it was one of the contributing factors that helped this local specialty become famous throughout the province.
It’s a pity that it rained that day; otherwise, our two little ones definitely wouldn’t have wanted to leave. As we entered the main hall of Lao Guo, there was a whole area filled with rice noodle-themed souvenirs. The farm owner, Mr. Kuo, has been helping his family make rice noodles since childhood. Fueled by his passion for them, he created his own brand, “Nanxing Brand” rice noodles, and developed dozens of flavors. To be honest, if we hadn’t come to Lao Guo today, we’d never have known there were so many varieties of rice noodles to choose from. It’s a perfect place to buy gifts for family and friends.
Such as: making rice noodles by hand, grass jelly DIY, zongzi wrapping, peanut candy making... and other activities that allow kids to come here and create these foods themselves—it’s really a lot of fun. But before diving into the DIY, it’s probably more important to fill up your stomach first, right? Otherwise, how will you have the energy to make anything later? Laoguo Restaurant is quite spacious, with a large number of tables. By the time we finished taking photos, several tour buses—likely company outings—arrived and instantly filled up the place. Aside from school field trips, company tour itineraries often include Laoguo as one of the attraction stops, allowing families to enjoy fun activities while also engaging in hands-on DIY experiences. Let’s get to the menu quickly though—otherwise, if the place gets crowded and food takes longer to prepare, you might be waiting quite a while to eat! Laoguo offers: rice noodles, q-fan (a type of rice dish), Hakka cuisine, soups, coffee, and beverages.And of course, when you’re here, you absolutely must try Laoguo’s rice noodles.

At ‘Lao Guo Leisure Farm,’ you can experience making many ingredients by hand, which Rongrong really enjoys. In the end, you can even take some home to enjoy yourself. No matter how well you do, recalling what you learned, saw, and made at Lao Guo makes the food taste especially delicious because it’s something you created with your own hands. It also gives you a deeper appreciation for how intricate the process of making rice noodles is. Upholding traditional methods and delivering the most delicious rice noodle flavors to guests is the philosophy that Lao Guo Leisure Farm steadfastly adheres to.

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