50-Year-Old Classic Flavors in Hsinchu: 20 Types of Warm Oden and Affordable Assorted Sushi

Text & Photos /Beluga

Zhudong Town, once one of Taiwan’s three major townships, is named for its location east of Hsinchu. Rich in culture and blessed with pleasant scenery, it’s a great place to live. The town’s streets are full of authentic Hakka cuisine, yet〔Zhudong Oden & Sushi〕has managed to rise above and remain steady for 50 years. Their menu is simple—just oden and sushi—but it has won over both locals and tech workers. On a chilly winter day, you’ve got to go to〔Zhudong Oden & Sushi〕for some steaming hot oden and endless bowls of katsuobushi broth.

Want nori sushi but don’t want to miss out on inari? Then go all out with an assorted sushi platter that brings together all the classic flavors. How much does such a big plate of assorted sushi cost? Not much, not much—just 60 NT, and you get freshly made traditional flavors every day.

After coming all this way to〔Zhudong Oden & Sushi〕, the real star is, of course, the huge pot of varied oden on the cart.

Meatball skewers, chikuwa, shrimp chips, radish, fish balls... nearly twenty kinds of simmered treats. At this point, you can only blame your small stomach.

〔Zhudong Oden & Sushi〕doesn’t have a price list, but it somehow has magic powers that made my family and I go crazy and grab two huge plates each.

Simple street food, when dipped in the shop’s special sweet-spicy sauce, instantly elevates this dragon-phoenix leg into a deluxe big chicken drumstick.

When visiting an oden shop, you have to try their oden skewers; the bitter melon meatballs even won praise from my family members who usually don’t like bitter melon.

From the interview clippings on the wall, we learned that this fried tofu and vermicelli dish—similar to Tamsui’s A-Gei—is the shop’s most popular oden item.

The cabbage roll wrapped in fish paste is lightly sweet and refreshing, but too small—Beluga’s little mouth finished it in just two bites.

After finishing a huge bowl of oden, of course you’ve got to boldly head back to the cart to scoop up bowl after bowl of free soup. It may look plain, but it’s made with a katsuobushi broth simmered with radish, corn, and various vegetables. No wonder regulars get hooked after just one taste.

Zhudong Oden & Sushi
Address: No. 31, Donglin Rd., Zhudong Township, Hsinchu County (next to the bustling Ren’ai Market in Zhudong)　
Phone: 03-5956059　
Business Hours: 10:00–24:00

Beluga, who loves sharing, photography, and travel
Happy photography lets me see the world from different angles; enjoying delicious food lets me savor life’s simple joys.

Delicious food available all day long
Download the “ETtoday News Cloud APP” for the latest food updates →
iOS:https://goo.gl/rmIDdx
Android:https://goo.gl/XPe8Uj