The Jiu Fen Old Street (九份老街) is lined with shops selling all kinds of food. One of the highly recommended snacks is the deep-fried shallot cake (油蔥粿), specifically the one with the sign indicating 'deep-fried shallot cake in front of the post office' (郵局前油蔥粿).
This is actually steamed rice-flour cake sprinkled with deep-fried shallot. It tasted quite nice when garnished with the sweet soy sauce. It is very soft and easy to bite.
Another famous snack, or dessert, to be exact, is the taro ball. The balls are made of yam and sago flour. There are many shops selling this dessert but the best one, according to my travel guidebook, is at this Auntie A-Gan Sweet Taro Ball (阿柑姨芋圓). This unassuming shop is situated at a side lane with steps leading up to a hill.
It was a candy store beside the Jiu Fen Primary School but now with extension at the back of the shop overlooking the Pacific Ocean. As we walked through the shop, we could see that all the edible balls were freshly prepared.
We had the warm mixed version with taro balls, sweet potato balls, red beans and green beans. The taro balls and sweet potato balls were very fragrant and chewy. The red and green beans were boiled to almost paste-like texture that melted in the mouth with just a touch of the tongue. It is a nice dessert to taste when you are in Jiu Fen.
