Taiwan Offers a Mouthwatering Selection of Packaged Desserts
TEXT I HAN CHEUNG
PHOTOS | VISION
Whether it’s mooncakes and pomelos for the Mid-Autumn Festival or sticky rice for a baby’s one-month birthday, giving edible gifts is an integral part of Taiwan culture. Tourists can also bring attractively packaged snacks home as presents; these are easily found in specialty shops across the island, including at international airports.
When traveling to different parts of Taiwan, locals and many in-the-know travelers from overseas love shopping for regional specialty snacks, even queueing up for hours for certain items. Whether it be a century-old shop or a trendy fusion patisserie, the makers all draw from Taiwan’s rich and diverse traditions and abundant natural bounty.
Smille
While Sunny Hills’ pineapple cakes are a must-try for visitors, this renowned brand has launched a new venture, Smille, offering French mille-feuille with a Taiwanese twist. Opened in November 2023 in a greenery-filled concrete space in Taipei’s historic Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, the shop specializes in 25cm-long, U-shaped pastries filled with local fruits and other delectables. These “smilles” are designed to be easily eaten on the go, and visitors can learn about Taiwanese fruits and how they’re processed into sweets through the shop displays.
Smille has since also opened stands at Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Art Center and Taichung’s Qingshui Service Area. Currently, five flavors are available: creamy pineapple custard, banana and guava with nuts, Kougyoku apple with shortbread and cinnamon, lemon meringue with dried strawberry, lemon coulis and smoked chicken, and brandy dried fruit with chocolate ganache and hazelnut. The Taipei shop also offers seasonal fizzy drinks; those who don’t have their own thermos can buy Smille’s reusable “mille cup,” which is made from plant material and is biodegradable.
Smille is constantly innovating, with one key goal to help Taiwanese farmers. By adopting Japanese candying techniques, the company aims to create new, high-value products that will help to ensure year-round demand for the farmers’ produce used as ingredients.
Smille
(微笑蜜樂)
Tel: 080-029-2767
Add: No. 133, Guangfu S. Rd., Xinyi District, Taipei City
(inside Songshan Cultural and Creative Park)
(台北市信義區光復南路133號 | 松山文創園區內)
Hours: 11am-7pm
Website: www.smille.com.tw (Chinese)
FB: facebook.com/smille.tw
IG: instagram.com/smille.tw
L’Atelier Lotus
Melding classic Taiwanese crackers with the ageless edible gift of nougat, L’Atelier Lotus only opens for about an hour per day – and still often closes early due to selling out. Its sweets have become a smash hit, especially among Korean tourists, many bringing empty suitcases with them to the sole store in Taipei’s Yongkang Street tourist hub. Even K-pop stars such as Leeteuk and Kim Sejeong have enjoyed and publicly endorsed them.
The nougat is presented in attractive Tiffany Blue bags, which start flying off the shelves at 9am sharp – get there early to ensure a good place in the queue. Each customer is limited to 10 boxes, but the staff may limit sales depending on the crowd size. There are only two flavors: crispy scallion cracker and “golden coin,” a sweet-and-savory crunchy biscuit – both evoking childhood memories for Taiwanese.
The creator is a chef who studied at Le Cordon Bleu and Ecole Gastronomique Bellouet Conseil in France, interned at a Michelin restaurant there, and has 20 years of experience making sweets. Each generous helping of nougat is soft, aromatic, and chewy but doesn’t stick to the teeth, its milky sweetness and texture contrasting pleasantly with the savory crackers.
L’Atelier Lotus
(甜滿)
Add: No. 10, Ln. 31, Yongkang St., Daan District, Taipei City
(台北市大安區永康街31巷10號)
Hours: 9am-10am (or until stock lasts)
Red on Tree
In 2019, designer Jamie Wei Huang included Red on Tree’s French-style Black Queen lychee jam in her goodie bag at London Fashion Week, to rave reviews. The visually striking two-layer jam pairs rich, chewy yet crisp black leaf lychee from Erlin Township, Changhua County, with aromatic and tart Black Queen wine grape from Taiping District, Taichung City. Like the rest of the company’s ingredients, the lychees used were meticulously sourced, with the jam makers visiting farmers and testing all sorts of cultivars until zeroing in on the black leaf.
Another notable variety used is the “ten-thousand-year red lychee,” which is only found on two trees in Caotun Township, Nantou County. The fruits on their own are not popular due to their high acidity, but Red on Tree has found them highly suitable to turn into jams. Only 350 to 400 jars are made per year.
Starting from their first jar of artisanal red guava jam in 2008, Red on Tree has developed a mouthwatering array of all-natural products using fruits from small farmers across Taiwan. The origin of the fruits is noted on each jar. The company’s name refers to the Taiwanese phrase “tsai tsang ang,” describing the “extraordinarily savory taste of fruit when it is harvested from its bearing branch at the fully ripe stage.”
However, one rarely finds such fruit in the market, as crops are generally harvested before this stage due to transportation and storage concerns. But it’s possible if fully ripe fruit is used to make jams, pates de fruits, cakes, gelatos, and so on. Recently, Red on Tree has also been experimenting with tea spreads.
Red on Tree
(在欉紅)
Tel: (02) 8911-5226
Website: shop.redontree.com (Chinese)
FB: facebook.com/redontree
Johnny Yan Patissier
As a child, Johnny Yan was mesmerized by dragon’s beard candy makers working their magic at night markets and during temple festivals, their deft hands pulling, twisting, and tossing the maltose and flour mixture into delicate threads. Yan went on to specialize in French-style confectioneries, placing in the 2015 Sigep Junior World Pastry Championships in Italy at the age of 21.
Yan was dismayed when he was unable to find any dragon’s beard candy masters when revisiting temple festivities as an adult. He tried to make it himself, to no avail, and after searching around Taiwan he ended up learning the process through video calls with a confectioner in China. Thereafter, he developed his winning formula by fusing dragon’s beard candy with his classic Western training, cooking up variations such as tiramisu, matcha, Earl Grey, and French Ispahan. Seasonal offerings such as salted eggs for the Mid-Autumn Festival may also be available.
Traditional dragon’s beard candy gets soft and sticky easily, so in order to package his offerings as an edible gift, Yan devised a way to shape the threads under 160 degrees Celsius heat so that they maintain their texture for much longer and can hold a wider variety of fillings. In fact, Yan suggests that customers try eating them chilled or even frozen, as the threads become even crispier while melting right in the mouth – it’s three times as tasty, he promises.
Last year Yan’s Tainan-based shop began offering “sugar scallions,” another intricate, hand-pulled traditional candy that resembles the vegetable. Currently, strawberry and caramel toffee flavors are offered.
Johnny Yan Patissier
(強尼甜點工藝)
Tel: (06) 622-0382
Add: No. 5, Ln. 193, Yuying St., Liuying District, Tainan City
(台南市柳營區育英街193巷5號)
Website: johnnyyan-patissier.com
FB: facebook.com/johnnyyanpatissier
IG: instagram.com/johnnyyanpatissier
Wendan Fuxing
Taiwan produces millions of pomelos per year, a good portion of these being consumed or given as gifts during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Public interest in the fruit dwindles again once the festivities conclude, leading to much leftover stock that goes to waste. Founded in 2020, Wendan Fuxing, or “Pomelo Revival,” aims to provide some relief for producers by turning their unsold pomelos into Taiwanese-style desserts.
The shop is in the county of Hualien, which is the nation’s largest pomelo-producing area, mostly with older trees that are known to produce juicer, more fragrant fruit with a refreshing balance of tart and sweet. The team extols the benefits of the pomelo, which has three times the Vitamin C a lemon contains and skin that can be made into essential oils.
Wendan Fuxing has devised a method to preserve the freshness of the skin and flesh separately, allowing creation of diverse products by adjusting the ratio. The filling of its award-winning mooncake-like green pomelo pastry, for example, is 43 percent skin and 57 percent flesh. This unique confection recently won a gold medal at the Japan International Souvenir Design Competition.
Pomelo versions of other quintessential local specialties such as pineapple cake and Hualien sweet potato pastry are also available, the latter of which only contains candied pomelo skin. The mini mochis are filled with a mixture of pomelo and sweetened bean paste. Aside from edibles, the shop also offers pomelo dishwashing liquid, hand soap, mosquito repellent, and essential oil.
Wendan Fuxing
(文旦復興)
Tel: (03) 835-0011
Add: No. 193, Zhongshan Rd., Hualien City
(花蓮市中山路193號)
Website: hualien-dessert.com
FB: facebook.com/RevivalOfPomelos
IG: instagram.com/pomelo.hualien
Hsin Tung Yang
Established in 1967, the Hsin Tung Yang chain has long been a mainstay provider of Taiwanese edible souvenirs, mainly known for quality dried-meat products, such as its fluffy pork floss and juicy jerky. Over the years the company has continually diversified its offerings and expanded its operations, and today it boasts outlets in more than 10 countries. For visitors who aren’t sure what to bring home, this is a one-stop-shop for all sorts of delectables.
Among the company’s most popular edible gifts are its rectangular pineapple cakes, which come in several varieties. The classic recipe used features a sweet, softer filling that’s a mix of wax gourd and pineapple, wrapped in a crumbly, aromatic butter and egg pastry that melts in the mouth. There’s also a version that includes salted egg yolk.
The modified, all-natural type that has become popular in Taiwan over the past decade features a 100 percent pineapple core with a more fibrous texture. Using fruit from Nantou County’s Baguashan area, the taste is notably more sour but less heavy. The cakes also come in several different flavors, including chewy bubble milk tea, mango, curry, and Eastern Beauty tea.
Another much-loved item is the snowflake cake, created by fusing crispy biscuit and soft nougat into a square pastry. The mango and cranberry versions are sprinkled with dried fruit, and there are also salted egg and bubble milk tea flavors. The mung bean cakes, walnut cookies, and black date candy are also longstanding favorites.
Hsin Tung Yang
(新東陽)
Tel: (07) 701-5186
Websites: hty.com.tw (Chinese)
FB: facebook.com/hsintungyangtw
If House
Founded in the city of Taichung in 1928 during Taiwan’s Japanese colonial period, this historic pastry shop quickly made a name for itself with its pineapple cakes, which were popular with both Taiwanese and Japanese residents. Today, the shop (there is now a second outlet, also in Taichung) offers both original and innovative varieties and recommends pairing them with hot Taiwanese tea or a glass of milk.
During the 1950s, If House began hawking its sun cakes on trains, spreading its fame beyond central Taiwan. A Taichung specialty, these flaky pastries with a rich creamy aroma are filled with sugary maltose. The traditional version in which lard is used is still available, while the modern type is made with high-end French butter and also comes in honey and taro flavors. A limited-edition bubble milk tea version contains black tea powder from Nantou County’s Yuchi Township.
As Taiwan’s economy took off, people began coveting Western-style luxuries, and If House followed the trend in 1964 by creating its famous lemon cake, a spongy, citrusy confection shaped like the fruit coated in a thin layer of pastel-yellow chocolate. (There are also dark chocolate and strawberry versions.) Other shops in town followed suit and created their own versions, and today the lemon cake is known as one of Taichung’s three main pastries alongside the sun cake and taro pastry. If House also produces the taro pastry, which features a thin, layered skin with rich taro paste and white mochi inside. Other notable offerings include chestnut cake and small mung bean mooncakes stuffed with minced pork.
If House
(一福堂老店)
Tel: (04) 2222-2643
Add: No. 52, Zhongshan Rd., Central District, Taichung City
(台中市中區中山路52號)
Hours: 9am-10pm
Website: ifhouse.com.tw (Chinese)
FB: facebook.com/@ifhouse1928
IG: instagram.com/ifhouse_1928
T.K Food
Originating in military dependents’ villages, “cubic pastries” are a staple snack of Chiayi County. In 1949, after the Chinese Civil War, soldiers from northern China brought their breadmaking traditions to Taiwan and sold their goods on the street.
There are several different accounts about how the cubic pastries came to be – T. K Food, one of Chiayi’s big three cubic pastry manufacturers, maintains that its founder learned the pastry trade from his neighbor while growing up in a military dependents’ village, later modifying the roasted pastries into a multi-layered, crunchy morsel that’s convenient to snack on. Each layer is handmade, with a unique salty and sweet flavor.
Since its inception in 1979, the company has concocted more than 50 flavors, with Sun Moon Lake black tea chocolate and “Alishan” among the fan favorites. The Alishan treat features an oolong tea upper crust to represent the high mountains, while the bottom is black sesame covered in white chocolate, evoking imagery of the area’s iconic forests shrouded in mist.
Bestselling flavors include frosted butter, XO shrimp sauce, as well as guava and plum. Less conventional choices include mullet roe, truffles, and cream, and most recently T.K Food collaborated with Taiwan’s Matsu Islands to create two mussel-infused treats. Its shops offer a variety of themed gift boxes with different treat combinations.
In 2014 the company debuted its salted egg biscuits, which became a hit sensation among the younger crowd, and since then it has introduced an array of salted egg-flavored products, such as dry noodles and crispy fish skin.
T.K Food
(老楊方塊酥)
Add: No. 249, Zhongshan Rd., East District, Chiayi City (Zhongshan Branch)
(嘉義市東區中山路249號 | 中山店)
Hours: 9:30am-9:30pm
Website: tkfood.com.tw (Chinese)
About the author
Han Cheung
Han Cheung moved back to his adolescent stomping grounds of Taiwan in 2015 from frigid Wyoming, where he was the editor of the small town Rawlins Daily Times. He has a Master’s in Journalism from the University of Missouri and has reporting experience in the US, Latin America, and Taiwan.
