Street Food: [台中市] 一中街小吃: 打餅舖, 哇哉海苔飯捲 (Yizhong Street Food: Hit Cookie Home and Wow! Seafood Rice Rolls, Taichung, Taiwan)

Getting to Yizhong Street; the main road parallel to Yizhong Street.

One of my favorite places to go in Taichung is Yizhong Street (一中街). Located near National Taichung First Senior High School (considered by Taichung residents to be the top high school in the city), Yizhong Street is a young person’s shopping and food paradise. Within a small space of one to two blocks, Yizhong Street is tightly packed with street vendors of delicious street food and the latest fashions (all for super cheap!). Scattered amongst the street vendors are various restaurants (apparently the (in)famous Modern Toilet Restaurant has a branch here), arcades, internet cafes, beauty salons, as well as a great 24-hour stationary and bookstore. At any time of the day, Yizhong Street is packed with people; since it’s mainly a pedestrian thoroughfare (though you will encounter some scooters here), it’s pretty easy to navigate (as opposed to other markets, where you have to dodge both pedestrians, scooters and cars). I could easily spend a whole day here just sampling the food and buying things for cheap (the trick is to bargain with the vendors!).

On a recent trip to Yizhong Street, my mom and I sampled a few snacks that were recommended on various Taiwanese food blogs. The first thing we bought was a 打餅, from Hit Cookie Home (打餅舖). “打餅” literally translates to “hit cookie”, though it’s more akin to a Chinese scallion pancake or an Indian paratha.

Why is it called a “hit cookie”? After the pancake is cooked on the flat griddle, it’s literally beaten up, breaking it apart slightly so that even more flaky layers are produced. You can actually see a video of it here via Travelpod (not my video).

You could always opt for the original, or try some of the different fillings they offer (ham, bacon, fried egg, cheese). They even have sweet versions, with fillings of butter and condensed milk. My mom and I opted for a savory 打餅 (NT30), filled with dried seaweed flakes and a fried egg.

This 打餅 was pretty good; it was a bit thick (we’re used to regular scallion pancakes that are usually a bit thinner); though when eaten fresh off the flat top, the 打餅 is crispy, flaky and delicious. I would advise eating this right away; after it cools down, it tends to taste more doughy, floury and dense. If you do end up buying one to go I recommend sticking it in the toaster oven to refresh it a bit before digging in.

I also got a 海苔飯捲 (Seaweed Rice Roll) from a nearby vendor at 哇哉海苔飯捲. I am a little reluctant to translate the name of this store as “哇哉” is slang in Taiwanese, meaning something akin to “wow!” or “amazing!”; therefore you get something like Wow! Seafood Rice Roll. But I digress . . .

Costing only NT35 (around $1 USD) and filled with black pepper pork, corn, and pickled vegetables, this was similar to a non-raw version of a sushi hand roll. What’s nice is that when they prepare your order, they insert a piece of plastic between the rice and the seaweed (which you pull out right before you eat) so that your seaweed stays crispy. The black pepper pork was nicely seasoned, with a nice punch from the liberal amount of black pepper. It’s quite a bit of food (the roll itself was as long as my forearm) and all that rice and meat is pretty filling; even eating just half of this, I was stuffed.

They have many other versions (pork, chicken and beef, kimchi as well as vegetarian and vegan versions available too), so there is something for everyone here.

打餅舖
台中市北區一中街83號
04-22251135
Hit Cookie Home
No. 83, Yizhong Street, North District, Taichung City, Taiwan
04-22251135

哇哉海苔飯捲
台中市北區育才街29號
Wow! Seafood Rice Roll
No. 29, Yingcai Road, North District, Taichung City, Taiwan