Best Taiwan Pepper Cakes Buns in Taipei 胡椒餅

Pepper cake 胡椒餅 is one of the most popular street foods in Taiwan. We tried a few of the famous stalls in Taipei and liked all of them 😋



Pepper cakes originate from Foochow 福州 in Southern China. The buns (actually) are made by wrapping minced pork, pork slices and chopped chives in a thick flour dough. Each stall have their secret recipe for the marination, proportion of fat and lean meat, chives and dough mix.



The buns are put inside a tandoor style stone charcoal oven by sticking them to the side walls. The buns bake at 300°C+ till they are golden brown. The quality of the pepper cakes depend a lot on the skill of the baker.

Pepper cake. Another obligatory food for tourists in Taipei.

A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on Oct 20, 2017 at 10:00pm PDT

When the buns turned golden brown, they are scraped off the side walls, bagged in paper sleeves and served piping hot to waiting customers.

Here are the pepper cake stalls that we tried during our visit to Taipei 👉



Stall name: 福州世祖胡椒餅
Address: No. 13, Section 1, Chongqing South Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100
GPS: 25°02'45.7"N 121°30'47.8"E | 25.046029, 121.513285
Nearest Metro station: Beimen
Hours: 11:00am - 9:00pm

This was the first pepper cake we tasted during this trip to Taipei.



The skin of the sesame seed crusted bun was thin and chewy. The meaty ball of minced pork and pork slices was sweet, peppery and savoury. The meat ball was juicy but there was no juice or stock in the bun (like the way there is hot juice in a xiao long bao or shen chien bao).



Stall name: 福州世祖胡椒餅 Fuzhou Ancestor Pepper Pie
Address: No. 249, Raohe Street, Songshan District Taipei City, 105
GPS: 25°03'03.2"N 121°34'39.0"E | 25.050898, 121.577509
Nearest Metro station: Songshan
Hours: 5:00pm - 12:00 midnight



This is the Raohe Street night market branch of 福州世祖胡椒餅 i.e. the same as the one we had in the morning at Chongqing South Road. It is right at the Songshan Ciyou Temple 松山慈祐宮 entrance.

There are two pepper cake stalls here beside each other. We went for the one with the crazy longest queue 😂



福州世祖胡椒餅 pepper cakes are quite consistent between the two outlets. Thin skin chewy bun. Juicy, flavourful peppery meat ball but there was no juicy stock in the bun.



Stall name: 丞祖胡椒餅
Address: No. 89, Section 1, Chongqing South Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100
GPS: 25°02'36.7"N 121°30'47.8"E | 25.043527, 121.513274
Nearest Metro station: Ximen
Hours: 10:30am - 9:00pm



This was the third pepper cake stall we tried. (It is actually just 10 minutes walk south from the Chongqing South branch of 世祖胡椒餅.)



The sesame crusted golden brown bun is moderately thick and chewy. It felt just right to me.

The meat ball was juicy and was sweet, peppery and savoury - leans on the naturally sweet side with a pleasant lingering spiciness. This pepper cake has hot juicy stock like the way there is hot stock in xiao long bao or shen chien bao.



Stall name: 元祖胡椒餅
Address: No. 5, Alley 2, Lane 89, Section 3, Heping West Road, Wanhua District, Taipei City, 108
GPS: 25°02'07.6"N 121°30'02.3"E | 25.035449, 121.500641
Nearest Metro station: Longshan Temple 
Hours: 10:30am - 6:30pm




This pepper cake stall is inside a narrow alley. Don't worry - the alley is bright, clean and the stall is just 30 metres inside. There are plenty of tourists queueing and taking photos 😄



Of the pepper cakes we tried during this trip, 元祖胡椒餅 has the palest and the thickest skin. It was quite chewy, nearly stiff (especially when allowed to cool). Their pepper bun was also the smallest size. The meat ball was greasy but it was flavoursome with nicely balanced sweet, peppery and savoury flavours.



👉 We didn't try many pepper cakes during this short Taipei trip, but of the three brands we tried, I like 丞祖胡椒餅 more. It has the best combination of skin and filling, texture and flavour in my opinion.

When you are in Taiwan, give any pepper stall you stumble upon a try. Chances are it will be nice 😋

When I am back to Taipei next, I will try more pepper cakes and update this post. Help me by sharing with me your favourite pepper cake stall.

Date: 23 Oct 2017

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