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| Grandma's Eel 娥嬷炖鰻 • 原昌吉紅燒鰻 | No. 51號, Changji St, Datong District, Taipei City, Taiwan 103 🚅 5 minute walk from Minquan West station ☏ +88 62 2592 7085 ⏰ 9:30 am - 11:30 pm |
One of my bucket list items for my recent Taipei trip was to try a Chinese style eel dish. I mean I have tasted Japanese style eel or unagi many times before and was curious to experience something different.
We picked Grandma's Eel 娥嬷炖鰻. It is one of Taipei's famous eel shops and is conveniently just steps from Minquan West 民權西路 MRT station.
The tiny old shop with the small kitchen / serving point in front and a few tables inside. The little shop seats about 20+ people.
It had the vintage hyperlocal look and vibes which I look for when I travel. Grandma's Eel is run by the third generation now.
Grandma's Eel was founded in 1959 by madam 張王月娥, older than me 😁 At that time, there were at least five eel stalls like this, congregated outside the temple. Now, Grandma's Eel is the only one left.
Grandma's uses wild sea Yellow Pike Eels 海鳗 known as Ikan Malong in the Malay Archipelago where they are imported from. The eels are filleted in Grandma's kitchen.
Grandma's Eel was originally a push cart hawker stall, so its menu was quite limited. Only fried eel in soup, eel roe in soup, eel head soup, fried eel roe, grilled squid and fried bee hoon (rice vermicelli). Grandma's has kept to just these six items all these years, even though their business has now expanded to a shop and central kitchen.
The recipe was from Grandma's own mother in Fuzhou city in Fujian province, China.
The filleted eels are marinated in fermented glutinous rice 紅糟, battered in sweet potato flour then deep fried. Grandma's still make their own fermented glutinous rice which ideally required seven years of fermentation.
The fried eels are simmered in a stock with spices and herbs like cinnamon, dang gui, etc., and cooking wine as well as cabbage 高丽菜 for their sweetness, ginger.
The herbal eel dish is considered a nourishing tonic.
I can't find it in Singapore, Peninsula Malaysia, but not sure if it can be found in the Hockchew / Foochow enclaves in East Malaysia.
The outside of the chunks of fried eel was soft, delicately leathery. I love skin, whether it is fish, chicken or pork.
The browned outside kept the eel's natural meat juices and flavours intact, as well as prevent the flesh from breaking up.
The white meat inside was soft tender, slightly flaky, moist, slightly sweet savoury. Every mouthful layered with more savouriness from the browned outside and skin.
It was delicious.
The eel still had a lot of fine bones even though Grandma's had removed the dorsal fin spines, ribs and backbone.
Be very, very mindful when enjoying this dish.
Eel egg roe in soup. Like the eel fillet, the eel roe were deep fried before simmering in the mildly herby spice soup.
Soft savoury and nice in the gently flavourful soup.
The simple stir-fried bee hoon is one of Grandma's must order items.
The delicious complementary obligatory carb. (I didn't see anyone order rice, so am not sure if Grandma's offer it.)
A good combo.
Regretted not ordering this grilled squid. Don't be like Tony. You shouldn't miss it, especially if you like squid.
Happy that we came and tried this traditional dish, broadened our culinary horizon. Will try this dish again at another shop and also try other ways of preparing eel.
Restaurant name: Grandma's Eel 娥嬷炖鰻 • 原昌吉紅燒鰻
Address: No. 51號, Changji St, Datong District, Taipei City, Taiwan 103
Nearest MRT: 5 minute walk from Minquan West station
Tel: +88 62 2592 7085
Hours: 9:30 am - 11:30 pm
Written by Tony Boey on 12 Aug 2025
Who is Tony Johor Kaki?
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