Lan Jia Traditional Taiwanese Snack
Lan Jia was one of the first spots that popped up while researching where to eat in Taipei. They are known for their gua bao, or pork belly bun. Initially, we planned to check it out in tandem with the Gongguan Night Market. But, a nap turned into a long sleep and derailed those plans. On our last full day in Taipei, we were determined to go all out on a huge food crawl with Lan Jia among the many stops.
After a long walk south from Yongkang Street, we made it the student-heavy neighborhood where National Taiwan University is located. We then found our destination, a narrow street full of people waiting for nearby Chen San Ding milk drink and Lan Jia. There is a small cart outside of the storefront of Lan Jia where gua bao are efficiently assembled and sold. Inside, there is seating, but we didn’t think twice about it as we wanted to eat on the street.
We ordered two gua bao and watched with delight as they were being put together. On the left were bamboo steamers full of fluffy bao. Then on the right, a metal cauldron with dividers that had the braised pork and mustard greens. The workers here assembled the bao at what seemed to be hyper speed. After filling the bao with meat and greens, they are topped with ground peanuts and cilantro.
The first bite of this gua bao was exceptional. There was a great blend of savory and sweet in the pork belly along tender and crunch from the bao and greens. Although they usually ask how fatty or lean you want the pork, we weren’t presented with this option. We suspect that we received the standard form, half fatty and half lean. Everything was well balanced in this gua bao, as the greens weren’t heavily tangy. We also loved how pillowy the bao was.
We took one of them with us on our trip north to the Yehliu Geopark. Our only regret was that we didn’t order even more to-go, as they would have been great to munch on throughout the rest of the day.
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