Enjoy Some of the Best Hakka Cuisine at Hakka Kitchen

Our Journey:

We have visited Hakka Kitchen once and were very impressed. The food quality is excellent, and after all, Jensen Huang has dined here. However, please note that this is a very traditional restaurant. If you do not have an acquired taste for traditional Taiwanese food or are unfamiliar with the menu, your experience may vary. Nevertheless, there are many items on the menu that Western foreigners will enjoy.

The Hakka people were among Taiwan’s earliest settlers, bringing with them a distinctive culture and cuisine that have left a lasting impact on the island. Hakka dishes are renowned for their unique textures and often include braised and minced pork, preserved and salted vegetables, tofu, steamed buns, rice, and noodles, all prepared with locally sourced ingredients.

There is a bit of a walk along the sidewalk here to get there.

There are quite a few other restaurants nearby in this alley.

We visited in the middle of the day on a workday and it was still packed.

The defining feature of the restaurant is the giant photo of Jensen Huang, apparently the most important person to ever eat there, featured at both the entrance and inside.

I recommend bringing at least four people to this restaurant, as the dishes are designed to be shared and are both filling and delicious. The space is small, occupying just the first floor of a house-sized building, and can fill up quickly, so it’s best to book in advance even on weekdays. The restaurant offers large round tables that can seat up to ten people, as well as smaller square tables for four. It’s a great setting for enjoying extended conversations in a cozy atmosphere.

View of part of the menu.

Hakka-style Braised Pork with Pickled Vegetables, commonly known as Guabao (刈包), includes six steamed buns folded in half, served on a single plate with braised pork, cilantro, and onions. It’s a make-it-yourself meal where you add the ingredients to the buns as you like.

Hakka-style Braised Pork with Pickled Vegetables (客家封肉)

The braised pork meat (客家封肉, priced at NT$450) was well-seasoned and coated in soy sauce, offering a balanced flavor that was neither too savory nor overpowering. The meat melted in your mouth, complemented perfectly by the onion and cilantro garnish that added a bit of zest. It was delicious and went down smoothly, much like a good hamburger. In fact, Guabao is often referred to as the Taiwanese hamburger.

Rice Flour with Flag Fish and Taro (旗魚芋頭米粉)

Another dish we sampled was the Rice Flour with Flag Fish and Taro (旗魚芋頭米粉 NT$480). It featured fried sailfish, fried pork, fried onions, octopus balls, shrimp, and rice noodles. The soup was rich in flavor yet not overwhelming, with a predominant taro taste, chewy fried sailfish, and crunchy celery. The fish balls were soft and succulent, with a hint of spice. Large, tender pieces of taro added the perfect background flavor. Overall, the soup was hearty and full of diverse textures and flavors, blending savory, crunchy, chewy, and soft elements without any single flavor dominating.

The restaurant also offers unlimited hot barley tea. As a higher-end traditional Hakka Chinese establishment, there is an additional 10% service fee. Note that the English menu may not fully capture the dishes served, so it’s wise to ask for photos or bring a Chinese-speaking friend. Some dishes may require an acquired taste for Western palates, but many will appeal to foreigners at first bite. If you are new to Hakka cuisine, you might want to start with dishes that seem more familiar.

Thanks for reading!
You can check out our Taiwan food guide here.
You can also check out our Taipei travel guide here.