Dishes
Duck rice
鴨肉飯
Also called: 冬菜鴨 (duck with preserved cabbage) · 鴨肉冬粉 (duck glass-noodle soup)
Sliced duck over rice, usually with a duck soup on the side. Tainan also serves duck with preserved cabbage.
Photo: 王新漢, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: bryan... from Taipei, Taiwan, CC BY-SA 2.0What it is
Rice topped with sliced duck, in some shops over a layer of braised pork sauce, with pickled radish on the side. Duck shops also sell duck glass-noodle soup and plates of boiled or smoked duck and offal.
Where it comes from
Duck shops in both cities go back decades. According to the Michelin Guide, Zhu-Ji in Tainan has sold sliced duck since 1942. TVBS Supertaste says Ya Rou Zhen, in Kaohsiung's Yancheng, has traded for more than 65 years.
How it is made
Ducks are boiled or smoked and sliced to order. Zhu-Ji uses four-month-old ducks from Pingtung and seasons its duck glass-noodle soup with preserved cabbage (冬菜).
How to eat it
Duck rice is lunch food. Get a plate of sliced duck or mixed offal (下水: heart, liver, intestine and gizzard) with it, and use the garlic sauce where it is offered.
In Tainan
In Kaohsiung, one reviewer describes Ya Rou Zhen's duck rice as braised pork rice with duck laid on top, while Hou Chi serves thick-sliced duck with pickled radish. Zhu-Ji's smoked duck in Tainan often sells out around lunchtime.
Where to eat it in Tainan
竹記冬菜鴨Zhu-Ji Dong Tsai Ya
Sliced duck, boiled or smoked, and a duck glass-noodle soup seasoned with preserved cabbage, from a shop dating to 1942.
鳳姐鴨肉飯Feng Jie Duck Rice
Formerly at the Ximen roundabout, this shop serves duck-fat rice with sliced fresh duck and bamboo shoots, plus a limited daily batch of duck-leg rice.
葉桑生炒鴨肉焿Yeh San Duck Thick Soup
Wok-fried duck thick soup with bamboo shoots and garlic, plus duck rice, from a recipe brought over from Chiayi.
Sources