Wa-gui (bowl rice cake)

What it is

A soft, set rice pudding made from rice milk, with pieces of pork, preserved radish, dried shrimp or braised egg in the middle. It is eaten with soy paste or sweet chilli sauce. Some versions are dark brown from sauce in the batter; others stay white.

Where it comes from

The name comes from the bowl it is steamed and served in. It is often mistakenly called 碗糕.

How it is made

Rice milk is heated and stirred until it starts to thicken, poured into bowls, topped with fillings and steamed. Hamasen's Wa-Gui Zhi grinds aged long-grain rice each morning and steams the bowls for about 30 minutes.

How to eat it

Wagui is eaten at breakfast or as a snack. Cut it up in the bowl with the bamboo skewer or spoon provided, and eat it with the sauce.

In Tainan

Tainan's version is dark because sauce goes into the batter. Michelin notes that Yi Wei Pin's is much darker than Taipei's and comes with braised pork sauce, wasabi or garlic. Kaohsiung's Hamasen Wa-Gui Zhi, founded in 1951, makes a pale, firm version with the sauce on top, and its owner calls Tainan's oilier and saltier.