Fort · West Central
Chihkan Tower (Fort Provintia)
赤崁樓
Photo: 時鐘先生, CC BY-SA 4.0Two Qing-era pavilions sitting on the base of Fort Provintia, the Dutch fort on the mainland. It is the obvious starting point for the old town.
History
The Dutch built Fort Provintia in 1653 to 1655, after the 1652 uprising. Koxinga took it in 1661 and made it his government office. Under the Qing it fell into ruin, and in the 1870s and 1880s the Haishen Temple and Wenchang Pavilion were built on its foundations. Sections of the Dutch red-brick bastion walls and a half-moon well survive.
Eat nearby
李媽媽民族鍋燒老店Li Mama Minzu Guo-shao Noodles
The shop dates to 1963 and moved from beside Chihkan Tower to Zhongyi Road. It claims to have started Tainan's guo-shao yi-mian: noodles in bonito broth topped with tempura shrimp and fish.
添厚Eat to Fat
Small restaurant cooking hard-to-find Tainan banquet dishes such as squid and whelk soup.
博仁堂Po Jen Tang
Former Chinese herbal pharmacy now serving mild herbal tonic soups and sesame-oil noodle set meals.
欣欣餐廳Hsin Hsin Restaurant (A-Tu Shi)
Old-school Taiwanese banquet restaurant of nearly fifty years. Chef A-Tu, now close to eighty, still cooks classics like the family's crab-meat balls for round tables.
落成米糕Lo Cheng Migao
Sticky rice migao topped with braised pork, fish floss and peanuts, often paired with a sishen herbal soup.
小公園擔仔麵Small Park Danzai Noodles
Evening noodle stall serving small bowls of danzai noodles topped with shrimp and braised minced pork.