Date: 15th Nov 2019, Friday, 4pm
I was back in Jincheng Town after visiting Xi Fang Village in Lieyu Township (烈屿乡西方聚落) and Shuitou Village in Jincheng Township (金城镇水头聚落). It was 4pm but I wanted to try a local snack despite a very full lunch. So I headed straight to Jincheng old town from the bus station.
The oyster puff stall that I wanted to try was closed the day before — a Thursday. And I did not want to wait for the coming weekend when there might be more tourists and locals. There was already a queue in front of the stall, about 20+ people, and I joined the queue.
The oyster puffs were made on orders, and it took about 5-7 minutes to process an order of two puffs — but there was an order from a tour guide for 24 puffs in the queue! After queuing for 20 minutes, I was still about 10 pax away. I was praying that there would be no last-minute large orders in front of me.
And it was nearing my turn, thanks to a couple of drop-outs during the long wait. Even though I was standing in front of the stall and watching the lady making the oyster puffs and putting them into the boiling oil one by one, I was still 3-4 pax away from the ordering counter.
On the board behind the stall, the price of each oyster puff (蚵嗲) was stated as NT$35. Other fried stuffs were available but most orders were for the signature oyster puffs.
I finally got my oyster puff! I checked the time (4:56pm) and noted that it took nearly an hour of queuing just to buy one oyster puff, despite it being an off-peak season. I would expect the queue to be ultra long during the peak seasons and would need about 1-2 hours before getting one puff.
As freshly-fried oyster puff had hot fillings that could burn the tongue, it was cut opened to allow it to cool. And I had chilli sauce added in the slit. I ate the hot oyster puff slowly while standing to one side of the old street — I disliked walking and eating at the same time.
The fried outer crust was thin and crispy. Apart from being able to taste the fresh oysters, the mix of chopped vegetables that was stuffed into the puff added some freshness and crunchiness. The chilli sauce was not spicy but I believed that pepper would have made a better condiment.
The oyster puff still tasted so wonderful after all these years!
Opening Hours:
From 2:30pm to 7pm, closed on Thursday
This is my grandmother's favourite snack! Thank you for blogging about it :)