Bakery: 陳記京滬酒釀餅 (Chen Ji Jinghu Wine Cake)
Address: No. 48, Section 1, Chongqing South Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei
Style: Chinese
Price: $$
There are quite a number of street vendors so it's easy to walk past this one, a sort of cart-like contraption sandwiched between two columns on the sidewalk. Run by a single old lady, it's actually deceitfully modest - it was almost disappointing to find that this humble stall selling nothing but a couple flavours of wine cake has set up their own online ordering system. They're on social media. Their menu is multilingual. It seems like a total gimmick and yet there's only so far you can go in trying to over-market these traditional pancake-shaped cakes.
In reality, there's nothing fancy or particularly special about these wine cakes ($30 each). Although all flavours (plain, sesame, peanut, red bean, bean curd) are the same price, I always think it's best to try the original, without any fillers or distractions. Taking that first bite, I have to say I was surprised at the texture. It was very dense. Traditional Chinese pastries fall into a few categories: flaky, cookie-like, steamed or chewy (of the mochi/rice cake variety), so I didn't expect this to be so hard and doughy, almost like a soda bread. I even had doubts whether to include this as a Cake Tour since it's only slightly sweet. The wine gives it a nice hint of flavour and it definitely is best served warm, but once it cools down, it almost veers into stale pita bread territory or something. Worth trying, but not sure if it's worth returning to, even for the flavoured/filled ones.
Rating: **1/2
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