Ba-wan
肉圓ròuyuán
- Savory
- Sweet
- Umami
- +1 more
Central · Destination
Changhua
彰化
Where the ba-wan is said to have been born, with Lukang's old lanes and bowls of Changhua-style braised pork rice
Map of Changhua
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Open in the mapIntroduction
The food of Changhua
In Changhua City, a bowl of braised pork rice is sold from breakfast to late-night snack time: big pieces of pork cooked slowly in soy sauce and sugar until tender, spooned over white rice with a few pickles on the side. By afternoon the ba-wan stalls are steaming, each translucent sweet-potato-starch wrapper holding bamboo shoots and pork under a sweet-savory glaze. The snack is generally traced to Beidou, and both Changhua City and Beidou are counted among the county's best-known places for it.
About 11 km west of Changhua Station, the air turns salty. Lukang was a busy trading port in the Qing era, and its old street still sells traditional teahouse sweets such as phoenix-eye cake (Chinese Wikipedia credits it to a pastry master who came to Lukang from Quanzhou) and mung-bean cake, along with ox-tongue biscuits, oyster fritters, mantis shrimp and thick vermicelli soup. Farther down the coast at Wanggong, a dozen or more fritter shops cluster around an oyster-farming fishing harbor, and south of Changhua City, Yuanlin is known for its preserved fruit.
- 2 dishes
- 3 neighborhoods
The short list
Known for
What Changhua is famous for, most iconic first. Foods with their own guide are linked.
A translucent sweet-potato-starch wrapper around bamboo shoots and pork, generally traced to Beidou. Changhua City and Beidou are both known for it, each in its own style: Beidou's is smaller and triangular with fingertip marks on top, while Lukang's is shaped like the character 回.
Dish guide
Changhua braised pork rice (khòng-bah-pn̄g)爌肉飯
One of Changhua City's key local snacks, eaten from breakfast to late night: large pieces of pork (Changhua typically uses hind leg) braised slowly in soy sauce, sugar and spices, spooned over rice with pickled sides.
Cat-rat noodles (māoshǔ miàn)貓鼠麵
A Changhua City noodle snack: fine, soft, wide oil noodles under a ladle of pork sauce and stock built on pork hind leg, dried flatfish and fresh clams, at a shop more than 80 years old. The name comes from the small, nimble founder's nickname 'rat' (老鼠, written 貓鼠 in Taiwanese); no cat or rat is involved.
Oyster fritters (é diǎ)蚵嗲
Cabbage, chives, minced pork and oysters layered over a batter base in a slightly concave iron ladle, coated in more batter and deep-fried. A dozen or more fritter shops line one street beside Wanggong's fishing port, and Lukang's old street has them too.
Ox-tongue biscuits (niúshé bǐng)牛舌餅
A long, oval biscuit named for its shape. Lukang and Yilan are both known for it, though the two versions differ in ingredients and texture; in Lukang it is often bought alongside phoenix-eye cake and mung-bean cake.
Yuanlin preserved fruit (mìjiàn)員林蜜餞
Yuanlin is regarded as one of Taiwan's main preserved-fruit centers, turning plums, olives, mangoes and kumquats into candied snacks that make popular gifts.
Lukang mantis shrimp and vermicelli soup (xiāhóu, miànxiàn hú)鹿港蝦猴與麵線糊
Mantis shrimp and thick, starch-bound wheat-vermicelli soup are old regulars on Lukang's list of harbor snacks.
On the table
Signature dishes
Dishes with their own guide that are most tied to Changhua.
Oyster Omelet
蚵仔煎é zǐ jiān
- Briny
- Savory
- Sweet
- +1 more
Where to wander
Neighborhoods to know
Districts and towns to eat your way through.
Township
Lukang鹿港鎮
Lukang was an important trading port for ships crossing from Fujian in the Qing era, and its old street is a tangle of curving lanes, Putou, Yaolin and Dayou streets among them, still lined with older buildings. The food here is mostly traditional teahouse sweets and harbor snacks: phoenix-eye cake (Chinese Wikipedia credits it to a pastry master from Quanzhou) and mung-bean cake, long ox-tongue biscuits, and oyster fritters, oyster omelets, mantis shrimp, thick vermicelli soup and meat buns. Even the ba-wan looks different here, shaped like the character 回.
Keep reading
The Tianhou and Longshan temples, both national monuments, stand in town and are easy to fold into a walk along the old street. Lukang has no Taiwan Railway station; the nearest are Changhua and Huatan, each about 11 km away.
Known for
City
Changhua City彰化市
Changhua City is the county seat. Local media call ba-wan, braised pork rice and cat-rat noodles 'Changhua's three snack treasures,' and Chinese Wikipedia adds that the city emblem takes the three as its symbolism (a single source for the emblem). Braised pork rice is sold from breakfast to late night, ba-wan is usually an afternoon snack, and cat-rat noodles are a bowl of soft, flat oil noodles under pork sauce and stock.
Keep reading
Changhua Station, a major stop on the Taiwan Railway Western Trunk Line and the only trunk-line station within the city limits, puts you in the middle of town. The Great Buddha on Bagua Mountain is the city's landmark and an easy walk-off after a meal.
Known for
Township
Beidou北斗鎮
Beidou is where ba-wan is said to have begun. In the local account Fan Wan-ju first made it after the 1898 flood, and his son Fan Ma-yi began selling it in front of Dian'an Temple around 1935; the stories rest mostly on family and shop memory and differ between tellers, so read them as local tradition. Beidou's version is smaller and triangular, with three fingertip marks left by hand shaping.
Keep reading
Dian'an Temple became the focus of the town's street plan in 1806, and snacks and a night market gather in front of it; ba-wan, dried pork and brittle sugar candy are counted as Beidou's three famous local products. Beidou is not on the Western Trunk Line, so most visitors arrive by bus.
Known for
Food history
A food history of Changhua
Changhua's food has two threads, one following the harbor and one following the fields. Lukang became an officially open port in 1784, hit its peak between 1785 and 1845 and drew heavy shipping through the Qing era; an old saying, 'first Tainan, second Lukang, third Mengjia,' ranks it just behind Tainan in prosperity. Chinese Wikipedia credits the phoenix-eye cake to a pastry master who came from Quanzhou, though that rests on a single entry that is itself tagged as needing more sources. Later the harbor silted up and the railway was never planned through Lukang's town center, so trade drifted elsewhere and the old streets survived largely intact.
The other thread is starch. Ba-wan is said to have begun in Beidou. In Beidou's account the 1898 flood left food scarce, someone made a sweetened sweet-potato or cassava starch snack to fill stomachs and only later made it savory with bamboo shoots, and stall sales in front of Dian'an Temple started around 1935. These accounts rest mostly on family and shop memory and differ in detail, so they read best as local tradition rather than documented history. What is clear is that the snack spread across Taiwan, and each area made its own version.
Plan your trip
Getting there
Open Changhua in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)Changhua Station is a major stop on the Taiwan Railway Western Trunk Line and the city's rail hub; the high-speed rail station is in Tianzhong Township, a drive from downtown Changhua, and needs a bus or taxi connection. Lukang has no Taiwan Railway station: its old street is about 11 km from Changhua Station and is reached by bus or car. Beidou is not on the trunk line either, so plan on a bus or a car.
In pictures
Changhua in photographs
Photo credits
Red paper lanterns glowing over a brick-paved alley at dusk in Lukang old town, with a vendor cart ahead
Photo: 林高志 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
Guide in progress
The full Changhua guide is still on its way
We are still researching Changhua: its markets, restaurants and a food itinerary will come in a later update. In the meantime, these complete guides are close by.
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ReviewedDrafted with AI and cross-checked against sources.Last reviewed Oct 11, 2026