The Best Braised Pork Rice in Banqiao, Packed with Glorious Fatty Pork: Haishan Braised Pork Rice
Intro
Meow meow everyone, welcome back, it’s Mydondon here, and I have finally crawled out of finals hell!!! And of course, the moment finals are over, you have to go eat something delicious to celebrate~ So today I’m heading out to try a place my old roommate kept recommending to me, one they swear is the best braised pork rice in all of Taipei, namely Haishan Braised Pork Rice over in Banqiao. As always, before we dive in, let me give you the basic info on Haishan Braised Pork Rice.
Location and details for Haishan Braised Pork Rice
Haishan Braised Pork Rice on Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Bg2ChBt4FUULUQym9
Hours: 11:00 ~ 21:00 (open every day)
Seating: around 25 seats (single-person counter, two-tops, four-tops)
Address: No. 43, Haishan Rd., Banqiao District, New Taipei City 220
Haishan Braised Pork Rice is about a 10-minute walk from Banqiao MRT station, so it’s a touch out of the way. The decor is honestly super minimalist, nothing flashy at all, and if you just walked past you probably wouldn’t form much of an impression of it, you might even miss it by accident. Step inside, though, and you’ll see every seat packed with people chowing down. Luckily for us, when we arrived at 18:53 there were still a few spots left, so we ordered right away. I got the large braised pork rice plus one braised egg, 45 + 15 for a total of 60 NTD.
At Haishan Braised Pork Rice you grab your own food, and once you’re done you clean up after yourself and return the bowls and plates to their spot. With places like this I always worry the staff might forget to do the basic tidying, like wiping down the tables after a customer leaves. But the whole place turned out to be cleaner and brighter than I expected, and the floor wasn’t even sticky the way it is at so many other spots. If I really had to nitpick, I’d say the cabinet where you return the dishes has these little slots you have to line everything up with, and putting things back I was terrified I’d misplace something and smash a bowl.
And I have to say, the food came out crazy fast. I’d barely made it back to my seat after ordering and it was already ready, though to be fair it was just two bowls of rice, a side dish, and a soup, so it really didn’t need much prep time :> Alright, let’s hurry up and dig in. This bowl of braised pork rice is the all-fatty version, and the lean meat has been picked out super cleanly, not a single shred of lean meat left in there. Since most of the braised pork rice I’d eaten before was all lean meat, at first I figured I might not be used to it.
(Haishan Braised Pork Rice (large). 45 NTD a bowl (egg not included).)
But the moment I took a bite I realized… yeah, I’m totally on board with this. The fatty part is braised until it’s incredibly soft and tender, and the second it hits your mouth it’s like the sauce just melts right there. The lard blends perfectly into the white rice, and it’s seriously such a treat. The meat sauce and soy sauce are balanced just right too, so the meat never steals the soy sauce’s thunder, and you can still taste that sweet, mellow soy flavor, with a slightly sticky finish on the lips. The amount of sauce felt just right to me as well: it carries you almost all the way through the rice and leaves about 2-3 bites of plainer rice at the end, which is perfect for customers who love plain white rice and don’t care for heavy saltiness. And for someone like me who isn’t into that, I can just order a braised egg to finish off the rest of the rice.
The braised egg, braised fresh that day (the shop made a point of noting it), is on the small side. At 15 NTD each, it’s still a tiny bit pricey for a cheapskate like me whose memory is still stuck on tea eggs being 10 NTD apiece, but it’s not unacceptable. The egg itself doesn’t really have much flavor, or maybe it just got overshadowed by the rice, but you’ve gotta give an egg a thumbs up no matter what, right!?
Alright, thanks for sticking with me all the way to here. If you enjoyed this post, feel free to hit like, and if you want to see more, why not give me a follow. I’m finally, finally on winter break (sort of), so I’ll definitely be working hard to post more from here on out! Down below are a few posts I think you’ll like, plus my favorite ramen series, so if you’re interested, go check them out!
Ramen series posts (personal site):
https://mydondon.net/category/food/ramen/
The Who Cafe – an adorable little cat cafe on Yongkang Street in Taipei’s Dongmen area, where you can spend a relaxing afternoon watching the cats (personal site):
https://mydondon.net/food047/
My IG (pretty photos and new post notifications all go up here!):
https://www.instagram.com/hikids1010/