✨ AI Quick Take
Climbing to the second floor of this Yanping South Road building feels like a time machine dropping into 70s Taipei. Neon, old booths, and brisk elderly servers in uniform feel more authentic than a television set. Ximending keeps chasing trends, but this place stubbornly protects the romance of half a century ago: grand nostalgia and a thick pork chop sturdy enough to carry the shop's reputation.
● Pork Chop Rice
The fried pork chop comes on its own plate, generous in size and thickness, golden outside and firm without drying out. Its marinade brings familiar old-fashioned flavor. Cucumber and white rice with braised sauce and sides hold the savoriness in balance—reason enough for the shop to put pork chop first in its name.
● Chicken Leg Rice
The fried chicken skin gives a clear crunch while the meat stays tender, though the drier surface needs more rice or soup toward the end than the pork chop. It is satisfying for gnawing on meat, but if a first-timer can choose only one, I still vote for pork chop.
● Fish-Ball Soup
The fish balls are springy and the broth mild, useful for clearing the richness beside fried pork chop, though less memorable on its own. If the daily soup is also available, this bowl may not come first. It does its job without needing to be hailed as a secret marvel.
● Daily Soup
The Taiwanese miso base is faintly sweet, with a generous amount of tofu skin and other ingredients. Drunk hot, it tidies up the oiliness of fried food. Contents vary by day, but this miso version offers more care and substance than an ordinary set-meal soup.
On a first visit, Pork Chop Rice is the surest choice. The chicken leg is crisp but a little dry, while fish-ball soup is mild, so combine to taste. If time allows, stay for coffee or a sundae after eating to settle fully into the old shop's rhythm.
- Location:台北市中正區延平南路 61 號 2 樓, about a 4-minute walk from Exit 5 of 西門站 · Ximen.
- Background:Operating for over 50 years, preserving a seventies dance-hall and vintage-booth style.
- Highlights:Thick fried pork chops and Taiwanese meals, plus coffee, juice, and desserts.
- Parking:Zhongshan Hall underground car park is available, about a 4-minute walk away.
📌 Editor's summary
台北東一排骨總店 (Dong Yi Pai Gu) sells more than pork chops; it is a miniature of an era. Eating pork-chop rice brought by elderly servers in a gilded, history-soaked room creates a delightful slip in time. Ximending now has plenty of fashionable food, but for solid satisfaction and human warmth, Dong Yi still holds an irreplaceable place in my heart.
