I was watching TV one day and saw a show that just happened to take a few Korean celebrities to this little town. I was immediately drawn in as the atmosphere portrayed on the show made the little town seem quite magical. Jiufen literally means “nine portions”. The little town is located on a mountain top and I had previously read that the town came to be known by that name because 9 families used to live on the mountain and each time someone took the trip down the mountain to purchase supplies, all the purchased goods would be split into nine portions, one for each of the families. Upon arrival, I was surprised to find that the mountain was quite steep, which made the story of carrying supplies back up to the top even more impressive.
Jiufen has now become very tourist and the streets and alleys are lined with little shops selling food, pastries, and all sorts of little knick knacks. The majority of these shops are centred around Shuqi Road (豎崎路). The town is small, so don’t be afraid to just walk around and get lost.
Perhaps the most famous sight in Jiufen is Amei’s tea house (阿妹茶酒館). Located right on the outskirts of town, it overlooks the hillside and I can definitely understand why so many people say that there is a sense of tranquility and calmness associated with the place. We were happy with just seeing the views from the outside and didn’t actually experience entering the tea house.
All in all, Jiufen was a very neat experience. It almost felt like we had stepped back to a simpler time. Although the town is full of tourists and touristy things, the whole atmosphere is very entrancing and I can’t wait to go back again.
Jiufen Foods
Like all places in Taiwan, Jiufen also had their own specialty food items that they are especially known for.
魚丸伯仔
Address: No. 17號, Jishan St, Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 224
This was the first place we tried and it turned out to be my favourite. This little restaurant only served 3 items. We ordered the $90NTD set meal which included all three – noodles (乾凍粉), fish ball soup (魚丸湯) and my personal favourite, the tofu wrap (豆干包). The tofu wrap is a meat filling wrapped inside fish paste, which is all then stuffed into tofu skin. The price for each of these items is actually $30NTD, so even if you order each item separately, it works out to be the same.
賴阿婆芋圓 Grandma Lai’s Taro Balls
Address: No. 143, Jishan St, Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 224
We walked around a bit more and found the famous taro place. The flavours were very subtle and mild. In fact, it probably could have used a bit more sugar. Aside from the black sesame one, the others were a bit bland. However, it was still very refreshing and quite a good snack.
Peanut Popiah
One item I had constantly read about was the peanut popiah wrapped ice cream. Unfortunately, it fell below my expectations. The peanuts were caramelized, and although I love peanuts, there was just a bit too much of them. Also, the ice cream they used tasted like the dollar store ice cream that’s about to expiry.
For more photos, please see my Photo Gallery of Jiufen.
Getting to Jiufen
There are a number of ways to get to Jiufen, but we decided to take the bus, which turned out to be a very simple method. Upon coming out of Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT exit #1, you will see SOGO across the street on your left. Make a u-turn so that SOGO is now on your right and walk towards the corner of Zhongxiao E Road and Fuxing S Road. Turn left (north) onto Fuxing S Road and you will see the bus stop for Bus 1062 about half a block down the street in front of a red building with a restaurant called TASTY. There are signs that indicate the cost and bus number very clearly. You may run into some locals trying to sell you a ride and telling you that the bus ride will take 2 hours, whereas they can get you there in an hour. In reality, we took the bus and arrived in about an hour. Make sure to have the correct change or an easycard as the bus driver will likely not provide change. The bus stops at Jiufen but then on to continues on towards Jinguanshi. Click here for the route map of bus 1062 (in Chinese only).
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