Yes, this sounds weird but let me explain. But before I explain “foundation of pig feet”, let me provide a little background on food, towns, and Taiwan.
Foods, towns, and Taiwan
Because the food in Taiwan is pretty much amazing – everywhere – it’s hard for restaurants to differentiate themselves. There continuously is a mad dash for new specialized shops (e.g., Macu tea, Kyochon Fried Chicken in Banqiao HSR station, etc.). At the same time, many favorite restaurants are in some seemingly random small town in the countryside. They exist solely because Taiwanese will drive hours to get their favorite dish that exists only in this specific restaurant(s) in that specific town because they have been cooking this secret recipe for generations.
Pig feet worthy of driving across county lines
It is within this context that I bring up 海鴻飯店, a restaurant that specializes in pig feet.
When we arrived here, we were not prepared for the sheer number of people coming in and out of all the nearby restaurants.
Pig feet worthy of royalty
So how did so many people come to know of this small restaurant in this small town? The story is that this restaurant was apparently President Chiang Ching-kuo’s favorite for pig feet (reference: A Culinary Tour of Taiwan). Social media had not been invited yet but the word of mouth power of the Taiwanese president’s favorite restaurant reverberated across the island.
A popular narrative was that the hills of this town were made for pigs. And thus over time, more restaurants in Wanluan focused on just making pig feet. This is all supported by regular excursions by Taiwanese and ex-pats (like me) that make the trip to this town solely for this dish on Wanluan Pig Trotter Street (萬巒豬腳街).
The ground in and around Wanluan is stomped on by and its main street (Wanluan Pig Trotter Street) serves those very pig feet to support its livelihood.
Sorry, too busy eating, not enough pictures
I was so focused on eating that I forgot to take pictures from 海鴻飯店. But these Instagram pictures show the story of multiple cooks chopping pig feet for both in-restaurant and take away.
So yes, you should definitely make the drive to Wanluan just so you can taste some of the best Taiwanese stewed pig feet.
Addendum
Looking for other great Taiwanese culinary delights?
- A most interesting Taiwanese bakery in Taichung: 日出大地的乳酪蛋糕
- The coffee scene in Taiwan is as complex and vibrant as its coffee beans
- Quirky chic Korean in Taichung (台中)
- A touch of Shanghai cuisine (in this case, in Taichung 台中)
- Taipei Main Train Station has some good eats!
- An all too brief foodie stopover in Tainan (台南)
- Foodie Friday:肉圓 (Ba-Wan) at 林員肉圓 near Banciao Station, Taipei
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