Xincheng Seafood Stir-fry

Xincheng Seafood is a collective name for the fresh-catch stir-fry restaurants clustered around Qixingtan village in Xincheng Township, Hualien, known for Taiwanese-style wok cooking of locally caught fish and shellfish. Twenty minutes north of Hualien City along Provincial Highway 9, you reach Xincheng Township. Xincheng is the gateway to Taroko National Park and home to the Qixingtan village. Fishing boats returning from the Pacific unload their fresh catch at the waterside direct-sale market, while nearby seafood restaurants clatter with woks and billow with cooking smoke. After a table full of stir-fry dishes, cross the street to a 60-year-old fruit-and-ice shop and order a glass of lemon juice blended whole — skin and all. This is the standard route Hualien locals take when showing out-of-town friends around.

Jiaxing Ice Shop in Xincheng Township has operated for more than 60 years, tracing back to a Japanese-era ice shop before the current owner introduced its now-famous lemon juice and dishes like assorted stir-fried noodles. The signature lemon juice is blended whole, peel included, with condensed milk added, giving it a distinctive milky-white color — a must-buy for visitors passing through Xincheng.

What is Xincheng Seafood

Xincheng Seafood refers to the cluster of seafood restaurants stretching from Qixingtan village to central Xincheng, centered on fresh-catch stir-fry. Common dishes include flying fish roe, baby squid, white shrimp, lobster, red bigeye, pan-fried threadfin bream, and three-cup grouper — prepared mainly in the Taiwanese stir-fry style: garlic fried as the base, Thai basil for aroma, soy sauce and sugar for seasoning. Prices are straightforward: four dishes and a soup for a table of four runs about NT$1,500–2,500. Jiaxing Ice Shop's "signature whole-skin lemon juice" is the essential pairing — sharp and direct in acidity, with a slightly bitter edge from the peel that cuts through grease perfectly.

Why is Xincheng the seafood face of Hualien? Xincheng Township sits at the entrance to Taroko National Park, with Qixingtan right inside the township; a complete fishing port, coastline, and rocky intertidal zone make for a diverse catch. Visitors descending from Taroko frequently stop in Xincheng for a meal, and Jiaxing Ice Shop's 60-year lemon juice adds conversation value, upgrading Xincheng from a transit stop to a fixed "Taroko + seafood" itinerary pairing. Most seafood restaurants here are long-running family operations with stable signatures and menus — a culinary cluster, not a single-shop phenomenon.

How to eat it the authentic way

Local know-how

Data compiled from Hualien County Government Tourism Department, local township farmers' associations, and large-scale public reviews; sponsored content has been filtered out. Photos will be replaced with exclusive channel footage after Dio's on-site shoot.