Keelung Li Hu Curry Pastry

Li Hu Curry Pastry is a signature flaky pastry from Li Hu Pastry Shop, a century-old Keelung institution, made with layered dough wrapped around a savory-sweet curry and pork floss filling that shatters at the snap and releases a rush of curry fragrance. Walking along Ren-San Road at Miaokou, you pass the glass case at Li Hu stacked with rows of golden pastries, the queue outside unbroken since early morning. The curry pastry that Keelung locals were fed as children by their grandparents comes from this century-old shop — tear open the wax paper bag, and the pastry shatters, a wave of curry scent rising. It is the souvenir that has filled Keelung Miaokou with its aroma for generations.

According to the National Repository of Cultural Memory (Keelung City Government Department of Culture), Li Hu Pastry Shop was founded approximately at the end of the Qing dynasty, already documented as more than 110 years old in 1998 — placing its founding over 140 years ago from today. The curry pastry was invented by the second-generation owner, Li Xian-wen; the shop is now run by the third generation, Li Yi-zong, one of the few century-old family-run pastry shops still operating in Keelung.

What is Li Hu curry pastry?

Li Hu curry pastry is one of the signature flaky pastries made by Li Hu Pastry Shop, a century-old Keelung institution. Multiple layers of oil pastry dough are folded and baked to produce a thousand-layered crispy texture that shatters at the snap and dissolves on the palate. The filling is made from curry powder, sugar, pork floss, and a small amount of minced pork — savory, mildly spicy, and clearly fragrant with curry, without being overly sweet. Alongside pineapple cake, mung bean pastry, and salted egg yolk pastry, curry pastry is one of Li Hu's four signature items. But the curry pastry is Li Hu's most distinctive product — rarely found at other century-old pastry shops in Taiwan.

Li Hu Pastry Shop has a long history. The National Repository of Cultural Memory records it as a well-known Keelung confectionery, founded approximately at the end of the Qing dynasty period. Keelung City Government official materials describe it as having "over 110 years" of history. Starting with traditional Chinese pastries, the shop has operated at its current location in front of Miaokou through the Japanese colonial period, post-war years, and into the present day — one of the few century-old family-run pastry shops still operating in Keelung. The use of curry in the pastry echoes Keelung's history as the first place in Taiwan to receive Westernized foods through the Japanese colonial-era port. Along with Keelung curry rice and satay curry, it makes up what locals call Keelung's "three curry tastes." Despite being caught up in a food safety incident in recent years, the shop adjusted its practices and increased transparency, and it remains the locally recognized landmark souvenir destination at Keelung Miaokou.

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Local knowledge

Information compiled from the Keelung City Government Department of Tourism and City Marketing and large-volume public reviews, with sponsored content filtered out. Photos to be replaced with channel-exclusive material after Dio's on-site shoot.