After walking Daxi Old Street and finishing a round of dried tofu, the next move is to find a bowl of tofu pudding and sit down for a rest. Outside long-standing stalls like Lai Mama and Lai Zu Chuan, a few small stools are always set out. The vendor scoops thin layers off the snowy-white tofu pudding in the large pot, ladles on sugar syrup and peanuts — fifty NT dollars later, your heat and palate are soothed. This is Daxi Old Street's most local dessert.
What is Daxi Tofu Pudding
Daxi Tofu Pudding is made using traditional gypsum (calcium sulfate) to set a high-concentration soy milk, resulting in silky, fine-textured pudding with a distinct soybean flavor that is not masked by the sugar syrup. The traditional way is hot tofu pudding with ginger-sugar syrup in winter, and cold tofu pudding with peanuts and sugar syrup in summer. Toppings such as taro balls, tapioca pearls, red beans, and mung beans are also available for a more loaded version. The biggest difference from commercially produced tofu pudding is the freshness — scooped to order from a pot — and the solid quality of the soy milk used. This is the quintessential small-change dessert of Daxi's bean-product culture.
Why Daxi? The context is the same as Daxi's century-old dried tofu culture. The upstream Dahan River water quality suits bean-product making, and the area's cluster of dried tofu shops naturally extended to tofu pudding, soy milk, firm tofu, and tofu skin as Old Street staples. Lai Mama Traditional Tofu Pudding, Lai Zu Chuan Tofu Pudding, and several other long-established stalls have operated in and around Daxi Old Street for decades, representing the traditional gypsum-set tofu pudding method. This is a collector's-item Taoyuan snack; the experience of browsing the category cluster is central, and individual stall preferences vary by person.
How to Eat It the Local Way
Local Knowledge
Verified Credentials (ads filtered)
- The tofu pudding stall cluster on Daxi Old Street has been in place for decades; Lai Mama and Lai Zu Chuan stand as long-established names.
- Part of the same bean-product cultural lineage as Daxi Dried Tofu — the water quality and local bean-product industry are the underlying foundation.
- Taoyuan City tourism materials list Daxi Old Street food as a primary attraction; tofu pudding is one of the Old Street's signature snacks.
Practical Tips
- Daxi Old Street is crowded on weekends, and popular tofu pudding stalls may have queues. Go off-peak or look for older shops tucked into side lanes off the main street.
- A serving typically costs 40–60 NT dollars — small-change pricing. Be cautious about over-loading with toppings, which can obscure the traditional flavor.
- Gypsum-set tofu pudding is smoother than brine-set pudding but has a shorter shelf life. Eating it on the day it is made is best.
Information compiled from Michelin Guide, Taoyuan City Government Tourism Bureau, and large-scale public reviews; sponsored content has been filtered out. Photos will be replaced with channel-exclusive material after Dio's on-site shoot.