Walking into Daxi Old Street, you catch the scent of soy sauce before you even spot the ornamental gates — pot after pot of dark-brown tofu cubes gurgling in large woks, the air thick with soy sauce, star anise, and the mellow fragrance of soybeans. From the intersection of Heping Road to Zhongyang Road, century-old dried tofu shops line up one after another, each serving their own house-recipe black tofu on a plate. This is the everyday scene Daxi residents have carried on since the late Qing dynasty.
What is Daxi Dried Tofu
Daxi Dried Tofu refers to a style of black dried tofu made in Daxi, Taoyuan, slow-braised for an extended period in soy sauce, sugar, and aromatics. The exterior is glossy and dark; the interior a light brown. Each piece has a firm, springy bite with a full soybean-and-soy-sauce flavor. The traditional way to eat it is freshly sliced on a cold plate, drizzled with garlic soy sauce and scallions. The deeply seasoned bite-sized "black gold" cubes are also a popular souvenir. Production hinges on soybean quality, a well-aged braising broth, and precise heat control — each old shop guards its own recipe passed down through generations.
Why Daxi? The answer lies in the water quality of the Dahan River and a century of industry clusters. During the Japanese colonial period, Daxi was a hub for timber and camphor in northern Taiwan; the thriving commerce drove demand for bean products. The soft upstream water of the Dahan River also suited tofu-making, and old shops like Huang Rih Shiang (1924), Huang Da Mu, and Liao Xinlan all took root here. The Daxi Wood Art Ecomuseum houses a "Huang Rih Shiang Story Hall" documenting a century of family splits and reunions. President Chiang Ching-kuo used to stroll through Daxi in his later years and enjoy the black dried tofu, cementing this flavor in the public memory.
How to Eat It the Local Way
Local Knowledge
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- Huang Rih Shiang was founded in 1924; the Daxi Wood Art Ecomuseum maintains an official "Huang Rih Shiang Story Hall" as a cultural exhibition.
- Huang Da Mu, Huang Rih Shiang, and Dafang Doukan all trace back to the same Huang family lineage — the three shops have split and each developed its own flavor, worth tasting separately.
- Liao Xinlan, Liao Mingliang, and other long-established local names are also part of the cluster. The category itself is the draw; flavor preferences between individual shops are subjective.
Practical Tips
- Daxi Old Street is extremely crowded on weekends. A weekday visit is recommended, and popular shops have shorter or no queues before 10 a.m.
- Once removed from refrigeration, fresh dried tofu has a limited shelf life at room temperature. Vacuum-packed versions travel better; freshly sliced plates are best eaten on the spot.
- Both Heping Road and Zhongyang Road have dried tofu shops — try several to compare the richness of the braising liquid and the firmness of the tofu.
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.