Gong Zheng Bun Store — Restaurant in Hualien City

This is one of the hottest places to be right now in Hualien, Taiwan. People wait in a long line to have a chance to take a bite of this Internet sensation. These are bread-like buns with pork filings - Xiao Long Bao. But different from say the soup dumplings from Ding Tai Fong many foreigners now associate with baos in Taiwan. Waiting in line for food believed to be the best seems to be a national pastime in Taiwan. The crazy thing is often the next stand sells the exact same thing with no line. But people continue to wait. We waited for about twenty minutes, paid NTD $90 (USD $3) for 18 buns and sat on the side of the road on the plastic stools in front of the store. The wait was worth it because they're really good - both the filling and the wrapper (the bun) are delicious. More importantly you get to have your pictures taken in front of the store and brag about the fact that you've been here and had the best (according to some blog or...

the queue is insane when we went in the late morning, it might be deceiving that the queue to order moves really fast but man the wait for food to be done after you’ve ordered takes SUPER LONG so be prepared 🙃 food wise, we tried the 小笼包 which was super value for money like NTD5 for 1 包 where to find 😭 and the dumplings which were super good especially with the sauce with loads of garlic in it soak the dumpling in that and its super good 😍 after this we went to try the 小笼包 at the other popular 周 store which was NTD6 for 1 包 and to us it was the same hahaha but can definitely tell that the filling is slightly more at...

Just a street stall but a great one. The staff is preparing assembly line dumplings in numerous variations that are towering up in skyscrapers of steaming baskets just in front of the stall. Every type of dumpling we tried was amazing and the garlicky dipping sauce was pure kryptonite. Do takeout and the sauce goes into the same bag as the dumplings do they're properly soaking up all the goodness. I usually don't trust reviews in touristy areas as on holidays your judgment is impaired and influenced by this great feeling only vacations can give but this one's a winner. It's cheap too so what do you have to...