Hua Lien Xiang Bian Shi — Restaurant in Hualien City

Came here slightly after lunch crowd and there were plenty of seats in this dumpling store. It seems like it's quite well established as I did se their franchise elsewhere in Taiwan while touring around.

Here is what we had: 🍝 红油辣干面 Chilli Oil Noodles The sauce was rich with flavour, with a peanut sauce inside that delivered a rich, nutty taste. They used red chilli oil, adding a nice kick, and topped them with aromatic herbs like coriander and seaweed for an umami boost. The noodles were hearty and served as a perfect, carb-loaded base for the dumplings to be paired with. Rating: 4/5 🌟

🍚 卤肉饭 Braised Meat Rice As typical of many Taiwanese restaurants, the braised meat rice was a satisfying side or main dish. The portions were on the smaller side, making it a great complement to the dumplings without filling you up too much. The pork wad minced and soaked up all the gravy, which had a strong, flavorful pork taste. Rating: 4/5 🌟

🥟 综合扁食汤 Dumpling Soup This was undoubtedly the star of the show.The wonton dumplings were so plump! We opted for the light soup base and mixed two different wonton flavours. The shrimp dumplings were especially impressive - large, juicy, and wrapped in a delicate skin. Highly recommend! Rating: 5/5 🌟

🥦 凉拌小菜 Cold Side Dishes Choose from a variety of cold side dishes in the fridge and pay accordingly. We tried the lightly marinated cucumbers and the bitter gourd, which had a surprising sweetness. These dishes added a refreshing crunch and helped cleanse the rich...

absolutely exceptional wontons, my favorite of the famous wontons in hualien. I almost always get the same thing because I love the shrimp wontons: each one has a whole shrimp as well as pork filling, absolutely not kosher! I’ve heard the vegetarian one (翡翠) is good but I’ve always ordered the shrimp… the sauce on the 紅油抄手and the 紅油辣麵 is the same. They aren’t particularly spicy, just enough to make you a little thirsty, and the sauce is super garlicky and sour from the pickled mustard greens which are really excellent, topped with plenty of cilantro and scallions and seaweed flakes. The soup is good too but it’s definitely a Hualien style soup, which is to say the broth is very mild and mostly flavored with celery and white pepper. The ladies that work here are all professional and polite in spite of how busy the shop is, and the ingredients are very fresh because there’s such a high customer turnover. And, ever single side dish is good—...

Hualien specializes in bian shi (wantons). We got the mixed with noodles in broth which included shrimp wantons, pork wantons, and vegetable wantons all 3 were delicious. I knew I’d like the shrimp ones but I was surprised by how tasty the vegetable ones were. We also go the ones in chili oil- super tasty seasoning but I regret getting small amount of spicy. The broth seems plain at first but add some of the black vinegar and chili from the condiments stand and it’s perfect. For 95 NTD ($3) for a bowl of wanton noodle soup, this place is a steal. I can only dream of getting such good...