Dishes
Pork heart glass-noodle soup
豬心冬粉
Also called: pork heart soup · 豬心湯 · dong fen
Slices of gently cooked pork heart in clear soup with glass noodles, often with other offal alongside.
What it is
Pork heart, sliced to order, in a clear soup with glass noodles. The heart is tender rather than chewy because it is cooked gently. Shops also serve liver, tongue and other offal the same way.
Where it comes from
On Tainan's Baoan Road, A Ming is one of four similar pork-heart shops that share the same family roots. Its owner is the brother of the Huang family shop's owner. Michelin says the chef still prepares the offal the way his father did almost 70 years ago.
How it is made
At A Ming, the heart is sliced, put in a small aluminium cup and covered with hot soup, then the cup sits in a pot of hot water so the meat cooks through slowly. The owner describes it as steeped rather than boiled, and Michelin calls it a bain-marie method that stops the offal overcooking.
How to eat it
Tainan eats it in the evening and late at night. Expect a queue, and bring cash. In Cishan, offal can come with egg noodles, glass noodles or rice, and a little grated garlic suits the pork tongue.
In Kaohsiung
Tainan's Baoan Road shops are evening affairs. In Kaohsiung's Cishan, Hsiu Ming has been beside the old street since 1986, and regulars add braised pork rice topped with a fried egg.
Where to eat it in Kaohsiung
秀明豬心冬粉Hsiu Ming
Pork heart and other offal in clear soup with glass noodles is what people come to this Cishan old-town favourite for. The braised pork rice with a fried egg is the other order.
古早味碳火芳德豬肉冬粉Fang De Charcoal Pork Glass Noodles
A long-running shop that still cooks over charcoal, ladling glass noodles in clear pork broth with heart, tongue and other cuts, and a 2025 500 Bowls winner.
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