Taiwanese mochi is a delicious treat. While not as well known as pineapple cake (鳳梨酥 / feng li su) or sun cake (太陽餅 / tai yang bing), it certainly has its place amongst the various handheld treat out there.
I previously went to a mochi museum in Taiwan and tasted some of the best mochi in Hualien (花蓮市 / hua lian shi). For yet another mochi-eating experience, I headed to the middle of the island.
While traveling through Nantou (南投市 / nan tou shi), we made a brief pitstop at a small shop to give Joy-Way Mochi (久味大姐手工麻糬 / jiu wei da jie shou gong ma shu) a try.
The shop is nestled on a busy street in the Caotun Township (草屯 / cao tun). It’s super small but is noticeable from it’s more modern decor.
Joy-Way has a variety of different shapes and flavors that they make their mochi in including red bean, peanut, and taro. In traditional Taiwanese style, they have filling on both the inside and outside of the mochi.
As we were waiting for our order, we could see the women inside expertly making and filling the mochi.The mochi is taken out of a bag, portioned out, filled with filling, and rolled in exterior filling.
We got two different types of mochi to try: peanut (花生 / hua sheng) and long (長招牌 / zhang zhao pai).
Above is the outside of the box—a typical Taiwanese to-go box. Below is the peanut mochi.
The long mochi was filled with sesame seed paste.
Both were really good, however messy.
Do they compare to the best Taiwanese mochi I had in Hualien?
Joy-Way is a pretty good alternative. If you’re in the central part of the island and looking for great mochi from Taiwan, give Joy-Way a try. Your tastebuds will thank you.
Just a tip before you go: don’t order too much. Two of these boxes might be good for a family of four, but good luck finishing it between two people. By lunch time I found myself doing the same lick smacking that dogs do when you give them peanut butter.