Taiwanese Street Foods on Historical Lukang Old Street

Walk down the Historical Lukang Old Street with me in Changhua, Taiwan! In our last week in Taiwan, we visited Tainan for a few days before driving back home. We swung by Changhua 彰化, in central Taiwan on the way home and spent some time exploring the iconic Lukang Old Street 鹿港老街, located in Lukang 鹿港, one of Taiwan’s oldest cities. There’s street snacks, art, and history where ever you go, and I’m here to share it all with you!

How To Get To Lukang Old Street
Iconic Spots Along Lukang Old Street
Street Foods Of Lukang Old Street

How To Get To Lukang Old Street

The Old Streets of Lukang is lined with well-maintained historical architecture from the Qing Dynasty, home to various Taiwanese cultural preservation efforts. Lined with temples and cultural exhibits educating visitors, Lukang is a great place to learn about the religious and cultural development of Taiwan.

Lukang Old Street is about half an hour of bus ride via the 台灣好行 Taiwan Tourist Shuttle Lukang Route from the Changhua Bus Station, Be sure to plan some extra time here, because I’m sure you’ll get lost in the delicious street foods and nostalgic alleyways, just like us!

Iconic Spots Along Lukang Old Street

If you ever visit Changhua, you can’t miss Lukang 鹿港: one of the oldest and most traditional towns in Taiwan and the first Historic Preservation Area in Taiwan. The city alone has over 200 temples, and has done well maintaining the original architectures of these buildings and streets. Lukang Old Street in particular collects all the nostalgic and traditional craftsmen ship on one street. Visiting here is like walking through a time machine!

Lukang’s Nostalgic Trinket Stores

Lukang Old Street is packed with nostalgic trinket stores specializing in trinkets and vintage items that reflect Taiwan’s cultural heritage. These are toys my parents have played with as a kids, like old-fashioned slingshots, handcarved woodent toys, marbles, antique ceramics, and more cultural relics.

The most prominent one on the street is 天后雜貨店, with toys and trinkets lining all the walls of the store. There’s so many on the street, you won’t miss it! It’s a great place to stock up on unique traditional candies and toys, everything from hacky sack to candy cigarettes, at a very affordable costs.

Lukang Cultural Center – 鹿港公會堂

The Lukang Cultural Center – 鹿港公會堂 hosts many historical and art exhibitions along with workshops and performances. The center itself was previously the town assembly hall. In fact, it was the biggest Western-style building in the town of Lukang at one point.

To learn more about local history, this is the spot! It brings so much context to the scenery and architecture we’re seeing around us. We spent hours learning about what life looks like back then, and it gives me such an appreciation for local history. Outside the cultural center, there’s various street food stalls, performers, and vendors around the plaza. It’s a nice location to take a snack break before learning more about Lukang inside the cultural center.

Lukang Mazu Temple – 鹿港天后宮

As a religion-centered port town, Lukang is also home to the Lukang Mazu Temple 鹿港天后宮, dedicated to Mazu, the local goddess of the sea. As a coastal and port town, the people of Lukang and Changhua worshipped Mazu to protect them while they’re out at sea. Mazu and other religious imagery are present throughout the artwork around the city as well as here in the Mazu Temple.

We were super lucky to also witness the Mazu Pilgrimage Parade, a procession through all the neighboring temples dedicated to Mazu, which happens once every 10 years. It was such a fun display of community, as volunteers of all ages parade by in floats, bands, or groups, celebrating the sea goddess. People from all across the country flock to the Changhua area to seek blessings from the goddess during this celebration!

Street Foods Of Lukang Old Street

The street foods of Lukang Old Street range from super traditional to uniquely modern. It’s a fun way of experiencing all the different cultural influences in the area – from regional Japanese sweets to trending tanghulu. It’s an effort in preserving simple traditional treats made with basic ingredients that span generations!

Traditional Taiwanese Cake – 鹿港蛋糕

If there’s any street food that I can’t resist, it’s a classic Taiwanese egg cake. Here at 鹿港蛋糕, these cakes are made in their purest forms. Located at a street corner on Lukang Old Street, this little stall regularly attracts customers with the sweet smells of their cakes grilling.

These pan roasted cakes are so nice and fluffy, they bring me right back to my childhood. The outsides are slightly crispy as you bite through. These are the simplest cakes, and each bite is packed with a milky, eggy sponge cake flavor that I loved as a kid. At 2 for 20 NTD and 6 for 50 NTD, these are such a cheap and easy snack as you’re walking down Lukang Old Street.

Grilled Filled Mochi – 米弎豆Misato

Opened by a Japanese national, 米弎豆Misato sells Kyushu’s specialty grilled filled mochi – Kobanmochi. Through a wooden Japanese-style kiosk with clear views of the grills, you can see the employees hard at work grilling these mochi to perfection. It’s honestly hard to miss this bustling stand!

Grilled with a traditional Japanese coin pattern, some people associate eating this mochi with good luck. These filled mochi are about 30-35 NTD each, with flavors like red bean, matcha, taro, and 2 seasonal flavors. They’re crispy as you bite through it and chewy as you’re eating. The steaming sesame filling is perfectly molten and flowly, and not overpoweringly sweet.

They also serve other unique seasonal desserts here like Matcha Mont Blanc Soft Serve and Strawberry Mochi. If you’re a fan of Japanese-style desserts, this is a unique spot to grab some authentic Japanese flavors in the streets of Taiwan. It’s an outdoor stand, and you’ll see plenty of people lining up at this kiosk for snacks and drinks.

Roasted Wheat Flour Tea – 怡古齋人文茶館

We stopped by 怡古齋人文茶館 for some 麵茶, which is a traditional roasted wheat flour tea. It’s called a “tea”, but it’s actually more like a drinkable toasted porridge dessert. Traditionally eaten hot, 怡古齋人文茶館 has innovated this classic Taiwanese drink to be a cold boba-type dessert drink of blended roasted rice and sesame with slowly roasted wheat flour tea.

The wheat flour tea has a really rich and creamy, packed with toasted sesame flavor. The popped rice sprinkled on top gives it a nice crunch as you suck the up through the straw. It’s like a Frappuccino with no coffee! It’s refreshing for a casual walk, and really brings you back in time with these traditional flavors.

Giant Strawberry Tanghulu – 牛B葫蘆王

We saw these beautifully giant Tanghulu at 鹿港牛B葫蘆王. They offer various combinations of strawberry, hawthorne, tomatoes, and other seasonal fruit tanghulu. You have the option of fresh or frozen fruit on your skewer, and you can choose extra flavoring between plum powder, chocolate, honey, and condensed milk. They’re about 100-150 NTD per skewer.

They remind me so much of my own recipe, Santa Tanghulu, but SO MUCH BIGGER. It’s on the pricier side, but the fruits look pretty fresh, but these skewers were too big for me to try out this time. If you love fruity sweets, this would be a great options to eat while exploring the streets of Lukang!