長白小館

🚩 Changbai Small Restaurant: A Famous Pickled Cabbage Hot Pot Restaurant for Over Forty Years

Changbai Small Restaurant is a well-known pickled cabbage and pork hot pot restaurant located in Taipei City, and it has been in operation for over forty years. Besides local customers, many tourists from abroad also visit; even the solitary gourmet Goro has come here.

The restaurant is located on Guangfu South Road in Taipei, and the nearest MRT station is the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Station, Exit 2, which is about a 2-minute walk away. The dining area is divided into the first floor and basement level. On weekdays during lunch, there are not too many customers (perhaps the weather isn't cold enough yet?). The space is spacious, with simple decor and many calligraphy and paintings on the walls, creating an overall down-to-earth atmosphere.

After being seated, the staff will bring the menu. You can choose the size of the broth based on the number of people and appetite, then order hot pot ingredients or noodles separately. After dining, you settle the bill, and they only accept cash.

Today, six people came to dine, with the meal details as follows:
🔸 Regular Set Hot Pot $2680
The large pot includes pork, pickled cabbage, frozen tofu, crab, and shiitake mushrooms, plus a choice of two plates of meat (beef, lamb, or pork), and two portions of cabbage and vermicelli.
When the pot is served, you have to wait for the broth to boil completely, but there are many ingredients inside that can be eaten right away, like the cabbage and frozen tofu. The broth is flavorful and sufficiently sour, making it incredibly satisfying to eat. The two plates of meat (beef and pork) are large, and by the end, you might feel a bit worried about how much you've eaten, along with the shiitake mushrooms, crab, cabbage, and vermicelli—each portion is generous. Just ordering the set hot pot will fill you up greatly.
Since I am used to eating it plain without sauce, I cannot comment on how the sauces pair, but if I have the chance to visit again, I would like to challenge the recommended sauces on the wall.
🔸 Additional Hot Pot Ingredients: Enoki Mushrooms $100, Fish Dumplings $100, Fried Meatballs (10 pieces) $360
The portions are decent, and the fried meatballs absorb the broth when cooked, making them very fragrant and soft in texture.
🔸 Scallion Pancake $50
It is in a rare long shape? Crispy texture and fragrant pancake skin.
🔸 Chive Box $120
Very large, I personally don't like chives, but theirs don't have a strong smell; the skin is pan-fried well—excellent!
🔸 Stir-fried Snow Snail (Small Portion) $250
The portion is large, but it tastes ordinary and doesn't match well with the hot pot.

Changbai Small Restaurant offers satisfactory portion sizes and prices, and the deliciousness of the meals is above average. I think it will be even harder to get a table when winter arrives.