卯澳海洋驛站

Maoao Ocean Station is located on the outer side of Maoao Fishing Port in Gongliao District, beside the main road of Taiwan Route 2. Previously, the popular online influencer "Penguin Sister" made a direct call while circumnavigating the island, and she had the quite rare barnacles when passing through the Northeast Coast, which are also available here.

Today, we enjoyed barnacles, mackerel fillet, stir-fried seaweed, sea asparagus, fish maw and fish roe, stone crab, and mantis shrimp, totaling about 1500 NTD.

Barnacles:
This is truly a super rare specialty dish. The restaurant helps to crack them open after cooking, allowing you to easily pull out the plump barnacle meat with your hands and enjoy it. The texture is similar to crab meat but even fresher, full of wild flavor, and much thicker. You won’t have to struggle like when eating crabs; it’s delicious beyond measure.

Mackerel Fillet:
Prepared by pan-frying, mackerel is a large fish, and the whole fillet has no bones. Its unique ocean flavor and slightly salty seasoning pair very well together, making the meat tender and quite appetizing.

Stir-Fried Seaweed:
Just regular stir-fried seaweed. It’s delicious, but it doesn’t stand out in memory as much.

Sea Asparagus:
Also known as coral grass. The unique texture is reminiscent of chewing on gelatinous crispy pieces, which is quite captivating. This is actually a cold dish.

Fish Maw and Fish Roe:
The fish swim bladder and ovaries initially look like bamboo clams, but the texture is richer. After asking the restaurant, I found out it’s a very rare part. I really didn’t expect it to be so special. This is also served as a cold dish.

Stone Crab:
This is likely only available on the North Coast, commonly known as armored crab. The thick meat feels similar to abalone, but the flavor that bounces in your mouth is quite different, although hard to describe, it’s also very tasty. This is another cold dish.

Mantis Shrimp:
Prepared with salt baking, the meat is thick and has a lot of elasticity, but the price is really a bit too high for just one... It’s truly large, but still just one...

The restaurant’s sign is very noticeable, especially the big door number. There are plenty of seats, and parking is not an issue on the North Coast.

Overall, just the barnacles alone would guarantee my return, and the other seafood is equally commendable. Besides various side dishes, there are also signature main dishes like squid, shrimp vermicelli, and seafood porridge I want to try. If you pass by Maoao Fishing Port, please be sure to consider visiting.

Highly recommended to everyone!