Siba Gaodi

Siba Gaodi in the city of Hualien prides itself offering the flavorful soup loaded with soft and chewy cuttlefish. The soup can be added with starch to make it thick, smooth and translucent, but if you like your broth thin and watery, ask for the one without starch — both are light and delicious.

The broth comes in three different flavors: seafood (without starch), original and shacha BBQ sauce (both with a bit of starch). The one without starch is weaving together the essence of many fresh and sumptuous seafood. The original is slightly spicy yet smooth, while the shacha is also a little spicy and nicely done without overshadowing the fresh taste of the cuttlefish. Each chunk is a small piece of cuttlefish wrapped in cuttlefish paste, which has a natural sweetness that simply melts in your mouth.

Other items on the menu include braised pork rice and agar-agar. The tender, juicy and flavorful pork — not too lean and not too fat — makes just about as tasty a meat as you can get and melts in your mouth as you bite in. But the serving may not being filling for some appetites. Agar-agar is a jelly-like dessert and perfect for cooling down from a scorching hot day. If you are lucky enough, you might even be treated to an exclusive item off the menu — the spicy hot braised pork rice.