Three Tastes Pineapple Cake (San Wei Su Wu 三味酥屋)
Kulangsu teems with pineapple cake shops, so it’s a competitive market for this product, also a Taiwanese specialty, which would really be more accurately translated as “Pineapple Pie.” The product is a one-serving puff-pastry pie the size of a cupcake, stuffed with a rich, melty stuffing of minced and salted pineapple, coconut, mango, durian, or […]
Sue’s Festival Gift Shop (Su Xiao Tang 苏小糖)
This candy shop is bright and welcoming, framed by a striking outdoor wall of frames with plants growing out of them. As an art installation, this wall is worth seeing in its own right, and the shop inside deserves to be called a museum. It’s staffed by a friendly group of girls in pretty turquoise […]
Grandma Lu’s (Lu Ama 卢阿嬷)
My 89-year-old grandmother’s name is Lu, and so is the mastermind behind this very local Minnan sweets and pastry shop, Lu Nai Nai (Lu Ama 卢阿嬷, in Minnan dialect). In our own family dialect, I call my Italian grandmother Nonnie, which is close enough to Nai Nai to complete the sweep. There are two Grandma […]
Chu Family Garden (Chu Jia Yuan 褚家园）
This well-known romantic garden café is one more piece of proof that Kulangsu is paradise. Leaves blow in the sunny breeze, flowers bloom, and birds serenade you with a symphony while you sit at wooden tables under umbrellas in the shade of an old brick mansion. It’s an alluring respite for weary feet and jack of […]