Chiayi Turkey Rice Taiwan

Chiayi Turkey Rice in Taiwan

[Non-halal] For this post, we highlight two restaurants serving Chiayi Turkey Rice 嘉義火雞肉飯 in Taiwan.

During our two-night stay in Chiayi (a pit stop for our trip to the Alishan national forest), we visited two restaurants in the city known for their Turkey Rice dish.

One is recommended by a local, while the other is a well-known restaurant that’s popular with locals and tourists.

Chiayi Turkey Rice 嘉義火雞肉飯

Turkey rice is one of the most popular dishes that originated in Chiayi City in central Taiwan.

Alongside Smart Fish’s famous fish head stew (see our post here), the turkey rice was featured on Netflix’s Street Food Asia series a few years ago.

There is an estimated 300 Turkey Rice restaurants in Chiayi, but we visited two based on recommendations by locals. These two restaurants are located relatively close to the Chiayi train station.

What is Chiayi Turkey Rice?

The dish certainly has an interesting origin story.

Turkey was first introduced after World War II by American soldiers stationed in Taiwan. These birds were eventually bred in central Taiwan, and became a popular alternative to chicken as it was cheaper (and larger) than the latter during the hard times post-WW2.

Today, the Chiayi Turkey Rice 嘉義火雞肉飯 dish has become synonymous with the city. The dish is relatively simple – white rice is drizzled with turkey jus, soy sauce, and lard, and topped with lots of shredded turkey meat.

Made with turkey essence, the turkey gravy is incredibly flavourful and goes superbly well with pork lard and fragrant soy sauce.

A Lou Shi Turkey Rice 阿樓師火雞肉飯

A Lou Shi Turkey Rice 阿樓師火雞肉飯 on Wufeng North Street is a restaurant recommended by the barista at Mimico Coffee (see our post here).

Compared to the other restaurant featured here, A Lou Shi is considered a local spot that is below most tourists’ radar.

A Lou Shi Turkey Rice 阿樓師火雞肉飯 is a really a simple shop with a stall at the front where all the food is prepared, with simple tables and plastic stools for patrons to enjoy the food.

A Lou Shi offers turkey rice served with diced turkey or turkey slices – and we wholly recommend the latter.

Made with Turkey drumstick instead of breast (for diced turkey), the turkey slices were incredibly tender and flavourful. The calrose rice is also cooked to perfection for an al-dente bite, and the flavours of the soy sauce, lard and turkey essence just blended so well together.

We also tried the Intestine Soup – which has a light ginger base with fresh offal and mustard green. The Bamboo Shoot dish is definitely acquired taste, which we didn’t enjoy as much.

Our meal of two rice bowls, soup and bamboo shoot only came up to TWD160 (USD5 or RM22) – which was the cheapest meal we had in Taiwan for such a good portion. Note that they only open for dinner from 4pm until midnight daily.

Ah Hong Shi Turkey Rice 阿宏師火雞肉飯

Ah Hong Shi Turkey Rice 阿宏師火雞肉飯 is the other spot we visited.

Compared to A Lou Shi, this spot is definitely more comfortable and cleaner, and it offers more variety of side dishes to go with your Turkey Rice. However, the only open from 10.30am until 8pm daily.

Most of the popular dishes were sold out when we arrived for dinner – so we advise to come early.

The Turkey Rice here is served with additional fried shallots which give it additional fragrance.

We also liked the option of adding a fried egg. When mixed with soy sauce and the gravy, the runny yolk from the egg just gives an extra oomph to the dish!

The turkey here is equally flavourful and tender, and the rice is also cooked beautifully to soak all the natural turkey juices. The seaweed soup however, was quite bland – so we advise to skip it.

Summary

Turkey rice is a definite must-try dish here in Chiayi. As you can tell – we enjoyed the dishes at both restaurants (as well as the one at Smart Fish).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

A Lou Shi Turkey Rice 阿樓師火雞肉飯
Address: No. 102號, Wufeng N Rd, East District, Chiayi City, Taiwan 600
Hours: 4pm-12am Daily
Phone: +886 5 228 2738

Ah Hong Shi Turkey Rice 阿宏師火雞肉飯
Address: No. 108號, Guanghua Rd, East District, Chiayi City, Taiwan 600
Hours: 10.30am-pm Daily
Phone: +886 5 223 3467