Du Hsiao Yueh Danzai Noodles

Du Hsiao Yueh danzai noodles was founded in 1895 in Tainan by Hong Yu-tou, whose family came from Haicheng in Fujian. He had worked ferrying passengers between Tainan and Anping, and whenever rough summer-autumn seas kept him from going out—the slack season the locals called the "small month"—he carried noodles on a shoulder pole through the streets to "pass" the small month, giving the shop its name; a red lantern hung out as its sign, it became the forebear of danzai noodles in Taiwan.

Passed down through four and five generations over more than a century, Du Hsiao Yueh has become the most iconic name in Taiwanese danzai noodles, opening branches on Taipei's Yongkang Street and elsewhere, carrying a snack born among Tainan's dockworkers and fishermen to urban diners and visitors from abroad.

Its danzai noodles pair specially made oil-cooked noodles with a secret meat sauce and a broth drawn from shrimp heads, dressed with garlic paste, coriander and black vinegar; the old low-stove, low-bench seated cooking and the keeping of the meat sauce warm continue to this day, a living specimen of Taiwanese snack craft.

Du Hsiao Yueh is a well-known century-old restaurant name in Taiwan, but as Taiwan does not use the mainland Ministry of Commerce's time-honoured brand batch system, it is listed here only as a regional venerable brand.