This beloved Taiwanese snack and you fan share the same glutinous rice base, and the two look nearly identical, often causing confusion. You fan—literally “oil rice”—gets its name from the cooking method: rice is cooked, then mixed with soy sauce and ingredients. Mi gao—literally "rice cake"—by contrast, refers to the rice that is steamed with toppings added afterward. Elders also point to different ingredient profiles: you fan typically features abundant toppings—sakura shrimp, mushrooms, dried squid, and other delicacies—while mi gao, traditionally served as a snack, came in smaller portions designed to delight rather than satisfy, featuring only braised pork sauce, pork floss, and pickled cucumber. In earlier times, mi gao was steamed in bamboo tubes (tong zai), giving rise to the full name tong zai mi gao.

The iSee Taiwan Foundation has dedicated itself to discovering Taiwan's beauty and distinctive character. In 2012, it launched the "Food for Fun" initiative. The 2016 theme was tube rice pudding; 2017 featured gua bao (Taiwanese pork belly buns), and 2018 highlighted Three-Cup Chicken, continuously cultivating Taiwan's culinary culture and promoting it to the world.

Tube rice pudding may seem much the same everywhere, but certain shops have built impressive reputations, creating clustering effects. Tainan is densely packed with shops drawing long queues, while Qingshui in Taichung City has become a regional hub.

Tube Rice Pudding Earns Its Place in the Michelin Guide

Today, tube rice pudding can be found throughout Taiwan. In the Michelin Guide, specialty shops from both northern and southern Taiwan have earned recognition. Tainan's entry is Lo Cheng Migao, topped with braised pork sauce, cucumber slices, pork floss, and peanuts, served alongside Sishen Herbal Soup. The ingredients may seem ordinary, but the flavor is exceptional.

Tainan has no shortage of queuing hotspots. Xia Dadao Lan Migao features old-recipe braised pork sauce, pork floss, and pickled cucumber slices; large bowls come with braised meatballs. Bao'an Road Migao comes standard with braised meatballs, pork floss, and pickled cucumber slices, with the braised pork cut extremely fine. Qingshui in Taichung boasts a dense concentration of tube rice pudding shops. Among them, Wang Ta draws consistent queues. Established in 1933, alongside the standard pork belly and dried shrimp, it includes an uncommon ingredient for tube rice pudding: oysters—bringing together flavors from both land and sea.

Renowned Taiwanese literary figure Yeh Shih-tao once captured the pleasure of eating tube rice pudding in his novel: one bowl is never enough. This is precisely the charm of street snacks—that lingering desire for more keeps you coming back. Tube rice pudding continues to captivate with its modest portions, leaving diners with that irresistible craving for just one more bite.