振香珍餅舖 Jhen Siang Jhen（Taiwanese Cake Bakery）

having read the reviews here, we were quite excited to finally sample their products. had visited the shop earlier in the day but still had other stops so decided to come back. as luck (or fate) would have it, what happened on our return visit saved us from a most unpleasant experience.nnas we arrived at the entrance and came into view of the inside of the shop, we observed the baker was standing with one leg up on a ledge that was about chair height. as before, he was wearing an extremely worn and stained sleeveless top with a matching pair of similarly worn and loose fitting shorts. he did not initially become aware of our presence as he was facing between 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock (relative to someone who was standing at the entrance looking straight in) and he appeared to be busy scratching something as one of his hands had reached up his shorts. when he was finished, he picked up a small container (of what looked to be an ointment) and replaced the lid. at this point, he noticed our presence and began to walking towards the door.nnwhat happened next was the reason we did not make any purchase: as he approached us--in what appeared to be a very natural motion to him--he wiped his fingers/hands on his worn shirt and then made motions asking what we wanted. there was no indication he had any intention (much less knowledge of the necessity thereof) to thoroughly wash his hands. he had no gloves on and we had earlier observed him handling the food items with his bare hands.nnwe stood there for several seconds before apologizing and leaving. could not even begin to fathom to explain the magnitude of what had just happened, especially given language barriers. this episode did give us food for thought: what *is* the standard of hygiene at all these ancient/traditional food shops? what happens behind the scenes?nnobviously, everyone has different ideas of what constitutes acceptable hygiene so this review is targeted to those who would like to make informed decisions.nnvisit(s):n20201127

This place is amazing. If you're a foreigner travelling through Taiwan (like me) and you've stumbled across this review, totally drop everything and try the pies at this shop. The pork and mungbean, the sweet peanut and coriander.... You ain't gonna get these tastes in other countries. Plus, the ladies that make the pies are incredibly lovely. It's hidden down an alley but you should be able to find it with your google maps.

Very friendly and delicious pies - I tried the coconut and also the green tea mochi pies.

These cakes are just delicious

I wanted to buy mooncakes on a whim that day, but I didn’t want to wait. I found this one by chance. I came in and Pan Niang was really enthusiastic. She gave us a try like I didn’t need any money. It’s freshly made without preservatives and can’t be left for a long time. Banniang didn’t want to waste the cakes, and then explained their Mid-Autumn Mooncake sales method in detail and reminded me to come on the same day as much as possible.nI can definitely buy it~nAfter I heard it, I waited until now to buy it on the spot~nI can only say that when I eat their bread, it is fragrant and not greasy.nReally push! It's the right thing to find her in the ancient pastry shopnI bought two boxes and one box as a gift~