I was in Nantou for the weekend, wandering around Lugu/Zhushan, when the missus suggested we stop off in Douliu (Yunlin County) to pick up some pizza. Turns out there’s a Frenchman with a converted van baking and selling pizza on various street corners around Douliu. I was a bit sceptical, and maybe the walking around had built up a distorting hunger, but this was the best slice I’ve had in Taiwan, bar none.
The menu options are limited, there are no “special orders” for extra or DIY toppings. There is one size (I’d say about 12"), one thickness (thin, crisp at the edges, slightly chewy in the middle. Average price is NT$200. The oven is wood-fired, constructed from brick, and the pizza is baked directly on the stones.
If you’re in Douliu (I know, why the hell would you be in Douliu?) you should definitely give this place a try. They move around the city, so give them a call in advance to find out where they are and place your order: 0918-751756. We were there around 6.30 on Saturday and there was a crowd of about 30 people waiting to pick one up.
I saw a TV program about him a few months back, and thought his setup looked pretty nice and that I’d like to give one of his pizzas a try (if he does a veggie one). I also reckoned he must be doing very nicely with the xiaojies.
He’s apparently a former engineer, married to a Taiwaneser. His brother-in-law also works the stand. There is a veggie pizza, mercifully without corn or peas.
Was he a train driver for the HSR? There are/were a few of them. One old taiwanlifers used to work for GE when they were setting up the first electrified railway and stayed on. Opened up a pub called the HORSESHOE. One of my then fav dives. Last I saw he was in kenting with a pub there . Great fellow.
There was a feature [Chinese] on the business in Apple Daily a while back.
According to the article, the Hans in ‘Hans’ Handmade Pizza engineer is Hans Wu (Wu Zhenghan), a Taiwanese engineer. The French guy is Chris. Chris is the younger brother of Hans’ French brother-in-law.
It sounds like they went through an interesting adjustment phase during which Chris, who had originally insisted on not catering to Taiwanese tastes (i.e. no Hawaiian Pizza) , was eventually forced to make some compromises before the business became the success it is now.
Thanks Feiren, sounds like I had some of the details backwards.
They are mobile, so no guarantees - you’re best advised to call ahead. When we went there (1st January) they were on the corner of Daxue Rd Section 3 and Gongming Road (that would be 大學路三段 and 公明路 in the old chicken scratch).
Hans’ blog (Chinese) says that they are at Renwen Park (人文公園, AKA Humanities Park) from 3pm Wed.-Sunday. The number is 0918751756 if you want to check if they are there. Renwen park is across the street from the Yunlin Technology University
Decent pizza but not taiwan’s best as the title of this thread suggests. I could eat it regularly and it does reheat quite well. Will definitely make it a regular stop when in the area.
Margarita was just fine and better than lots of places in Taipei although not especially superior or anything like that. 50% probably do lean towards Taiwan tastes.
Interesting history about the pizza truck that can be read above. Chris the French guy is cooking the pizza. Menu is totally in Chinese and no English menu available.
