Taiwanese Brickkiln Chicken or Clay Oven Roasted Chicken is the most memorable dish of our Taiwan trip. We drop to this restaurant after our stay in Alishan, and on the way to Kaohsiung. This Weng Yao Ji Restaurant is recommended by our family in Taiwan since their Clay Oven Roasted Chicken has become popular around Taiwan. I found out later, they have 4 branches there is in Yilan, Hsinchu, Pingtung, and Chiayi that we had visited. The entrance of the restaurant is decorated with a giant mascot so you should have guessed that chicken is the main dish that we are here for!

In front of the restaurant, there is their preparation area with a lot of longan tree trunks and clay oven to grill the chicken. Weng Yao Ji insists on using the ancient method of cooking and providing the highest quality of food to their customers. With specially selected longan wood for grilling the chicken, this method has been used for hundred of years, and it is the only place in Taiwan which still honors this culinary tradition.

The chicken is roasted in huge clay oven like you can see the photo below. Their staffs had an intensive job which requires good skill and knowledge of the cooking technique! They had to open up the jars one by one to check on the chicken and to rotate it every time to make sure that the chickens are perfectly roasted! They also not forgetting to ensure that the flame to roast the chicken is right by adding longan logs at the appropriate time.

When cooked, the chicken is coated with the seasoning so the meat is rich in flavor and tender with a crispy skin coating.  After coated by seasoning, the chicken is put back into the clay oven, rotated and checked one by one. Really love to see how they skillfully use the ancient cooking techniques!

When the chicken is served, you’re given two pairs of gloves. Someone at the table is appointed to put on the gloves, one is made of thin plastic, the other is a pair of thick cotton work gloves. First, you put on the cotton work gloves, these keep your hands from getting greasy, and then you put on the plastic gloves. These keep you from burning your hands on the hot roasted chicken that is fresh from the oven! Because this is a whole chicken, so you have to rip it apart before you can eat it. The chicken has to tear apart into pieces so others can use the chopstick to serve themselves.

The roasted chicken marinated with a lot of spices and roasted in the most traditional method using Longan Tree Trunks that gives it an additional fragrance.

The roast chicken is richly flavored with herbs and spices, with a strong note of cumin and wood smoke. The restaurant says that they select only free-range mountain chicken of about 130 to 150 days old, and the chickens are relatively small, weighing in at about one kilogram. The result is, meat that is really juicy and tender which has a good texture and the skin is beautifully crispy and flavorful. The chicken is well roasted that the fat beneath the skin has all “melted”, leaving behind a crispy layer of skin. And damn, this is the best part of this roasted chicken. DABOMB…!!!

Even without any garnishing, the chicken tastes delicious, but for those who want some added flavor, the chicken comes with cloves of roasted garlic, a large slice of lemon, a bowl of chicken drippings and a spiced salt. The addition of these simple ingredients gives every mouthful an explosive flavor. I really the chicken drippings and spiced salt. The chicken drippings were collected during the roasting process and spiced salt consists pepper that has the unique Chinese herb flavor that goes very well with the tender chicken meat. Dip your meat in for the extra smoothness. It’s crazily good…!!!

They also have baked chicken with spring onion oil. The price is NT$ 300 for a half chicken and NT$ 650 for the whole chicken.

In addition to the signature roast chicken, there is also many other dishes to accompany and enhance the chicken feast. Most people just order a chicken (you have to buy a whole chicken – they don’t sell halves), some vegetable dishes, and rice. They offer some unusual local vegetables such as different kinds of seaweed, mushrooms, betal nut flower, and wild vegetables one never sees in the big city. Most of these are cooked Yilan style with lots of “tree nuts” (shuzi).

Actually, we ordered many side dishes but I missed to take the picture. The only side dish I have captured is the Golden Egg. But all of the side dish and vegetable dishes are not memorable as the roasted chicken. LOL

As it is necessary to purchase a whole chicken, it is best to visit with a group of at least three or four. You can be in and out in half an hour (if you don’t have to queue), but it is also a pleasant place to sit with friends and family to enjoy the great and delicious food

Overall, this is surely one of the world’s greatest roasted chicken. And of course, this is the best food that we had in our Taiwan trip. It would be a great pity to visit Taiwan without tasting this signature Clay Oven Roasted Chicken. Really love their cooking process with the ancient method which resulted in a perfect taste of Roasted Chicken. It’s definitely an ancient technique to bring out the best flavors!

Taiwan Travel Series:

• [TAIWAN] ALISHAN NATIONAL SCENIC AREA – Travel Guide
• [TAIWAN] XI MEN DING – Taipei
• [TAIWAN] SHILIN NIGHT MARKET – Taipei
• [TAIWAN] SUN MOON LAKE – Travel Guide
• [TAIWAN] WENG YAO JI (Taiwanese Brickkiln Chicken) – Chiayi
• [TAIWAN] FAMOUS TAIWANESE CRISPY FRIED CHICKEN
• [TAIWAN] CHUN SHUI TANG CULTURAL TEA HOUSE – 春水堂
• [TAIWAN] CHIANG KAI-SHEK MEMORIAL HALL – Taipei

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Weng Yao Ji (甕窯雞)
Taiwanese Brickkiln Chicken

No.188, Dingzhongxia St., Zhongpu Township
Chiayi County 606, Taiwan (R.O.C.

Telp: 886 929 699 521

Opening Hours:
Weekdays: 10 AM to 10 PM
Weekends: 9 AM to 12 AM

Website: www.0918717288.com

Taste: 9,5/10
Service: 8/10
Place: 7/10
Value for Money: 9/10

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