Exploding Chicken Taiwanese Cuisine Restaurant Introduction
This is a specialty store located in Huatan Township. Originally operated as a herbal shop, the second generation of owners has creatively repurposed the traditional clay oven used for roasting herbs to make clay oven chicken. The nearby vegetable garden grows various herbs, which are used in the clay oven chicken, such as pearl grass, salty wind grass, and crane's tongue fungus. The clay oven chicken at Wulong Herbal Shop is called "explosive chicken," as it bursts due to steam pressure when heated in the oven, causing the antibacterial paper wrapping to explode. The explosive chicken is made using specially selected black-boned virgin chicken that is filled with Chinese medicinal herbs and rice wine, wrapped in 11 layers including heat-resistant plastic bags, aluminum foil, newspaper, red clay, and iron mesh, then placed in a cross-shaped clay oven to be slow-cooked with acacia wood and longan wood for 4 hours. Unlike typical clay oven chicken, which has less broth, the explosive chicken is tender and flavorful, with the broth rich in the essence of various herbs, rice wine, and the chicken's own broth, yielding a robust and aromatic flavor.
