A Vietnamese entrepreneur who fell in love with Taiwanese wheel cakes while studying in Taiwan is selling the delicacies, rebranded as “Taiwanese UFO pancake.”
Tran Thi Thu Hang said her favorite snacks while studying in Taiwan were sweet potato balls and wheel cakes, which are inspired by the Japanese imagawayaki pastry.
Like its Japanese counterpart, wheel cake is a cylindrical confection with a texture similar to pancakes. Wheel cakes are offered with several fillings, with savory ones usually eaten as a snack between meals and sweet wheel cakes eaten as a dessert.
Photo: CNA
Studying at Feng Chia University in Taichung from 2015 to 2019, Tran often frequented the nearby Fengjia Night Market (逢甲夜市) to feast on her favorite snacks, especially wheel cakes.
“It’s hot, it’s spongy, it’s crispy and crumbly all in one,” Tran said. “Taking a bite with a mouthful of filling was a sensation I had never experienced before in Vietnam.”
Although she first worked at a private company after her return to Vietnam, Tran said she was unable to shake off a dream she had since her youth: to run her own business.
Eventually, Tran decided to focus on wheel cakes, as the pastry’s versatility gave her the flexibility needed to create enough flavors to cater to Vietnamese tastes.
Ten months after she started her company, Tran serves up to 15 flavors, including staples such as red bean, macha and custard, which she also enjoyed in Taiwan, but also spicy chicken, a taste she designed for Vietnamese customers.
Asked why she rebranded the Taiwanese pastry, Tran asked: “Don’t you think that wheel cakes look like UFOs?” referring to unidentified flying objects.
Customers flood her store out of either curiosity or love for the flavor, she said.
“After eating Taiwan UFO pancakes, my troubles seemed to be teleported to another universe,” one review of her products reads.
Tran said she runs the business on her own, so she only has time to ensure quality control, but none for promoting it.
Tran said she developed her customer-first work ethic during her years in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, her fans made up for her lack of advertising by taking it upon themselves to spread word about her food on social media, Tran said.
Gratitude for her time in Taiwan is the source of her business idea, she said, adding that she attends events held by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vietnam and Taiwanese business organizations.
At such events, she sells her products, she said, adding that it helps her promote Taiwanese food in Vietnam.
“Vietnamese people only know that Taiwan has milk tea and pineapple cakes,” Tran said. “I want to make wheel cake big here and help people get to know Taiwan better.”
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
The age requirement for commercial pilots and airline transport pilots is to be lowered by two years, to 18 and 21 years respectively, to expand the pool of pilots in accordance with international standards, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced today. The changes are part of amendments to articles 93, 119 and 121 of the Regulations Governing Licenses and Ratings for Airmen (航空人員檢定給證管理規則). The amendments take into account age requirements for aviation personnel certification in the Convention on International Civil Aviation and EU’s aviation safety regulations, as well as the practical needs of managing aviation personnel licensing, the ministry said. The ministry
RSS