Street food universe has taken over the streets of the city several years ago with travel-inducing concepts. From the Japanese sando to the Italian schiacciate to smash burger and fluffy pancake… Choosing is often a very difficult task. And it is likely to be even more as new culinary specialties are coming! Among them? The Wheel Cake. A Taiwan street-food iconic cake enjoyed by schoolkids in the afternoon in Taiwan.

In Paris, a few locations – still too rare to our taste – offer to try this specialty. The latest to date? Ciao Roue, inaugurated in March 2022 by Ciao. Coming from Taiwan, the young woman is part of these people who once were brave enough to start a new career to pursue their dreams. After studying at Audencia, Nantes, and working as a head huntress, Ciao chose to leave this field, yet financially comfortable. Although thinking about returning to her country, Ciao eventually decides to bring Taiwan culture to France, and especially Paris, by opening this small yet very friendly eatery rue de Montmorency in the 3^rd arrondissement, close to Laïzé, another Taiwan eatery in the city. 

This is here that Ciao makes curious people discover her own culture with a little-known specialty: wheel cake, a Taiwan dessert coming from Japan, namely the imagawayaki. As recalled by Ciao, Taiwan was long under Japanese rule and therefore Japanese culture goes strong there.

In concrete words, wheel cake is a round shaped cake which dough looks like pancake. Each wheel cake is stuffed with one or more flavors, mostly sweet, but also savory.

In her store, Ciao makes everything from A to Z: from the very personal décor (wood furniture helped by a carpenter friend, calligraphies by her cousin, items for children from her family), to the menu of course, and the very making of the wheel cake which dough is prepared every morning. So far, 8 sweet and 4 savory recipes are available at Ciao Roue.

Although the adzuki wheel cake (namely sweet kidney bean paste) is one of the best-sellers, the adzuki matcha one is very coveted, so is the one with black sesame we highly recommend! Copiously filled, soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, the cake can be enjoyed in a few bites, making us look very happy.

To enjoy on site or take away, these wheel cakes come in with pastry cream, taro paste or marinated turnip or ham and cheese. Ciao expects to soon propose a surprise flavor changing with the season, for instance an upcoming cream pastry and yuzu wheel cake.

• To be read
• The latest street-food spots to discover in Paris
• Street-food restaurants to enjoy outside in Paris
• What to do this week - July 4 to 10, 2022, in Paris and Île-de-France

While waiting to be able to eat these wheel cakes (about 7 minutes to cook in a special pan), enjoy Ciao making the famous marking on the wheel cake, a technique allowing her to differentiate flavors once the cake is assembled on the hotplate.

These delicious sweet or savory desserts are to be enjoyed with a cup of Japanese or Taiwanese tea, coming from Kancha Tea, to extend this wonderful gustatory journey.

And success is here! Lots and lots of people want to taste Ciao Roue’s wheel cakes, with on one hand curious people and novices, and on the other hands, those looking for a flavor reminding them of their stay or younger years in Taiwan. An invitation to travel that should be honored and we highly recommend!