FOOD will always be an essential part of every travel; it serves as a door where you can get to know more about a place or a country.
Taipei is best known for its night markets but even as we stroll the area in the morning, there are still a lot of food stalls all around which speaks a lot of the city’s love for food. As we explored Taiwan’s capital for almost a week, we also got to eat some of their culinary delights so here’s a run-down of must-eat foods when in Taipei.
Grilled sausage with sticky rice
Though this is available in almost all night markets, we ate this for lunch during our visit to Pingxi. A lot of people lined up for this so we really had to try it. This snack/lunch is made with grilled pork sausage sandwiched in glutinous rice (which also looks like a big sausage due to its casing) together with onions and vegetables. Their pork sausage alone is the bomb but pairing it with the glutinous rice makes it even more tasty and filling.
Xiao Long Bao
Xiao Long Bao or soup dumplings are another food that I really wanted to try during this trip. Other than the famous Din Tai Fung, sidewalk eateries make better and cheaper ones. Xiao Long Bao is perfect eaten during chilly days in the city.
Hujiao Bing (Pepper Buns)
Since we mostly explored some of Taipei’s districts by foot, we ran into some kind of pastry that was cooked in traditional clay ovens. These delicious looking bread are Hujiao Bing or Pepper Buns. They are sold for NTD 50 and is best eaten while it’s hot. Most people say that they are long queues for buying this but maybe we just got lucky that we have bought it before the rush hour while walking around Da’an District.
Bubble Tea
The source of all the bubble/milk tea-craze, you can buy bubble tea almost everywhere in the city. I love that most of the bubble teas that I’ve tried there were not too sweet and just enough for my liking.
Night market eats
On our second and third night we managed to visit some of the famous night markets in Taipei: Shilin and Raohe. And here’s what we found:
Fried seafood
This is the most common night market food that you will see while walking around the night markets. From squid, shrimp, and crablets, they have them all freshly fried and ready to eat.
Chicken steak
One of the famous stalls that sell this night market favorite is Hot Star Fried Chicken located at Shilin Night Market. There’s another cheaper version of it sold at Raohe Night Market. Perfect for all the chicken lovers out there!
Torched Wagyu Beef
Sold at a whopping price of NTD 250 which is almost P500 per serving, this is also another famous night market food. Wagyu Beef cubes are cooked using a blowtorch and seasoned to your liking.
Grilled quail eggs
Another cute and unique food find, these are made of lightly seasoned quail eggs cooked in mini takoyaki pans and placed on sticks.
Sugar-coated fruit sticks
This is another common food at the night markets, plums, strawberry and cherry tomatoes are the common ones being sold.
Fried Sweet Potato
I know that this just sounds like our plain camote cue here in the Philippines, but theirs was made way better because of the plum powder. It’s the best combo of sweet and salty for me which made me buy two servings. (lol)
Taipei night markets mostly open at 3 or 4 p.m. and closes at 12 midnight.
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Hi, I’m Kriztja and thanks for reading My Notebook! Check out my blog: rainbow-wishes.blogspot.com for more and like my Facebook Page: My Notebook by Kriztja Marae for more updates. Comments? Suggestions? Email me at: kriztja.labrador@gmail.com.