Always well known for it's cheap and delicious street food, Taiwan to me is food heaven.
We will normally pack frozen uncooked dumplings from this place and air fly them back to Indonesia. One of the best dumplings ever!
Remember to order the one with 筋 (jing) , or tendon! Very tender and flavourful beef noodle soup with chewy handmade noodles. Don't forget to add the pickled vegetables provided on the table into the soup - I'd always add a whole chunk because I like the sourness and texture from the chopped vegetables!
Despite being one of the "lesser known tourist night market" compared to Shilin, I still like RaoHe Night Market better for it's night market ambience and food. Don't get me wrong, Shilin is a good night market, but I prefer to shop there than to eat!
Address: 台北市大安路一段84巷20號(近忠孝復興站)
This one is a gem and I hate how I only found out about this place during my last trip when my cousins brought us here. Don't expect this place to be a fancy looking clean restaurant. Even though this restaurant might not catch your eyes on first sight, the thai food here is legit good. It got me craving for Thai food even two months after I'm back in Indonesia - the papaya salad is bomb dot com.
I highly recommend the "fan tuan" or the sticky rice ball. In the picture above, we had one cut into two for sharing (Wrapped in plastic). The rice ball is filled with some salty pickled vegetables, sweet pork floss and fried cakwe, a great combination of sweet and savoury! Two thumbs up for this simple delicacy!
This restaurant serves buffet and is great for gathering and those of you who likes to eat spicy (and non spicy) Steamboat!
Shin Yeh (欣葉) is a popular Taiwanese restaurant with a number of outlets in Taipei.
Address: No. 11, Alley 7, Lane 205, Section 4, Zhongxiao E Rd, Da’an District, Taipei
I'll be really honest here, honey toast in Dazzling Cafe is very average. However, one good thing about the dazzling cafe in Taipei compared to the Singapore branch is that you don't have to queue in the one in Taipei!
Address: No. 26, Lane 553, Section 4, Zhongxiao E Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei
Address: No. 28, Lane 553, Section 4, Zhongxiao E Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei
The popular Voodoo Doughnuts from Portland, Oregon is in town!
Address: 2F No. 157 Section 2 Heping East Rd Taipei, 台北市和平東路二段157號2F
For full review, click here
Being half-born to this awesome food nation, I am very lucky to be able to visit Taiwan very often each year.
I would normally eat the usual "staple" food all Taiwanese would have in Taipei - braised pork rice, dumplings, beef noodle soup, night market food etc. However, I decided to jazz things up a little when I went back last month and tried some "in and happening" cafes in Taipei to add to this post. And of course, my taste buds weren't disappointed. As usual, no food adventure ends up with me being any slimmer, but for all the good food I had, it was of course worth it. :)
Without further adieu, here's my food guide on 19 Must Try Places to Eat in Taipei, Taiwan! Enjoy!
I would normally eat the usual "staple" food all Taiwanese would have in Taipei - braised pork rice, dumplings, beef noodle soup, night market food etc. However, I decided to jazz things up a little when I went back last month and tried some "in and happening" cafes in Taipei to add to this post. And of course, my taste buds weren't disappointed. As usual, no food adventure ends up with me being any slimmer, but for all the good food I had, it was of course worth it. :)
Without further adieu, here's my food guide on 19 Must Try Places to Eat in Taipei, Taiwan! Enjoy!
1) 玖伍牛肉麵 Jiu Wu Beef Noodles
My MUST-GO to Beef Noodles stall in Taipei! I'd usually go to the branch near Howard Hotel because it is near my place, but there are other branches in Taipei as well. The lady boss in the branch I go to is super friendly and would always chat with us whenever we visited :)
Side dishes
LOVE the braised white radish, seaweed and tofu
Beef tripe
Dumplings
Main Star, Beef noodle soup!
2) RaoHe Street Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市
Stinky Tofu
I've tried Stinky Tofu from so many places in Taiwan (including Shilin) and I found the Stinky Tofu in RaoHe night market to be the best. It's crispy on the outside, soft and silky on the inside, together with the sweet and sour pickled cabbage <3 Visited this place over 50 times since I was young with my family and all of us loved it!!
This always-crowded stall is the first stall near the entrance of RaoHe Street Night Market! Give it a try! Pssst. It's really not that stinky! It actually tastes like normal tofu, just smells a little of ammonia.
Steamed Peanuts
Oyster with Rice noodles
Braised delicacies! Love the duck tongue and "tempura" (fish cake) best!
My most favorite Soya Beancurd with cooked peanuts
Grass jelly drink
All food and drinks in the night market is super cheap! You can easily be full and try many different kinds of food with only NT 200 on hand!
3) Pepper Bun 胡椒餅
Although also located in RaoHe Night Market, this popular Pepper bun deserves it's own place on this post! This pepper bun can be located at the other entrance/exit of the night market - the one near the Temple, and is well known for being one of the most popular food spot in Taipei!
Traditional pepper bun cooking process, stucked to the walls of the oven
Crazy queue
Filled with marinated pork and green onions
Won the CNN Awards as taiwan top 10 delicacies
Yum
Really good! Flakey and sweet dough filled with savoury pork! Recommend to give this a try if you can eat pork! Worth the long queue!
4) Mango Shaved Ice
Taiwan's Ai Wen Mangoes have always been well known for their sweet and juiciness, and summer time is the best time to try it! Especially when it's incorporated into shaved ice!
You can find it in many places in Taipei selling Mango shaved ice, including Night markets, or many popular shaved ice stores like "Ice Monster", "ís chopstix", etc.
You can find it in many places in Taipei selling Mango shaved ice, including Night markets, or many popular shaved ice stores like "Ice Monster", "ís chopstix", etc.
小明冰果室 in RaoHe Night Market
The shaved ice in this stall is not the best I have tried in Taipei because there is too little mangoes served. You can try other stalls like I've mentioned above which serve the ice with a larger portion of mangoes!
Mango Shaved ice
5) 阿宗麵線 A Zong Mian Xian
This one is a must try if you can stand pig intestines! Not your usual mee sua (rice noodles), A Zong Mian Xian is a very popular mee sua store with many different branches in Taipei. Their mee sua is cooked in slightly thick sauce with pig intestines, a traditional food all Taiwanese have grown up eating!
Be prepared for the long queue! There are branches in different places like Xi Men Ding, Zhong Xiao Dong Lu, etc.
6) QQ Sweet Potato Balls
These cute little high calories packed Chewy goodness can be found in most night market or street sides. This one is my all time favourite thing to try in Taiwan! QQ means chewy in Chinese, which is also the origin of the name of this super amazeballs dessert! *pun intended*
NT 50 for the large packet, NT 30 for the small one
7) Ai Yu (Fig) Jelly Drink
The Ai Yu Jelly Drink is one of the must try when you reach Taiwan - you'd either like it very much, or don't. My mom LOVES this drink a lot, but I won't say that I like it the best. But either ways, this is a must try because you can't really find the traditional version anywhere else, and in Taiwan, you can find it almost everywhere!
The process of making this jelly is also very interesting. It involves rubbing the fig inside a food/cheese cloth. The fruits contained seeds which produced a sticky gel when rubbed and is then made into jelly. Normally, the jelly is made into a honey lemon drink. Very refreshing!
8) Bubble Tea
Bubble tea, or better known as pearl milk tea is a drink invented in Taichung, Taiwan in the 1980s. Even though you can now easily find this drink in almost all parts of the world, it's only right to have a try in it's birthplace! And as what Buzzfeed has mentioned in one of its article, bubble tea is not just a drink, it is also an attitude, a lifestyle! #preach
春水堂 (Chun Shui Tang)
Chun Shui Tang 春水堂 is the inventor of bubble tea in 1987. It's main store is in Taichung. However, you can still experience this founder bubble tea in Taipei!
Some other popular bubble tea stores in Taipei are "50嵐" (Wu Shi Lan), "Come Buy", "ShareTea", "Ten Ren", "Chatime", "Gongcha", etc.
50嵐
9) Kitchen Pucci 葡吉小廚
Address: No. 59之61號, Section 4, Zhongxiao E Rd, Da’an District, Taipei
Opening Hours: 11:30 - 22:00
Well okay. Kitchen Pucci isn't really authentic "Taiwan food" if you'd like to call it. In fact, they serve food from Shanghai! But the food here is really so good that I had to recommend it!
大餅捲牛肉 Fried scallion roll with beef
The fried scallion roll with beef is the must order in this restaurant!! The sauce is like the one you'd normally get in Peking duck but with a beefy twist. It got us hooked up on first bite that we finished the whole plate in matter of minutes!
Xiao Long Bao
Pan fried dumplings
The pan fried dumplings is not bad either! If you are ever near this area, don't forget to give the beef roll a try!! Must try!
10) Taiwanese style "Bento"
You know the drill, once in Taiwan, eat as the Taiwanese do. You can easily find bentos in Taipei everywhere, and if all else fails, go to the closest convenient store, they'll probably have a bento set waiting for you in the chilled section!
Minced braised pork rice
Normally, Taiwanese bentos come with Pai gu (pork ribs meat), Chicken thighs or fish - all are equally good but my personal favourite is the Pai gu one. One good and popular Pork ribs bento place you must try in Taipei is 君悅排骨. Tried it a couple of times since I was younger and liked it!
11) 南城泰雲緬式料理 South City Thai Food
Address: 台北市大安路一段84巷20號(近忠孝復興站)
This one is a gem and I hate how I only found out about this place during my last trip when my cousins brought us here. Don't expect this place to be a fancy looking clean restaurant. Even though this restaurant might not catch your eyes on first sight, the thai food here is legit good. It got me craving for Thai food even two months after I'm back in Indonesia - the papaya salad is bomb dot com.
Best papaya salad on earth
Fried Sugar cane with fish-prawn paste
Tom Yam
Everything is so good! Ordered more than 10 dishes
Best fish cake
Not only the food is good here, but also the price - it's so cheap for what you get! Free flow drinks (soft drinks, tea, water, coffee, etc.) and dessert (coconut dessert, glutinous rice, ice cream, etc.)! Good service is what I'd normally look at and the service here is really good, especially when the manager here is a sweet friendly lady from Kalimantan!
Also, this place is pretty close by to Kitchen Pucci, so if you ever plan to come down to this area, you can try both restaurants at one go!
12) 永和豆漿 Yong He Soybean Milk
There are many Yong He Dou Jiang branches in Taipei not for no reason. It has won over Taiwanese hearts and stomach for it's good and simple traditional breakfast/supper food.
Shao Bing with egg and pork floss
This is how a Taiwanese breakfast normally look like
I highly recommend the "fan tuan" or the sticky rice ball. In the picture above, we had one cut into two for sharing (Wrapped in plastic). The rice ball is filled with some salty pickled vegetables, sweet pork floss and fried cakwe, a great combination of sweet and savoury! Two thumbs up for this simple delicacy!
13) 馬辣頂級麻辣鴛鴦火鍋 Ma La Hotpot
This restaurant serves buffet and is great for gathering and those of you who likes to eat spicy (and non spicy) Steamboat!
Large variety to choose from
Häagen-Dazs and Movenpick
All kinds of condiments
Fruits, puddings, BIRD NEST, you name it
Free flow alcohol. Yes.
Soup base is really delicious (there is the non spicy side as well)
All sorts of good quality meat (beef, chicken, lamb)
Each table is limited to 2 hours of eating time.
Approx Rp. 270,000++ for dinner
14) 欣葉 Shin Yeh
Love love the egg pancake with radish at the left.
The bamboo shoots with mayo is also a must try and is only available during some seasons! You won't normally find it outside of Taiwan or China!
Complimentary mochi
So good we went another round in a different outlet.
Wu Yu Zi (Some fish roe)
Wu Yu Zi is salty and savoury dried fish roe, slightly bitter to the taste as well. Not everyone will like it (I don't) but it's worth a try - consider this as something you won't find easily outside of Taiwan.
We like to order sweet potato porridge to go with our dishes.
Pork knuckle is delish
15) Dazzling Café
Address: No. 11, Alley 7, Lane 205, Section 4, Zhongxiao E Rd, Da’an District, Taipei
I'll be really honest here, honey toast in Dazzling Cafe is very average. However, one good thing about the dazzling cafe in Taipei compared to the Singapore branch is that you don't have to queue in the one in Taipei!
We got the centre bar seats
Min order of one drink
Strawberry lover honey toast
Sides covered in sugar
Not the best honey toast I've had in my life because most honey toast tastes the same to me, except for the different flavours of ice cream and toppings. But to give credit to this popular cafe, the toast is toasted well and crunchy, a good combination when drizzled over with the honey syrup!
16) Drip Café
Best Strawberry cronuts I have tasted in my life!!! Really so good that I'd go back for a second time. I will recommend it to everyone I know to pop by this place when they visit Taipei!
BEST
For full review, click here
17) The Who Café
Address: Zhuang Jing Rd No. 214, 2nd Floor, Taipei, Taiwan, 台北市信義區莊敬路214號2樓
Cute Kitty themed café for all you kitty AND non kitty lovers!
Too cute!
For full review, click here
18) Voodoo Doughnuts
The popular Voodoo Doughnuts from Portland, Oregon is in town!
Voodoo Party
For full review, click here
19) 自然醒咖啡公寓 Wakin' Up Cafe Apartment
Chill café
Vintage decorations
For full review, click here
20) Bonus List
Bonus List of places you ought to try in Taipei!
All of which either have great reviews or I have tried in previous trips!
1) 林東芳牛肉麵 Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle Soup
2) 度小月擔子面 Tu Hsiao Yueh Dan Zai Noodle
3) 上引水產 Addiction Aquatic Development (Sushi, Sashimi, Hotpot, Barbeque, etc.) - Prepare for long queue
4) 鼎泰丰 Din Tai Fung - Try the origin store!
5) 明月湯包 Ming Yue Soup Dumpling
6) 杏子日式豬排 Xing Zi Japanese pork cutlet
Anything else you would recommend for me to try the next time I visit Taipei? :)
