Taipei Food Recommendations Sought

We’ll be in Taipei for a few days this fall, almost exclusively for the food, on the way home from a longer Asia trip. We’ve heard amazing things about traditional wok cooking there, and Jonathan would love to learn some new tricks for when the new Robert Yick wok gets installed. (Wok enthusiasts, if you don’t know what a Robert Yick wok range is, go check out the website - the Rolls Royce of woks!)

I did a search here and in the Travel forum, but the pickings are slim or not recent. We haven’t booked a hotel yet, but it doesn’t really matter - we don’t mind going out of our way for great food, and we eat everything.

Any suggestions appreciated!

interesting. Haven’t really thought of Taiwan as wok focused cooking. Taiwanese food really veers into fried food or long stews, not really stir fry.

That being said, the best part about Taiwan are the night markets for food. If you’re okay with venturing into those, I’d be happy to give recs to which markets are the most popular.

Din Tai Fung is also a must visit whenever you’re in Taipei. Incredible soup dumplings, beef noodle soup and pork chop fried rice. Be prepared for a line no matter what time you go, to any of the locations.

To me there are quintessential things to eat when you’re in taiwan.

  1. Beef noodle soup (lin dong Fang is one of the most famous). A must get. You cannot go to taiwan and not have beef noodle soup.
  2. Fried chicken/pork chop. Just a big piece of fried meat. You get it at the night markets.
  3. Shaved Ice. It’s hot. Have some dessert
  4. Boba tea. (good list 15 Must-Try Boba Places In Taiwan) This really should be #2. Boba is probably taiwan’s most famous food export.
  5. Taiwanese breakfast. Just find a random place, ask your hotel, they are all similar, but all must tries. The fried “donut”, the fried donut wrapped with sticky rice, scrambled egg pancake, soy milk. Ah… My grandmother used to own one in Taipei, she closed it way before I was born, but the amount of effort these places put into such simple breakfasts is astounding.
  6. Grilled sausage in a grilled sticky rice bun. Available at most night markets
  7. Pig’s blood rice cake sprinkled with peanuts and sweet sauce. Available at most night markets


    50 Foods In Taipei You Need To Eat…Or At Least Try - Jetset Times A great list of things to try.

Traveling is really easy in Taipei, the subway system is excellent.

Night markets… another night market… a third night market…
all about the night markets in TP!

Pretty much. Restaurants are great in Taiwan, but if I’m a tourist, I wouldn’t even bother. The best restaurants are the single dish focused places, like beef noodle soup, hot pots etc. I only recommend Din Tai Fung cause it’s a national treasure.

You can have DTF in LA though… flirtysmile

Totally down with night markets. The list of items to try is great - thanks! Can we ask for those things in English? If not do you know/could you tell me how to ask for them? Or a website where I can look at pictures? I’m perfectly fine pointing at whatever looks good, but don’t want to miss something special because I don’t know what I’m seeing. Feel free to PM or email me with details and suggestions if that’s easier.

As for the wok cooking, we’ve definitely heard from several Chinese chefs that great technique is maintained in Taiwan. That’s about the extent of my knowledge, though.

The great thing about Taiwan is that most places are focused on single dishes. They dont’ really serve more than a small handful of dishes. Also most of the food is out for display. Just point and you’ll be fine. The taiwanese are super receptive to tourists, especially when it comes to food. They For a nation of pretty skinny people, we (I was born in taiwan) are crazy proud about our food culture.

Check out the last link I posted at the bottom of my first post. There are photos for all the most famous dishes in Taiwan. Very informative. If there’s one in particular you’re curious about in Chinese, I can let you know. But those photos all have an English descriptor.

The most famous market is Taipei is Shilin night market. It’s right across the street from subway stop. It’s huge. Linjiang st is also pretty good for food.

The most food famous night market is Keelung’s Miaojou Night market. It is about 30 minutes north or so of Taipei. I believe there is a commuter train there. The market (also day time) is pretty close to the train. Lots of signs in English. Because it’s right next to the coast, there’s a lot of fresh seafood here.

Good info up top and a little map.

re: places to stay, the W hotel in Taipei is really well located. Close to Taipei 101.

hmmm interesting in regards to “wok fu”. I mean, in Taiwan you use a wok for everything, steaming buns, frying tofu etc, but when I think of people admiring wok skills, it tends to be stir fry. Outside of 3 cup chicken(or intestines) there aren’t really stir fry popular dishes in taiwan.

oh! forgot to say, you gotta try stinky tofu at least once. I prefer the steamed version, but the fried version is popular in the night markets. Just follow your nose :slight_smile:

Also oyster pancakes are pretty special. No actual flour involved.

edit: More!

Pineapple cakes. Check out sunnyhills bakery. Bring some back for family/neighbors/friends. Each are individually wrapped. SH bakery is a more high end shop, but well worth it.

Chia Te is the most famous bakery, crazy packed. But personally I like SH better

This is awesome! Thanks so much Charlie. We’ll make a point of following most if not all of these suggestions. My husband and I have been, between us, to almost every country in Asia, but neither of us has been to Taiwan yet, so we are excited. It’ll be at the end of a food-heavy trip through Hong Kong and Japan, but I am sure our appetites will rise to the occasion.

I’ll check out your links when I’m on a bigger screen. Thanks again!!

Thread drift… but have you been to China? If so, you’ve been to the country. :wink: Technically Taiwan is just a region in China… (at least according to the UN). This might be slightly debated by others however. neener

Despite the unsolicited geography lesson, I find no error or falsehood in what I said. We have been to most countries in Asia, but have not been to Taiwan. If Taiwan is a part of China, then going to Taiwan constitutes going to China. Not vice versa. Going to China does not, however, constitute going to Taiwan any more than having gone to the US means you’ve been to Texas.

But don’t feel bad - sometimes some people’s need to contradict and correct takes control of their basic grasp on logic.

And, for the record, back 'atcha: neener neener

Sarah, I’m sorry I think you misunderstood what I was saying on a couple of levels…

First, since you mention it, I was referring to the phrase “We have been to most countries in Asia, but have not been to Taiwan”.

Going to China does not, however, constitute going to Taiwan any more than having gone to the US means you’ve been to Texas.

True, but I would say “i’ve been to most of the states, but not Texas”. I wouldn’t say “I’ve been to most of the countries in the Americas, but not Illinois”.
I was taking the country/state gap and poking fun at the status of Taiwan… which leads to…

More importantly (perhaps really what makes this silly) was that I was really just poking fun at Charlie (since there’s a forever debate between Taiwanese and Mainland folks on the status of Taiwan). It honestly and sincerely wasn’t intended to be correcting or contradicting of anything you said, nor a geography lesson. [cheers.gif]

Last time I checked, no other region in China is fully autonomous with their own president and congress. :wink:

If you have any questions please feel free to message me. I can reach out to my Taipei living friends for more specific recs!

A lot of Taiwanese food is really a mixture of mainland Chinese food due to the influx of fleeing Nationalists from the 1949 Chinese revolution. “True” Taiwanese food shares many similarities with southern Chinese regional cuisine like Canton and Fujian. The lines are blurry now though these days, as Taiwan has made some Chinese dishes their own, like the Beef noodle soup.

Something Sarah can find in night markets and various restaurants is the oyster pancake/omelette: “oh-ah jian” in the Taiwanese dialect. Definitely worth trying.

If the OP likes noodles, you may see some restaurants where they’ll have a prep cook out near the front holding a ball of noodle dough and a type of razor “shaving” strips of dough into a vat of boiling water, that will be used for a variety of noodle soups, or fried noodle. “dao shao mian” or translated to “knife shaved noodles” yummmm.

I already recommended all those canton scum! (Sorry kathy I’m kidding)

Nope, I didn’t misunderstand on even one, much less a couple of, levels. I knew exactly what you were getting at, knowing full well the mainland vs Taiwanese debate, and how C Fu likely figured in, as well as when others are poking fun, even without the emojis and other give aways. Give a little credit for additional fun-poking! It would take fare more clever and deep seated prods than thine to offend my none-too-delicate sensibilities That’s just my sense of humor, complete with gratuitously elaborate turns of phrase. I give everyone shit, on whatever fuel presents itself - including giving others shit.

First off, Taiwan is not part of China- end of story.

Second, you must also go to Orange Shabu Shabu in da-an district and yang kang also in da-an for neo rou mien.

Danshui is about 45 mins on the red line from Taipei and has a lot of fresh seafood. I am not a big night market fan, but Shilin is the most famous of them.

I haven’t been but my friend Adam Robinson is the bar manager at Ounce Taipei, a speakeasy. He’s incorporating local ingredients into a Portland-class cocktail program. Say hello for me if you stop in.

Nobody mentioned oyster omelettes or tea eggs from 7-Eleven.

Or to get the most delicious fruit in the world, the wax apple!